Doctor Who Prop Hunt

Hey! It’s just a quick one this week as I’ve been away and haven’t had the time to work on anything longer. I was chatting to Zoe’s Feather Boa about the changing fashions in Doctor Who set design. In particular how the tape to tape computer unit that had been a staple of the seventies had become passé by the Eighties. They sent me a screen grab from The Happiness Patrol and I instantly recognised the grey computer units I posted about here . And then I remembered there were a couple of extra appearances I’d left out last time. So here it is, The Grey One part 2. DESTINY OF THE DALEKS, 1979 I used this screen grab the other week to talk about the hubcap. But look! Just below it is our grey computer. CITY OF DEATH, 1979 I had actually intended to include this one in my first post but forgot all about it. Four of these computers appear in Kerensky’s lab. They seem to have had a paint job since their previous appearances as they are white rather than grey. However in all other aspects the...

Hello folks! This week I’m looking at some late 70s props that may not be exact matches but definitely share some common DNA. And my starting point was this octagon panel. As far as I can tell this prop is only seen in one Doctor Who story… THE PIRATE PLANET, 1978 The octagon panel is on the Pirate Captain’s bridge, in the middle of this image. Unlike the other examples we are looking to look at, on this occasion it has been illuminated.  REDEMPTION, 1979 The only other example exactly matching the Pirate Planet panel is this one from Blake’s 7.  As mentioned above, here they haven’t bothered to turn the lights on. THE ARMAGEDDON FACTOR, 1979 Although I haven’t found any more exact matches, there are a few variants that feature the same elements. Look at the top and bottom of this prop from The Armageddon Factor, and compare to the inset image from Redemption. There are the same four, yellow coloured, rectangles. And in between those, a smaller white rectangle and small lights...