Peterborough man to sell off 1.6m Dalek doppelganger touted as original BBC Doctor Who prop
and live on Freeview channel 276
Time is well and truly up for a galactic Dalek, which has spent the past 20 years plotting evil plans from the safety of his secretive Peterborough lair.
Its owner, Donnie MacColl, has made the bold decision to offload the Dalek – Doctor Who’s most feared nemesis – and raise some money for charity in the process.
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Hide AdDonnie, who is a senior director at a global cyber security software company, told the Peterborough Telegraph how he came to own such a unique piece of TV memorabilia.
“Many years ago [in 2000] the BBC news did a TV interview of a man and son who had moved into a house with an overgrown garden backing onto the BBC Shepperton studios,” he said.
“When they cut back the garden, the story goes that they found six Daleks in a shed on their land and they sold them.
“The company I worked for drove down and bought two of them: a red one and this black one for a few grand each.”
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Hide AdIn the spirit of the classic TV show however, a bizarre plot twist was to ensue.
“It turns out the man and son had made the story up and made these themselves out of fibreglass and plungers and Morris minor lights and various bits and bobs,” Donnie says, laughing.
The doppelganger Dalek has spent the past two decades standing guard in the reception area at Donnie’s company offices, greeting visitors and helping out with the odd marketing event.
Measuring 1.6m by 1.2m, the prop “is big enough for an adult to get inside and walk about in.”
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Hide AdWith the offices now up for sale though, the faux baddie is surplus to requirements.
“It is currently in my conservatory in Orton Southgate,” Donnie says “and as much as I love it, my wife says it has to go.”
Donnie has listed the prized possession on eBay. The generous 55-year-old is hoping the sale will raise £1,000 for the Peterborough Foodbank.
Interested parties are encouraged to get their bids in well before 1.10pm on March 31.
Unsurprisingly, the ad states that “pick-up is preferred.”