View source for More tea, Doctor? Tardis calls by for cuppa and cake

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| publication = The Times
| file = 2013-07-10 Times.jpg
| px = 750
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| date = 2013-07-10
| author = Anne Ashworth
| pages = 7
| language = English 
| type = 
| description = 
| categories = merchandise
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If you are one of the many foes of Doctor Who you will have been struggling to outwit the Time Lord for what seems like, well, light years.

However, from today the task becomes a piece of cake. You will be able to take a big bite out of the Tardis — in biscuit, cupcake or chocolate form.

But these changes to the rules of interplanetary conflict cut both ways. Daleks can now be sliced up and exterminated in their latest manifestation as birthday cakes.

These and other extraterrestrial treats can be washed down with tea poured from a Tardis teapot and drunk from a mug decorated with the head of a Cyber Man. Yes, this fearsome humanoid with a loathing for the Doctor has also been domesticated. The teapot, the mug and the moulds for the cakes are part of a new Doctor Who bakeware range at Lakeland, the kitchen gadget group. Lakeland has done a deal with BBC Worldwide to promote* the line to coincide with the show's 50th anniversary this autumn.

Prices range from £2.99 for 24 Dalek straws to £16.99 for the cake mould.

Julian Rayner, one of the three brothers who own Lakeland, an enterprise valued by the Sunday Times Rich list at. £85 million, spotted on a visit to the US that Williams-Sonoma, the American homeware store, was offering Star Wars cupcake cases and cookie cutters. He felt that Lakeland should offer tribute to Britain's most celebrated intergalatic personalities.

Matt Smith, the actor who portrays the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor, is soon to bow out, so currently he features only on a garland to decorate the table groaning with time-travelling delights. Perhaps, in his next regeneration, the Doctor could be promoted to a cake tin. Or maybe a napkin.

Lakeland, which approached the BBC with a proposal for Doctor Who bakeware, is not disclosing the-sum it paid to secure the rights to the series. But the company hopes that the collaboration will become a multimillion-pound revenue stream — even without the inclusion of fishfingers and custard, the current Doctor's favourite food.

Lakeland has 57 stores in Britain and eight in the Middle East. Its website and catalogue spread the Lakeland message farther afield — although for the moment not beyond this planet


Caption: The cupcakes are out of this world

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