SPIRAL STAIRCASE - THE SEQUEL!

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I’m back with more sitings of the spiral staircase from UNIT HQ. A couple of people reached out to me with suggestions of different Doctor Who stories where it can be seen. This prompted me to look back through Classic Who to see what else I’d missed. So presented here are six more Doctor Who stories that feature this ubiquitous set of stairs.


THE DALEKS’ MASTER PLAN, 1965

The mighty Gav Rymill, of the amazing YouTube channel Dalek 63.88, pointed out the stairs are in The Feast of Steven. They can be seen in the background of this promotional photograph of Jean Marsh at the very bottom of the frame. Gav and John at Dalek 63.88 really set the standard for Doctor Who research so I’m really grateful for Gav reaching out. If you are not watching their videos you really should be.

THE TENTH PLANET, 1966

The next appearance was another suggestion. Tim Dickinson let me know the staircase can be found in the crew’s quarters in The Tenth Planet. In fact they get a whopping great close up when The Doctor and Co enter Snowcap Base. Tim runs the truly fantastic website Pink for your actual Pterodactyl which covers many of the commercially available items that can be found in Doctor Who. It comes highly recommended. But, really if you have found this blog I’m sure you are already familiar with Pterodactyl. 

THE EVIL OF THE DALEKS, 1967

The first of a trio of Troughton appearances. The stairs can be found in Maxtible’s laboratory.

THE ICE WARRIORS, 1967

Five months after Evil they are in The Ice Warriors, in Storr’s Plant Muesum.


THE WEB OF FEAR, 1967

Another Season 5 appearance. Spiral Stairs were THE interior design trend for 1967. It’s worth pointing they have had a lick of paint this time. 

THE TIME MONSTER, 1972

My starting point for this prop was its appearance in Terror of the Autons. So I will always think of it as belonging to UNIT. But of course the UNIT sets were never very constant. The Time Monster UNIT lab is quite different to its Sister in Autons, so I think this counts as a different appearance. 

And here’s the updated timeline including these new finds. Thanks for reading, I’ll be back soon. 








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