Doctor Who Prop Hunt

It’s been a while since this has happened, but my recent post about these washboard like metal panels prompted people to get in touch to suggest more stuff. So here it is Space Washboards - Part 2. RED DWARF: SERIES VI, 1993 @md05.bsky.social  has been a massive supporter of this blog, regularly supplying suggestions. For these metal boards they mentioned they had been part of the Starbug set in Red Dwarf. You can see the tell tale circular holes at the top of the image. SHADA, 1979 @markaldridge.info  sent me this photo of the studio set up for Shada. At the top of the image you can see a grouping of washboards. These do not feature in any of the completed Shada footage so Mark suggested the maybe part of the studio lighting rig. And then I was checking back through old Bluesky notifications and realised @beeblepete.bsky.social  had already sent me this some time ago. Like Mark, Pete suggested they could have been some kind of studio equipment. He suggested they might b...

This one needs to be credited to Zoe’s Feather Boa. ZFB is someone who has helped me a lot since I started this blog. They frequently post about props they have spotted on Bluesky. Make sure to give them a follow at zoesfeatherboa.bsky.social. They mentioned these thermostat props a while ago. I haven’t found them anywhere else so here are the appearances they found. THE SEEDS OF DEATH,1969 Seeds features two of these props, and they are subtly different. In the shot above you can see the prop has a light coloured face. But when it’s shown in the close up, seen in the picture below, the face is much darker. The text is white, or at least a light tone, while it appears darker in the first picture.  THE SEEDS OF DEATH, 1969 COLONY IN SPACE, 1971 The pair of Thermostats next pop up, both with darkly coloured faces, in Colony in Space. PERCY, 1971 One of the thermostats can be seen in the 1971 sex comedy Percy. THE MUTANTS, 1972 And finally, one year later, one of them can be seen in T...

I always like to give props a memorable nickname, like the ‘wide blue’ and ‘tall blue’ reel to reel computer units. So I’ve called these items Space Washboards as they remind me of an old fashioned washboard. So far I’ve found these item around the late seventies, early eighties. But if you know of them turning up anywhere else please let me know. DESTINY OF THE DALEKS, 1979 The earliest appearance I can find is in the ruins of the Dalek City on Skaro. These sets are so rammed full of junk I have to assume the washboards were just stock items. That would indicate earlier appearances but so far I don’t know where. WARRIORS GATE, 1981 This is the first of a couple of 1981 appearances. ORBIT, 1981 And here is the other. It’s really common for Doctor Who props from this time to turn up in Blakes 7. So here it is being carried by Villa. TERMINUS, 1983 And a whole bunch of them can be found in this Season 20 story.  That’s it for now. Back soon.

Hey! It’s been ages but I’m back. And it’s update time again. Crack out the John Barry cos this one has a James Bond theme. It’s all stuff I have posted about before but now I have found a bunch of them in OO7 flicks.  I posted about this grey computer a couple of times recently. It can be found in The Green Death, The Three Doctors, and a load more stories. You can read about it here and here . I think I’ve now possibly found their origin. Check out the screen grabs below for their Bond appearances. DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, 1971 THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, 1974 Unsurprisingly, the ever green UFO props also appear in Bond. I’ve posted extensively about these wide blue computer units that show up everywhere in the 1970s. Too many to link, you’ll have to find all the posts or refer to The Catalogue .  They get a paint job for Bond. Scroll down to see how they appeared in screen. DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, 1971 And yet another popular UFO prop. Scroll to see its big screen cameo. It ca...

Hey, it’s time for another round up of props I’ve covered before and have spotted elsewhere. Yep, it’s yet another update. This one is for all you spiral staircase fans, looking at you Steven. So far I’ve spotted the staircase in 6 shows beyond its many Who appearances. Well chalk up yet one more. The screen grab below is from the Doomwatch episode Tomorrow The Rat. And for those keeping track, this one goes clockwise.  DOOMWATCH, 1970 Back in July I posted about the Dino stun gun from Invasion of the Dinosaurs. Well, I missed that a very similar gun can be seen in Frontier in Space. FRONTIER IN SPACE, 1973 This is another one suggested by Zoe’s Feather Boa. I previously posted about this cone prop here . It’s in The Dominators and The Seeds of Death. ZBF points out it actually started life as the base of the Gravitron in The Moonbase. THE MOONBASE, 1967 Like the spiral staircase, this wide blue computer, originally from UFO, pops up everywhere. This appearance in a 1977 edition ...

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...

This one comes courtesy of Zoe’s Feather Boa who posted about it on a thread on Bluesky. It’s a small unit featuring three distinctive chunky levers. As we will see this prop features in several Sixties stories.  THE SENSORITES, 1964 The first appearance of this prop. Here you can see it front and centre being used by Maitland (Lorne Cossette) THE TENTH PLANET, 1966 It next appears at the very end of the Hartnell era. It’s in the very middle of the picture on the set of the Zeus IV. THE POWER OF THE DALEKS, 1966 And then it appears in the very next story. This time it’s wall mounted. THE MOONBASE, 1967 And again, it’s wall mounted in this Troughton Cyber tale.  FURY FROM THE DEEP, 1968 And one last Sixties appearance. Those distinctive chunky levers seem to have been painted a darker hue. 

This time it’s a couple of props that have been on my radar for ages. I’d hoped to find more examples but this is as much as I have ever found. Following my recent appearance on A Hamster With A Blunt Penknife discussing Destiny of the Daleks I found I was back to looking for these props again. Anyway here is what I have for now, I shall of course provide updates if I find them in anything else. DESTINY OF THE DALEKS, 1979 Towards the middle of this screen grab you can see a hubcap catching the light. The Skaro sets in Destiny are full of junk, but for some reason it’s the hubcaps that always stick out to me. In fact there are a bunch of different hubcaps across the various sets.  POWERPLAY, 1980 Naturally for a Doctor Who story from the late 70’s these hubcaps also turn up in Blakes 7. Powerplay is an episode from series C. LUNA, 1983 It’s really hard to see in this blurry screen grab but a hubcap can just about by made out on the left hand side of the screen. As far as I know Lun...