When Colin Baker took over TV's Dr Who back in 1984, he appeared in a complete story at the end of the 21st season.
In their haste to produce some up-to-date new merchandise, the BBC Enterprise licenced a jigsaw company to produce a set of five jigsaws - such had been the success of some that were produced featuring a cardboard cut-out of Peter Davison being menaced by his enemies a few years earlier...
Sadly, their lack of available visual material was quite apparent when the samples turned up on producer John Nathan Turner's.
The jigsaws remained boxed and unmade...
Monday, 29 February 2016
Monday, 22 February 2016
Sydney Newman's Dr Who Cuckoo Clock...!!
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Regular visitors to this blog will know my fascination with "Official Doctor Who Collectors' Items". You know the stuff - plates, teddy bears, chess sets, table lamps etc...
Richard Bignell [@NothingLane] - who should be familiar to Doctor Who fans from his 'Now & Then' features on the BBC Doctor Who DVDs and from being one of DWm's original 'Time Team' tweeted a scan of a 1965 BBC memo from Sydney Newman. In it, Newman thanked the "Asst. to H.B.Tel.E" (?) for a list of merchandise based on his beloved Doctor Who. He was, however, disappointed to discover that a licenced cuckoo clock was not on the list... "Where are they?" he asked.
Well, Mr. Newman... Over fifty years late but here they are.
Or rather an artist's impression...
Richard Bignell [@NothingLane] - who should be familiar to Doctor Who fans from his 'Now & Then' features on the BBC Doctor Who DVDs and from being one of DWm's original 'Time Team' tweeted a scan of a 1965 BBC memo from Sydney Newman. In it, Newman thanked the "Asst. to H.B.Tel.E" (?) for a list of merchandise based on his beloved Doctor Who. He was, however, disappointed to discover that a licenced cuckoo clock was not on the list... "Where are they?" he asked.
Well, Mr. Newman... Over fifty years late but here they are.
Or rather an artist's impression...
Wednesday, 17 February 2016
Doctor Who Collectors Table Lamps - now available!
The current issue of the UK TV listings magazine "What's On TV" has an ad on page 36 for a Star Wars table lamp.
The stem is made up of three light sabres and there's some delightfully old-fashioned artwork from the first film on the shade. You couldn't make it up...
So I did.
Presenting the Official Doctor Who Collectors Table Lamp Collection...
The stem is made up of three light sabres and there's some delightfully old-fashioned artwork from the first film on the shade. You couldn't make it up...
So I did.
Presenting the Official Doctor Who Collectors Table Lamp Collection...
Thursday, 11 February 2016
Chocolate According to 70s Cult TV...
Wednesday, 10 February 2016
The Debut of ITVBen!
1.) There's an awful lot of Ben Shephard on ITV these days.
2.) There's a lot of awful Ben Shephard on ITV these days.*
(* Pick whichever opening sentence you prefer.)
Maybe ITV should consider a trendy re-branding of its dreadful ITVBe. The addition of an 'n' to the channel's logo would be quite painless...
Welcome to ITVBen!!!
2.) There's a lot of awful Ben Shephard on ITV these days.*
(* Pick whichever opening sentence you prefer.)
Maybe ITV should consider a trendy re-branding of its dreadful ITVBe. The addition of an 'n' to the channel's logo would be quite painless...
Welcome to ITVBen!!!
EastEnders - More Missing Adventures from Walford...
I make no apologies for my love of EastEnders... Here's a selection of recent efforts featuring unseen escapades that do not feature Sapphire & Steel this time.
Doctor Who makes an issue of explaining why its lead character gets re-cast every so often. Something it calls a"regeneration". EastEnders on the other hand just gets on with it. A new Johnny Carter will debut shortly with little or no mention of his new face. Well, here's the untold story of why he'll look different the next time we see him... and also - more importantly - why no one notices the doppelganger in their midst...
Dame Barbara Windsor will also be bowing out again.
This time for good.
Or is she...??
Doctor Who makes an issue of explaining why its lead character gets re-cast every so often. Something it calls a"regeneration". EastEnders on the other hand just gets on with it. A new Johnny Carter will debut shortly with little or no mention of his new face. Well, here's the untold story of why he'll look different the next time we see him... and also - more importantly - why no one notices the doppelganger in their midst...
Dame Barbara Windsor will also be bowing out again.
This time for good.
Or is she...??
The Chibnall Master Plan Revealed...
Shortly after the announcement that the creator/writer/producer of TV's Broadchurch, Chris Chibnall would be taking over the running of Doctor Who in the space year 2018, this fell through my letter box...
Saturday, 6 February 2016
From An Unearthly Child to The Husbands of River Song - the complete retro book cover collection from TV's Dr Who!
Well, I've finally gone and done it.
New retro-style book covers for every broadcast Doctor Who adventure from 'An Unearthly Child' through to 'The Husbands of River Song' - over 250 of them in all! (I haven't counted them as I'm hopeless with maths...)
This post collects together links to all of the covers via the various postings of them throughout the past year or so. In some cases, the links will take you to further sub menus but the important thing is that they are all here in one place and you don't have to use the weird Blogger search engine thing in the upper left hand corner...
