Doctor Who: Worlds of Wonder, National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh. Tuesday, 28th February, 2023

    

SPOILERS: The following contains lots of images from the exhibition. If you'd rather not ruin the surprise, do not read on.

We planned the visit to the exhibition for a weekday, not knowing the teaching unions would call a national strike and as such most kids were not at school. First mistake. We also didn't buy our tickets in advance as we weren't sure when we'd get there not knowing tickets would be more expensive if bought on the day. Second mistake. But I didn't regret the visit. Overall, it was rather wonderful.

We purchased our tickets at the desk at the museum entrance, unaware there was another one on the third floor outside the exhibition. No queues meant we could go straight in, even though we were early for our time slot. 

We entered through the unusually large police box doors and were greeted with the First Doctor's TARDIS console. On the video wall, Mark Gatiss provided an introduction to the early days of Doctor Who.

From another angle

First Doctor's costume

The exhibition makes clever use of space, using information boards to separate the display areas, creating a smooth flow around everything that even IKEA would be proud of. Brainy people talk about the science of the show on screens in the walls and there is plenty to see, with a few interactive exhibits (sound like a Dalek via a voice modulator, operate the Dalek arms from inside half of one). 

K9

K1 (aka Giant Robot)

Skovox Blitzer

As well as the costumes and monsters, there were also displays of props and artwork from the programme.

The displays don't follow the show's timeline but are themed to reflect the science of the show.

The Crooked Man

Omega

The Fisher King

Cybermat

Weeping Angel - Don't Blink (too late) 

Ice Queen and Ice Warrior

Daughter / Sister of Mine

Sontaran and Sea Devil

Silurian heads and the Dreg

Cyberman

Cyber heads

Davros

Dalek

Fisher King (close up)

Karvanista costume

Spider Germ, The Teller and a Dalek mutant

The Face of Boe

Emojibot

Nardole, Hydroflax (Taskmaster) and Antibody

Kerblam Man

Morbius

Catkind and AI device

The final section before the exit hosts a large screen where, on video, Mark Gatiss reflects on all that is great about the show, showing a reel of clips from each Doctor. This area fills up fast and creates a small degree of congestion as people wait to watch the video. 

Then it was onto the shop.

I bought a mug costing £9.99 but could have splashed a great deal more. We spent around an hour at the exhibition, walking at a leisurely pace, and could have extended that time to look around the rest of the fascinating museum (for free) if we hadn't been so hungry for lunch.

The exhibition runs until May 1st, 2023 at the National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. Prices vary (we paid £14.50 a ticket, midweek rate for adults).