Dr Who - History of the Police Box

Transmitted in 1993 as part of the 30th anniversary of Dr Who. This was part of a celebration of Dr Who with the BBC showing classic episodes including the Time Meddler and Planet of the Daleks

[@TallSilentGuy]

You know you're getting old when even a nostalgia-based documentary fills you with nostalgia.

[@chompette_]

The daleks tried to get rid of the TARDIS for years, little did they know its one weakness: sledgehammers

[@TallSilentGuy]

You deserve top comment!

[@HammerBroYoshi]

I just realised this is Colin Baker narrating

[@themirrorsofmymind]

"Whether you like it or not..."

[@Lyle-xc9pg]

The Rift Podcast I cant believe i didn't notice this whole time!

[@TallSilentGuy]

I thought it was Brian Cant for a while.

[@ChrisMac2489]

😳 after watching this video over 100 times I never knew

[@TrashMammal2002]

Yep, now listening it 7 years later, it was Colin Baker

[@buns4814]

Watching them destroy the police box made me die a little inside..

[@goldprime118]

Alienbicc thankfully there's one still in London and I heard there's lots of them in Glasgow.

[@FinnMcRiangabra]

"Stolen" time machine? Scandal! It was "borrowed." He will return it when done. Heck, he's got all of time and space to do so....

[@MondySpartan]

Ironic that Colin Baker, the 6th Doctor is saying that...

[@robertmartin9029]

I thought it was more like the TARDIS stole a Time Lord so she could go travelling?

[@SimpleWolfStudios]

"My Doctor!"

[@thoughtfortheday7811]

TARDIS kidnapped the Doctor. Great episode "The Doctor's Wife" explains it.

[@FinnMcRiangabra]

@@thoughtfortheday7811 Well, sure. She did not always take the Doctor where he wanted to go, but took him where he needed to be. But he hopped in her on Gallifrey and started the romp from there.

[@AnnLiOz]

Where we lived there was an old fashioned police box - opposite the bus terminal at the Green Man roundabout in Leytonstone. When I was a little girl, I always looked at it wondering if the doctor was inside and what it was doing there. I cant remember it ever being used by a policeman...:)

[@SirLithen]

I would love to see the Tardis land side by side with a "real" police box and the Doctor make some witty remark about the Tardis having found a new friend or relationship :D

[@jjcamacho3172]

yep :3

[@mekonta]

+Felix Hindemo The TARDIS did materialise next to a real Police Box on a roadside when the Doctor needed to take measurements of one to recalibrate his calculations in order to fix the TARDIS's Chameleon Circuit. He actually meant to materialise and engulf the Police Box so that he could measure it in the privacy of his console room... he missed by a couple of feet! But soon rectified it with a 'short hop' landing. The story was 'Logopolis'.

[@SirLithen]

Adam Darren Thanka for the tip

[@georgelloydgonzalez]

Tardis found a boyfriend

[@matt199608]

You've obviously never watched classic who

[@JLukeHypernova]

i can't believe that they just destroyed the tardis in the one scene

[@combatfoo2000]

That's Not The Tardis. it's Just An Ordinary Police Public Call Box!

[@rockinrodney5000]

Endercraft Why are you typing the first letter of every word in caps?

[@JLukeHypernova]

Endercraft Every police box is the tardis remember it's everywhere and every when.

[@jackerrullofficial]

j luke it is not bigger on the inside

[@JLukeHypernova]

JACKERRULL JACKERRULLOB it's still relative dimensions inside and outside the box. it just fits that's all.

[@bigtimefans100]

YES! I should really start watching Classic Who.

[@hunterkiller1440]

Mad man with a box.

[@milk5652]

Police box

[@JEEEVANJOHN]

@@amfe52 what? Don’t you mean sexist?

[@galaxybiscuit]

Going around helping people

[@CaJoel]

It’s weird how police boxes are basically pieces of architecture, but because of the TARDIS I just see them as vehicles

[@AndrewChapman]

3:32 That is so heartbreaking. I would love to have a Police Box in my back garden and then I would have my own full size TARDIS.

[@FerreiraGabriel-j5y]

But the police box another still not destroyed

[@jerobriggs6861]

Why 24 dislikes? It was accurate and educational. I loved it.

[@xsailor85]

They must be from Cybermen or Daleks

[@727Phoenix]

This comment harkens back to the olden days when the quantity of dislikes were specified.

[@jerobriggs6861]

I miss those days. Everyone is too god damn sensitive now days. They can't take criticism.

[@727Phoenix]

The balance of Likes vs. Dislikes helped me decide whether to watch a video or not. Yeah, they didn't make that change for our benefit.

