Doctor Who exhibition

This article covers a number of exhibitions organised by the BBC celebrating the rich world of Doctor Who.

=Daily Mail Boys and Girls Exhibition (1964-1965)=
 * Opened in December 1964 at the Olympia, London, this annual exhibition supported by the national press title the Daily Mail, the Daleks were present to thrill the crowds.

=Daily Mail Boys and Girls Exhibition (1967-1968)=
 * Building on the success of their previous showing the Daleks reappeared at the exhibition. This time the exhib was much grander and also featured;
 * Yeti
 * Cybermen
 * Ice Warriors
 * Group of Rills
 * Mire Beast
 * Fungoid
 * winning designs from the Blue Peter Design-a-Monster competion

=BBC Special Effects Exhibition (1973)=
 * This was the earliest proper BBC Exhibition to feature Doctor Who and was held in 1973 at the Science Museum in Kensington, London.
 * Exhibs included;
 * A glimpse of the inside of the TARDIS

=The Doctor Who Blackpool Exhibition (1974 - 1985)=
 * At 111 Central Promenade, on the busy Golden Mile, this was a prime location for visitors.
 * Opened in 1974 as a permanent exhibition daily from Easter through to 30th October the exhibition ran until October 1985 when the lease on the building expired.
 * Promoted in continuity announcements at the time, following the programme broadcasts.
 * Displays were regularly updated with new exhibs as new stories were aired.
 * Through a TARDIS-shaped entrance visitors followed the exhibition through a range of various displays of props, costumes, and models towards a working prop of the console room with console, before reaching the shop at the end.
 * Unlike the Longleat Exhibition, the Blackpool Exhibition also included a display of small scale models of landscapes and spacecrafts. Davros, Daleks, Cybermen and K-9 were among regular exhibts.
 * In 1975 Elizabeth Sladen, Ian Marter and Tom Baker promoted the exhibition with a parade led by Tom Baker in the back of Bessie with the Mayoress and a UNIT driver. The parade also include a Zygon, Bellal, Sontaran, Sea Devil and Cyberman led to the switching on of Blackpools illuminations.
 * In 1985, Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant were present signing autographs in the console area for Children in Need.

=The Doctor Who Longleat Exhibition (1974-199X)=
 * Held at Longleat House, the stately home near Warminster in Wiltshire, and home to the Marquess of Bath, which also included Britains first safari park and garden maze it was open to the public along with other attractions held on the grounds.
 * Also opened in 1974 this slightly smaller than the Blackpool exhibition ran as a permanent exhibition daily from Easter through to 30th October the exhibition ran until 199X, longer than the Blackpool Exhibition which closed in 1985.
 * Promoted in continuity announcements at the time, following the programme broadcasts.
 * Through a TARDIS-shaped entrance visitors followed the exhibition through a range of various displays of props, costumes, and models towards a working prop of the console room with console, before reaching the shop at the end.
 * The Daleks, Cybermen and K-9 were among regular exhibts.
 * A promotional item on Blue Peter in 1980 saw presenter Tina Heath encounter the Virus Nucleus and John Nathan-Turner previewing the forthcoming Season 18.

=Doctor Who Twentieth Anniversary Event (1983)=
 * This was a phenomenally successful two-day event held over the Easter Bank Holiday Weekend in April at Longleat House.
 * Longleat House was chosen as the venue to stage this event largely because of the space available.
 * 50,000 people were expected to attend – 35,000 turned up on the first day alone. Packed to capacity, even more people were turned away at the gate.

=The Doctor Who Experience 1980-198X)=
 * This special display at Madame Tussaud's wax museum in London opened on 29 August 1980. Its original run through to 31st March 1981 was greatly extended and it finally closed in 198X.
 * The exhibition was designed by Michael Wright who headed a team from Madame Tussaud's.
 * Exhibits included wax reproductions of;
 * The Fourth Doctor
 * Romana II
 * K-9
 * Davros
 * Dalek
 * Sontaran
 * Nimon
 * Foamasi
 * Meglos
 * Marshman


 * The Meglos and Fourth Doctor exhibs, both skulptured by Judith Craig, makes Tom Baker the first person to share two wax works of the same person at the same time.

