Happy Christmas to all my readers!

Wow - another year has flown past - and what a year it’s been!

Photo by Scott Sebring

It started back in January with a once in a lifetime opportunity when I made the Ultimate Tennant Suit. To have the chance to put into practice the actual way the suit was made was an amazing experience. The timing was perfect, as I had a couple of months before started learning traditional hand-tailoring techniques, which I put to great use in making the suit.

Photo by Scott Sebring

I had to follow the suit, and with three days notice ended up going to Gallifrey One in LA!
There I met up with a number of my online friends and many of my readers who had no idea I was going. I also had the privilege of arranging a group photograph with four of my Tennant Coat clients, which was the highlight of the trip.

By the end of April news broke that THE Series Six Shetland Tweed fabric had been found, as well as the Series Five Donegal.

It was like the Tennant Suit all over again: making an iconic jacket in the exact fabric. I was lucky to find the correct buttons and elbow patches to finish it off.

In August the culmination of many month work came to fruition when I took delivery of  my rewoven Tennant Coat lining. I had been searching for years to find a suitable alternative, but finally took the plunge and commissioned my own recreation of it.

The past few months of the year have been taken up with making a popular new garment in my repertoire - the Green Greatcoat.

I spent a while carefully researching the pattern, fabric and construction until I got it just right.

Then in late November I attended Chicago TARDIS, where I entered the masquerade competition wearing a test version of the Colin Baker Six Frock Coat. I won Best In Show: Workmanship for my tailoring – for which I am very proud.

This was one of three coats I had made, the other two were for the wedding of some close friends which is due to take place just before Christmas.

Looking back it has been an exciting year, with more projects than I could have thought to have taken on.

And as the year comes to a close, an even more exciting development is breaking.

More on that in the New Year, but trust me, it’s gonna be worth the wait . . .

Bonhams auction - 15th December 2011 viewing and results

Today was the Bonhams Entertainment Memorabilia sale, where some 39 Doctor Who items went under the hammer.
All bar two were from the new series, with a vast majority from Tennant’s era.

But the main point of note were the first ever items of Matt Smith era items to come up at a Bonhams auction, after the spectacular sale of Matt’s Doctor costume on eBay in aid of Children In Need. 

This will be interesting.

One item I particularly liked was a 1964 sketch for the cover of The Dalek Book. The original final artwork sold 18 months ago for £3,600, and this preliminary sketch didn’t disappoint, getting £1,500, over double its estimate.

The one item of classic series, a model spaceship from Battlefield, was nicely presented on a stand with the Doctor Who logo on the base.
This comfortably realised its £5,000 estimate.

The display stand has a curious circular mirror mounted in the base, which once you see the model, is so you can view the highly detailed underside (see left).

Eight-tee

Forbidden Planet’s release of Doctor costume t-shirts nears its completion with the latest wave of shirts.

So far One, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Ten and Eleven have been released.

Now the gaps are starting to be filled with the Eight Doctor.

This is clearly based on the costume on display at The Doctor Who Experience as the positioning of the buttons matches this rather than the screen used coat.
The waistcoat fabric also is the same as the display.

Also released is the Second Doctor.

I’m not over convinced by this shirt – the lapels are too light and the breast pocket too visible.
maybe it will look better on a printed shirt.

With the Cyberman shirt, and ten of the eleven Doctors available, it’s almost two weeks of wear without any washing!!

Bonhams auction - 15th December 2011

Doesn’t time fly!
It doesn’t seem that long since the last Bonhams auction, and the next in December is soon upon us.

The online catalogue has been posted and there 23 Doctor Who items, mainly from the Tennant era, but there are a few from Matt’s first season as The Doctor.

