Manufacturers: Dapol

I am back in Rome after a relaxing summer break visiting family and friends in the UK, so thought I’d kick off a new season of blog posts with a distinctly British vintage figure. My August trip happened to coincide with some major geek news from Blighty: the BBC finally revealed that Scottish actor Peter Capaldi will take on the coveted role of The Doctor in its legendary sci-fi TV series Doctor Who, when current Doctor Matt Smith hangs up his bow tie later this year. It’s a big year for the show, with a 50th anniversary special set for global transmission on 23 November 2013, which will feature, amongst other characters, a return of the Doctor’s archnemeses, the Daleks.

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The BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, which will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary next year, owes its longevity in great part to a very clever device the writers dreamt up decades ago – when the Doctor is close to death he can regenerate into a brand new body. This has allowed a series of completely different actors to play our hero over the years, from the 1960s when William Hartnell as the First Doctor changed into the Second Doctor played by Patrick Troughton, right through to the present day and Doctor number Eleven as played by the rather wonderful Matt Smith.

Whilst Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor may not be the very first Doctor I remember – that honour goes to his predecessor Jon Pertwee – the wonderfully eccentric and flamboyantly dressed Baker is certainly the Doctor I recall best from my childhood.

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