2017 will prove to be something of a bitter-sweet year for Doctor Who fans: there will be 13 new episodes this year ( yay! ) which will lead up to the swan-song of the wonderful Peter Capaldi ( boo! ), while this Summer will sadly see the closure of the equally-wonderful Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff ( double boo! )...
We've visited the DWE many times over its five-year existence and always had a great time, exploring its dazzling array of Doctor Who props, monsters, sets and general Gallifreyan goodness. In fact we all went down to Cardiff Bay on James' 17th birthday last September and had the above photo taken by a passing Raston Robot Warrior. Or it may have been a member of DWE staff...
It seems a real shame that such a well-loved and supported exhibition will soon find itself homeless. As well as bringing joy to the thousands of fans who come from all around the world to step through the exhibition's dimensionally-transcendental doors, the DWE is also surely a great boost to Cardiff's economy. Well, we weren't the only people thinking along those lines. A lovely lady named Bex Ferriday set up a petition via the pressure group
38 Degrees to highlight the er, degree that people love the DWE and want to protect it. Nearly 12,000 people ( me included ) signed the petition to urge Cardiff Council to save the exhibition in one form or another and hopefully keep it in the spiritual home of modern Doctor Who - Cardiff. We went down to Cardiff Bay last Saturday with a few like-minded Whovians to hand over the petition to the DWE manager, ahead of a formal hand-over to the council at a later date. We had a very positive meeting with the exhibition's boss who was very hopeful for the future and was at pains to stress that the council shouldn't be seen as the bad guys in this situation. Hopefully some good will come from all Bex's hard work but at the very least we had demonstrated the love and support people have for the DWE.
After that, Sarah and I had a great day in Cardiff Bay and also in the city centre, even though the weather was typically Welsh in its "changeable" nature. I'll just finish with a few more photos from the Doctor Who Experience...
And finally Esther, some wonderful examples of the great Christos ( "Chris" ) Achilleos's artwork from the 1970s Target Doctor Who books. What a treat to see a collection of these lovely pieces!
Soundtrack: My Woman by Angel Olsen