[@Kenko706]

That was actually from the first of two theatrical motion pictures, where the "Doctor", whose name was literally Doctor Who, was a human inventor and who had used a police box shell as the framework for his TARDIS. (Incidentally, these movies were wretched, and were most a vehicle to show off Daleks, which had become immensely popular.)

[@dwfan91-]

I had this on my VHS so many years ago and I only just found it now. Finally...

[@apershin77]

3:33 If someone did this out in public, and there’s a bunch of Doctor Who fans there would have been a riot

[@Type40TARDIS]

Finally after many years I have found this video

[@CelestialCookie]

The "bigger inside than out" at the beginning just about killed me. It was like when Clara said, "It's smaller on the outside."

[@chapswick]

I may be mistaken but I reckon the narrator is none other than Colin Baker

[@escrtist]

You are, Tom Baker's voice is deeper and has a distinctive Liverpudlians accent.

[@chapswick]

escrtist If you read carefully, you might notice I wrote COLIN Baker, not TOM.

[@goldprime118]

Yep. That's him. Met him once.

[@far_away_rhys]

There's still police boxes in Glasgow to this day.although they don't work

[@Alpha-ew3wv]

Cairns Chaos and Edinburgh too!

[@pond_enjoyer]

3:40 NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@maxheadroom3839]

They should have kept those boxes they could have made a fortune selling them to Doctor Who fans.

[@tp.productions]

No they should of kept the for British history not to sell

[@AwkwardHypernerd413]

IM THINKING OF HAVING MY OWN POLICE BOX, AND USING IT AS A COMPUTER CABINET

[@LoriCiani]

I think there's at least eight of them in Glasgow. They are protected buildings. Well, we don't want to upset a certain Time Lord now do we? : D

[@SarahB1863]

For those interested, the background music that starts at :58 is "Come, friends, who plough the sea" from Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance." :-)

[@princessthyemis]

"These boxes materialized all over the country." Me: "Yes they did...!"

[@jhibbitt1]

i cant describe how weird it is to see a police box being opened and it not being bigger on the inside

[@FerretJohn]

I was wondering about that myself. The show keeps describing it as a big WOODEN box, but except for the door the police boxes of that type weren't made of wood.

[@allanegleston4931]

if i remember correctly , didnt the tardis materialzing circut fail and it got stuck in the police box forever .

[@FerretJohn]

More or less, I think the Doctor got it fixed but it's been a Police Box for so long it kind of prefers the form. It's more a personal choice now than anything else.

[@sorsaria]

My heart hurt when they were destroying the police box. I was like, "Noooo, not the TARDIS!"

[@qsoundrecording1886]

Nice information. I love watching Dr. Who when I was small

[@robnewman6101]

The Custodian Helmet is the headgear traditionally worn by male police constables and sergeants while on foot patrol in England and Wales. Officers of all ranks in most forces are also issued a flat, peaked cap that is worn on mobile patrol in a vehicle. Ranks above sergeant wear the peaked cap only. However, some Inspectors wear the Custodian Helmet, but with two silver bands around the base (to match the two pips worn as rank insignia) to denote their position. Claimed by some sources to have been based on the spiked pickelhaube worn by the Prussian Army, it was first adopted by the London Metropolitan Police in 1863 to replace the "stovepipe" top hat worn since 1829. In 1863, the Metropolitan Police replaced the previous uniform of white trousers, swallow-tailed coat and top hat in favour of very dark blue trousers, a more modern button up tunic and the early type of helmet which had an upturned brim at the front and a raised spine at the back, running from the bottom to the top of the helmet, which became known as the "cockscomb".

[@bmxaussiestyle4612]

the tardis that the doctor has is actually faulty it would usually take on a diferant form for every place it went cause its soppost to camouflage but the camouflage system broke and got stuck as a blue police box because the tardis is an infinit size spaceship and yolo

[@srvfan454]

That is what I really really need. A police box!

[@jordansprinkles]

how did i get here from Kyary Pamyu Pamyu? Besides that, awesome informational doctor who video. Series 8 feels so far away.

[@britwigger]

Love how the movie Doctor called it HIS invention!

[@phany1668]

3:32 HOW DARE U DO THAT TO THE TARDIS!!!!! wait.....

[@TheLearningCurveBoi]

A: The 3rd Doctor said the TARDIS was indestructible. B: That’s not the TARDIS, it’s the REAL Police Box.

[@Loverboy19691]

There is now a full size Police box on the high street of Boscombe, Dorset.

