As usual, one memory leads to another, and before long the boxes are beginning to stir...

The Memory Box takes us back to the Wilderness Years, when Doctor Who may have been off our screens but was very much alive elsewhere. At the heart of the story are the remarkable productions of Bill Baggs and Reeltime Pictures: The Stranger, PROBE, Downtime and a host of other adventures that helped keep the flame burning when the BBC had temporarily put the TARDIS into park.

And what an extraordinary training ground it proved to be. Careers began, friendships were forged, and the productions became a meeting point for talents who would go on to shape the future of Doctor Who. Among them was Nicholas Briggs, future voice of the Daleks and, rather wonderfully, half of The League of Gentlemen.

But the Memory Box contains one particularly delicate item. A certain infamous production has found its way into the Emporium, and Gavin is faced with a profound moral dilemma: is it really right to share Zygon: When Being You Isn't Enough with his own father? Some things, perhaps, should remain lost...

The Music Box spins up a reel-to-reel adventure from another era. Mike takes us back to the days when owning such a machine required commitment: a recorder bought on hire purchase, paid for week by week from pocket money, and treasured accordingly. It soon became a portal to another universe when Mike used it to record Star Trek during its first BBC run. The operation required absolute concentration and, most importantly, absolute silence from parents. One cough, one slammed door, and the perfect recording was ruined.

Meanwhile Gavin and Paul Jenkins discovered that the same magical technology could be used to create their own Doctor Who adventures. There was only one slight problem. When they played back their recordings, the mysterious voice of William Shatner seemed to have infiltrated the TARDIS.

From there, the conversation drifts into the first encounters with colour television, the strange magic of suddenly seeing the familiar world transformed, and the extraordinary ingenuity of children determined to control the technology around them. Which brings us, inevitably, to one of Gavin's earliest inventions: a homemade variation on the television remote control.

It may not have changed the world.

But it did, at least temporarily, change the channel.

And so the Emporium closes another pair of boxes, leaving us once again with that peculiar realisation that the history of Doctor Who is not simply found in television programmes.

Sometimes it's hidden on a reel of tape.

Sometimes it's buried in a box in the attic.

And sometimes it's something your dad probably shouldn't be allowed to see.

The door is still open.

For now.

You can get in touch with us on all sorts of social media.

Gavin's Twitter and Bluesky: @themindrobber

Gavin's Instagram: gav_themindrobber

Paul's Twitter: @paulcarmichaelv / Paul's Bluesky: @paulcarmichaeluk

Music by Graeme Allan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Emporium is looking rather splendid this week. There are ribbons draped across the shelves, a few curious decorations hanging where they probably shouldn’t, and somewhere in the distance a familiar melody is drifting through the shop.

As ever, one conversation leads quite unexpectedly to another, and before long the boxes are eager to reveal their latest treasures.

The Travel Trunk is the first to spring open, carrying us back to a rather unusual commission. There was a time when Rymill & Son could provide almost everything one might require for a Doctor Who-themed wedding. Daleks, props, memorabilia...the lot. But amid the happy memories comes one occasion that still causes Mike to wince. It was the only time he ever broke one of his own golden rules, and the consequences made for a wedding day that proved rather more stressful than anyone had intended. Fortunately, all these years later, it’s just about safe to laugh about it.

Next comes another new arrival among the Emporium’s growing collection of curiosities.

The Music Box opens with the unmistakable sound of the summer of 1985 and Slipback, the six-part Doctor Who adventure created especially for BBC Radio 4. From there, the conversation follows the programme’s rich audio history through The Pescatons, the much-loved LP edition of Genesis of the Daleks, and the surprisingly early appearance of Doctor Who on vinyl. Long before podcasts, streaming services or downloadable adventures, these records allowed fans to close their eyes and travel in the TARDIS with nothing more than a turntable, a stylus and a little imagination.

By the time the lid closes once again, the Emporium has reminded us that Doctor Who has never belonged to television alone. It has always found new ways to tell stories, whether through loudspeakers, record players, theatres or the imaginations of those listening at home.

Sometimes all it takes is the crackle of a needle finding the groove… and suddenly you’re travelling in time once again.

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The Emporium is bustling this week. There are plans afoot, projects underway, and the faint smell of soldering iron and old videotape hanging somewhere in the air.

