Andrew Orton
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andreworton.bsky.social
Andrew Orton
@andreworton.bsky.social
2.2K followers 870 following 2K posts
Television historian, writer, artist, 33% of Mulgrave Audio, comic inks and colours. Author of books about Doctor Who, Blake's 7 and Robin of Sherwood. Usually found recreating BBC studio sets in CG. Solvitur ambulando. Marra. Durham.
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Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · Nov 23
Well, #DoctorWho is 61 today. How better to celebrate? An Unearthly Child, in Lime Grove D, 1963! #CGSets
A CG recreation of the studio set for An Unearthly Child, showing the junkyard, school yard and TARDIS interior from the position of the gallery. A CG recreation of the studio set for An Unearthly Child, showing the junkyard, school yard and TARDIS interior from the position of the upper floor of the junkyard. A CG recreation of the TARDIS interior in studio for An Unearthly Child. The central control console is visible, as is a large hexagonal light fixure above. A close-up CG recreation of the TARDIS console on set for An Unearthly Child, with the Doctor's die-cut Westminster clock on a pedestal int he foreground.
Reposted by Andrew Orton
andreworton.bsky.social
The Black Guardian Trilogy - the studio sessions (Part 1)

Mawdryn Undead, TC8, 8-9th September 1982 (designer, Stephen Scott) #DoctorWho #CGSets 1/3
A CG recreation of the studio set of Mawdryn Undead, from above, showing the TARDIS interior, school, Brigadier's rooms and Transmat capsule sets. A CG recreation of the Transmat capsule set from Mawdryn Undead, in close-up. It shows several rostra and wall flats, in orange and pink colours, to an art deco design.
November 25, 2024 at 5:57 PM
andreworton.bsky.social
It's #Blakes7 Season B day, so here's something I made for fun: the studio shoot for Redemption! #CGSets
#Blake's7
andreworton.bsky.social Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · Nov 20
Here's something I haven't put online before! #Blakes7 Redemption, in TC6 on 8-10th September 1978. Vere Lorrimer also shot the Liberator sequences for Killer in this session. The other sets visible are the Spaceworld Command Centre, the Detention Cell, and Roy Evans' Tiny Lift. #CGSets
A CG render of BBC TV Centre studio 6, showing the Liberator Flight Deck, Teleport Room, the Spaceworld Command Centre and the Detention Cell. A CG render of BBC TV Centre studio 6, showing the Liberator Flight Deck, Teleport Room, the Spaceworld Command Centre and the Detention Cell, from another angle. A CG render of the Spaceworld Command Centre in close-up. A CG render of the Liberator Flight Deck, shown through the hexagonal entrance tunnel.
November 8, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Reposted by Andrew Orton
andreworton.bsky.social
uh... Kylie? #DoctorWho 13/13
Peter Davison as the Doctor, in 1982. He's sitting in a deckchair with arms folded. Kylie Minogue in a cricket jumper and skirt made of the same material as the fifth Doctor's trousers. She's sitting in a deckchair in a similar pose to the previous photograph.
November 7, 2025 at 12:27 PM
andreworton.bsky.social
Who's your favourite fifth Doctor? #DoctorWho

Peter Davison, 1982 🧵 1/13
Peter Davison as the Doctor in 1982.
November 7, 2025 at 12:27 PM
andreworton.bsky.social
15% off these lovely books I wrote for!
scarredforlife.bsky.social Scarred For Life @scarredforlife.bsky.social · 6d
Get a huge 15% discount off our books with the case-sensitive code 15WRITER till Friday November 7! You *must* sign in as a guest during checkout to activate this code and grab our trilogy of enormous tomes!

