Your favourite merchandise/memorabilia?

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Obviously we all like Doctor Who, and obviously we all own lots of tat related to it. But of all the tat you have which one thing is your favourite? It could be a DVD of a favourite story, your first DWM, a signed photo, even a Dapol Melanie. So what is it?

Mine has to be my Programme Guide, the 1989 version (I think) from Target. For many many years it was my one-stop reference guide, and probably the single reason I can name most of the stories in order now. I also used it to mark off which videos and books I had so far, it really was the centre of my Who-world. Not to mention the fact that I also got it signed by a few "luminaries" in my youth.

So what's yours?

[Pip Madeley]

There's not one specific thing I own that I value above everything else, but I do have a lot of love for this:



At a time when I was trying to find out more about the series this was like a gift from heaven - I tracked down the single remaining copy in Manchester Libraries and borrowed it for months until I finally had to give it back... wonder what happened to that copy... anyway, it takes me back half a life time ago

[Dirk Gently]

My video collection. It represents a large chunk of my life.

[Captain Tancredi]

Sitting on top of my television is my signed BBC postcard of Peter Davison from Longleat 1983- quite battered now, but I framed it and put it on display a few years back.

[Andrew Curnow]

I've got a couple of favourites, if that's not a contradiction in terms. First is this:



Not to mention its sepia-tinted friend:



At one point I had an awful lot of BBC videos, but the vast majority went on ebay in 2001/02. But this double-pack is one I still have - I actually got it for my 18th birthday from my parents, back in June 1989 (so only a month or so after it had been released). It was the first episodic release, the first Hartnell release, so it has all that 'historical' clout behind it too, but mainly it's the fact that it was the 'big' present to mark my 18th and I treasure it dearly.

[Andrew Curnow]

And my other favourite(s) are the following trio, or trilogy, or Three Who Rule:





They're gorgeous books that I still like to flick through even today, but above that, there's (again) the association of where & when I got them. The Sixties was my main Christmas present from Mum & Dad at Christmas 1992, the Seventies at Christmas 1994... By 1996 I was engaged, so almost as if the baton was being passed from parents to fiance, the Eighties I got at Christmas 1996 from Zel.

[Andrew Curnow]

And then of course, there's my blow up Janet Fielding, which is jolly nice too.

[Larry]

have to say one of my favourite pieces of merchandise is a drawing portraite of Jon Pertwee, as the Doctor, it was part of a limited edition of only 250 that were drawn as a tribute to Jon, shortly after he died. I got it for my birthday in 1996 or 1997 and I haven't got a clue where my mum managed to get it from. My mum got it framed and it's now hanging on my bedroom wall above my computer.

[Si Hunt]

[Andrew Curnow]

Did your mother seal him in that ice cube for all eternity?

[Si Hunt]

Yes, on the grounds that he was a winker.

Si.

[Andrew Curnow]

With a mighty arse.

[Martin Penny]

I've always been incredibly fond of the Dapol figures, crappy as some of them were. I think the line actually started out rather well, with some very detailed sculpts - before they appeared to get lazy during the 90s and produce cartoonish and out of scale figures. But as a child growing up with Who, and loving my action figures - they were great for me.

[Terry Leptil]

I used to collect the Dapol figures and visited their factory a few times when it was at the (now closed) Doctor Who Exhibition in Llangollen. They did do a few oddities such as the scarf-less Fourth Doctor and green K9. Some figures were quite good (the Sea Devil one looked better than it's TV version). I think it was only the Third Doctor figure that was slightly taller than the others. Towards the end, they started introducing figures with holes in their feet to place onto a 'footstand' that came with the models.

Some particular things of value in my collection include 2 autographs from Anthony Ainley (signed picture from an event and autographed Castrovalva Target book, which he also did for me) and a signed copy of The Dæmons video by Nicholas Courtney.

[Simon R]

But as a child growing up with Who, and loving my action figures - they were great for me.

Same here. I never knew they existed until Christmas '88 when I got the TARDIS and the Doctor and my brother got Mel and K9. It's a shame that after the first couple of years it took them ages to bring out new figures.

[SiHart]

As a kid, the best toy I had was the Palitoy Talking K9. I loved it and played with it until the thing fell to pieces, leaving behind a mere shell that I would pull along on a string. I think that might well be my favourite piece of merchandise. I've grown to love the Remote Control K9 a lot too, though I wish he said more generic things than just the School Reunion things. Ah well.

Also much adored is The Cybermen Book. That's my favourite Doctor Who book ever because at the time it seemed a cut above all the others- covering both the fictional and the factual worlds of Doctor Who and it had such marvellous illustrations too. It was something very special and has been much read (and traced!)

Si xx