Magpie Electricals was a radio and television shop located on Mafeking Terrace, Muswell Hill, London. (TV: The Idiot's Lantern)
History
In 1953, the Wire contacted the owner, Mr Magpie, making him sell television sets cheaply as part of her plan to "tak[e] people's faces, their essences" and get a physical body. (TV: The Idiot's Lantern) Although Magpie himself was killed by the Wire, Magpie Electricals survived the loss of its proprietor, and continued to exist well past the 1950s.
In October 1963, the First Doctor visited Magpie's Electricals and attempted to buy components to repair the TARDIS. (AUDIO: Hunters of Earth)
River Song's scanner was manufactured by Magpie Electricals. (TV: Day of the Moon)
In 2007, it appeared when the Doctor flicked through various websites on a mobile phone. (TV: The Runaway Bride)
In 2008, Martha Jones had a Magpie-brand television. (TV: The Sound of Drums)
The alien cruise liner Titanic had a Magpie-brand microphone. (TV: Voyage of the Damned)
By Christmas 2008, Wilfred Mott had a Magpie-branded television when he sold newspapers on Christmas Eve. (TV: Voyage of the Damned)
In 2009, Sarah Jane Smith's computer was a Magpie Electricals brand. (TV: The Mark of the Berserker)
Torchwood Three once had an old Magpie television. (PROSE: The Undertaker's Gift)
The monitor, the typewriter, the keyboard and a miscellaneous control by the mustard dispenser in the reconstructed TARDIS console room had Magpie Electricals brands on them. (TV: The Eleventh Hour) A power control device in the console room had Magpie's Electricals brand and was labelled Type V 310 A. (TV: Vincent and the Doctor)
It still stood in the 33rd century, on Starship UK.(TV: The Beast Below)
Behind the scenes
- The use of the Magpie Electricals logo is something of an inside joke for Doctor Who's design team. It is on the back of the monitor on the Eleventh Doctor's TARDIS. This was revealed in an episode of Doctor Who Confidential (Doctor Who Confidential: Call Me the Doctor). It was also mentioned on the TARDIS tour on the Doctor Who BBC website.