Wednesday 30 December 2015

Original 7th Doctor items on eBay - December 2015

Looks like another bit has dropped off a Tetrap!

Time And The Rani -
framed Tetrap Hand
This is an amazing opportunity

There were just three of these tetrap costumes made for the 1987 story Time And The Rani.

As with many costumes of the day, they have deteriorated. This is from one of these original screen used costumes sold in the famous bonhams auction.

I have seen small pieces of tetrap skin sell for £50-100 over the years on ebay but never such a large piece - this digit is in great condition and has been framed in a box frame.

It is supplied with a copy of the letter of authenticity and is s once in a lifetime auction!

Survival - Sabre-tooth prop
This is a prop sabre-tooth knife, used by Mitch in Survival, the final story of classic Doctor Who, in 1989. It's a lightweight version, as it had to be used as a weapon that wouldn't hurt anyone. It is the prop that appeared on screen.

It's in excellent condition; it's about 30 cm / 1 foot long.

It's been donated to us by Mike Tucker, the BAFTA award winning special effects designer, who's worked on Doctor Who since the 1980s. We're extremely grateful to Mr Tucker for his most generous gift.

Tuesday 1 December 2015

Bonhams auction - 10th December 2015

As 2015 draws to a close, it’s time for the end of year Entertainment Memorabilia sale at Bonhams.

Here’s the Doctor Who items on offer.




As usual I have separated the items by Doctor era, and you can see the rest of the items here:
Here are just the lots relating to the Seventh Doctor era


Lot 73
Doctor Who - The Greatest Show in the Galaxy: two screen used prop circus posters,
BBC, 1988,
mixed media of acrylic paint and pen on paper, the posters can be seen in the ticket booking area of the Psychic Circus, approximately 76 x 102cm (30 x 40in)

FOOTNOTES
The vendor was the set designer for these episodes and commissioned the posters to be made.

Estimate £500 - 700
Sold for £687

Lot 74
Doctor Who - The Greatest Show in the Galaxy: a group of scripts and copies of production drawings,
BBC, 1988,
including: a set of four scripts for The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, episodes 1-4, all unbound with metal fastening in top left hand corner, all with a cast and main crew list to front, all dated OB Rehearsal 6th - 12th May to title page, episode 1 - 87pp. of mimeographed typescript on white paper, episode 2 - 73pp. of mimeographed typescript on blue paper, episode 3 - 73pp. of mimeographed typescript on green paper, episode 4 - 78pp. of mimeographed typescript on pink paper; together with 15 dyeline copies of construction drawings including studio plans for Elstree studios, some with annotations in pen, a photocopy of a computer projection for the set (20)


FOOTNOTES
The vendor was the set designer for these episodes and commissioned the posters to be made.

Estimate £500 - 700
Sold for £562

Lot 75
Doctor Who - The Curse of Fenric: a collection of scripts, designs and production paperwork,
BBC, 1989,
including: a set of four rehearsal scripts for The Curse of Fenric, episodes 1-4, all with main crew and cast lists to front, read-through date to title page of 23rd March 1989 and unbound, episode 1 - 79pp. of mimeographed typescript on white paper, episode 2 - 78pp. of mimeographed typescript on blue paper, episode 3 - 79pp. of mimeographed typescript, episode 4 - 83pp. of mimeographed typescript on white paper; two story order breakdowns; 10 dyeline prints of construction drawings for sets and maps, including drawings for a gas chamber and a map for Crowborough Training Camp; 6 page copy of an appendix entitled Futharks and Flip-Flops and a production sheet; held in two ringbound folders (2)



FOOTNOTES
The vendor was the set designer on these episodes.

Estimate £500 - 700
Sold for £562


Lot 76
Doctor Who - The Curse of Fenric: a prop chemical bomb and related construction paperwork,
BBC, 1989,
the bomb of wooden frame with vacuum-formed PVC outer shell which has been painted in grey, two motifs in yellow paint of a skull in a gas mask with cross-bones to centre and yellow paint detail around bomb 'nose', later metal loop has been inserted in the nose, the bomb was made for the scene in the poison weapon arsenal of the secret military base; together with a copy of a plan of a marine camp and 2 photocopies of construction drawings for bombs, the bomb approximately 102cm (40in) high (4)

FOOTNOTES
The vendor was the set designer on these episodes.

Estimate £500 - 700
Sold for £812



Monday 16 November 2015

Bonhams FLASHBACK: 16th & 17th November 2005 Rock n' Roll & Film Memorabilia

I’ve been researching the Entertainment Memorabilia auctions at Bonhams, and it was EXACTLY 10 years ago today that Tom’s scarf, last worn in Shada, was sold along with a number of other classic series items.