Anyway, thank you for all of the kind comments about them over the past months. They have been much appreciated - particularly those who pointed out errors . My apologies to those who failed to get some of the obscure jokes and references on some of the covers.
NB - Click on the text to the right of the thumbnail - NOT the thumbnail itself!
SEASON ONE - An Unearthly Child to The Reign of Terror
SEASON TWO - Planet of Giants to The Time Meddler
SEASON THREE - Galaxy Four to The War Machines
SEASON FOUR - The Smugglers to The Evil of the Daleks
SEASON FIVE - Tomb of the Cybermen to The Wheel in Space
SEASON SIX - The Dominators to The War Games
SEASONS 7 to 11 - Spearhead from Space to Planet of the Spiders
SEASONS 12 to 18 - Robot to Logopolis
SEASONS 19 to 21 - Castrovlava to The Caves of Androzani
SEASONS 21 to 23 - The Twin Dilemma to The Ultimate Foe
SEASONS 24 to 26 - Time and the Rani to Survival (plus the 1996 TV movie)
NEW SERIES 1 to 8 - Rose to Last Christmas
NEW SERIES 9 - The Magician's Apprentice to The Husbands of River Song
New retro-style book covers for every broadcast Doctor Who adventure from 'An Unearthly Child' through to 'The Husbands of River Song' - over 250 of them in all! (I haven't counted them as I'm hopeless with maths...)
This post collects together links to all of the covers via the various postings of them throughout the past year or so. In some cases, the links will take you to further sub menus but the important thing is that they are all here in one place and you don't have to use the weird Blogger search engine thing in the upper left hand corner...
Anyway, thank you for all of the kind comments about them over the past months. They have been much appreciated - particularly those who pointed out errors . My apologies to those who failed to get some of the obscure jokes and references on some of the covers.
NB - Click on the text to the right of the thumbnail - NOT the thumbnail itself!
SEASON ONE - An Unearthly Child to The Reign of Terror
SEASON THREE - Galaxy Four to The War Machines
SEASON FOUR - The Smugglers to The Evil of the Daleks
SEASON FIVE - Tomb of the Cybermen to The Wheel in Space
SEASON SIX - The Dominators to The War Games
SEASONS 7 to 11 - Spearhead from Space to Planet of the Spiders
SEASONS 24 to 26 - Time and the Rani to Survival (plus the 1996 TV movie)
NEW SERIES 1 to 8 - Rose to Last Christmas
NEW SERIES 9 - The Magician's Apprentice to The Husbands of River Song
Friday, 5 February 2016
The Jon Pertwee Years - Classic Doctor Who novels rebranded...
Here's the complete Jon Pertwee vintage book covers - all in one post with links... (Click the text - not the image to go to each complete season)
Season seven - from Spearhead from Space to Inferno
Season eight - from Terror of the Autons to The Daemons
Season nine - from The Day of the Daleks to The Time Monster
Season ten - from The Three Doctors to The Green Death
Season eleven - from The Time Warrior to Planet of the Spiders
Season seven - from Spearhead from Space to Inferno
Season eight - from Terror of the Autons to The Daemons
Season nine - from The Day of the Daleks to The Time Monster
Season ten - from The Three Doctors to The Green Death
Season eleven - from The Time Warrior to Planet of the Spiders
Dr Who and the Three Breakfast Cereals
One of my earliest discoveries was the sad tale of Kellogg's Porky Pops - an attempt by the US food giant to create a savoury breakfast cereal back in the 1960s. As much I know about it is located in an old blog post here.
During the past few days, I've uncovered further breakfast wanderings into the worlds of Doctor Who - one of which appears to be a further failed attempt to re-launch the savoury brand.
They are presented here without further comment...
During the past few days, I've uncovered further breakfast wanderings into the worlds of Doctor Who - one of which appears to be a further failed attempt to re-launch the savoury brand.
They are presented here without further comment...
Wednesday, 3 February 2016
Classic Doctor Who novels re-branding - the seventh (and eighth) Doctor
And finally on to Sylvester McCoy...
I created a new logo - obviously based on the one used at the time. I commented on Twitter that it's an ASDA Smart Price version of it - for companies who can't afford the licencing fee... Some folk were even kind enough to say it was better than the original! They have no taste...
I also make no apologies for the Silver Nemesis design... You can safely assume I am not a fan of that story...
And here's the 1996 TV movie.
Technically a Sylvester McCoy story - he IS in it... and it saves having a single page for the eighth Doctor's solo outing...
I created a new logo - obviously based on the one used at the time. I commented on Twitter that it's an ASDA Smart Price version of it - for companies who can't afford the licencing fee... Some folk were even kind enough to say it was better than the original! They have no taste...
I also make no apologies for the Silver Nemesis design... You can safely assume I am not a fan of that story...
And here's the 1996 TV movie.
Technically a Sylvester McCoy story - he IS in it... and it saves having a single page for the eighth Doctor's solo outing...
Classic Doctor Who novels re-branding - the sixth Doctor
Onto Colin Baker's tenure as the Doctor... I had a bit of fun with these - not that I didn't with the previous five incarnations. Not least with the logo. Yes, it's the same as the ones for the fifth Doctor adventures but, like the production team at the time, I couldn't resist fiddling with it a bit. So much so, that you wouldn't even notice if I hadn't told you...