DOCTOR WHO EXHIBITION BRIGHTON PIER MAY 2005 BBC TV SERIES STARRING BILLIE PIPER AND CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON DALEK, ROBOTS, ANDROIDS AND CYBERNETIC ORGANISMS THE FUTURE OF MANKIND.

DOCTOR WHO EXHIBITION - BRIGHTON

BBC TV DOCTOR WHO May 22, 2005

The Doctor Who exhibition opened on Brighton Pier this week.

The show features: Daleks, Autons, Cassandra and the Slitheen all under one roof. But for fans of Doctor Who this exhibition is a thrilling trip back in time. I visited the show on a Sunday when the pier was pretty busy. The Dome at the far end of the pier is where you should be headed. I expected to see Daleks and hear the theme music, but I guess I missed out on the VIP treatment during an afternoon tea break. Later in the afternoon I did near the familiar music wafting across the beach.

The entry fee is £5 for adults, £3 for children and a very reasonable £12 for a family of four.

Nelson Kruschandl visits the Brighton Exhibition

The props and models will be at the Dome on Brighton Pier from Saturday until November.

The exhibits include a life-size Tardis, the Moxx of Balhoon, the Slitheen and the Autons. There are also displays of video clips and design drawings from the new series, which stars Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper.

The Tardis

The entrance archways are home to some classic creatures from the past and they are based on the Doctor Who 'time tunnel', which features in the show's opening titles. The show's producer, Phil Collinson, is enthusiastic about the exhibition. "It's a great family day out, it's a great chance for the family to experience this together, in the flesh really. So get down and have a look," he said.

Martin Wilkie, head of design for the exhibition, added: "We have been given unprecedented access by BBC Wales' production team to Doctor Who props, models, costumes and, most importantly, the monsters."

THE TARDIS

The first thing that grabs your attention is a giant mock-up of the Tardis, with Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper's original costumes inside. Of course Christopher's Doctor isn't the first. He's the ninth incarnation of the travelling TimeLord. So there's a display of the previous doctors and what they were like.

The Autons

The first monsters I came across were the Autons - there's some in suits and some bursting out of a shop window in wedding dresses. Episode two provides some of the best monsters - there's the Forrest of Cheem, the Moxx of Balhoon, the Face of Boe, robot spiders and of course, the stretchy skin of Cassandra.

Space Pig

There's information boards up in every room, explaining how the programme-makers combined models with CGI to make the monsters look as real as possible.

Space Pig

The Slitheen are good too. You can pose in the arms of a seven-foot Slitheen, and glare at a Space Pig and the mask of one of the aliens in human form - complete with a zip in its forehead of course.

Daleks are the central feature of it all of course. And you can see them in all their forms from a battered old one, to a shiny new gold one. There's even a model of the slimy mutant creature which lives inside the casing.

Scary

At the moment, there's only monsters and props from the episodes which have been on TV so far, but others will be added as the shows go out.

Doctor Who's director, Phil Collinson, was at the event. He said he "loved" the exhibition.

"I'm thrilled that kids can actually go and see, and touch, and experience the creatures and the whole world that is Doctor Who," he said. "I'm happy it has opened so quickly as over the next five weeks kids can come down here and then go home and watch it on TV."

He added he was delighted that the TV show was doing so well and was particularly pleased that kids loved it. But he defended claims that Doctor Who is too scary for children.

"It's good for kids to be a little bit scared," he said. "We're really careful about what we put in episodes and we try to judge exactly how scary we can be. The monsters have never won, the Doctor always beats them. We never leave kids in fear or dread.

"Doctor Who is a slightly scary family show."

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