Dr Who Exhibition brought giant spiders and Daleks to Blackpool

The Golden Mile of yesteryear was noted for its traditional sideshows which by the close of the 1960s had pretty well gone.

The last one standing was the “See the Two Headed Monster” booth which, for the princely sum of threepence, afforded an opportunity to look at the sculptured mannequin of a two headed monster in a glass case.

At least it did what it said on the tin.

The 1970s saw the Golden Mile increasingly populated with a spiritual successor to the sideshow, only these new outlets were rooted far more in the popular media culture of the time.

With the guarantee of an already established audience, the film/TV themed exhibition proved to be a crowd puller.

The first and most well remembered of these was the Doctor Who Exhibition, located on Chapel Street in a café basement that previously housed the Disco 72 club.

It was opened in 1973 by Jon Pertwee who was actually about to hand in his TARDIS keys, and lucky young winners of the Gazette’s design a monster competition got to meet the Timelord in person.

His successor, Tom Baker, took time out from switching on the illumination to visit the place in 1975, along with co-stars Elizabeth Sladen and Ian Marter. It was another ten years before sixth Doctor Colin Baker put in an appearance with companion Nicola Bryant.

The exhibition showcased a collection of costumes and props from the series, many of them animated, and was updated every year with items from the latest season.

The Dalek that resided within the TARDIS entrance never changed, however, nor its threat “Smokers will be exterminated!”

The success of the attraction quickly inspired others to open shop.

The BBC installed a complimentary museum next to Uncle Peter Webster’s showcasing costumes from historic and light entertainment shows, including dramas like The Pallisers and the Tweedles from It’s A Knock Out.

At one point the visitors book included an entry from Little and Large, their comment being “Where’s us?”

Meanwhile, The Devil’s Den opened in between the Brunswick café and Bob’s Big Bargain Bag rock stall.

Inspired by recent movies like The Exorcist and The Omen, this was an exhibition of all things Satanic with its depictions of demons and black magic.

Its stated door policy restricted admission to the over 16s unless accompanied by an adult, though this was probably more of a selling point than genuine caution.

It further attracted punters with Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells played over its loudspeaker, parts of it having been used on The Exorcist’s soundtrack.

It actually ran for a couple of seasons, until the cinema’s interest in the dark arts waned along with public interest.

Similarly, the vogue for martial arts films prompted an exhibition of Karate and Kung Fu, housed in a prefab hut on the former Central Station site which was being used as a fun fair at the time.

It too had an age restriction, reflecting the audiences allowed to see such films which were usually rated X certificate.

Again, probably an over caution as it only really consisted of martial arts memorabilia and a loop film show demonstrating fight moves.

It closed when Coral Island was built and the Kung Fu craze had run its course.

More successful was Gerry Anderson’s Space City, installed upstairs in the Golden Mile Centre (now Sea Life Centre) from 1977 to 1980.

It featured models and sets from Anderson’s classic puppet shows like Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet, plus UFO and Space: 1999 which both used real actors. Like the Doctor Who exhibition, it featured a robot called Brian the Brain from an episode of Space: 1999 and voiced by Bernard Cribbins.

It warned smokers they could be “transmuted by disintegrator rays” should they have the audacity to light up.

So no copying going on there then!

With its rivals already gone by the wayside, the Who exhibition finally dematerialised in 1985 when the BBC decided to send it to America.

Themed exhibitions have returned to the Golden Mile since and currently in the form of the Star Trek collection, but not in the same numbers as their glory days of the seventies.