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.

This week I’m looking at some computer panels from the early eighties. Like my last post, it’s a group of props that share a common design but are all a little different. They are grey boxes that are divided into two or three sections. And each section features a seemly random arrangement of coloured lights and black knobs. Here is a typical example… They are found in several stories from 1981 to 1984 and, apart from one instance, they all feature a unique pattern of lights and knobs. WARRIORS GATE, 1981 A couple of examples of the two sectioned, smaller, panels. Plus a three sectioned unit peeking out from behind Romana. THE KEEPER OF TRAKEN, 1981 A rare example where the panel is not mounted on a wall. We get a clear look at how these boxes are put together. LOGOPOLIS, 1981 The last of three examples from Season 18. SAND, 1981 In the same year as season 18, we get a couple of appearances in Blake’s 7. First in Sand and then in… BLAKE, 1981 FOUR TO DOOMSDAY, 1982 The first of a couple...

I have a quick update on my post from last week all about the Classic Who props that turned up in an Ultravox music video . As always I’m indebted to the prop hunt brains trust for helping to track down more appearances of these props.  TERMINUS, 1983 On Bluesky, Zoe’s Feather Boa pointed out this Doctor Who appearance I’d missed. The example in this image actually differs slightly from those seen in The Twin Dilemma and Attack of the Cybermen. The circular screen is the same but the control panel is different. Here it features switches and dials whilst in the other stories it’s coloured lights. As mentioned in my last post, there are three units on set for Attack that are not clearly seen on screen or in photos. So this variation could be one of those.  NORTH SEA HIJACK, 1980 Some of the consoles in Attack feature a cylinder on top. This attachment is from the feature film North Sea Hijack starring Roger Moore. Again, thanks goes to Zoe’s Feather Boa for making this connecti...

Nothing quite says ‘science fiction’ more than putting hexagons all over your walls. This design, first seen in The Mutants, pops up throughout the 70s and 80s. In this post I tried to catalogue all of its appearances in classic Doctor Who. Next week for part 2 I will cover the other shows it appears in.  THE MUTANTS, 1972 As mentioned, this story is widely considered to be the origin of this prop. I have checked to see if I can find an earlier appearance but have drawn a blank. THE MUTANTS ORIGINAL DESIGN DRAWING BY JEREMY BEAR As you can see in this original production drawing, the hexagons were always part of the design. THE STONES OF BLOOD, 1978 Rather surprisingly the hexagons don’t appear again for another six years. NIGHTMARE OF EDEN, 1979 Once they did return in the late seventies they were back for good. This one is quite subtle but it’s the first of two appearances in this season. THE HORNS OF NIMON, 1979 And here is the other. MEGLOS, 1980 For Meglos, Designer Philip Lin...

So, with this post we are still hanging around in the computer room of Global Chemicals. I previously looked at those props that had been inherited from Gerry Anderson’s early Seventies live action drama UFO . Now, I’m looking at a prop that was already a familiar item from the beginning of the Pertwee era. In the images below are three grey rectangular panels attached to the walls of The Green Death set. I’ve numbered them 1, 2, and 3 so you can see what I’m talking about. Here they are side by side for direct comparsion. The basic layout of the switches and lights are consistent across all three panels. The only really clear difference between them is the colour of the darker third of the panel, on the right hand side. Also panel 2 seems to have only one small white square in that darker section compared to two in the others. However I’m too not worried about Panel 2 as it’s only Panels 1 and 3 that I have found in other stories. I’ve included it here for completeness sake. As mentio...