Taking the plunger

40th anniversary special
22 November 2003

• The Whos' Who's Who
• All New Who
• Tom Baker on ...
• My favourite Doctor
• Can't wait for the TV series?
• Sounds out of this world
• Lost tapes turn up
• Who do you do?
• Captured in time
• Docs on the box
• Taking the plunger
• The RT Files

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Radio Times anniversary specials
10th (1973) | 20th (1983) | 30th (1993) | 40th (2003) | 50th (2013) | 60th (2023)

• http://cuttingsarchive.org/images/8/86/2003-11-22_Radio_Times_pS14b.jpg

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• Publication: Radio Times
• Date: 2003-11-22
• Author:
• Page: 14
• Language: English

Anyone lucky enough to own a copy of the Radio Times tenth-anniversary Doctor Who special from 1973 (turn to page 16 for our fantastic reprint offer!) will know well of the plans within for building your own life-size Dalek. Fast-setting potter's plaster, hessian scrim, shellac, gelcoat resin, 24 polystyrene balls, sink plunger... it all sounds more daunting than actually meeting one of the creatures.

Yet Dalek devotee Ian Mellor, 25, from Wigan, managed the feat, over a mere six months, in his grandfather's workshop. "It did look impossible until you took each stage bit by bit," he says. It didn't help, Ian asserts, that "the plans weren't really that accurate". (Cough.) But then he is a self-confessed perfectionist.

Ian has since sold his creation, having previously displayed it in the window of his house, "just to see the faces of people as they walked past".

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• APA 6th ed.: (2003-11-22). Taking the plunger. Radio Times p. 14.
• MLA 7th ed.: "Taking the plunger." Radio Times [add city] 2003-11-22, 14. Print.
• Chicago 15th ed.: "Taking the plunger." Radio Times, edition, sec., 2003-11-22
• Turabian: "Taking the plunger." Radio Times, 2003-11-22, section, 14 edition.
• Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Taking the plunger | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Taking_the_plunger | work=Radio Times | pages=14 | date=2003-11-22 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=2 April 2025 }}</ref>
• Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Taking the plunger | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Taking_the_plunger | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=2 April 2025}}</ref>