Doctor Who Prop Hunt

After several weeks of looking at stuff from the seventies and eighties, this post will take us straight back to the sixties. I’ve been looking for this pill shaped object that seems to have been a favourite of designers during the Troughton years. I feel this might have been a real world item once upon a time but I’m at a loss as to what it could have been. If you have any ideas I’d be very grateful if you reached out.  In the meantime here is a list of the appearances I have spotted.  THE MOONBASE, 1967 A couple of the appearances I have found are pretty hard to spot. And this first one is one of them. I’m almost certain that the pill shaped props appear on the walls of the sickbay. However they are too high up and the walls are too far back. So we do not get a good look at them in either the publicity stills or the existing episodes themselves. I’ve circled the prop I think is the correct one above. So I’ll leave it to you to decide if I’m right or not. FURY FROM THE DEEP, ...

Here is a quick update on my last post about these cupboard like set dressings. You can read my previous post here The main thing I wanted to do today was to highlight a couple of non Doctor Who appearances. The first of which is from Who’s Seventies Sister programme - Blake’s 7. SPACEFALL, 1978 MISSION TO DESTINY, 1978 Both of these airings are from B7’s first season. Thanks goes to Tim Dickinson for pointing me in their direction. I’ve had a look through the four seasons of Blake and, as far as I can tell, these are the only time these cupboards are used. TIKKA TO RIDE, 1997 Zoe’s Feather Boa pointed out the cupboards use season 7 of Red Dwarf. Something else that came out of my last post was that Tim Dickinson sent a link to the catalogue of a company called Peter Evans Studio. Trading since 1960, Peter Evans Studio offer ‘scenic embellishment’ to the film and TV industry. And on page 57 of their catalogue is the very cupboards we have been looking at. Not only that, they also off...

This weeks props are cupboards that adorned many a set during the Pertwee era, made a bit of a comeback in the Davison era, and have even appeared in Nu Who. Often paired with a row of circular oven like knobs as seen below, these cupboards made for a quick and easy set dressing for everything from spaceships to submarines. Here are all of the Doctor Who appearances I have been able to find. As always, if you know of any others please do get in touch.  THE AMBASSADORS OF DEATH, 1970 The earliest example I have found is from Pertwee’s first season. The cupboards, along with the circles, can be seen behind the seats in Recovery 7. Keep in mind their orientation here. For this story the circular controls are above the cupboards. But, as we will see in other examples, there was a lot of variety in how these were displayed. THE SEA DEVILS, 1972 This story features the cupboards on two sets. First, in the above picture, in Trenchards office (complete with telephones) and second…. …. on b...