Here’s what was on offer.
As usual I have separated the items by Doctor era, and you can see the rest of the items here:

Here are just the lots relating to the Seventh Doctor era



Lot 613
'Dr. Who': a prop scanning device,

battery-operated, as used in the 1987 episode 'Time And The Rani' by both Sylvester McCoy and Kate O'Mara, 17cm (6½in) long
Estimate £200 - 300
Sold for £120

Lot 614
A model of the Tardis,

1980s, made of balsa, base with switch and marked in red 002 B.N., top with light, 16in (6¼in) high
Estimate £200 - 300
Sold for £228

Lot 615
A 'Tardis' telephone,

1988, by Holdcourt Ltd., still sealed in original box
Estimate £75 - 100
Sold for £216

Lot 616
A three-toed (Yeti?) foot,

moulded and painted rubber, 36cm (14in ) long
Estimate £100 - 150
Sold for £156

Lot 619
A baby dinosaur in jar,

moulded and painted foam, from the 1985 episode, 'The Mark Of The Rani', 36cm (14in) high
Estimate £200 - 300
Sold for £780

Lot 621
A model of The Rani's Tardis,

of painted foam, as made for the 1993 Children In Need episode, 'Dimensions In Time', 30.5cm (12in) high
Estimate £250 - 300
Sold for £240

Lot 622
'Dr. Who': a Tardis roundel,
fibreglass, with traces of black and grey paint, indicating use in the Tardis of both The Doctor and The Master, believed to be the last surviving example from the original Tardis, 55cm (21½in) diameter

Estimate: £500 - 700
Unsold


Lot 622A
A collection of Dr Who costumes
Estimate £40 - 60
Sold for £312

Lot 623
A Haemovore concept model,

painted plaster, as made for 'The Curse Of Fenric', 1989, 41cm (16in) high
Estimate £400 - 500
Unsold

Lot 624
A Tetrap,

painted foam with 'fur', from the 1987 four-part story 'Time And The Rani', featuring the first appearance of Sylvester McCoy as The Doctor, 37cm (14½in) high
Estimate £200 - 300
Sold for £108

Lot 624A
A model of the Tardis,

1980s, balsa, wired for light, base with on/off switch, 15cm (6in) high
Estimate £200 - 300
£200 - 300

Lot 625
A model of the Tardis,

1980s, in balsa, 11cm (4¼in) high
Estimate £100 - 150
Sold for £90

Lot 626
Presentation items,

comprising a pottery model church on wood base with plaque reading Presented To John Natahn-Turner For 'The Curse Of Fenric'. Season Poll Winner; a tankard marked Producer Doctor Who; and a fan-made workbox embroidered Doctor Who All Creatures Great And Small John Nathan Tuner Cinderella Pantomine BBC
FOOTNOTES
The Curse Of Fenric was broadcast October 1989.
Estimate £100 - 150
Sold for £228

Saturday 7 November 2015

Barking Signing - 7th November 2015

Over in windy, rain-swept Barking, today was the latest Tenth Planet event signing session.

Barking Signing -  7th November 2015
The main draw for me today was to meet two of the lead stars from the enigmatic Sylvester McCoy adventure, Ghost Light.

SHARON DUCE played Control in Ghost Light.



Sharon Duce was due to attend last time, but apparently got lost en route and despite repeated efforts, couldn't be found by the event organisers!

Luckily she made it today, so she was a very welcome addition to the line-up.
Sitting next to her was Ian Hogg, her co-star from Ghost Light.

IAN HOGG is best known for his lead role in the BBC1 television series Rockliffe's Babies and its follow-up Rockliffe's Folly, playing Detective Sergeant Alan Rockliffe.

He has also been associated with Doctor Who by voicing the part of General Voshkar in The Sandman, a spin-off Doctor Who audio drama produced in 2002 by Big Finish Productions.

Next to them in line was Jon Davey, an extra who has so far appeared in 35 episodes of Doctor Who, as a variety of monsters and small featured parts.

JON DAVEY has played a variety of monsters in Doctor Who. These include Cybermen, Daleks, Ood, Jadoon, Hath, Heavenly Host, Vigil and Wispermen. He has performed live at may events including The Doctor Who Proms and Doctor Who Live and Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular in Australia and New Zealand.

He was a real nice chap, but frankly suffers from the self-importance syndrome that a lot of film and tv extra stuff from.

He is full of (interesting) stories of how its him in that Cybermen costume with one arm; or the Dalek at the back that has the exploding eye-stalk; or the Ood that stands up and touched Rose's shoulder - all well and good, but someone had to be in the costume, unfortunately it was him.

