Hello!

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 Hi, thanks for stopping by and welcome to this, the first post of my new Blog. The Blog has sprung out of my classic Doctor Who Instagram account - @doctor_who_60s_70s_80s. For nearly a decade I’ve been posting photos covering all aspects of classic Who. Recently I’ve been particularly interested props that turn up in multiple Doctor Who stories and other TV/ film productions. As my Instagram posts on this topic have become more and more frequent I felt it was worth spinning these off into their own thing. The initial posts will all be research I have presented over on Instagram but it won’t be long before I’m posting new stuff.


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#totp

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This is not the post I had planned at all! I’ve been working on something else for a while. In fact I’m a bit late with that as the research has taken longer than normal. But in the meantime something popped up and I just had to share it. Friday evenings on our house are filled with the BBC4 repeats of Top of the Pops. One of the episodes this week, from May 1984, featured something that made me point at my telly like Leonardo DiCarprio. It was this trio of consoles. But what Doctor Who stories feature these props and why were they on Top of the Pops? First let’s look at their Doctor Who appearances. The unit with the circular screen can be seen in The Twin Dilemma. Designer Valerie Warrender made sure to give it a suitably glittery finish. THE TWIN DILEMMA, 1984 Here is a closer look at the console screen.  The consoles next appearance is the very next story, Attack of the Cybermen. This story features several variations on the same prop. Some featuring the circular screen and oth...
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HEXAGONS! Part 2

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Last week I looked at the hexagon wall pattern that first appeared in The Mutants and all its subsequent classic Who appearances. This week I’m looking at some of the other shows that used this same set decoration. BLAKE’S 7, 1978-81 Probably the most obvious place to start is the show that is frequently viewed as a sort of Sister programme to Doctor Who - Blake’s7. The hexagons are featured throughout B7’s four seasons but perhaps the most visible use is in Servalan’s office as pictured above. THE ADVENTURE GAME, 1980-86 The hexagons proved to be popular on Children’s shows of the Eighties. As you can see it featured in the early seasons of the proto escape room sci-fi themed game show - The Adventure Game. CAPTAIN ZEP - SPACE DETECTIVE, 1983-84 Another BBC children’s sci-fi game show. And a firm favourite from when I was a nipper.  STAR COPS, 1987 The short lived galactic police procedural from Doctor Who and Blake’s 7 Writer, Chris Boucher. ASTRONAUTS, 1981 Another short lived ...
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HEXAGONS!

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