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{{Infobox Location | {{Infobox Location | ||
|image = Madame Tussauds.jpg | |image = Madame Tussauds.jpg | ||
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|location = [[London]] | |location = [[London]] | ||
|first = Spearhead from Space (TV story) | |first = Spearhead from Space (TV story) | ||
|appearances = [[PROSE]]: ''[[Magic of the Angels (novel)|Magic of the Angels]]'' | |appearances = {{Il|[[PROSE]]: ''[[Magic of the Angels (novel)|Magic of the Angels]]''|[[PROSE]]: ''[[Suspicious Minds (short story)|Suspicious Minds]]''}} | ||
}}'''Madame Tussauds''' was a building in [[London]], famous for its [[ | }} | ||
'''Madame Tussauds''' was a building in [[London]], famous for its [[waxwork]] [[mannequin]]s. | |||
It was a "leading waxwork [[museum]]" by the [[21st century]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Dummy Massacre (short story)}}) | |||
== History == | == History == | ||
One of the [[museum]]'s display halls was dedicated to the display of world leaders. In late [[1969]] or early [[1970]], [[Auto Plastics|Auto Plastics Ltd.]] were commissioned to produce new plastic figures for the museum's tableau of senior [[British government]] civil servants and [[Ministry of Defence|military officers]]. These included [[British Army|army]] [[Scobie|Major General Scobie]]. Instead of a replica, however, Auto Plastics secretly provided Madame Tussauds with the actual Scobie, held in suspended animation, while [[Scobie (Auton)|his Auton replica]] took the general's place in order to block or delay [[ | One of the [[museum]]'s display halls was dedicated to the display of world leaders. In late [[1969]] or early [[1970]], [[Auto Plastics|Auto Plastics Ltd.]] were commissioned to produce new plastic figures for the museum's tableau of senior [[British government]] civil servants and [[Ministry of Defence|military officers]]. These included [[British Army|army]] [[Scobie|Major General Scobie]]. Instead of a replica, however, Auto Plastics secretly provided Madame Tussauds with the actual Scobie, held in suspended animation, while [[Scobie (Auton)|his Auton replica]] took the general's place in order to block or delay [[UNIT]]'s investigation and reaction. Meanwhile, the other figures were dormant [[Auton]]s waiting to be activated. | ||
The [[Third Doctor]] and [[Liz Shaw]] visited Madame Tussauds in the early evening of [[1970]], in the course of their investigation into the Autons and Nestene Consciousness. [[Attendant (Spearhead from Space)|An attendant]] drew their attention to the purported replica of Maj.Gen. Scobie which had just arrived that morning. While the Doctor agreed with Liz that a wristwatch would be expected on an accurate replica, his suspicions were raised Scobie's watch being kept wound and set to the accurate time. The pair returned at night, followed by [[Channing]] and [[George Hibbert|Hibbert]] from Auto Plastics. Channing activated the Autons, who moved out to take their respective subjects' places in government as a fifth column with which to facilitate the [[Nestene Consciousness]]' invasion of Earth. Their dais was left bare, aside from Scobie's frozen self and figures of [[Mohandas Gandhi]], two clerics, and two others. | The [[Third Doctor]] and [[Liz Shaw]] visited Madame Tussauds in the early evening of [[1970]], in the course of their investigation into the Autons and Nestene Consciousness. [[Attendant (Spearhead from Space)|An attendant]] drew their attention to the purported replica of Maj.Gen. Scobie which had just arrived that morning. While the Doctor agreed with Liz that a wristwatch would be expected on an accurate replica, his suspicions were raised Scobie's watch being kept wound and set to the accurate time. The pair returned at night, followed by [[Channing]] and [[George Hibbert|Hibbert]] from Auto Plastics. Channing activated the Autons, who moved out to take their respective subjects' places in government as a fifth column with which to facilitate the [[Nestene Consciousness]]' invasion of Earth. Their dais was left bare, aside from Scobie's frozen self and figures of [[Mohandas Gandhi]], two clerics, and two others. | ||
| Line 17: | Line 19: | ||
The Doctor attempted to break Hibbert from his hypnotic trance when the man returned, but was unsuccessful. | The Doctor attempted to break Hibbert from his hypnotic trance when the man returned, but was unsuccessful. | ||