Bonhams sale 19073
(15th December 2011)
Entertainment Memorabilia

Lots 154
1st Doctor (1963-1966)

Lots 155 - 156
Ninth Doctor (2005)

Lots 157 - 184
Tenth Doctor (2005-2010)

Lots 185 − 191
Eleventh Doctor (2010-2013)

Here is the only lot relating to the Seventh Doctor

Lot 154a
Dr. Who: an original spaceship model from ‘Battlefield’, broadcast 13th September 1989,well-detailed, removable top section with internal electric wiring, on stand, with certificate of authenticity approximately 51cm (20in) diameter

Estimate: £4,500 − 5,000
Sold for £5,000
Footnote:
The ship is classed as an ‘Organic Spaceship’ in this episode. It lies on the bottom of Lake Vortigern containing the body of King Arthur, apparently in suspended animation, and his sword Excalibur. The ship is made from different materials including metal, resin and fibreglass. The ship was used for underwater shots - the ‘blow hole’ where a stream of bubbles emanates at one point is clearly visible. This can be operated by a switch. This was one of two models made, the other model was blown up.

EXCELLENT!

Over the past months Forbidden Planet have been progressively releasing t-shirts of The Doctor’s iconic costumes.

So far Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven and Ten have been released.

This month not only sees the First Doctor join the gang, but the first to depict an enemy of The Doctor - the Cybermen!

The t-shirt shows the version seen during their triumphal return in Earthshock after an absence of many years, and also seen in Silver Nemesis.

EXCELLENT!

Sylvester hits the headlines

Matt Smith may be the current Doctor, but it’s Sylvester who has been getting a lot of press lately for a variety of stories.

I mean, is it me, or is he getting a disproportionate amount of coverage for a classic series Doctor, compared say to Tom Baker or Peter Davison?
Good for Sylvester, I say!

Here’s a little round-up of the stories that have been doing the rounds.

Express.co.uk - Who’s the real mccoy for Peter Jackson?

BBC News - Sylvester McCoy stays silent over upcoming Hobbit role

Doctor Who Experience - in 3D!!!

I have got an absolute TREAT for you today!

This week I had the opportunity to revisit the Doctor Who Experience in Olympia, and thought rather than just get some more endless photographs of the displays, I would do something EXTRA special.

I know a lot of my readers are in the US, so are unlikely to get the chance to see the exhibition at first-hand.

So what I’ve got for you is the near next-best thing - a walk through the displays - in 3D!!!! Well, one of those panoramic views you can interact with.

Below are the panoramas relating directly to the Seventh Doctor.
You can see all the panoramas
I took by clicking this link

Doctor Who Experience - in 3D

First up is the line-up of The Doctor’s costumes, giving you a real sense of how they are presented.

The Ten Doctors

Lord of The Costumes

There’s a great little story doing the rounds, following an interview Frances Barber gave to the US Doctor Who Insider magazine.

Apparently she is personal friends with both Sylvester McCoy and Peter Jackson, who is currently directing the new Hobbit film in which Sylvester has a starring role.
She and Sylvester were both at Peter’s house, when he revealed hidden in a cabinet, was McCoy’s original Seventh Doctor costume he had purchased off eBay!

How weird is that!

Bonhams auction -TARDIS key unsold!

Yesterdays auction at Bonhams had more than a few surprises.

Of all the Who-related items on offer, the star item for me - the McCoy TARDIS key - failed to find a buyer and went unsold. It’s estimate of £3,000 - 4,000 was maybe a bit high after all.
We will have to see if it shows up in the next entertainment sale in December.

Elsewhere in the sale there were a couple of choice items on offer.

The cover lot was a painted portrait of Roger Moore, which had been allegedly painted for The Man With The Golden Gun film poster, and reused numbers times since.
Discussing the item with the porters at the viewing, I gather the only problem with it was it's lack of signature and the attributed artist not specifically remembering if he actually painted this version. As a result it had to be sold as a replica rather than original.
That didn’t stop someone paying £5,400 for it, nearly double the £2,000 - £3,000 estimate.

Bonhams auction - 29th June 2011 -the viewing

This week is the bonhams entertainment sale, so I popped along to the viewing to see the Who-related items for myself.

The highlight of the viewing for me was to see first-hand the Sylvester McCoy TARDIS key, and to put my replica against it and see how it fared.

The key was presented to me on a small navy blue velvet cushion (see right), awarding it the iconic place it now occupies!

The most obvious difference between the original and the replica I have is the size! The replica is way bigger (see left).

I’m not sure what the screen-used key was made from, but it was very lightweight, but quite rigid. It looks like metal, but I’m sure it’s not.

My replica is really just a novelty key-fob, so is the same on both sides, whereas the original has a astronomical map on the reverse (see right).

