Let it snow (or not)

First off, apologies for the long absence of fresh material on this blog - no it's not dead, just sleeping! Secondly, thanks to everyone still browsing through... glad you are still finding stuff to interest you here. Don't expect a wave of new postings anytime soon - I'm still in a dark and distant corner of this planet where a good internet connection is about as rare as a Loch Ness Monster sighting (yes, there are still places where one can escape from the curse of technology, and boy do I like it).

I've just waded through about two months of Who blog postings to catch up on Who news... and whilst I don't usually pay much attention to pre-season spoilers and speculation (there's a reason why they're called 'spoilers'!), there was one little titbit that caught my eyes (yes, very blue aren't they?). Rumour has it that the War Chief (that's me that is) may be making a reappearance in Season 6.... whilst I can't confirm or deny this (not much point in me doing either, as perhaps it happens in my future and I don't yet know about it either), those of you who have been wondering if I've been busy trying to get Karen Gillan to hop into my SIDRAT will be dissapointed to know that I've just been faffing around in a tropical paradise... (and no, I don't feel sorry for you snow bound folk stuck in the UK - we all have choices in life, and staying on a crowded, muddy, and sometimes snowy, island is just a no brainer as far as I'm concerned).


Anyway, just though I should pop in and explain my absence, and show off a nice pic of my rather magnificently evil tash and sidies. Ah, those were the days. [Pic coloured by, and stolen from, TheSkaroRevenger, here]

Paradigm Hybrid Dalek - Birth of a New Breed

I agree so much with whats said about this vid by it's creator I've got to repeat it here:

"What happens if you cross the shape of the original Cusick Daleks with the design features of the new McKinstry Daleks? Here is my hybrid.

I never disliked any specific design change of the 2010 Daleks, it was really all about the shape. The fixtures and fittings on the Daleks have been altered repeatedly down the years so I don't mind new eye-stalks, lights, gun, etc. I like the raised skirt panels - and the the new rear hatch is interesting as it harks back to Cusick's original unused plans.

For me, it's the shape which makes the New Dalek Paradigm so disagreeable. Their tops are not in scale to the skirts, and they lean forward. So, I thought it would be interesting to give them a straight spine once again and return them to their small stature and original proportions. They are, after all, supposed to be small, compact travel machines - not massive, cumbersome, immovable tanks."

I found this here, on the TARDIS Newsroom, an excellent blog.

Life on Skaro

I know, I'm running out of legs on this one. If it had been a Leela doll it would have perhaps been a bit more worthy, but hey, I didn't take it! Source here.

Who buys a new Tardis

The Doctor buying a new Tardis from Harveys in Wembley Shopping Centre... Dead Ringers spoof.

Robot promo pics

A while back we did some early Baker promo pics, which included this first image, which was helpfully identified by a Blog follower as from Tom's first story Robot. Here's a few more.

Switching on the lights

Tom, Liz Sladen (Sarah Jane) and Ian Marter (Harry) switch on the Blackpool Illuminations in 1975.

Shada promo pics

More pics of Lalla in one of her fancy hats.






Sources: BBC classic series website, here, and there's a Shada gallery here, and the Who Image Archive, here.

Fowl Knits

In the 1980s Lalla Ward wrote two books on knitting (Fowl Knits and Beastly Knits) and also one on embroidery. See here for more photos, including promo pics of Lalla and Tom.

Zoe Heriot And Her Very Strange Adventure

A great compilation of clips of our lovely Zoe.

Ah Lalla!

A few posts back we looked at a collection of pics from City of Death, so time to do a little look at Romana II, played by Lalla Ward. The 'school uniform' costume she wore in City was apparently her own idea, and she obviously likes hats, so here's a few more...




Lalla Ward originally portrayed Princess Astra in The Armageddon Factor (1979). Romana 'chose' her likeness for her second incarnation, travelling with the Doctor from Destiny of the Daleks (1979) through to Warriors' Gate (1981).

There's a Lalla gallery on the Beeb's classic series website, here, and on the the Who Image Archive, here. Top picture is from The Leisure Hive.

For more information on Lalla, see the Who wiki, here.

3rd, 6th and 7th Doctor Interviews

Here's a collection of audio interviews to download. This series of interviews with David Banks includes the late Jon Pertwee, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and use the URL links to download the files.

Troughton Interview

Living with the Cybermen

The Doctor and The Cybermen try living together in this hilarious spoof clip from BBC sketch comedy show 'Dead Ringers', with impressionist Jon Culshaw as Doctor Who favourite Tom Baker.

