76 Totter's Lane

76 Totter's Lane (also known as Totter's Yard) in Shoreditch was the location of a scrapyard where, disguised as a police box, the Doctor's TARDIS resided in 1963. Following their student Susan Foreman back to her mysterious home, her two teachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright from Coal Hill School discovered the scrap yard and the TARDIS sitting in it. (DW: An Unearthly Child) Later in 1963, after the TARDIS had left and much later (from the Doctor's point of view) returned, a fight between a Renegade Dalek and Group Captain Ian Gilmore's Intrusion Countermeasures Group happened there. (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks)

This event more or less inaugurated the beginning of the Shoreditch IncidentThough never stated, we can assume that the Dalek went there because the Renegade Daleks knew the TARDIS had earlier landed in that location.

In 1985, the TARDIS returned to the junkyard in response to a distress signal sent by Lytton. (DW: Attack of the Cybermen), while in 1997, the TARDIS landed in the junkyard once more after the Doctor fell victim to a trap by the Master. (EDA: The Eight Doctors)

Though this may not have actually happened, it was revealed that the junkyard was also a Gallifreyan space-time event known as I.M. Foreman's One-Species Nongenetically Engineered Travelling Show. (EDA: Interference: Book One, Interference: Book Two)

The name "Totter's Yard" is first used in episode 1 of Logopolis.

Behind the Scenes

In the pilot episode of Doctor Who and in 'An Unearthly Child, a studio set presented 76's Totter's Lane (both inside and out). In Attack of the Cybermen and Remembrance of the Daleks, actual London locations represented the yard. In the latter story, due to a mistake, the letters on the outside gate say I.M. Forman rather than the original I.M. Foreman spelling seen in An Unearthly Child.