Before the boxes are opened, conversation turns to future endeavours. Gavin is preparing a video celebrating the work of the great Michael Ferguson, one of Doctor Who's most accomplished directors. This leads naturally to a discussion of The Seeds of Death, and the curious way in which that story was filmed. Somehow grander, somehow more cinematic, and somehow unlike almost anything else the programme was producing at the time.

But the shelves are restless, and the boxes are eager to be opened.

The Memory Box is first to reveal its contents, transporting us back to 1989 and an evening at Liverpool Empire Theatre. There, before packed audiences, Doctor Who: The Ultimate Adventure brought the Time Lord to the stage, with Jon Pertwee taking his final bow as the Doctor. The memories remain vivid: dazzling laser effects, theatrical spectacle, and the sheer excitement of seeing Doctor Who performed live. Other recollections are perhaps a little less glowing. In particular, certain musical numbers have not improved with age, despite the best efforts of memory and nostalgia.

Next comes a newcomer to the Emporium's collection of curiosities.

The Toy Box creaks open for the very first time and immediately reveals treasure. Mike recalls the joy of acquiring a Louis Marx Dalek from Woolworths in 1965. Never mind that the head wasn't quite the right shape. To a young Doctor Who fan it was perfection. From there, the discussion wanders into the extraordinary influence that toys can have upon imagination. Plastic Daleks became film stars, cardboard sets became alien worlds, and childhood play evolved into lifelong creativity. Along the way we hear how Paul very nearly electrocuted himself attempting to construct a "spark generator" from the pages of Doctor Who Magazine, while Gavin's own youthful experiments with electronics culminated in a feat of engineering so ambitious that it succeeded only in plunging the entire house into darkness. To Mike's enduring horror, this appears to have been considered a successful experiment.

And so the Emporium acquires yet another box, another collection of stories, and another route back to childhood. The toys may have been made of plastic, the special effects fashioned from cardboard and optimism, but the memories remain remarkably real.

After all, every adventure has to begin somewhere.

Sometimes it begins with a toy Dalek from Woolworths.

You can get in touch with us on all sorts of social media.

Gavin's Twitter and Bluesky: @themindrobber

Gavin's Instagram: gav_themindrobber

Paul's Twitter: @paulcarmichaelv / Paul's Bluesky: @paulcarmichaeluk

Music by Graeme Allan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Emporium is a little quieter this week. The wine bottle remains firmly corked, which is probably for the best. One of our number appears to have enjoyed rather too much celebration the previous evening, though, in fairness, they had an excellent reason.

Naturally, this leads to an unexpected discussion about the theme tune to Give Us A Clue, before a tale emerges involving a member of the team, a television gameshow, and the Granada Men & Motors channel. It is, by any reasonable measure, the least suitable programme imaginable for the unfortunate participant involved.

Eventually, and with some effort, the conversation finds its way back to Doctor Who.

After greeting our ever-expanding audience around the world, the first box of the evening is opened.

The Post Box contains a question from regular contributor Gary Gillatt, whose correspondence is rapidly becoming part of the Emporium's fixtures and fittings. His question is a deceptively simple one: what makes a great cliffhanger? From the unforgettable to the ridiculous, the trio explore the art of leaving an audience desperate for next week's instalment. Along the way, Mike reaches deep into the vaults of memory in search of a particularly effective example from a story that no longer entirely exists.

The Travel Trunk takes us to Manchester, where Rymill & Son recently attended screenings of the recovered episodes of The Daleks' Master Plan. Gavin finds himself in conversation with the daughter of a genuine Doctor Who legend, while discussion turns to the men behind the Daleks themselves. Which famous operator became so indispensable that others found opportunities disappearing? How different were the Dalek props from one another? And is it possible that the creatures' long history of extermination once extended to one of our team via a suspiciously timed bout of Covid?

The Memory Box transports us to a time before online shopping, same-day delivery and digital convenience. Back to catalogues, postal orders and eagerly awaited parcels arriving through the letterbox. "John Fitton Books and Magazines" remains a phrase capable of triggering instant nostalgia among Doctor Who fans of a certain vintage. Was there something magical about waiting weeks for an item to arrive? Something that modern fandom has perhaps lost? The discussion also takes an unexpected diversion through a famous Liverpool comic shop and into an unlikely obsession with a television soap opera.