Scobie awoke from this hibernation the next day, when his Auton replica was "killed" by the Doctor and Liz at Auto Plastics' factory. His movement startled the people around him, prompting mild screams. ([[TV]]: ''[[Spearhead from Space (TV story)| | Scobie awoke from this hibernation the next day, when his Auton replica was "killed" by the Doctor and Liz at Auto Plastics' factory. His movement startled the people around him, prompting mild screams. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Spearhead from Space (TV story)}}) | ||
Madame Tussauds' world leaders hall; in addition to depicting the aforedescribed personages; included a dais dedicated to [[United States|American]] statesmen, principally the nation's [[President of the United States|Presidents]]. Individuals depicted thereon included: Former ambassador and delegate [[Benjamin Franklin|Dr. Benjamin Franklin]]; former Presidents [[George Washington]], [[Abraham Lincoln]], [[Theodore Roosevelt]], [[Herbert Hoover]], [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], [[John F. Kennedy]] and [[Lyndon Baines Johnson|Lyndon B. Johnson]]; and the then-current President [[Richard Nixon|Richard M. Nixon]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Spearhead from Space (TV story)}}) | |||
In [[March]] [[2005]], it was reported on the [[Who is Doctor Who?]] website that the leading waxwork museum had denied that the figure of [[David Beckham]] had attempted to [[kill]] people during the [[Dummy Massacre]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Dummy Massacre (short story)}}) However, some of [[Readers of whoisdoctorwho.co.uk|the readers]] website disputed the museum's claims, with [[Quentin George]] saying "that's what 'they' want you to believe..." and [[Bryn (Dummy Massacre)|Bryn]], who claimed to have been at the museum at the time, saw that the figure had tried to kick people to death but luckily kept missing "way above [[people]]'s [[head]]s". ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Dummy Massacre (short story)|writer=Unknown}}) | |||
During a tour of London in [[2012]], the [[Eleventh Doctor]], [[Amy Pond]], and [[Rory Williams]] visited Madame Tussauds. They were thrown out when the Doctor drew on the waxwork of [[Guy Fawkes]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Magic of the Angels (novel)}} | |||
== Other references == | |||
[[Brenda Soobie]] once compared the likeness of the [[Tomdroid]] to [[Tom Jones|the real thing]] favourably, in comparison to the "Tussauds rubbish". ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Death of the Author (short story)}}) | |||
== Behind the scenes == | == Behind the scenes == | ||
[[File: | [[File:Doctor_Who_Madame_T_Figure.jpg|thumb|280px|The two figures created for Madame Tussauds: Tom Baker in London (1981); and Jodie Whittaker in Blackpool (2018).]] | ||
Parts of ''[[Spearhead from Space (TV story)|Spearhead from Space]]'' were filmed in Madame Tussauds, which is where part of the story was set. | |||
Multiple Doctor Who-related waxworks were constructed by the Madame Tussauds crew for the [[London]] experience in 1981, specifically including a statue of [[Tom Baker]]'s [[Fourth Doctor]] and one of [[Meglos]] disguised as the character (from the [[season 18 (Doctor Who 1963)|season eighteen]] serial ''[[Meglos (TV story)|Meglos]]''). During an interview in 1981, after his announced exit from the series, Baker stated that he was possibly the only man in Europe who had been "twice in Madame Tussauds". | |||
A unique Dalek variant was exhibited at Madame Tussauds, the top half of which was originally constructed for ''[[The Dalek Invasion of Earth (TV story)|The Dalek Invasion of Earth]]'' and paired with a specially made bottom half before being painted [[Blue Dalek|blue]]. This prop was later repurposed to depict the [[Black Dalek Leader|Black Dalek]] in ''[[Resurrection of the Daleks (TV story)|Resurrection of the Daleks]]''.<ref>[http://www.dalek6388.co.uk/resurrection-of-the-daleks/ ''Resurrection of the Daleks'' on dalek6388.co.uk]</ref> | |||
The figure of the Doctor was infamously used in promotional images for ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]'',<ref>[[DWM 48]]{{which}}</ref> when Baker was unable to attend the photo-session in person, one of which was featured on the back of ''[[Radio Times]]''{{'}} ''[[Doctor Who 20th Anniversary Special]]''. | |||
