Doctor Who Prop Hunt

Happy New Year! I’m writing this on New Years Day as the UK is being blasted with some extreme weather. So let’s gather round the fireplace to keep warm. And not just any old fireplace. This one has quite the comedy pedigree.  MONTY PYTHONS FLYING CIRCUS, 1969 Starting, as always, at the earliest appearance. You can see the fireplace on the far right of this screen grab. It’s mostly obscured but is identifiable by the carved design that runs across of top. This is the first of number of comedy appearances. The episode is from Python’s first season and is titled The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Goes to the Bathroom. THE VISITATION, 1982 The fireplace appears in the 17th Century Manor House of Squire John in Eric Saward’s Season 19 story.  BLACKADDER II, 1986 Back to the comedy and a classic at that. The fireplace can be found in the residence of Lord Edmund Blackadder himself.  GRACE & FAVOUR, 1992 And finally, the fireplace appears in this early 90s sequel to Are You ...

One year ago this statue kick started my interest in looking for reoccurring props in Doctor Who. It had always been something of an interest and I had covered the topic on my Instagram many times. But when I initially found this prop at the very beginnings of Who it sparked a little  bit of an obsession. In the intervening 12 months I’ve uncovered this lady (and 5 of her Sisters) in a variety of places. Presented here is all of my research so far. This has been previously published on my Instagram, @doctor_who_60s_70s_80s but includes a couple of new finds. STEP AND SON, 1962-65 Before Doctor Who, our statue lived in the front room of the Steptoes. She’s in this spot for pretty much all of Step and Son’s initial run.  DON SMITH RADIO TIMES PROMOTIONAL PHOTO, 1963 BBC TELEVISION CENTRE Radio Times photographer Don Smith was tasked with taking the initial publicity stills of the regulars on the 20th September 1963. However at this point the sets for An Unearthly Child had yet t...

The subject of this post is the bucket shaped space helmet worn by Beaus,one of the Delegates from Mission to the Unknown. In MTTU the helmet features a tall protuberance that I haven’t spotted anywhere else but the basic helmet turns up in a number of places. Presented here are all of the occasions I have been able to find it so far.  PATHFINDERS TO MARS, 1960 Five of these helmets can be found in this ABC Weekend TV production. These are the earliest examples I have spotted. THESE ARE THE DAMNED, 1961 One of the helmets seems to have been painted black for this Hammer film. MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS, 1972 After Beaus’ appearance in Mission To The Unknown the next time I can find one of these helmets is in an episode of Monty Pythons’ third series ‘Mr. And Mrs. Brian Norris’ Ford Popular’. It was worn by Terry Gilliam. FRONTIER IN SPACE, 1973 PLANET OF THE DALEKS,1973 THE ANDROID INVASION, 1975 THE FACE OF EVIL, 1975 All of the helmets I have found seem to have had at least som...