Tom's first and last interviews

Here's a great clip of Tom being interviewed during location filming for Revenge of the Cybermen in 1974. The underground caves were shot at Wookey Hole in Somerset.



This was obviously broadcast just before Tom's first season hit the screens, and I guess made for BBC local television.

And here's one of his last interviews whilst in the role, for Nationwide in 1981.

City of Death promo pics

Here's another collection of promo pics, this time relating to Who's first filming abroad, in Paris, for the Baker classic story City of Death, written by Douglas Adams.


Lalla's definately not letting hold of Tom's scarf!


There's a whole lot more higher res pics on the Beeb's classic Who website here.

Power reconstructed clips

I meant to post this ages ago when I ran a little series of posts on the missing episode reconstructions. Here's an amazing piece of fan-made reconstruction work on a scene from Power of the Daleks by Jon Brunton.

Read all about and watch a clip here. There's another more recent interview and different clips here.

Here's another clip he's working on:



And a whole bag of stuff here. Amazing work, well done Jon.

Get stuck in the TARDIS with...

Boy's magazine, Nuts, has been running a vote on Who companions to see who you'd most like to get stuck in the Tardis with. Just what I need for a Monday when my brain is refusing to get into gear. You can rate each of our lovely companions, from the classic and new series, out of 10. I might have to start a campaign to 'Vote for Zoe', as I'm horrified to see she's currently only in 18th place.


There is, of course, a bias to the new series, with current companion Amy on top and Rose second. Peri (Nicola Bryant), in 6th place, currently tops the classic series companions. Lady Christina de Souza (Michelle Ryan) is scoring well in 3rd place, despite only appearing in one story and not travelling in the TARDIS - so in my book not qualifying for companion status - but I voted her 10 out of 10 anyway. Bring her back, preferably in a black PVC catsuit please. Astrid (Kylie Minogue) is also showing well in 4th place. And if we can have these two (and I'm not complaining) why not Jenny (Georgia Moffett) as well?

Vote here.

More Baker promo pics

Hats off to Combom, who's found another image to go with the collection of Tom Baker promo pics we brought you here.

More Sarah Jane stuff

Just catching up after a weekend off. Here's the third part of the Sarah Jane Story from the Beebs new series website, which looks at Sarah Jane's return to Doctor Who in the new series story School Reunion. I'll have a look for some pics later to add to this post...

Nearly Who (Part 3)

Peter Davison was always producer John Nathan-Turner's first choice to replace Tom Baker. However, he also considered actors Iain Cuthbertson, who had previously guest starred in the 1978 serial 'The Ribos Operation'. This picture shows Cuthbertson as John Sutherland from the BBC series 'Sutherland's Law' (1973).


Richard Griffiths was also shortlisted to play the Fifth Doctor Who (and was a favourite to replace Sylvester McCoy in 1990, until the series was cancelled). He's pictured here as Henry Jay from the BBC drama 'Bird of Prey' (1981).


In 1987, Ken Campbell was approached to replace Colin Baker as Doctor Who. The part ultimately went to Sylvester McCoy, who had been discovered by Campbell in the early 1970s. Campbell is shown here in the 1978 UK crime series 'Law and Order' (not connected to the later series of the same name).


Dermot Crowley also auditioned for the part of the Seventh Doctor, having previously played a small role in the 1983 'Star Wars' film 'Return of the Jedi'. In this picture, he plays Dr Galton in the 1997 thriller 'Breakout'.


When Colin Baker was suddenly and reluctantly removed as the sixth Doctor Who, producer John Nathan-Turner wanted comic performer Sylvester McCoy as his successor, but he also screen-tested other actors, including Chris Jury (left), who had already found fame as the sidekick of Ian McShane (right) in 'Lovejoy' (1990).

Pictures and text from the Beeb's Changing Face of Doctor Who, here.

Doctor Who and the Computer System Adverts

Despite the hours I dedicate to searching for Who on the net, there's always something I haven't seen before... this time a series of 1980s adverts with Tom Baker and Lalla Ward, in full costume and character, with lots of Who references. Quality.

Dalek City

Here's a website for any of you tempted to try and build your own Dalek... the website of the Dalek Builders Guild, here.

Dalek Invasion of Ambridge

Some more bits from BBC Norfolk...

Dalek Invasion of Ambridge - here

My life as Davros - Terry Molloy - here.

Terry Molloy: I, Davros - here.

Rise Of The Cybermen - Roger Lloyd Pack - here.

There's also a few other Who related bits and bobs, but I'll let you find those yourself!

Local stuff for local people

More from the BBC Norfolk site (all a few years old), where they have a couple of Elizabeth Sladen interviews, as well as a gallery, which features some stills not found on the Beebs Who websites.