[@cian9816]

i live in Amesbury, quite close so ill be sure to visit if its still there

[@CVR190]

Except for the one in Earls Court which was in use up to the early 00's as a remote call point (now disused but listed)

[@RobbieYatesReverendRobbie]

Its from the Doctor Who film, starring Peter Cushing as the first Doctor, there were two films made one based on An Unearthly Child and the other based on Invasion of The Daleks, I'm sure if you look on your local ebay you might be able to find the box set

[@lewisner]

The first proper police call boxes in the UK were invented by the Chief Constable of Sunderland, Frederick J. Crawley . who designed them as a small wooden office with basic facilities and a publicly accessible phone like the box at 1.45. The local department store Binns Of Sunderland had their own manufacturing facility and made the boxes and sold them to the police for £12 and 6 shillings.

[@EmersonsL100]

2:11 "These boxes materialised all over the country" nice choice of words :D

[@artyomasterius8213]

0:40 When you go to school and open door of your classroom to late, and wonder to back your home, because you don't want to disgrace .

[@trexnext]

I don't get it

[@walter0bz]

so lets get this straight - the police used to have Tardises, and replaced them with cars ?!

[@tuttutmonkeybutt]

Not tardises,blue boxes.

[@jay0kew]

I never saw it that way.

[@edgeofforever7720]

Deloreans

[@TheStupedCat]

thanks for posting

[@kaledmasterme]

some can still be found in Edinburgh, when I lived there I saw at least 1 blue one, mnay are painted red and are used as newspaper kiosks :)

[@BashBrand]

@rodocur @anisometropie The "pull to open" sign is on a door panel which opened to gain access to the actual telephone (on a real police box, natch). Also, only the right hand door opened, but outwards.

[@trexnext]

This video is 10 years old.. wow

[@TheAndroia]

Has anyone turned on the CC for closed captions? My connection is slow so the streaming is skipping and it's hard to understand the narrator. BUT... LOL...the CC evidently has a hard time understanding as well. I thought the translation was hilarious. 'For the Daleks' came out ORTHODOX. Oh, well. Guess I won't use the CC again.

[@sierra267able]

so the police box is made out of concrete not wood who would of guessed I think we should bring them back as a sign to all criminals that if you caught in the act in you go.

[@ivyssauro123]

amazing! thanks for sharing this with us!

[@BNCA70]

Isn't there one outside a tube station in London? Can't remember where. I saw it in about 2003. It was a good one.

[@opsecsecurity]

"My latest invention" ? That scene's Tardis is a head taller

[@KKDWTotalObelisk]

1:45 I'm sure I've heard the music playing there somewhere before, anyone know it's source?

[@burgersbeansandchips]

3:41 Some great H&S practices there.

[@McSenkel]

Though I live in different country, in my city there's also one. More of a hexsabox and out of use, but still. It was renovated few years ago and supposedly turn into outpost, but no activity had been reported since then. Guess they have abandoned the project...

[@AltimusPrimeG1]

@Dirtfire They were not commonplace, per say. They were used they way a fighter jet would be used, the difference being that they were manned by a team of six time lords. If you notice, the console is a hexagon shape. Each side was a station with a specific job to the running of the TARDIS. The council determined when and where they would be deployed.

[@TheEarlofZerces]

He did, back in his 6th form. However, by that point, he had grown so used to it being a blue box he decided to permanently set it like that.

[@celt67]

There's still one half way up Buchanan Street, Glasgow. You can see it on Google Maps.

[@vaultdwellercarmelojohnson8488]

My Type 100 TARDIS Has A Chameleon Circuit,But I've Rather Have My TARDIS As A Police Box.

[@1mremu1]

In the beginning of the video they show the man talking to the child and other man about the tardis, could anyone tell me where it was from

[@merseydave1]

To all those U.S / Canadians, plus the post 2005 newies ... We of the 1963 to 1989 Originals ... already Knew that the Tardis was a 19th Century Police Box.

[@Arancaytar]

"These boxes materialized all over the country." Interesting choice of words...

[@timrob12]

This is the third time I bump into a video narrated by one of the Doctors! I saw one of The Five Doctors, narrated by Paul McGann and one about the 2005 series, narrated by David Tennant!

[@swanboyproductions]

It broke my heart seeing the people destroying the tardis😢

[@GordonHudson]

A friend of mine was married to an Edinburgh police officer and had the habit of meeting him at his box when he was on night shift. I will leave you to work out why!

[@SuperFlapjackersgame]

in the early episodes, he called himself Doctor Who.

[@Eltonlaleham]

How I wish I had been born in the 1920s instead of at the end, of the 1960s and if TARDISES were real and I owned one I would be happy.