[[File:Five_Doctors_Madame_Tussauds_Figure_1.jpg|thumb||280px|The other Doctors interact with a statue of [[Tom Baker]] created by Madame Tussauds to help promote ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]''.]] | |||
The statue was designed to lean against a column inside the exhibit, which was convenient for photos of fans who wanted it to look like the statue had its arm around them. However, in the field where the 20th Anniversary | The statue was designed to lean against a column inside the exhibit, which was convenient for photos of fans who wanted it to look like the statue had its arm around them. However, in the field where the 20th Anniversary photo-shoot took place, this looked quite peculiar. Several images from the shoot feature the other actors either trying to cover up the pose or jokingly play into it. The most famous features [[Jon Pertwee]] adopting a "hands-on-his-hips" pose to cover it up, another features the cast carrying the figure away. | ||
By the mid-1990s, these Doctor Who figures were apparently taken apart, their heads placed inside the main Tussauds museum among those of defunct models. <ref>https://www.flickr.com/photos/lesather/2048016798/in/photostream/</ref> <ref>http://doctorwho.org.nz/archive/tsv55/island.html</ref> | By the mid-1990s, these ''Doctor Who'' figures were apparently taken apart, their heads placed inside the main Tussauds museum among those of defunct models.<ref>[https://www.flickr.com/photos/lesather/2048016798/in/photostream/ ''London - Madame Tussauds Tom Baker'' on flickr.com]</ref><ref>[http://doctorwho.org.nz/archive/tsv55/island.html ''Notes from a Who Island'' on doctorwho.org.nz]</ref> Their bodies were potentially reused, although the iconic pose of the Doctor figure might have made this difficult. | ||
In 2018, | In [[October (releases)|October]] [[2018 (releases)|2018]], an exhibit simply titled {{cs|Doctor Who (MTB exhibit)}} was opened at [[Madame Tussauds, Blackpool|Madame Tussauds Blackpool]], depicting the [[Thirteenth Doctor]] and [[the Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] in the [[forest (Meet the Thirteenth Doctor)|same forest]] from the minisode {{cs|Meet the Thirteenth Doctor (TV story)}}.<ref name="order">{{cite web | ||
|url=https://www.madametussauds.com/blackpool/information/latest-news/dr-who/ | |||
|title=Just What the Doctor Ordered | |||
|website name=Madame Tussauds | |||
|date of source=16 October 2018 | |||
|accessdate=18 July 2024 | |||
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20231205124410/https://www.madametussauds.com/blackpool/information/latest-news/dr-who/ | |||
|archivedate=5 December 2023 | |||
}}</ref> An update in [[2022 (releases)|2022]] added a [[Weeping Angel]] and [[Dan Lewis]], the latter being repurposed from a waxwork of [[John Lewis]].<ref name="lewis">{{cite web | |||
|url=https://www.madametussauds.com/blackpool/information/latest-news/doctor-who-set-update/ | |||
|title=Don't blink! Reported sightings of John Bishop and a weeping angel at Madame Tussauds Blackpool | |||
|website name=Madame Tussauds | |||
|date of source=10 March 2022 | |||
|accessdate=19 July 2024 | |||
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129070012/https://www.madametussauds.com/blackpool/information/latest-news/doctor-who-set-update/ | |||
|archivedate=29 November 2022 | |||
}}</ref> Outside the main exhibit, a collection of costumes from [[Series 11 (Doctor Who 2005)|Series 11]] was also displayed for a brief time.<ref>{{cite web | |||
|url=https://www.blogtorwho.com/madame-tussauds-adds-host-of-series-11-costumes-to-blackpool-exhibit/?amp=1 | |||
|title=Madame Tussauds Adds Host of Series 11 Costumes to Blackpool Exhibit | |||
|writer=Peter Nolan | |||
|website name=Blogtor Who | |||
|date of source=12 May 2019 | |||
|accessdate=19 July 2024 | |||
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240719140707/https://www.blogtorwho.com/madame-tussauds-adds-host-of-series-11-costumes-to-blackpool-exhibit/?amp=1 | |||
|archivedate=19 July 2024 | |||
}}</ref> | |||
== External links == | == External links == | ||
| Line 40: | Line 78: | ||
* [http://www.madametussauds.com/london Madame Tussauds official site] | * [http://www.madametussauds.com/london Madame Tussauds official site] | ||