Unlike the rest of the guests, Jon had pretty much filled his allotted space with a shop selling signed Dalek toys (£20), signed Dalek eggs (£19.99 - is the penny difference worth the hassle?) and even an audio-visual display of him being put into make-up from a Doctor Who Confidential episode.

Like I do with every guest I asked for a quick shot of him signing my book, which he insisted on doing clutching one of the toy Daleks to 'Make and event of it'. Succeed.



FRAZER HINES
Frazer Hines played companion Jamie McCrimmon from The Highlanders to The War Games, and again in the twentieth anniversary special, The Five Doctors, and the Season 22 story, The Two Doctors. Outside Doctor Who, he is perhaps best known for playing Joe Sugden in Emmerdale Farm.


DICK MILLS is a British sound engineer who provided special sounds for Doctor Who from 1972 to 1989. He is responsible for the frequently-used Cloister Bell sound.

I already have Dick Mills and Frazer Hines in my book from previous events, so I didn't need them, but I did need Catherine Howe who has been on everyone's radar recently due to the release of The Underwater Menace on DVD.

CATHERINE HOWE played Ara in The Underwater Menace.



She was sitting next to Frazer for the signing, and they were exchanging stories about their time shooting the story, nearly 50 years ago now!

RALPH WATSON appeared in four Doctor Who serials alongside three Doctors, with Patrick Troughton twice. He played an uncredited Generator Scientist in The Underwater Menace, Captain Knight in The Web of Fear, Ettis in The Monster of Peladon and Ben in Horror of Fang Rock.



Her co-star, Ralph Watson was also in attendance, and he was more than happy to sign my book and pose for a photo for me.






Completing the line up was Gregory De Polnay who appeared in Robots Of Death.

GREGORY DE POLNAY played D84 in The Robots of Death. He later voiced Voc 23 in the Kaldor City audio Storm Mine.



After meeting David Bailie last time, it was nice to meet another member of the cast.


Once everyone had got the autographs they wanted, and the professional photos with the guests, it was time for a question an answer session, hosted as usual by Robert Dick.


Dick Mills remembered working on Doctor Who before any film was shot. Alongside Delia Derbyshire, he acted as technician to her creative mind in creating the iconic opening music.

Each episode had a 10 day turn around from first viewing to final dub, which he explained was fine for episode 1, but by episode 23 they were flagging!

Frazer talked enthusiastically about recovering the lost episode. He'd love to see The Highlanders and Evil Of The Daleks recovered, but realises the chances are slim.

Catherine remembered she was very young when she was on Doctor Who and talk fondly of Aneka.

Ralph also recalled the episode, but thought everyone had been quite cruel to the director, who was a Polish Jew who had fled Germany prior to WW2. Patrick Troughton and Julia Smith classed with him a lot, which was sad as he was doing a good job.


Jon joined Who during series two, when he attend an open audition along with around 50 others. After passing the 'marching in a straight line with your eyes closed' test, he went to Millennium Effects where he discovered he was shortlisted to be a Cyberman. The final criteria was to fit the costume, which he did, so got the part.
A colleague one day brought in some bathroom scales to weigh himself in costume, subtracted his body weight, to work out the costume weighed 4 stone!
The mouth had LED lights inside, so restricted breathing, meaning the only airholes were through the eyes.

This reminded Dick Mills of an instant during his appearance on The One Show.

They had an old and new series Cyberman on set, but the producers thought the old one looked tatty, so they used silver gaffer tape to smooth over the wrists, elbows and around the neck. They didn't realise that all air circulation had been cut off and the actor in the costume FAINTED!



Sharon shared more scenes with Sophie than Sylvester, so her memories were more of her than him. Ian remembers having great respect for Sylvester for learning long passages of script.

Sharon acting stage manger at York repertory theatre. Following a long run of quality plays the cast were told they would be doing Stop It Nurse, a comic farce. Brought in to star was none other than Tom Baker, who she described as having came with pop-out eyes and toothbrush in top pocket.

Like much of the male cast, Gregory lusted over Louise Jameson in what little costume she had, and felt first-hand the friction between her and Tom Baker.
But he did manage to break into Tom's crossword circle when he cracked a particularly difficult Times crossword clue, after which he enjoyed a gin or two in the bar after rehearsals.

A week or so prior, Greg worked on the Space: 1999 episode The Lambda Factor as Chief Engineer Pete Garforth.

The lead stars are American husband and wife team Martin Landau and Barbara Bain. He recalled they were on £22,000 a week, with plush hotels, chauffeur driven car, silver service lunches, while the rest of the cast were on £8 a week, including the buy-out fee!

