Daphne Ashbrook in front of a... What is that?

[purplecat]

In selecting this picture I became completely distracted by trying to figure out what Daphne Ashbrook (the actress who played Grace in the Dr Who TV Movie) is standing in front of. I mean, the TARDIS obv., but what is that thing on top of it? It can't be an actual TARDIS prop (because of the thing, unless there's some Big Finish publicity which involved a thing on top of a Tardis) which makes me think it must be a genuine Police Box. But I'm fairly sure this photo was taken some time in 2004 and I'm also fairly sure there weren't any police boxes still around in 2004 (outside Glasgow, where they don't look like that anyway). So I'm guessing maybe this is a genuine police box that some Who fan managed to get hold of?

Comments

[john_amend_all]

Looks like the police box at Earl's Court tube station (it got a mention in The Bells of Saint John. The thing on top is a CCTV camera.

[sir_guinglain]

I agree.

[purplecat]

I really thought the one on the Barnet bypass was the last!

[sir_guinglain]

This is a new build from the late 1990s, I think.

[purplecat]

Wait! What? Someone built a new police box? Does it actually work? Was it a publicity thing?

[sir_guinglain]

Partly publicity, partly a heritage-themed policing project. See here for one explanation.

[sir_guinglain]

Another explanation is that the Met wanted to assert their rights in the police box design...

[purplecat]

Interesting and, given the timing, distinctly plausible.

[sir_guinglain]

There's another one, this time in a museum...

[purplecat]

I have ancestors from the Crich area.

[purplecat]

Goes to show what I know. I was certain that the last UK police box was the one on Barnet bypass that was supposed to be used for filming Logopolis, but was removed shortly beforehand.

Mystery solved however!

[nostalgia]

glasgow ones look like that, though edinburgh and more any northerly ones don't. (glasgow ones used to be red but dr who taught us the error of our ways)

[purplecat]

All the one's I saw when I worked in Glasgow were a bit larger and generally more hut-like - but I was really only around the university area and commuting across from Edinburgh every day.

[vocatus-fortis.livejournal.com]

No, it's a real Police Box. It's (still) outside Earl's Court tube station in London. The thing on top is a security camera.

You can find it on Google Maps' Street View here: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4921361,-0.1929129,3a,75y,275.89h,84.94t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sOqzuX6R-tuFL79SYqCTSAQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?dcr=0

You used to be able to go inside with Google Maps but that's not available at the moment.

[purplecat]

So I gather from replies over at DreamWidth. I had no idea that a new police box had been installed in the 1990s. Though I'm glad I wasn't misremembering that the last one was removed in the early 80s.