John Lavalie: Created page with "{{article | publication = The News (Adelaide) | file = 1983-01-12 News.jpg | px = 450 | height = | width = | date = 1983-01-12 | author = | pages = 5 | language = English..."

2025-11-12T01:19:58Z

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| text = LONDON: Dr Who fans are in for a double shock ... a new doctor and no more Tardis.

Actor Colin Baker has stepped into the role, succeeding Peter Davison in the long-running BBC TV series.

And the Tardis — the famous blue police box which has been the doctor's time travelling machine for more than 20 years — is facing the chop.

BBC chiefs are planning to drop the box because young viewers do not know what it represents.

Dr Who's producer, John Nathan-Turner, said: "Police boxes are a thing of the past except for a few in Scotland — and they are colored grey.

"I think the last one in England was on a road bypass in north London and that went about four years ago.

"A whole generation of children has grown up believing the box to be the Tardis and nothing else."

The old blue box will be wheeled out of its home in the props department at BBC television when filming of the new Dr Who series starts in March.

But it will be phased out along the way.

Shame

And Baker, the new doctor, is disappointed.

"It's a great shame. I've always been a Dr Who fan and the police box has always been part of the scenery. But I take John's point." he said.

"Originally. the Tardis was supposed to blend in with its surroundings and when the show started in the sixties, there were police boxes all over the place."

Caption: The new Doctor Who, Colin Baker, and the old Tardis

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It's the new Who, that's who... - Revision history

John Lavalie: Created page with "{{article | publication = The News (Adelaide) | file = 1983-01-12 News.jpg | px = 450 | height = | width = | date = 1983-01-12 | author = | pages = 5 | language = English..."