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.
andreworton.bsky.social
Thanks, Paul! Glad you enjoyed it :)
Still available… #DoctorWho
paulodykes.bsky.social Paul Dykes @paulodykes.bsky.social · 7h
I really enjoyed @andreworton.bsky.social’s erudite Black Archive on Castrovalva, one of the stories I have my earliest memories of watching. Many fascinating insights on television production, ontology, rationalism vs empiricism, recursion, and why Bidmead’s hard science fiction was pure fantasy.
The cover of the Black Archive book on Castrovalva by Andrew Orton.
November 16, 2025 at 5:37 PM
andreworton.bsky.social
The King’s Demons, in TC1! Alongside bits of Terminus… Click the thread below for more info…
#DoctorWho #CGsets
andreworton.bsky.social Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · Dec 2
The Black Guardian Trilogy in studio! (Part 5)
The King's Demons, TC1, 18-20th December 1982 (designer Ken Ledsham) #DoctorWho #CGSets

Enlightenment was the next story planned, but strike action delayed it, meaning The King's Demons was next up. 1/6
A CG recreation of the studio sets for The King's Demons, from above, showing the TARDIS interior, the composite Great Hall set, the dungeon, and the reconstructed Liner set from Terminus.
November 16, 2025 at 5:07 PM
andreworton.bsky.social
Lee Dixon really is the Mark Lawrenson of modern football commentary #ENGSRB #football
November 13, 2025 at 8:01 PM
andreworton.bsky.social
The lovely scaffolding set that is Terminus! Click the post for more pictures... #DoctorWho #CGSets
andreworton.bsky.social Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · Nov 28
The Black Guardian Trilogy – Terminus!
TC8, 25-27th October 1982 (designer Dick Coles) #DoctorWho #CGSets (Part 4)

The second block of Terminus involved scenes on a scaffolding-heavy set, representing the Terminus interior. 1/11
A CG recreation of the scaffolding sets of the Terminus spacestation. A metal staircase is visible.
November 13, 2025 at 7:31 PM
andreworton.bsky.social
Terminus, Day 1! Click the post below for a thread of images of the studio... #DoctorWho #CGSets
andreworton.bsky.social Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · Nov 27
The Black Guardian Trilogy (Part 3)
Terminus by @stephengallagher.co.uk, TC6, 11-12th October 1982 (designer Dick Coles) #DoctorWho #CGSets

Terminus was allocated six studio days, but potential strike action curtailed this to five... 1/5
A CG recreation of the Liner corridor from Terminus. There are several metallic-looking doors with skull images on.
November 12, 2025 at 6:02 PM
andreworton.bsky.social
Currently watching the only #DoctorWho story to contain the word 'prophylactic'.
November 12, 2025 at 12:51 PM
andreworton.bsky.social
Me: 'This is a great, late-era Beatles song. They were fantastic together.'

*Looks the song up in MacDonald*

MacDonald: 'Only one of The Beatles played on this track.'
November 12, 2025 at 8:24 AM
andreworton.bsky.social
I remain utterly bemused you'd dress Jodie Whittaker in this costume, then put her in that TARDIS. What were they thinking? #DoctorWho
Jodie Whittaker as Doctor Who, wearing a light-grey/blue coat, standing on a hillside. She looks serene, cool and bright. Jodie Whittaker's TARDIS interior, a dark, miserable place with horrid dark blue hexagons as walls and some hideos yellow plastic columns that don't look anything like crystals. The control column is a dirty mechanical mess of metal that looks like it came from a Kwik-Fit Motor Factors' yard.
November 11, 2025 at 7:23 PM
andreworton.bsky.social
The older I get, the more I'm convinced this is the best Beatles song.
Tomorrow Never Knows (Remastered 2009)
YouTube video by The Beatles - Topic
www.youtube.com
November 11, 2025 at 6:58 PM
andreworton.bsky.social
Mawdryn Undead: the luxury liner! #CGSets #DoctorWho
andreworton.bsky.social Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · Nov 26
The Black Guardian Trilogy - the studio sessions (Part 2)
Mawdryn Undead, TC8, 22-24th September 1982.

Day 1 of the second block began with the first of several remounts, with Mawdryn's TARDIS scenes re-done with improved exposed-brain make-up!
#DoctorWho #CGSets 1/7
A CG recreation of the sets for Mawdryn Undead in TC8, from above. Visible are the TARDIS control room, the Transmat control, and a large art deco composite set of Mawdryn's spaceship.
November 11, 2025 at 6:32 PM
andreworton.bsky.social
A piece of text reading, 'Right, hear me out. James Bond is the human extrusion in our universe of an elemental force from the dawn of time representing mankind’s connection with goodness as developed from savagery. He’s reborn with a new face in every generation and stands against the forces of evil as represented through technology, treachery and billionaires; all those men, Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan, Craig: they’re all James Bond, fragments of a super-Bond shadowed into our world to fight the forces of darkness using their own technology against them in an everlasting battle with the endless personification of evil to the end of time. What do you mean I haven’t got the job?'
November 11, 2025 at 5:23 PM
andreworton.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3q2... #BBC
MITCH BENN - I'M PROUD OF THE BBC
YouTube video by yesthatmitch
www.youtube.com
November 11, 2025 at 10:54 AM
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 · 12d
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