Site Menu

April 26th, 2020 14 comments

We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.

Telos Publishing Doctor Who Exhibitions The Unofficial and Unauthorised History

Available to order from www.amazon.co.uk

For most film and television shows, the assets associated with their creation: the costumes, sets and props, are used once and then discarded or returned to dusty storerooms for possible future reuse. Fans of the BBC’s ‘Doctor Who’ series, however, have enjoyed a series of one-off and semi-permanent exhibitions which played host to the variety of props, costumes and, of course, the monsters which had appeared on screen.

Indeed, the very existence of these exhibitions allowed for the preservation of items which might otherwise had been destroyed or thrown into skips to become land-fill. They also shed light on the talents of the BBC’s various propmakers, costumiers and contractors, whose work can be admired when these incredible pieces of television history go on display.

From the earliest displays at the Daily Mail Exhibitions of 1964 and 1967, through the glory years of 1973 to 1985, when ‘Doctor Who’ was a permanent feature of trips to Longleat House in Wiltshire, and Blackpool’s Golden Mile. From the exhibition at Llangollen from 1995 to 2003, to the modern displays in Blackpool, Brighton, London, Cardiff and other locations up until 2017. Bedwyr Gullidge explores over 50 years of ‘Doctor Who’ exhibitions, sharing the stories of the people who constructed and ran them, and of course the fans who visited.

This is the ultimate guide to what was on display and when, with detailed notes of how the exhibitions changed over the years, how their very existence encouraged the BBC not to destroy and discard their assets, and instead to allow them to be seen and appreciated by viewers.


Categorised under: Books, Reference books

Adverts/Affiliates

14 comments

  • Master of M

    April 27th, 2020 - 8:13pm

    Wonder if they mention the Doctor Who Dome exhibition at the 1990 Gateshead National Garden Festival.

    Reply
    • Anonymous

      August 29th, 2020 - 6:56pm

      I was disappointed that this wasn’t covered at all. A shame as it was quite a nice little exhibit.

  • bob hellier

    April 26th, 2020 - 10:14pm

    i enjoyed and miss the dr who exhibition when it was at longleat when the original lord bath was there so this looks like a brilliant book to get

    Reply
  • The Monitor

    April 26th, 2020 - 9:48am

    This book is a very good idea. It is part of every fans life and so appropriate.

    However it reminds me of the great sadness of the Cardiff Exhibition and shop closing. It personally took me a very long time to get over that. It should have been there for as long as the programme plus arguably a few years beyond at least. Cardiff is the only place I went on holiday, and people used to comment on my Dr Who shopping bags going back to the hotel. I remember the last time, a family had flown over from Australia just to go to the Exhibition.

    Reply
  • Dalek z

    April 17th, 2020 - 1:22am

    I recently found some old negatives from my visit to the Blackpool exhibition in 1985ish,
    The Cyber controller and some Cryons, and that massive 6th Doctor tomb stone from Revelation of the Daleks feature in them.
    I remember the visit scared the celery off me as a kid, loved it!

    Reply
  • dazzleshell

    April 16th, 2020 - 1:32pm

    If anyone does get this I’d be interested to hear if there are lots of photo’s in the book as that is what would sway me to get it.

    Thanks

    Reply
    • Anonymous

      April 16th, 2020 - 2:28pm

      It’s a tells book so I don’t think it will feature photos. None of the others have. I could be wrong.

    • Anonymous

      April 16th, 2020 - 2:32pm

      Just looked on Amazon at their look inside function. No in text photos just a 22 page gallery at the end mainly of posters but some from madame tussauds etc. All black and white. Hope that helps

    • Anonymous

      April 16th, 2020 - 2:38pm

      That should be telos – autocorrect again!

    • TheBookViewer

      April 30th, 2020 - 10:14pm

      Gallery at the end of the book main sections are text based with no images until the last few pages

  • Martino

    April 16th, 2020 - 1:22pm

    I’ll be grabbing this! This is SUCH a weird coincidence, a few days ago I was literally literally thinking about an exhibition I went to as a kid. All I can recall is that it was in London’s Science Museum, late 60s or early 70s because I hadn’t actually seen the show yet & was a bit bemused but very excited by the console room and big space ‘windows’ with aliens on display. The TARDIS was in front of the door *I think* but any info about that would be a real thrill…

    Reply
    • Dalek Command

      April 16th, 2020 - 4:27pm

      I went to this. Remember part of the Tardis wall removed and a couple of Daleks in the space. Also remember they had some U.N.I.T Land Rover models and a creepy building set.
      Got a badge from this saying “Tardis Commander”.
      The exhibition I think was not all Dr Who but was about BBC special effects but I may be wrong.

    • Dalek Command

      April 16th, 2020 - 9:20pm

      Did some more research. It was the BBC Special Effects Exhibition 1973. There is lots of info and videos online.

    • Anonymous

      April 27th, 2020 - 8:33am

      Good lord this make’s me feel ancient! I went to the Science Museum with the Cubs many moon’s ago & visited this Exhibition!

Leave a Reply to Martino Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get your own avatar.
By clicking submit you agree to our terms and conditions (below), we reserve the right to edit or delete inappropriate messages.

Comment rules

The Doctor Who site welcomes constuctive comments related to the news article in question. Links posted in comments may not be displayed. We reserve the right to delete or edit any post entirely at our discretion. If you leave unacceptable comments your IP address will be banned and reported

Click here to read full comments terms and conditions

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Twitter

Facebook