Store: linktr.ee/scarredforlife
November 5, 2025 at 7:59 PM
andreworton.bsky.social
#DoctorWho The Tenth Planet 4 - a tour of the sets! #CGSets
andreworton.bsky.social Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · Jan 2
And here's a little video walkaround of the set, which even includes a very half-hearted impression of Hartnell. In it, I forget to mention that the metamophosis between Doctor Whos was shot earlier in the day. #DoctorWho
www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5qV...
The First Doctor's Regeneration: Behind the Scenes on Doctor Who's The Tenth Planet - A CG Set Tour!
YouTube video by Andrew Orton
www.youtube.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Reposted by Andrew Orton
andreworton.bsky.social
#DoctorWho The Tenth Planet 4, in Riverside 1, 8th October 1966. A changeable day... #CGSets Keep Warm.
A CG recreation of the TARDIS control room from the Tenth Planet. A CG recreation of the TARDIS and Tracking room sets from The Tenth Planet. The tracking room shows a number of computer consoles around a large screen, with stairs at the back to a door. A raised dais has the General desk on it. A CG reacreation of the Radiation room and Cyber Ship from The Tenth Planet. The radiation room has a large cylinder on a central dais surrounded by consoles, and a door leading to a corridor. A CG reacreation of the small Cyber ship from The Tenth Planet. It has five high-tech columns and roof beams in a quarter-circle formation, between which gates with horizontal bars form small prison cells. Between two of the columns is a door to an external corridor.
January 2, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Reposted by Andrew Orton
andreworton.bsky.social
A quick video tour of #DoctorWho The Roof of the World: the Himalaya writ large in 405 electronic lines. You also get my stunning impression of Tegana! 2/2 #CGSets www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW4Y...
Marco Polo: The Roof of the World: a CG tour through Doctor Who's 1964 sets!
YouTube video by Andrew Orton
www.youtube.com
November 21, 2024 at 8:36 PM
Reposted by Andrew Orton
andreworton.bsky.social
Here's a CG model of the studio session for #DoctorWho Marco Polo: The Roof of the World! Film sequences aside, it was all shot in one evening in Lime Grove D, after a week of rehearsals. I'll put a link to a video tour of the set in the next post! 1/2 #CGSets
A CG recreation of the studio sets for episode one of the Doctor Who story Marco Polo, showing the TARDIS on a Himalayan landscape, the waystation set and Marco Polo's tent. A CG recreation of the studio set of the interior of the waystation at Lop. The image shows a wood doorway area and several expensive rugs, along with a wheeled Mole Richardson microphone boom. A CG recreation of the set of the exterior of the waystation at Lop. The image shows an arched faux-stone gateway in a wall, and the outside of a wooden doorway with elaborate fretwork and a bamboo roof. A cyclorama behind shows a desert sky. A CG recreation of the studio set of the TARDIS police box standing on the Pamir plain. The set is made from a sky cyclorama, with hessian thrown over studio rostra and sandbags to form the ground. Some fake rock walls are visible. A television camera is shown in the foreground.
November 21, 2024 at 8:36 PM
andreworton.bsky.social
Love this
Belinda Carlisle - Heaven Is A Place On Earth (2017 version)
YouTube video by Dylan Arthur
youtube.com
November 3, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Reposted by Andrew Orton
andreworton.bsky.social
#DoctorWho The TV Movie (1996)! A great pair of sets - with surprisingly low ceilings! For the cloister room, an arched CG roof was added in post, which, cunningly, I haven't included here on my CG recreation of the physical set. #CGSets
November 24, 2024 at 3:58 PM
Reposted by Andrew Orton
andreworton.bsky.social
And have a video tour of it too, where you can hear my impression of Georgina Hale :) www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwxK...
Amazing Tour of TERRA ALPHA - Doctor Who: The Happines Patrol!
YouTube video by Andrew Orton
www.youtube.com
November 12, 2024 at 6:00 PM
Reposted by Andrew Orton
andreworton.bsky.social
#DoctorWho #CGSets One for Season 25 fans - a CG recreation of the studio set for the Happiness Patrol's Terra Alpha, in TC3!
November 12, 2024 at 6:00 PM
andreworton.bsky.social
“It was Pipes, Rassilon, Pipes did it…” #NationalSeance
October 31, 2025 at 9:53 PM
andreworton.bsky.social
Craig Charles is brilliant in this
#NationalSeance
October 31, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Reposted by Andrew Orton
andreworton.bsky.social
A (true) #Halloween story... 🧵
(It's a Ghost Story for Christmas really, but here goes:)

