It’s safe to say that we’re all interested in time travel. After all, that’s a large part of why we’re here. And there’s nothing like a photograph to take you back in time, at least in your mind. Five years ago, in the DWM Special Edition that was all about Doctor Who’s location filming, Alan Barnes wrote a thought-provoking article about the way still images have the power to encapsulate an era. Even if, as in the case of the famous 1964 shot of the Daleks patrolling Westminster Bridge, the image in question doesn’t strictly represent something we actually saw on screen.
I was reminded of this when we were conducting the picture research for this issue’s epic exploration of the Doctor Who exhibitions organised by BBC Enterprises. The merchandise kiosk at the Blackpool exhibition proved especially intriguing, because the prices attached to the various items on sale there in 1978 give us an indication of how much Doctor Who Magazine collectables actually cost in those days. Palitoy Talking Daleks were £4.25, around £25 in today’s money, while the Denys Fisher Dalek toys were a bit cheaper at £3.49 (just over £20 in 2021). Needless to say,
to purchase mint examples of either toy now would cost you considerably more than those inflation-adjusted prices – assuming of course you could fi nd them. A quick glance at a well-known auction site reveals some eye-watering three-fi gure sums.
Also available at Blackpool in 1978 were a reproduction Doctor Who scarf (at the rather random price of £8.21), badges (a more affordable 10p each), board games, the Denys Fisher action fi gures of the Doctor, a Cyberman and the K1 robot, the Doctor Who and the Pescatons LP, jigsaws,

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