After
a 15-year hiatus, everyone's favourite Time Lord has returned to our screens.
Dr Who
is back, this time played by Christopher Eccleston, and the nation's children
are once again spending Saturday teatime quivering behind the sofa. Not
wanting to miss out on the fun, we've researched/cobbled together some little-known
facts about Who in Gloucestershire which will intrigue fans of the series: -
In 1980 a Doctor Who spin-off called K-9 and Company was filmed near Cirencester.
It featured the Doctor's erstwhile robot dog doing battle with a witches' coven. -
It had a demented title sequence featuring K-9 perched precariously on a wall
while his friend Sarah Jane sped around the Cotswolds in a convertible Metro (see
link on left). It was not recommissioned. -
The Doctor Who story The Hand of Fear, starring Tom Baker, was shot in Thornbury
and in a quarry in Wotton-Under-Edge (aka the planet Kastria). -
Gloucester is home to Who fan club The Mind Robbers and the Offstage Theatre company,
who tour conventions performing Who-themed shows.
Read
the story here. -
Spaced and Shaun of the Dead star Simon Pegg, who grew up in Gloucester, plays
a villain called The Editor in the new Who series. -
In 2004 daleks, sea devils and cybermen materialised at the GL1 leisure centre
for the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Experience event. See
the pictures here. Make
a monster Can
you make a monster? Fans
of the original series have fond memories of the Doctor's alien foes: daleks,
autons, dinosaurs and a even a man made of liquorice allsorts (fact). Despite
their evident cheapness and the occasional visibility of zips and eye-holes, they
scared the living daylights out of us. Such is
our enthusiasm for these low-budget baddies that we at ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Gloucestershire Online
decided to make our own adversary for the Doctor. With
the limited resources at our disposal (three King Edwards and a biro) we created
Spudraxx (right), evil carbohydrate-based denizen of the Soil Planet. Spudraxx
is hell-bent on destroying all non-vegetable life-forms. He terrorises the galaxy
with his Starch Ray and has the ability to turn green if left lying around for
a long time. Here's
a computer-enhanced impression of Spudraxx doing battle with the Doctor:  | | Spudraxx
'menaces' the 'Doctor' |
The
Administrator User
Cheryl Brown, clearly pressed for time at work, made a monster out of office supplies. Called
The Adminstrator (right), this fearsome beast can: -
Stand on his head to time travel to any day between 1995 and 2006. -
Sharpen pencils by standing on them, -
and er... sharpen Secretary's nails... Crater
Fungus  |
| Crater
Fungus. Scarier than an orange... |
Matt
and Gordon sent us this scary crittter, made from a mouldy apple, some tie-wraps
and a few safety pins.
It lives in the craters of an isolated moon near
to the place the Slitheen come from, and has the ability to suck the nutrients
out of an area and leave it de-energised and mouldy. Make
a monster
If
you think you can make a Dr Who monster email us a picture to gloucestershire@bbc.co.uk
and we'll feature it on the website. Use
whatever comes to hand, keeping it cheap and cheerful (think toilet roll tubes,
paperclips etc). Tell
us a bit about your creation: what it's called, what it's made of, where it comes
from, any special powers...and please don't spend too long on it! 
If
you would like to comment on this story get in touch at gloucestershire@bbc.co.uk
or have your say on our | 
Prepare
to cower behind the sofa - Doctor Who is back. But did you know that the Time
Lord has visited Gloucestershire? And can you make a scarier monster than us?
