Doctor Who exhibition

Doctor Who exhibitions have taken many forms, from simple promotional tours, to exhibits part of other exhibitions to totally dedicated exhibitions given wholly to Doctor Who props and materials.

Covered here are all these, with dedicated exhibitions linked to their own articles. Exhibits where the Doctor Who element was part of a much larger exhibition are covered on this page.

Daily Mail exhibitions
Early in Doctor Who's broadcast schedule the Daleks were extremely popular. In 1964, to capitalise on the success of the Daleks' popularity the Daily Mail newspaper approached the BBC and suggested that Doctor Who be represented as part of the Daily Mail's "Boys & Girls Exhibition at Olympia", this was an annual event held by the paper.

Thus was the first public appearance by the Daleks, the show opened in December 1964. The BBC loaned 2 Dalek props both which had a prerecorded soundtrack accompanying them. It continued to operate through into 1965.

In 1967 and through into 1968, building on the success of their previous exhibition in 1964/5, this exhibition was again part of the Daily Mail's "Boys & Girls Exhibition". However this time it featured a much larger array of aliens from the series with not just the Daleks included this time, but also;
 * Yeti
 * Cybermen
 * Ice Warriors
 * Group of Rills
 * Mire Beast
 * Fungoid

The winning designs from the Blue Peter Design-a-Monster competition were also on display, having already featured on Blue Peter.

BBC Special Effects Exhibition 1972-1973

 * See main article BBC tv Special Effects Exhibition

This was the earliest proper BBC Exhibition to feature Doctor Who and was opened in December 1972 at the Science Museum in Kensington, London.



The Doctor Who Blackpool Exhibition 1974-1985

 * See main article Doctor Who Exhibition Blackpool

The Doctor Who Longleat Exhibition 1974-2003

 * See main article Doctor Who Exhibition (Longleat)

Held at Longleat House, the stately home near Warminster in Wiltshire, and home to the Marquess of Bath, which also included Britain's first safari park and garden maze it was open to the public along with other attractions held on the grounds.

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.

Madame Tussaud's 1980
Called "The Doctor Who Experience at Madam Tussauds" this special exhibition was part of the Madam Tussauds exhibition in London.

The opening on the 29th August 1980 attracted significant press attention at the time, as this was one of the first London-based Doctor Who exhibitions for some time. The time of opening of this exhibition coincided with the beginning of the 18th season of Doctor Who.

When the exhibition opened it was unique at the time as it was the only Madame Tussaud's exhibition with two models of the same individual, the Tom Baker/Fourth Doctor model and the Meglos version, both were sculpted by Judith Craig.

This portion of the Tussauds exhibition had an initial run through to 31st March 1981 but it was greatly extended due to the enormous popularity.

However, by 1999 the key features of some of the models (heads and hands) had been placed in storage.

The exhibition was designed by Michael Wright who headed a team from Madame Tussaud's.

Exhibits included wax reproductions of;
 * Fourth Doctor
 * Romana II
 * K9
 * Davros
 * A Blue Dalek
 * A Sontaran
 * A Nimon
 * A Foamasi
 * Meglos
 * A Marshman

Doctor Who USA Tour 1986/1987

 * See main article Doctor Who USA Tour

Following several years in the planning it was a £2 million venture; a co-operation between Lionheart Television International (the BBC USA Distributors) and Monarch International (the BBC's US Exhibition and Promotions Agent) finally came to fruition.

Space Adventure Exhibition 1988-1989

 * See main article Space Adventure

This venue's main attraction was a space shuttle simulation ride. When the Doctor Who USA Tour had finished a number of exhibits were moved here.

Behind the Sofa 1991-1992

 * See main article Behind the Sofa

Exhibited at the Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI), this exhibition had many unique features such as a walk-in Dalek where one could pretend to be a Dalek operator, a recreation of a 1960s living room and the opportunity to see a Krarg an alien created, but never seen on TV for the story Shada.

Doctor Who Experience, Llangollen, Wales 1995-2003

 * See main article Doctor Who Experience (Llangollen)

This was the largest exhibition to date with a permanent display of all the remaining costumes and props from the television series

Doctor Who Up Close
There were several exhibitions run under the "Doctor Who Up Close" name. The Cardiff Bay exhibition was the largest of these exhibitions, however smaller exhibitions have been run across the country since Doctor Who re-appeared on television in 2005.

The Cardiff Bay exhibition was voted the number one attraction in Cardiff this exhibition opened in December 2005.

The Up Close Exhibitions are all run by 'Experience Design'


 * Doctor Who Up Close (Cardiff Bay) (2005)
 * Doctor Who Up Close (Land's End) (2007-2011)
 * Doctor Who Up Close (Earls Court) (2008-2009)
 * Doctor Who Up Close MOSI Manchester (2007-2008)
 * Doctor Who Up Close Spaceport Merseyside (2006-2007)

From Script to Screen The Art of Doctor Who Exhibition 2008-2009

 * See main article The Art of Doctor Who

This exhibition at the Spaceport, Merseyside built on the success of its previous exhibition returning twice the size and ran from 23rd May 2008 to 1st March 2009.

Other exhibitions

 * Exhibition below soon to be sorted


 * 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: 30 September 2006 to 4 January 2007
 * Up Close, Manchester
 * 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