Doctor Who Prop Hunt

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 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 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...

Hey! This week I take a look at the Dalek’s slave labour from Destiny. This eclectic bunch are dressed in some familiar looking rags. They basically had whatever could be found in the stores. So let’s dive and see what we can spot. I’ll be highlighting the costumes that are being discussed in this ready brek style. This screen grab is from Destiny Part 4 and we can see a man in a blue and white futuristic suit. That suit comes from… PLANET OF EVIL, 1975 Destiny of the Daleks actually features two sets of slaves. The group on location was a different set of extras to those in the studio. Some of the costumes appear in both and the Morestran suit can be seen on the far left of this screen grab. It does seem to have lost its belt between the location and the studio.  FRONTIER IN SPACE, 1973 The Morestran suit isn’t the only familiar costume in the Destiny screen grab above. As you can see below the Draconian costume from Frontier (minus the belt and jewel) is also present.  And t...

This week we dive into the dressing up box and look at just some of the reused classic Who costumes. Each of the outfits or accessories here appeared in two stories. Which begs the question - Who wore it better? MARCO POLO, 1964 Starting with a well known one. This outfit worn by Marco Polo (Mark Eden) was also worn by…. THE CELESTIAL TOYMAKER, 1966 … The Toymaker (Michael Gough). MARCO POLO, 1964 And sticking with Marco Polo, the blue tunic Mark Eden sports here later appeared in… THE CRUSADE, 1965 ….The Crusade, where it is worn by Richard the Lionheart (Julian Glover) THE DALEKS’ MASTER PLAN, 1965 Next up is the clash of the medallion men! From DMP it’s Zephon (Julian Sherrier). THE WAR GAMES, 1969 And from The War Games it’s the War Chief (Edward Brayshaw) PLANET OF THE DALEKS, 1973 On to the seventies and these marvellous sickly yellow space suits worn by the Thals.  THE ANDROID INVASION, 1975 And here we have Guy Crayford (Milton Johns) with one of those suits. THE ROBOTS OF ...

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...

As promised last week, this one is a return to the props of Gerry Anderson’s UFO. Back in March I published several posts covering the many props from that show that ended up in episodes of Doctor Who. One prop I covered was a squat, wide bodied, blue computer. It appeared in The Green Death, The Time Warrior and other stories. Well, that prop has a taller cousin that so far I haven’t looked at. So here are the Doctor Who appearances of tall blue. TALL BLUE ON THE LEFT, WIDE BLUE ON THE RIGHT Like Ant and Dec, they stand in this order so you can remember which is which. JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN / DOPPELGÄNGER, 1969 Any time I’ve covered the UFO props I have always referred to them as just that, UFO props. As it was Anderson’s first live action TV show I had wrongly assumed they had originated on UFO. However before he made UFO, Anderson made a feature film. And many of the familiar objects from the world of SHADO actually first appeared there. Known as Doppelgänger in the UK...