'Set to Stun' Exhibition Report
Last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting the Gunnersbury Park Museum’s science fiction television and film exhibition, ‘Set to Stun’. Its punning title refers to stunning production design but may also call to mind the catchphrase of Star Trek, though that series is not represented here as the exhibition is a celebration of west London’s contribution to science fiction on screen. That contribution includes films made at Pinewood Studios but comprises largely of the work of the BBC at its various west London studios. Unsurprisingly, Doctor Who in its twentieth century incarnation is strongly represented.
Before we get going, let me say one thing about the photos that accompany this report. Please excuse the quality of the images – I’m no photographer and the items were all behind glass, so there will be some reflections caught on the pictures.
The first room has had input from Jeremy Bear, an ex-BBC designer who worked on the Doctor Who stories The Mutants and The Seeds of Doom. Bear’s lasting contribution to television design is the modular triangular pattern relief wall panels that he designed for The Mutants and which have been used in numerous subsequent Doctor Who stories and other programmes. He employs these here at the end of the room in an approximation of part of the Skybase One set from The Mutants. Inserted into this wall, and looking a touch out of place in this setting to us diehard fans, is a complete Voc Robot costume from The Robots of Death. Elsewhere in the room is an impressively large and detailed filming model of the Red Dwarf shuttlecraft Starbug.
Moving on that we encounter one of the most imposing of the exhibition’s larger items: and original Imperial Dalek from Remembrance of the Daleks. I’ve heard many people say the Daleks appear smaller in real life than on screen, but I have always found the reverse to be true and I’ve been impressed by the substantial size of genuine Daleks props that I have encountered. That was certainly the case here.
The prop is showing signs of age. I noted that the casing surface was rough and uneven in places and I couldn’t tell if this was the result of rather thick and inconsistent coat of paint having been applied or if it is it actually the underlying texture of the fibreglass, the imperfections of which were not discernible on television. Or does it simply represent 36 years of rough handling of the prop? Perhaps it’s a mix of all three. Whatever the answer, the Imperial Dalek remans an impressive prop despite imperfections.
The exhibition continues with an existing display of toys, games and ornaments which has been augmented with toys and models used in the filming of Doctor Who. The highlight of this is the model of the Dalek production line from The Power of the Daleks, as recreated by Mike Tucker for a featurette seen on the DVD release of the animated version of the story. An original 1960s Herts Plastic Moulders Dalek toy sits alongside the diorama to illustrate where the model Daleks originated.
This display also includes two large scale model Daleks issued in the twenty-first century by toy manufacturer Character Options which were modified for use in a special effects sequence in The Day of the Doctor – by far the most recent Doctor Who items in the exhibition and ones which slightly bend the west London remit. It’s a shame some 1960s Louis Marx Dalek toys could not have featured also, as they were used several times in the series.
A later room similarly incorporates Doctor Who items into an existing exhibition, in this case a mock-up of a 1950s living room. Here it becomes a 1960s home, displaying a variety of Doctor Who merchandise from across the years. However, the most interesting item here, and one that might be easily overlooked amongst the merchandise, is the astrakhan fur hat that William Hartnell wore in a number of his earliest episodes, and the ring he wore throughout his stint as Dr Who. It was lovely to see items that date back to the very first episode, over 60 years ago. I understand these have been loaned by Jessica Carney, Hartnell’s granddaughter, but I don’t think this was noted at the exhition itself. In a few instances the information plaques tell us the source of the artefacts on display, but more often they do not.
Looming into this scene from the corner is a 1960s Cyberman, looking in surprisingly good repair. The information plaque tells us it appeared in The Moonbase. Further reading (in DWM) clarifies that it’s the bodysuit that is original with the helmet and chest unit being modern reproductions. I was glad to see an original bodysuit as this model of Cyberman was usually only seen in monochrome and from photographs and video alone it is often hard to tell how bright or dull the silver of the suits actually was. Quite bright, it turns out.
Other items nearby include two TARDIS miniatures of very different scales and Ian Scoones’s detailed special effects storyboards for The Invisible Enemy in both framed wall-mounted and printed fabric tactile versions. The process of mask creation is illustrated by a newly-minted Davros mask and the original 1984-vintage mould it was pulled from. High on the wall above, a plaque presents a quote from co-founder of the BBC effects department Jack Kine: “If it can be imagined, it can be made”. Given the limited resources and technology he had had available to him, this illustrates the optimism and boundless confidence he brought to his work – vital qualities when tasked with realising the impossible on a daily basis.
This room also features filming models from Tripods, Star Cops and Red Dwarf. From the former, a tripod, from Star Cops an impressively detailed moon buggy sat in its own mini diorama (again provided by Mike Tucker) and, from Red Dwarf, Ace Rimmer’s Wildfire ship as seen in the popular episode Dimension Jump.
A large number of smaller props are hidden away in draws, mostly sidearms from Doctor Who, Blake’s 7, Star Cops and Red Dwarf. I won’t list every individual prop, but for me the most interesting were a Tesh gun from The Face of Evil, a rifle from Earthshock, a Cyberman gun from Attack of the Cybermen, and the disassembled sniper rifle from The Happiness Patrol. An examination of these props up close reveals the craftsmanship that went into them and the often high quality of their finish – and the enduring importance in the far future, and on far flung worlds, of the humble Phillips screw.
After this point, Doctor Who’s representation largely peters out of the exhibition. However, a later display cabinet features a further Voc mask. It sits alongside a diverse selection of items which don’t all directly relate to the theme of the exhibition, but one that does is Marvin the chronically depressed android, as seen in the television version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. His comments on being left to stand around in a museum are not recorded.
Given the theme of the exhibition and its concentration on BBC programmes, it would have been nice to have seen a few more esoteric and older programmes reflected. The exhibition website specifies that it covers the time period 1960 to the present. I suspect this is dictated by the props that were available to exhibit, with Doctor Who’s being the oldest. Even so, it’s a shame some of the pre-Who trailblazers are not represented.
Quatermass was the original television science fiction sensation and although its first serial was broadcast from Alexandra Palace in north London, the next two came from Lime Grove and Riverside Studios in west London. It would have been good to see them represented. We know author Nigel Kneale’s family still possess one of the Martians from Quatermass and the Pit. What price a loan of that historic item? And if that wasn’t possible, photographs or the script books could have been used to represent these ground-breaking serials. Also, whether they are still in existence or traceable I don’t know, but at least as recently as the 1990s props from the controversial 1954 Nineteen Eighty-Four were in existence. It would have been lovely to have seen them.
But those are minor gripes and all in all this is a fascinating exhibition, particularly for Doctor Who fans. It’s also free to enter, so if you’re passing through west London before the exhibition closes in early June it’s well worth popping in.
View the exhibition’s website here for more information.
Photos © OJ Wake but objects and designs depicted may be covered by their own copyrights
Sources:
Exhibition report by Jamie Lenman in the DWM 2024 Yearbook