Exhibition review
www.doctorwhoexperience.com

There’s a crack in time at London’s Olympia Exhibition Centre…

Every right-thinking kid has dreamed of travelling in the TARDIS – and that’s exactly what the new Doctor Who Experience in London offers. An immersive walk-through show that takes you from Starship UK to an encounter with the Daleks, it mixes live effects with specially filmed segments written by Steven Moffat and featuring Matt Smith as the Doctor.

The walk-through lasts about 20 minutes, and has much to commend it, especially the Daleks (though a section presumably meant to showcase the Weeping Angels didn’t seem to be finished when we attended a preview). The culmination is a 3-D segment that seems oddly anti-climactic after the earlier encounters with real monsters, but Smith’s on-screen presence carries you through the mini-adventure with typical aplomb.

After that, the exhibition of props and costumes that follows could seem staid, but in fact, this is where kids and adults alike seemed to be having most fun. Freed from the linear progression of the walk-through (and the ban on photos), children ping happily from monster suit to monster suit, snapping their favourites on their phones, while parents eye-up the outfits of all 11 Doctors, looking for the Time Lord that they grew up with.

Here, fanboys can thrill to the restored Ice Warrior costume first worn by Bernard Bresslaw, and gasp at the Cyber Controller’s head from Attack of the Cybermen. The refurbished K-1 robot glints robustly in the middle of the monster display, while a replica of the 80s console room thrums with all the right noises.

The Eccleston/Tennant TARDIS is also here – the real studio set relocated from Cardiff, and still looking remarkably impressive after five years of use. Understandably, there’s a no-touching policy throughout, but you can still get close enough for a decent photo.

Towards the end of the Experience, there are a few interactive elements, such as the ‘Walk like a monster’ room, and some giant faders for mixing the theme tune. Some props from the most recent episode, A Christmas Carol, bring the exhibition bang up to date, and before you know it, you’re in the TARDIS-themed gift shop.

Depending on how long you spend in the main exhibition, you can easily get 90 minutes of entertainment out of the Doctor Who Experience. And with advance family tickets in the region of £50, including a handsome souvenir brochure, that’s pretty good going for a London attraction.

If you’ve got kids who love Doctor Who, you really can’t afford to miss this. If you’re just a big kid yourself who never fell out of love with the Giant Robot, you should probably treat yourself, too. Just try not to overdo it in the little shop. Simon Hugo

VERDICT: 8/10
The walk-through is the big draw, but the exhibition that follows is the real treat.