The town I grew up in, Ferryhill, was the site of a nationally-famous ax-murder in 1682: “the most horrid and barbarous murder that was ever heard in the North or elsewhere”. 1/
A page from a 1682 London news story telling the tale of the murder.
October 31, 2025 at 3:44 PM
andreworton.bsky.social
A (true) #Halloween story... 🧵
(It's a Ghost Story for Christmas really, but here goes:)

The town I grew up in, Ferryhill, was the site of a nationally-famous ax-murder in 1682: “the most horrid and barbarous murder that was ever heard in the North or elsewhere”. 1/
A page from a 1682 London news story telling the tale of the murder.
October 31, 2025 at 3:44 PM
andreworton.bsky.social
Always love this shot from #DoctorWho Castrovalva of the Master watching the scanner screen shutter come down on his head.
The Master on the TARDIS scanner screen in Castrovalva. The shutter is closing down over his image, and his head is tilting back in laughter so that it looks like he is watching the screen close.
October 31, 2025 at 9:40 AM
andreworton.bsky.social
Well, it's Hallowe'en, so I shall be spending the day walking around the house like Charles Ogle.
Charles Ogle as Frankestein from 1910, looking spooky with both arms held out to his right.
October 31, 2025 at 7:58 AM
andreworton.bsky.social
Anyway, if the Logopolitans modelled and recreated the existing Pharos Project control room out of pure mathematics, why are their computers wrapped in plastic as if they've just come straight from the IBM factory? #DoctorWho
A shot from Logopolis, showing the central register room with some computer banks wrapped in polythene.
October 30, 2025 at 8:41 PM
andreworton.bsky.social
The Trial of a Time Lord in TC1! #DoctorWho #CGSets
andreworton.bsky.social Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · Dec 26
Happy Boxing Day! Here’s #DoctorWho The Trial of a Time Lord in TC1, 16th-17th July 1986, for The Ultimate Foe / Vervoid trial scenes! #CGsets
A CG recreation of television studio TC1, showing the Trial Room, landing area and Master’s TARDIS interior from Season 24. A CG recreation of the golden Trial room from Season 23.
October 30, 2025 at 7:28 PM
andreworton.bsky.social
I’m slightly amazed to discover there’s a Scream 5
culturecrave.co Culture Crave 🍿 @culturecrave.co · 11d
First poster for ‘Scream 7’

In theaters February 27
October 30, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Reposted by Andrew Orton
mrmrf8.bsky.social
www.cultureslate.com/explained/to...
Tolkien's Clapback To Nazi Germany — CultureSlate
J.R.R Tolkien famously sent a polite but savage correspondence to the Nazis in 1938. His letters were gathered and published in collected works like The Letters of J.R.R Tolkien . This is how we kn...
www.cultureslate.com
October 29, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Reposted by Andrew Orton
andreworton.bsky.social
Have been doing #DoctorWho Evil of the Daleks research. The Emperor Dalek appears in film sequences at Ealing for shots of the Dalek Civil War. There are tons of gorgeous phtographs from this shoot. Note the triangular bars above the Emperor and the two tubes attached at his lowest level. 1/
The Emperor Dalek, from the left. The image shos a larger, static Dalek with hexagonal patterns and a ring of large black spheres around its skirt. It has no arms; only a single eyestalk. It is connected to triangular wall grid by a series of tubes and pipes. The Emperor Dalek from the front, with a drone Dalek entering the room. The Emperor Dalek from below, looking menacing. A behind-the-scenes shot of the Emperor Dalek with production crew around it.
October 29, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Reposted by Andrew Orton
andreworton.bsky.social
Today it's 43 years since #DoctorWho Castrovalva Part One was broadcast. Here's something I haven't put online before. The biggest TARDIS set the series did. Designer Janet Budden used every bit of stock scenery, and then made some more... 'Now, ordinary spaces....' #CGSets
A CG recreation of the studio for Castrovalva, showing the composite TARDIS set. The Control room appears on one wall, with a network of roundelled corridors filling the studio. In one corner, the Zero Room set stands, looking pinkish-grey.
January 4, 2025 at 12:34 PM