NEW YEAR - SAME OLD STAIRCASE

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At Christmas the esteemed YouTube channel Dalek 63.88 released a video about the sets of Classic Who’s infamous holiday special - Feast of Steven. One of the things covered in the video was the spiral staircase I first looked at here. In the background of this picture of Jean Marsh you can just about make it out on the left.

THE DALEKS MASTER PLAN, 1965

The spiral staircase has been in the air a bit lately. Between the Dalek 63.88 video and discussion on the Radio Free Skaro podcast it seems to be a topic of some interest. Steven Schapansky of RFS had hinted that I hadn’t found all of the Who appearances of this prop. That prompted me to take another look, and indeed I have found a couple I’d missed. 

FURY FROM THE DEEP, 1968

On the veranda at the Harris’ gaff.
THE MIND OF EVIL, 1971

A blink and you’ll miss it appearance in this establishing shot of the interior of Stangmoor Prison. The staircase is right on the edge of this set and as a result doesn’t often appear on screen.
THE OLD GREY WHISTLE TEST, 1974?

In the Dalek 63.88 video they included this clip from the music show The Old Grey Whistle Test. I don’t know much about it and I don’t know who the band are. But from the typeface of the logo it seems this dates from 1974. 

Steven Schapansky indicated that he thinks there are different versions of the staircase prop and in the Dalek 63.88 video they pointed out the, in retrospect, rather obvious point that spirals can turn in two directions. So I have taken a look at the Doctor Who stories that feature the stairs to see which direction they turn in. Interestingly those that turn anti-clockwise appear significantly taller than those that turn clockwise. Compare the pictures from Terror of the Autons and The Sunmakers below for evidence of this.


STAIRS TURN ANTI-CLOCKWISE IN
The Tenth Planet
Terror of the Autons
The Mind of Evil
The Sea Devils
The Time Monster





STAIRS TURN CLOCKWISE IN
The Daleks Master Plan
The Evil of the Daleks
The Ice Warriors
The Web of Fear
Fury From the Deep
The Sunmakers



That’s it for my first post of 2026, but I thought I’d end on one last mystery. The Dalek 63.88 video discussed the below off air photo from Feast of Steven. It features the staircase front and centre but something seems to be off with the central support strut. If you look closely it appears to be grooved. In all of the appearances I have found of the stairs, both in Doctor Who and elsewhere, the column is smooth. Now this isn’t a very clear image and these grooves might just be shadows or some other kind of artefact. But as Feast of Steven is unlikely to recovered we shall probably never know. 
THE DALEKS MASTER PLAN, 1965
















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