Dufus & Shirt...
...Wander and Wonder.
Despite the previous day’s
exertions, Dufus
and Shirt still managed to get away on time following an early breakfast. Shirt
had pre-prepared a tour of Liverpool covering all ‘Doctor Who’ and Sherlockian
sites, including a large proportion of the recent Netflix drama ‘The
Irregulars’. They made good
time, arriving just under the expected 2½ hours, despite missing a couple of
turn offs, and undertaking a tour of the area around their identified car park.
Dufus then struggled to register on the parking app,
before googling the route to the Museum of Liverpool, which was a 17 minute walk.
As they crossed the road,
in a display of dramatic irony, Dufus gestured to the
large building behind them and commented, “I wonder what this building is. Is
it on your list of locations ?”
Shirt ignored him, striding
off in the direction of the Waterfront, making a short detour to see if the
Town Hall, the inside of which appears in ‘The Irregulars’ was
open. (It wasn’t). Finally, they reached
the Museum
of Liverpool at exactly the time
on their entrance tickets. However, the map did not show where the ‘Doctor
Who: Worlds of Wonder’ Exhibition
was. They therefore asked at the Information Desk.
‘The Doctor Who Exhibition
is at the World Museum, not here’, said the helpful staff, giving directions
that sounded suspiciously like the way back to the car park.
Striding off back the way
they’d come, for the second
time that weekend Shirt found himself saying
“I was so sure that I didn’t check”, believing that the exhibition must
be in the museum featured in ‘Flux’.
Reaching the World Museum, which was the building by the car park previously highlighted by Dufus, they turned the corner to see the large banners for
the exhibition that they had missed earlier. Entering past a Weeping Angel
seemingly caught up in the revolving doors, they followed the signs to Floor 2
where their tickets were scanned, the attendants not seeming to care that they
were over fifteen minutes late for their booked time. Having availed themselves
of the facilities, they entered the exhibition via a TARDIS.
The exhibition was about
linking science to ‘Doctor Who’ in displays and narration from Mark
Gatiss, but Dufus and Shirt ignored this, and simply
went around taking photos of the costumes and props. These included items from
the Classic and New Series, from a First Doctor costume to the very up-to-date ‘Legend
of the Sea Devils’
Sea Devil. Shirt was also pleased to see a ‘Cyber Controller’ helmet
from ‘Attack
of the Cybermen’, whilst Dufus enjoyed using a ring modulator to produce an
authentic Dalek voice. They were also pleased to see old favourites such as the
Face of Boe, Cassandra, the K1 Robot, and the ‘AAISAT’ console. The exhibition ended with an information board
concentrating on Liverpudlians who had been in the series, and a video montage
of the Doctor doing science (or in Colin’s case being dragged back into the
TARDIS).
As if to confirm the Tenth
Doctor’s adage, there was a small shop on the way out, where Shirt bought a set
of postcards, and Dufus a set of fridge magnets.
Outside the museum, they
sat down for a can of drink and packet of crisps, before dumping some items at
the car round the corner. They then walked back past the museum, up the road to
their first point of call, the Liverpool Central Library, which appeared as
‘The Hippodrome Theatre’ in Episode 2 of ‘The Irregulars’. A little
further up was the Walker Art Gallery, which appeared as ‘The Lyceum Theatre’
in the Granada dramatisation of ‘The Sign of Four’.
It was then time for the first DW location, St. George’s Hall which features as
itself in ‘Survivors
of the Flux’ (as well as Palace Steps in ‘The Irregulars’ and as a Court
in the Granada dramatisation of ‘The Problem of
Thor Bridge’).
Retracing their steps, they
passed the World Museum, crossing the main road, and making for the Waterfront
for a second time. Three-quarters of the way there, they turned up a side
street, made a few more turns, until they reached one of the Liverpool streets
used as a Victorian street in ‘The Irregulars’.
Returning to the main
street, they continued to the Waterfront, and the Fab Four statues, getting
selfies with them as a Sontaran had in ‘The
Vanquishers’.
They then briefly visited
the Museum of Liverpool
(again) as it appears repeatedly in Series 13 of ‘Doctor Who’,
taking photos of the outside and the spiral staircase inside
Continuing along the
Waterfront they reached the Albert Dock, once famous for being where the daytime
TV programme ‘This Morning’ was transmitted (with a floating weather map).
It was here that Dan found himself when being moved through time by the Doctor
in ‘Once,
Upon Time’ (which guest-starred Thaddea Graham, star
of ‘The Irregulars’).
Next, they visited a nearby
shopping centre, which was invaded by Sontarans in ‘The
Vanquishers’, and the Liverpool branch of Naughty Asteroid. Finally, they
found themselves at a bombed out church which appeared
in ‘Once, Upon Time’.
It was at this point that Dufus decided to bow out, due to suffering from pain in his
hip from all the walking, related to an underlying health issue. Shirt
therefore went on alone for his final stops of the day.
A ten
minute walk (past a sign to Williamson’s Tunnels which played an
important part in DW: Series 13) brought Shirt to the Georgian part of
the City, and a number of streets which appeared in ‘The Irregulars’. The
most important of these was Falkner Street, which appeared as ‘Baker Street’.
Shirt was aware that ‘221b’ was opposite a particular side-road, which helped
as the row of houses had three with identical blue doors. He even managed to
grab a quick selfie in front of the correct door.
Retracing his steps, Shirt
reached Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, which also appeared in ‘Once, Upon
Time’.
Having taken his final
photos of the day, Shirt slowly made his way back to the car park behind the
World Museum, rejoining Dufus,
for the drive back to Dufus’, again with only a few
wrong turns.
The evening was spent in
eating Dufus’ homemade Chilli-con-Carne, in playing ‘Don’t
Blink’, and in watching ‘Enola Holmes’ on Netflix. The next day, they got up
late as both were on leave, and Dufus ran Shirt into
Newark to catch his train home, making plans to attend future events together.
It had been a wonder-ful weekend !
[PL]