[@surendratrivedi757]

Tardis is a time travelling box super my favourite

[@unclejosue]

You know your a whovian when you also freakout at box but then a few seconds later you realize its ap porta potiie

[@controlleronahanger]

3:32 so that makes the TARDIS the only police box remaining

[@CadenWood]

2:29 Is that Robin Williams voice?

[@RDPproject]

Holy cow...it does sound like him...

[@David_Burgess27]

God YES! It really is a lot like Robin

[@CadenWood]

yup

[@jevonator_9479]

I think the narrator is Colin Baker, otherwise known as the 6th Doctor.

[@CadenWood]

ya, but it does sound like him though

[@fezmancomments]

I think there's a police box outside Earls Court tube station. Unless I happened to be there when the doctor was making a visit.

[@jhibbitt1]

1. anagram of kaled, the race that eventually became the daleks 2. acronym for time and relative dimension in space

[@safetyman4967]

Why is batman by the jam playing at the beginning?

[@zyg9]

2:05 classic doctor who police box? To be precise, its called the "mackezie trench" model, named after its designer Gilbert Mackenzie Trench

[@Dirtfire]

is there any mention of how much TRDIS' cost in Galifreyan dollars? In other words, were they extreme luxury items, or were they commonplace?

[@vaultdwellercarmelojohnson8488]

I ❤ The Police Box And The T.A.R.D.I.S!

[@uncled39]

@CMDRKillsalot The one by Earls Court tube station is still in almost perfect condition because it was erected in 1996.

[@Eltonlaleham]

I wish I had been born in 1929

[@ultimativerHexer]

Well, looking for an invisible Tardis could be a problem, when you don't really remember where it was.

[@RhodianColossus]

They're 6-Person time machines. That are alive. And infinitely big on the inside. You can guess that they were commonplace, but not available to everyone. Like sports cars.

[@KillJoyLover]

awesome thanks. oh and one of the recent doctors said that you could stick a bad guy in the police box and lock it and then use the fone to call the police to pick them up. he also said "ill just step inside this police box, and arrest myself." gotta love the david tennant doctor XD

[@samracing7721]

When I saw this video I was really interested

[@moacirindiodacostajr.302]

Awesome good show! !!! Just loved it!!!

[@c0unt_WAVnstein]

There are still some in Glasgow.

[@metro8335]

There's also the only surviving original mk2 (TARDIS) police box at crich tramway museum

[@GrandPoobahRoc]

The last police box in the UK of the type the Doctor's TARDIS was modeled after is in London, across from Earl's Court Station. You can see it on Google Maps street view. Even more fun when you go inside!

[@AlistairAi]

Colin Baker sounding like the Doctor: "Vandalism" I half expected to her him whisper "Make's you feel sad, all the other Type 40's mistaken for Police Boxes"

[@carleighpaige9379]

Lol that moment when River Song/ Melody Pond says " It only makes that noise because you leave the breaks on." then presses a few things and it gets quiet and Akward.

[@DuncanDoesDoing]

The Doctor didn't turn it off, it broke.

[@Grizzly01]

Very deliberate choice of words, more like...

[@tp.productions]

These should of been kept a sign of classic British history very pissed of the government removed them when they are and always will be the police box not just the tardis even tho I’m one of the biggest fans of dr who these are Britain’s history we will never forget these awesome pieces of culture

[@Kazuo1G]

Well, one thing that's funny is that the Metropolitan Police tried to sue the BBC over the TARDIS copyright/trademark, when the courts argued that the police hadn't *done anything* with the design since the police boxes were taken off of the streets. So, they awarded the copyright/trademark to the BBC.

[@MysMultilanguagesFav]

Actors and writers has called him "Doctor Who". And he was called that in the credits up until Tennants era.

[@MondySpartan]

Well, Peter Davison's era and so on (up to McGann) had his character called as "The Doctor".

[@carlosfelipe4562]

3:10 What episode was that?

[@spitfiresz0g176]

"The war machine"

[@emillyanita]

I love the Doctor and Tardis 😻😻😻😻😻💕

[@chrisengler9014]

my other fave is when all the doctors save gallifrey fantastic

[@TheAndroia]

Does anyone know which episode was being used at the beginning of this video? I want to see that one.

[@DisappearingBoy2010]

I think it's high time that the Doctor finally repaired the Chameleon Circuit

[@SpeedSkeeee]

3:36 isn't that 11th/12th's Tardis??

[@cjbcjbcjbcjbcjb6083]

Isn't everything bigger on the inside? It has more area though!