Inspired by tales of the Landau's excesses, Frazer told a tale of catch a lift to Television Centre with Eric Morecombe. Upon arrival the commissionier, who only had one arm, would each day usher Eric to a reserved space. At the end of the week he asked Eric if there was a chance of two tickets to the Christmas Show, one for himself and his wife. Eric said the wife could come, but he couldn't. Affronted, he asked why. "You can't clap!", Eric replied!

As well as starring with Patrick Troughton in The Underwater Menace, Ralph also appeared alongside Tom Baker in The Terror Of Fang Rock. Unusually this was recorded at the Pebble Mill studios in Birmingham, and he recalled Tom's barely contained rage at the change of studio, tearing him away from his beloved Soho. He remembered Louise's tipping moment when Tom went through a door onto set too quick, causing the camera to miss her entrance. Luckily Paddy Russell, the director was strong and helped patch things up.

All in all it was a good panel with lots of lively stories and discussion. Well worth seeing!

Saturday 12 September 2015

Barking Signing - 12th September 2015

Today I took yet another trip to Barking Library for the 10th Planet Events signing session.
Barking Signing - 12th Sept 2015
Over the past few months the guest list has been slowly expanding to quite a lineup, only for it to shrink back down.
In the weeks prior to the event Nigel Betts, Wendy Padbury and daughter Charlie Hayes as well as Carmen Munroe have all had to cancel. In the end even Sharon Duce, who was scheduled to attend, failed to show up! Maybe they’ll rebook them for future events so we’ll get to meet them.

Last minute additions who did then show were David Bailie and Nicholas Parsons no less!

NICHOLAS PARSONS played Reverend Wainwright in The Curse of Fenric.
Best known for hosting Sale of the Century and Just A Minute, he was awarded a CBE in the 2014 New Year Honours List.


I was struck by how frail Nicholas seemed when I was getting my book signed. He didn’t appear how he comes across when you listen to him on Just a Minute. then again, he is 91, so it is fantastic he remains active and engaged.

Amusingly, given that he played a vicar in Doctor Who, he remarked that my River Song diary looked like a prayer book! When I pointed out it’s cover is like the TARDIS, he got the reference.

DAVID BAILIE played Dask in The Robots of Death and later played the Celestial Toymaker in the Big Finish Productions audios. Outside of Who he is well known for playing Cotton in the Pirates of the Caribbean series.


I had a nice little chat with David and I asked him a little about being in Robots Of Death and the weird face-paint make-up.

JOHN NETTLETON played Reverend Ernest Matthews in the Doctor Who serial Ghost Light.

Like Nicholas  John Nettleton also played a vicar in a McCoy era adventure.

It’s like they had a thing for vicars that year!

SHARON DUCE played Control in the Doctor Who television story Ghost Light.

After waiting around for ages, and the organisers sending scouts out to find her, Sharon was a big no-show for this event.
Let’s hope she just got lost rather than intentional didn’t bother to come.

TREVOR MARTIN played a Time Lord in The War Games and an alternative Fourth Doctor in Doctor Who and the Daleks in Seven Keys to Doomsday. He also provided the voices for several characters in the BBC Radio audio story The Paradise of Death and for Professor Capra in the Big Finish Productions audio story Flip-Flop.

I met Trevor at The Day Of The Doctors back in March, so I didn’t need to get his autograph today.

ROBERT ASHBY played the Borad in the Doctor Who story Timelash.

Robert was something of a dark horse when it came to his panel discussion. He revealed that during her time on Doctor Who, Lousie Jameson was his partner, so he would have to sit through the episodes when they were shown, and he’s get set-reports of the goings on behind the scenes!

PETER ROY is a British extra who has appeared in several eras of Doctor Who, from the 1960s to the 1980s. He has appeared in James Bond movies, Superman IV and even being a part of the Harry Potter Franchise.

Peter is one of those seasoned jobbing background artists that you’ve probably seen in a hundred films, but never noticed.

He explained how owning a police uniform got him most of his work, resulting in over 1,000 film appearances!




 Once the panel discussion kicked of, Nicholas became the more out-going persona we know from Just A Minute.
he recalled being in costume on location and a member of the public coming up to him to ask about booking the church hall for a event, before realising he wasn’t the right vicar!

Robert told us how he was up for the part of Avon, losing out to Paul Darrow - who he then appeared with in Doctor Who.
He also told us how he lost a lot of weight due to the awkward facial mask-up he wore for his appearance in Timelash. Covering only half his face it made eating very difficult.

Trevor had vivid recollections of preparing for the Doctor Who stage play. With such a challenging production the technical run-through dragged on for almost a week, compared to one or two days for a more conventional production.
Ultimately the run was cut short due to IRA bombs going off on The Strand close to their theatre. Audiences stayed away from the West End, and the play closed.
Very sad.