=Space Adventure Exhibition (1988-1989)=
 * This venue's main attraction was a space shuttle simulation ride.
 * When the Doctor Who USA Tour had finished a number of exhibs were moved here.
 * Opened on 15th November 1988 this relatively small display of props and costumes from recent stories and a replica TARDIS consolewas short lived when the company behind Space Adventures ran into financial difficulties and the venue was closed down the following year.
 * Exhibts (many animated) included;
 * Sontaran
 * Special Weapons Dalek
 * Kandyman
 * Cybermen (Earthshock version)
 * Further exhibs were added the following year including;
 * Emperor Dalek
 * Sea Devil
 * Silurian
 * Plasmaton
 * Tractator

=Doctor Who Touring Exhibition=
 * Launched on 9th May 1986, at Elstree, this 48 foot trailer (too large for UK roads) was launched in a blaze of publicity and shipped over from Liverpool to New York.
 * The exhibition ran for several months in spite of the vehicle being damaged during shipping from the UK.
 * The trailer was made by a firm called Vanplan in Warrington.
 * The external mural was painted by Andrew Skilleter and featured the Dark Tower on Gallifrey.
 * Exhibits included;
 * Dalek
 * Silurian
 * Sea Devil
 * Sontaran
 * K-9
 * Tractator
 * Ergon

=Doctor Who Experience, Llangollen, Wales (X -2003)=
 * This was the largest exhibition to date with a permenant display of all the remaining costumes and props from the television series, including the Eighth Doctor (TV movie) from 1996.
 * After a very successful run the exhibition closed in 2003.
 * Exhibits included;
 * 1960's colour movie Daleks
 * Mandrel
 * Mona Lisa painting
 * The TARDIS console (The Five Doctors onwards version)
 * Bessie
 * Magma Beast
 * Morbius
 * Drathro
 * Haemovore
 * Kandyman
 * Fifi
 * Gods of Ragnarok
 * Gundan Warrior
 * Special Weapons Dalek
 * Time Lord
 * Gallifryan Guard
 * Doctor costumes (3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th)
 * Cybermen (Earthshock versions)
 * Malus
 * Melkur
 * Boris the Spider
 * Argolin
 * Kroll
 * K-9 and Coven Leader Hecate
 * Mummy Sarcorphagus

and assorted props

=Behind the Sofa The Doctor Who Exhibition at MOMI the Museum of Moving Image (1991-1992)=
 * This London Exhibition was launched in July 1991 with former companions Carole Ann Ford, Wendy Padbury, Sophie Aldred and Bonnie Langford cutting a Dalek-shaped cake designed and made by Jane Asher.
 * So sucessful was the exhibition that its three month run was extended to just under a year before moving to other locations around the UK.
 * Highlights of this exhibition included the recreation of a 1960's living room and a Kraag from the unbroadcast adventure Shada (TV story.

=Doctor Who Up-Close=

The Up-Close exhibitions are all run by Experience Design
 * Cardiff Bay, Wales: Opened December 2005 – Remains OPEN indefinitely.
 * Voted the number one attraction in Cardiff this exhibition opened in December 2005


 * While the Cardiff Exhibition was the largest of these exhibitions, smaller exhibitions have been run across the country since Doctor Who re-appeared on television in 2005.
 * Venues include;
 * The Art of Doctor Who, Spaceport, Merseyside: 30 September 2006 to 4 January 2007
 * Land’s End: Opened 7 April 2007 – Remains OPEN
 * National Space Centre, Leicester: 12 November 2007 to 6 January 2008
 * MOSI, Manchester: 31 March 2007 to 6 January 2008
 * Earls Court, London: Easter 2008 to 7th January 2009
 * Spaceport, Merseyside: 23 May 2008 to 1st March 2009
 * * Up Close, Manchester

Other Exhibitions to be added

 * Doctor Who Exhibition, Brighton Pier: May 2005 to November 2005
 * Doctor Who Exhibition, National Space Centre, Leicester: Christmas 2006
 * Liverpool' Garden Festival
 * Brighton Pier exhibition
 * Leicester Space Centre Exhibition