Doctor on Display: Greatest Shows in the Galaxy

In the early 1970s, the BBC decided to launch a series of exhibitions featuring monsters and props from Doctor Who. Over the next three decades, untold thousands of children (and adults too!) were thrilled by a mix of innovative, exciting and stunning extravaganzas! For many fans, these exhibitions were their first and only real chance to get close-up to their favourite TV programme … and the memories they share in this innovative documentary series are bound together by interviews with experts and people who actually worked at them! The museum re-opened in 2021 after extensive restoration work and we tell the story of that opening … and the incredible journey that led to that memorable day!

In the early 70s, the Marquis of Bath, on the lookout for anything that would encourage more visitors to his estate at Longleat, decided that DOCTOR WHO would be just the ticket! In this production, we go behind the scenes in Wiltshire to reveal the story of DOCTOR WHO’s longest running exhibition, meeting the people who made it all happen, and those who visited … often many times a year! There’s drama, celebrations, days out and fire! It’s all here!

This time we’re off to North Wales and the historic mill town of Llangollen – home to a Doctor Who exhibition with that little bit more to offer. Llangollen sits alongside the River Dee in Denbighshire and is a popular tourist attraction, not least for its steam railway and awe-inspiring aqueduct. In this film we’ll be travelling back in time to visit the exhibition, enjoy the scenery, see the props and monsters, visit the DAPOL factory and hear the stories of those who worked there … and those who have happy memories of visiting one of the biggest Doctor Who exhibitions ever mounted!

In the early 1970s, the BBC decided to launch a series of exhibitions featuring monsters and props from Doctor Who. Over the next three decades, untold thousands of children (and adults too!) were thrilled by a mix of innovative, exciting and stunning extravaganzas! For many fans, these exhibitions were their first and only real chance to get close-up to their favourite TV programme

In 1995, David Boyle founded the Doctor Who Experience in Llangollen, Wales. When it closed in 2003, he didn’t give up and moved north to Blackpool to open another exhibition there! This time it was his venture, organized and run by him and it was the biggest DOCTOR WHO exhibition ever – with both old and new series exhibits from the programme! In this film we pay tribute to both the exhibition and DAVID BOYLE… one of DOCTOR WHO’s greatest advocates!

In 1986, BBC Enterprises organized the Doctor Who USA Tour, a two-year travelling exhibition of props and memorabilia from the program, showcased in a 48-foot trailer decorated with alien landscapes from the show, police box entrances, and a mock-up of the TARDIS interior. This documentary features footage from the events as well as interviews with participants and more.

A sculptor opens a wax museum to showcase the likenesses of famous historical figures, but quickly runs into trouble when his business partner demands the exhibits become more extreme in order to increase profits.

For nearly a decade, Gilbert and Sullivan’s collaborations have delighted the English people. But in 1884, as a London heat wave cuts into the theater trade, their latest work, "Princess Ida", receives lukewarm press. In an effort to reconcile their creative differences and drawing inspiration from Japanese culture, they went on to create the hit opera "The Mikado", one of the duo's greatest successes.

A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity. Based on the true story of Joseph Merrick (called John Merrick in the film), a severely deformed man in 19th century London.

A special sideshow torture exhibit has the power, according to showman Dr Diabolo, to warn people of foreseeable evil. One by one, skeptics stand before the Fate Atropos to preview the greed and violence hiding behind their respectable façades.

In the days leading up to a possibly career-changing exhibition, a sculptor navigates her relationships with family, friends, and colleagues.

As he helps a young artist with her upcoming exhibition, the owner of a mannequin shop's deadly, suppressed desires come to the surface.

The vivid and inspiring story of British film icon Michael Caine's personal journey through 1960s swinging London.

Michael Jackson's "Dangerous Tour" still sets the bar high for every touring artist today. Outdoing himself with the "Bad Tour", which was already considered the ultimate, the gigantic stage setting consisting of 20 trucks and a lavish arsenal of personnel took almost three days to set up - that alone is a logistical superlative for a worldwide tour with 69 concert stops and 3.5 million fans. The highlights of the show included pyrotechnic effects, several stage illusions and a stuntman. True to his aim of spreading love around the world, Jackson donated the proceeds from the tour (over $100 million) to charity. On October 1, 1992, the image and sound recordings that are hotly sought after by Jackson fans around the world were also made. The concert recording, which was broadcast on the HBO channel, picked up in 60 countries and also transmitted by countless radio stations, still inspires people around the globe.

The Seventh Doctor becomes the Eighth. And on the streets of San Francisco – alongside new ally Grace Holloway - he battles the Master.

Eccentric aliens give a man the power to do anything he wants to determine if Earth is worth saving.

Wealthy slacker college student Mark, his new girlfriend Sarah, and their friends are invited to a special showing at a mysterious wax museum which displays 18 of the most evil men of all time. After his ex-girlfriend and another friend disappear, Mark becomes suspicious.

In 1947, long-retired and near the end of his life, Sherlock Holmes grapples with an unreliable memory and must rely on his housekeeper's son as he revisits the still-unsolved case that led to his retirement.

With his partner Caprice, celebrity performance artist Saul Tenser publicly showcases the metamorphosis of his organs in avant-garde performances. An investigator from the National Organ Registry obsessively tracks their movements, which is when a mysterious group is revealed... Their mission — to use Tenser's notoriety to shed light on the next phase of human evolution.

Pioneering documentary maker Philomena Cunk returns with her most ambitious quest to date: venturing right up the universe and everything to examine life and existence in an attempt to find out the point of it all. Along the way, she interrogates experts on subjects from the big bang to biology and art to artificial intelligence. Really get to the nub of it.

Based on true events about the foot soldiers of the early feminist movement, women who were forced underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an increasingly brutal State.

Trip, a young roadie for Metallica, is sent on an urgent mission during the band's show. But what seems like a simple assignment turns into a surreal adventure.

A two-bit promoter tries to take a women's wrestling team to the top.

A wax sculptor opens a new museum years after he is severely injured during a fire that destroyed his original collection. The disappearance of both people and corpses coincides with this grand reopening and leads a reporter to start investigating.

The tension is palpable, the excitement is mounting and the heady scent of competition is in the air as hundreds of eager contestants from across America prepare to take part in what is undoubtedly one of the greatest events of their lives -- the Mayflower Dog Show. The canine contestants and their owners are as wondrously diverse as the great country that has bred them.

When The Man in the Yellow Hat befriends Curious George in the jungle, they set off on a non-stop, fun-filled journey through the wonders of the big city toward the warmth of true friendship.