Bonhams auction - 29th June 2011

Being June, it’s time for the next bi-annual Entertainment Memorabilia sale at Bonhams.

As usual there are a scant few Doctor Who items on offer, some more interesting that others.

Sale 19036
(29th June 2011)
Entertainment Memorabilia

As usual I have separated the items by Doctor era, and you can see the rest of the items here:

Lot 113
1st Doctor (1963-1966)

Lots 111 & 111a
3rd Doctor (1970-1974) - plus 2nd Doctor (1966-1969)

Lot 114
4th Doctor (1975-1981)

Lots 116 & 117
5th Doctor (1982-1984)

Here are just the lots relating to the Seventh Doctor era

Lot 112
Doctor Who: A Tardis key
Originally constructed in plastic board, moulded in silicon and finally cast in grey-coloured resin, with central symbol of the Pydonian seal, with chain, together with a statement of authenticity from The Model Unit, confirming this was one of several made for the 1988 season, starring Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor, key 6.5cm (2½in) long

Estimate: £2,500 - 3,000
Unsold!

Lot 115
A miniature TARDIS model, created for exhibition purposes, of painted board, with plastic paper-backed windows, and plastic casing to light, having internal electrical workings (plug removed), height 5ft, width 15 inches.

Estimate: £150 - 200
Sold for £900

Screen-used McCoy hat and scarf -FOR SALE!

FOR SALE!

This hat is now SOLD!!

I am putting on offer an ORIGINAL screen-used panama hat worn by Sylvester McCoy in Doctor Who!

Originally sold as Lot 91 at the big Doctor Who auction held on February 24th 2010,  it consists of the Hat, a Red Hanky, a very rare Brown Hanky and part of the Purple/Burgundy Scarf briefly worn by Sylvester during his Costume Transition Scene in Time And The Rani.

Even Dafter Who

Earlier this month saw the release by Forbidden Planet of a couple of comical t-shirts based on the costumes of the Fourth and Fifth Doctors.

Well, they seem to have been popular as next month they are issuing two more – one of the Sixth Doctor and one of the Seventh! (see left).

I’m not quite sure how they produced the shirts, but they seem to have been imaged from either original photographs or from access to the original costumes, and are very screen accurate!

The other shirts are still available (see below) and they make for quite an amusing collection.

Doctor Who Experience -Seventh Doctor incarnation

This weekend (Sunday 20th February) sees the official opening of the Doctor Who Experience exhibition at London’s Olympia.

Amongst the displays is a definitive collection of costumes worn by The Doctor through his regeneration (see left and right). Some out of necessity are replicas, but many are original and screen-used.

On Thursday I went to the first of the paid previews, following on from a couple of weeks of tester days to iron out teething troubles. While I was there I took a good set of photographs of all the costumes on show.

I have already written a Full Review of the exhibition itself, but here is a more targeted write-up focusing on the items of interest to a Seventh Doctor fan and giving them a more detailed look.

As I don’t run a blog for the Eighth Doctor, I’m including him here - after all, he picked up the baton from the Seventh.

Radio Times - Who’s longer than Who?

It’s been a bit quite in the Radio Times of late regarding classic Doctor Who features.

Today though there was a small article relating to an episode of The Million Pound Drop from last year that caused some controversy at the time.
I won’t go into the details as you can read it for yourself below.

It is accompanied by a photo of Sylvester McCoy in Colin Baker’s costume – not the best picture to use!

McCoy Hat Bandana -Limited Edition and screen-accurate!

These hankies are now
SOLD OUT!

Please refer to the replicas I have made
if you require a red hanky

Over the past year or so I have been striving to make as good a replica of the McCoy Hatband Hanky as I possibly can using Spoonflower.
I’ve gone through three versions to date, each getting better than the previous.

But what would be the ultimate would be to track down a supply just like the originals that were bought for the series by costume design Ken Trew.

Well, it just so happens I had a tip-off from a client of mine who pointed me towards a stockist who had them for sale!!!!!

I contacted them and found that although they had it in stock, they only had a limited number and would not be restocking as they no longer dealt with that supplier.

Not wanting to waste an opportunity, I snapped up their entire stock – well, the few they had – and can now offer them for sale!