TARDIS exterior (An Unearthly Child)
The original TARDIS police box exterior design was created as camouflage when the First Doctor landed his TARDIS at 76 Totter's Lane in 1963. (TV: An Unearthly Child [+]Loading...["An Unearthly Child (TV story)"])
Design[[edit] | [edit source]]
The design was modelled after a Metropolitan Police Box, but had several distinguishing features, notably being smaller than the Metropolitan design. (PROSE: TARDIS Type 40 Instruction Manual [+]Loading...["TARDIS Type 40 Instruction Manual (reference book)"])
Its sides were panelled, with four panels per slat and two slats per side, with the highest panel being six-segment white-frame windows.
The TARDIS doors opened inward and did not have door handles. The left door had a telephone panel with black writing on a white background which read "Police Telephone / Free for Use of Public / Advice and Assistance Obtainable Immediately / Officers and Cars Respond to Urgent Calls / Pull to Open". The TARDIS lock was located on the right side of the left door, between the second highest and second lowest panels. The right side had a simple St John's Ambulance badge on its second highest panel.
The Police Public Call Box signs had white writing on a blue background. (TV: An Unearthly Child [+]Loading...["An Unearthly Child (TV story)"], The Space Museum [+]Loading...["The Space Museum (TV story)"], et al.)
The design had a two-tiered roof. The TARDIS lamp initially had a circular cap, (TV: An Unearthly Child [+]Loading...["An Unearthly Child (TV story)"], et al.) but later had a square cap. (TV: The Web Planet [+]Loading...["The Web Planet (TV story)"], et al.)
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Doctor's TARDIS[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Doctor once tried to tinker with the ship's shape, causing the windows to gain backward hinges which let them lean into the box. (PROSE: The Time Travellers [+]Loading...["The Time Travellers (novel)"]) This was the case when the time travellers were shrunk (TV: Planet of Giants [+]Loading...["Planet of Giants (TV story)"]) and when they ended the 2150s Dalek invasion of Earth. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth [+]Loading...["The Dalek Invasion of Earth (TV story)"])
Later in the First Doctor's travels, the exterior settled into a similar new design with different overall shape and doors (TV: The Smugglers [+]Loading...["The Smugglers (TV story)"]) due to chameleonic fluctuation. The Seventh Doctor recalled the St John Ambulance badge suddenly disappearing as if it was never there. (PROSE: St Anthony's Fire [+]Loading...["St Anthony's Fire (novel)"])
Other TARDISes[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Monk's TARDIS once adopted this design. (TV: The Daleks' Master Plan [+]Loading...["The Daleks' Master Plan (TV story)"])
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- This TARDIS exterior was designed by Peter Brachacki. (DWMSE 55)
- Smaller models of this TARDIS design continued to be used after the main prop changed, leading to this design appearing in occasional effects scenes in later eras of Doctor Who.