* [http://www.doctorwholocations.net/locations/madametussauds Doctor Who: The Locations Guide - '''Madame Tussauds'''] | * [http://www.doctorwholocations.net/locations/madametussauds Doctor Who: The Locations Guide - '''Madame Tussauds'''] | ||
== Footnotes == | |||
{{reflist|2}} | |||
[[Category:London museums]] | [[Category:London museums]] | ||
[[Category:London businesses]] | [[Category:London businesses]] | ||
Latest revision as of 16:45, 19 July 2024
Madame Tussauds was a building in London, famous for its waxwork mannequins.
It was a "leading waxwork museum" by the 21st century. (PROSE: Dummy Massacre [+]Loading...["Dummy Massacre (short story)"])
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
One of the museum's display halls was dedicated to the display of world leaders. In late 1969 or early 1970, Auto Plastics Ltd. were commissioned to produce new plastic figures for the museum's tableau of senior British government civil servants and military officers. These included army Major General Scobie. Instead of a replica, however, Auto Plastics secretly provided Madame Tussauds with the actual Scobie, held in suspended animation, while his Auton replica took the general's place in order to block or delay UNIT's investigation and reaction. Meanwhile, the other figures were dormant Autons waiting to be activated.
The Third Doctor and Liz Shaw visited Madame Tussauds in the early evening of 1970, in the course of their investigation into the Autons and Nestene Consciousness. An attendant drew their attention to the purported replica of Maj.Gen. Scobie which had just arrived that morning. While the Doctor agreed with Liz that a wristwatch would be expected on an accurate replica, his suspicions were raised Scobie's watch being kept wound and set to the accurate time. The pair returned at night, followed by Channing and Hibbert from Auto Plastics. Channing activated the Autons, who moved out to take their respective subjects' places in government as a fifth column with which to facilitate the Nestene Consciousness' invasion of Earth. Their dais was left bare, aside from Scobie's frozen self and figures of Mohandas Gandhi, two clerics, and two others.
The Doctor attempted to break Hibbert from his hypnotic trance when the man returned, but was unsuccessful.
Scobie awoke from this hibernation the next day, when his Auton replica was "killed" by the Doctor and Liz at Auto Plastics' factory. His movement startled the people around him, prompting mild screams. (TV: Spearhead from Space [+]Loading...["Spearhead from Space (TV story)"])
Madame Tussauds' world leaders hall; in addition to depicting the aforedescribed personages; included a dais dedicated to American statesmen, principally the nation's Presidents. Individuals depicted thereon included: Former ambassador and delegate Dr. Benjamin Franklin; former Presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson; and the then-current President Richard M. Nixon. (TV: Spearhead from Space [+]Loading...["Spearhead from Space (TV story)"])
In March 2005, it was reported on the Who is Doctor Who? website that the leading waxwork museum had denied that the figure of David Beckham had attempted to kill people during the Dummy Massacre. (PROSE: Dummy Massacre [+]Loading...["Dummy Massacre (short story)"]) However, some of the readers website disputed the museum's claims, with Quentin George saying "that's what 'they' want you to believe..." and Bryn, who claimed to have been at the museum at the time, saw that the figure had tried to kick people to death but luckily kept missing "way above people's heads". (PROSE: Dummy Massacre [+]Loading...{"writer":"Unknown","1":"Dummy Massacre (short story)"})
During a tour of London in 2012, the Eleventh Doctor, Amy Pond, and Rory Williams visited Madame Tussauds. They were thrown out when the Doctor drew on the waxwork of Guy Fawkes. (PROSE: Magic of the Angels [+]Loading...["Magic of the Angels (novel)"]
Other references[[edit] | [edit source]]
Brenda Soobie once compared the likeness of the Tomdroid to the real thing favourably, in comparison to the "Tussauds rubbish". (PROSE: Death of the Author [+]Loading...["Death of the Author (short story)"])
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
Parts of Spearhead from Space were filmed in Madame Tussauds, which is where part of the story was set.