Elizabeth Sladen interview (April 2006) - here.

Elizabeth Sladen interview (Oct 2006) - here.

Sarah Jane Gallery - here.

BBC Press Office - New Series Stuff

Here's a site I hadn't found until just now, the BBC Press Office site, with a whole bundle of stuff relating to the new series relaunch and season one. Browse it here.

More on Sarah Jane

The Beeb's current new series Who site has part two of the Sarah Jane story, here, dealing with the Baker years and 'K9 and Company' pilot. It must be said the photo's which accompany it are not up to much, so here's some different ones!


With Tom (in partial costume), an early Baker promo pic.


From Terror of the Zygons. Pinched from the BBC Norfolk website, which has quite a bit of Who related stuff... here.


K9 and company, grabbed from the Classic Who site's K9 gallery, here.


And from Who Image Archive's Sarah Jane gallery, here.

Chocolate Who

Here's a few images of wrappers from the Who Nestle chocolate bar promotion from 1971. There's not much info about these online - the images originally came from the Cuttings Archive, which has sadly vanished off the net.






I've also seen images of a purple coloured wrapper. There's a sort of "missing" Who story on the back - 'Doctor Who Fights Masterplan Q' - each wrapper with an image and paragraph of text, with 15 'episodes' to collect (shown are numbers 8, 12 and 15). It even features the Master, as seen on the third wrapper above. I haven't seen the details of this story anywhere.

Here's the display card from the box (can't remember where this came from, sorry). Notice how the artwork is obviously taken from the same promotional photographs as the Sugar Smacks promotion badges, here. The artwork here is good, with Pertwee's likeness being better than the one used on the actual wrappers.


Combom, as always, found the advert below (here)


These are obviously highly collectable, and rarely found for sale. I guess there's a few serious collectors out there who may have a complete set, or near complete. Wouldn't it be great to have all these online, or at least the text and images from the story. I know there's a few collectors on the Richard Who site who have wrappers - come on guys, get it together!

Anyone got any more scans or info??

Wendy Padbury promo pics

Here's a group of promo pics of Wendy Padbury, I'm guessing from around the time of her announcement as Who girl. You can guess why I like them.

Before they were Who

And here's Jon Pertwee and William Hartnell working together on the 1953 British comedy film Will Any Gentleman...?

Here's an old pic of Pat Troughton and Frasier Hines working together in 1964, before their Who days, in 'A Death and a Discovery', the first episode of 'Smuggler's Bay', based on John Meade Falkner's novel 'Moonfleet'.


Frazer Hines was chosen to play Who assistant Jamie McCrimmon at the recommendation of BBC Head of Serials Shaun Sutton. Hines had enjoyed a recurring role in Emergency Ward 10 and had unsuccessfully auditioned for the part of Ben Jackson in 1966.

Image grabbed from here.

Radio Times Genesis of the Daleks

Just an excuse to post this great piece of work by Frank Bellamy, from the Radio Times (20/12/1975 - 02/01/1976) - used to promote the rerun of the story.

Image grabbed from here (there's a Tom pic also).

Nearly Who (Part 2)

Though Patrick Troughton was chosen to replace William Hartnell, Michael Hordern was approached as a fall-back had Troughton turned down the role. Hordern is pictured here in the 1977 BBC production of 'A Christmas Carol'.


In 1969, the first choice to replace Patrick Troughton was Ron Moody, who had recently played Fagin in 'Oliver!'. When Moody declined the part, it was offered to Jon Pertwee. This picture comes from a 1970 play called 'Is That Your Body, Boy?' in which Moody played an oppressive sports teacher.


Fulton Mackay had appeared in the 1970 serial 'Doctor Who and the Silurians'. In 1974, he was approached to replace Jon Pertwee as the Doctor. When a comedy pilot that he had recorded with Ronnie Barker was commissioned for a full series - 'Porridge' - MacKay was no longer free for 'Doctor Who'.


Finding a replacement for Jon Pertwee in 1974 was a difficult task for producer Barry Letts. His shortlist included former 'Goon' and host of 'It's a Square World', Michael Bentine, until Bentine asked for more input into future scripts than the producer could permit.


Graham Crowden, later a familiar face from 'A Very Peculiar Practice' (1986-88) and 'Waiting for God' (1990-94) was also invited to replace Jon Pertwee, but was reluctant to take on a leading role. He made a guest appearance in 'Doctor Who' in 1979, as the villainous Soldeed in 'The Horns of Nimon'.

Pictures and text from the Beeb's Changing Face of Doctor Who, here.