TROUGHTON TOAST RACK

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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, 1968

Thankfully this next sighting cannot be disputed. It even gets a great big close up to make sure. 
THE WHEEL IN SPACE, 1968

Another close up, albeit one that’s slightly obscured by Pat’s head.
THE DOMINATORS, 1968

Found in the Dulkis museum. You can locate it at the top of the image, roughly in the middle. I have previously written about some of the other props found on this set here.
THE INVASION, 1968

The final appearance during the Troughton era. Three of these props have been included as part of the larger Cyber-Planner prop. However, as you can see from the image above, two of the props do not feature the long rectangular back plate. 
TARGET GENERATION, 1969

I haven’t devoted a lot of time to searching for these props in other shows. However I did recently come across this from an episode of Out of the Unknown. Unfortunately the episode is lost and there is not a great deal of photographic evidence. However if you look at the tall brown units at the back of the set you can see a familiar looking shape. So, like The Moonbase, it’s not conclusive but I do feel these are the same props. 
STATE OF DECAY, 1980

For the last couple of sightings I’m jumping forward, right to the very end of the Tom Baker years. You can easily spot the props at the back of this set, immediately to the left of Tom.
THE KEEPER OF TRAKEN, 1981

This second season 18 appearance is harder to spot and is actually the only time the prop is not mounted to a wall or an upright unit. I have circled it here to make it easier to find. 

Thanks for looking. I’ll be back soon with another new post. 












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