Multiple Doctor Who-related waxworks were constructed by the Madame Tussauds crew for the London experience in 1981, specifically including a statue of Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor and one of Meglos disguised as the character (from the season eighteen serial Meglos). During an interview in 1981, after his announced exit from the series, Baker stated that he was possibly the only man in Europe who had been "twice in Madame Tussauds".
A unique Dalek variant was exhibited at Madame Tussauds, the top half of which was originally constructed for The Dalek Invasion of Earth and paired with a specially made bottom half before being painted blue. This prop was later repurposed to depict the Black Dalek in Resurrection of the Daleks.[1]
The figure of the Doctor was infamously used in promotional images for The Five Doctors,[2] when Baker was unable to attend the photo-session in person, one of which was featured on the back of Radio Times' Doctor Who 20th Anniversary Special.
The statue was designed to lean against a column inside the exhibit, which was convenient for photos of fans who wanted it to look like the statue had its arm around them. However, in the field where the 20th Anniversary photo-shoot took place, this looked quite peculiar. Several images from the shoot feature the other actors either trying to cover up the pose or jokingly play into it. The most famous features Jon Pertwee adopting a "hands-on-his-hips" pose to cover it up, another features the cast carrying the figure away.
By the mid-1990s, these Doctor Who figures were apparently taken apart, their heads placed inside the main Tussauds museum among those of defunct models.[3][4] Their bodies were potentially reused, although the iconic pose of the Doctor figure might have made this difficult.
In October 2018, an exhibit simply titled Doctor Who [+]Loading...["Doctor Who (MTB exhibit)"] was opened at Madame Tussauds Blackpool, depicting the Thirteenth Doctor and the TARDIS in the same forest from the minisode Meet the Thirteenth Doctor [+]Loading...["Meet the Thirteenth Doctor (TV story)"].[5] An update in 2022 added a Weeping Angel and Dan Lewis, the latter being repurposed from a waxwork of John Lewis.[6] Outside the main exhibit, a collection of costumes from Series 11 was also displayed for a brief time.[7]
External links[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Madame Tussauds
- Madame Tussauds London
- Madame Tussauds official site
- Doctor Who: The Locations Guide - Madame Tussauds
Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- ↑ Resurrection of the Daleks on dalek6388.co.uk
- ↑ DWM 48[which?]
- ↑ London - Madame Tussauds Tom Baker on flickr.com
- ↑ Notes from a Who Island on doctorwho.org.nz
- ↑ Just What the Doctor Ordered. Madame Tussauds (16 October 2018). Archived from the original on 5 December 2023. Retrieved on 18 July 2024.
- ↑ Don't blink! Reported sightings of John Bishop and a weeping angel at Madame Tussauds Blackpool. Madame Tussauds (10 March 2022). Archived from the original on 29 November 2022. Retrieved on 19 July 2024.
- ↑ Madame Tussauds Adds Host of Series 11 Costumes to Blackpool Exhibit. Blogtor Who (12 May 2019). Archived from the original on 19 July 2024. Retrieved on 19 July 2024.