Finally, The Tool Box opens to reveal a single note bearing the words: "Saying yes to Gary." The consequences of this decision soon become apparent. Could Gary Gillatt be quietly evolving into the Emporium's unofficial fourth member? Why is Mike suddenly facing a mountain of work? And thanks to Margaret Rymill's diary entries from the early 1990s, we gain a fascinating glimpse into the earliest days of Father Rymill's prop-building adventures. Some long-forgotten projects, ambitious schemes and curious creations emerge from the pages.

And so another evening passes in the Emporium, where one question invariably leads to three more, where memories remain wonderfully unreliable, and where even the simplest conversation can unexpectedly open a door into the past.

Just don't ask who drank all the wine.

Someone is still denying responsibility.

You can get in touch with us on all sorts of social media.

Gavin's Twitter and Bluesky: @themindrobber

Gavin's Instagram: gav_themindrobber

Paul's Twitter: @paulcarmichaelv / Paul's Bluesky: @paulcarmichaeluk

Music by Graeme Allan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s a slightly celebratory atmosphere inside the Emporium this week. The glasses have been polished, the cork has been persuaded from the bottle, and somewhere between the shelves and the boxes comes the unmistakable sound of three men raising a toast to listeners scattered across the globe.

The shop, it seems, is busier than ever.

And with that, the boxes begin to stir once more…

The Post Box arrives laden with questions both deceptively simple and surprisingly dangerous. Is a love of Doctor Who something inherited… or something encountered at precisely the right moment in childhood? With both father and son seated behind the counter, the Emporium may be uniquely qualified to investigate. But matters grow rather more complicated when allegiances begin to shift. What, for example, is a parent supposed to do when a child wanders away from Gallifrey and pledges loyalty to Star Wars instead? Paul considers the possibility with all the concern of a man who knows only too well.

.

The Props Box clangs ominously open to reveal the cold metallic history of the Cybermen. But behind the silver masks and electronic voices lies something rather more unsettling: genuine scientific and philosophical anxiety. The trio explore the reality of these marvellous monsters and the influence of Kit Pedler, whose fascination with cybernetics and the relationship between humanity and technology helped shape one of the programme’s most enduring creations. The result is a conversation that drifts from television monsters into the distinctly uncomfortable question of how much of ourselves we might willingly surrender in the name of progress.

The Travel Trunk transports the Emporium to Cardiff, where modern Doctor Who found a second home among the streets, bays, alleyways, and hidden corners of the city. There are memories of location hunting, unexpected discoveries, and standing in places suddenly made magical by television. But among the travellers sits one member of the trio who went a little further than the others, stepping aboard the TARDIS itself and emerging with whispers of closely guarded script secrets still rattling around in their head.

And as the evening draws on and the bottle grows lighter, conversation inevitably turns toward the future. What shape will Doctor Who take in the years ahead? Who might stand beside the BBC now the Disney arrangement has reached its conclusion? And perhaps most intriguingly of all… does the programme truly need a co-producer in the first place?

The Emporium offers no definitive answers, of course.

Only more doors to open.

You can get in touch with us on all sorts of social media.

Gavin's Twitter and Bluesky: @themindrobber

Paul's Twitter: @paulcarmichaelv / Paul's Bluesky: @paulcarmichaeluk

Music by Graeme Allan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Emporium seems a little fuller this week. More voices in the corners. More curious objects left upon the counter. Someone has clearly been rummaging through the shelves after closing time… though whether they were looking for something, or leaving it behind, is another matter entirely.

Still, the lamps are glowing, the kettle is on, and the boxes are beginning to stir once again…

The Post Box overflows with kind words, thoughtful observations, and messages from listeners who have already found their way into the strange little world of the Emporium. But tucked among the letters sits something else entirely: a film print. Not a lost episode of Doctor Who, alas, but archive material nonetheless… and on 35mm rather than 16mm. Curious indeed. From there, a seemingly innocent question, “are you three into science fiction generally?” opens the floodgates entirely. Before long, the conversation wanders gloriously off-course through Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, the worlds of Irwin Allen, Dark Season, B-movies, Timeslip, Ulysses 31, The Tripods and The Day of the Triffids. Along the way come childhood nightmares, strange fascinations, and even the occasional wobble in matters of faith thanks to the worlds of Irwin Allen and a devilish channel scheduler. .

The Memory Box opens onto the 11th of January, 1964, as “Father Rymill” recalls why episode four of The Daleks burned itself so vividly into his memory. But memories, as ever, prove delightfully unreliable. Lost episodes become tangled with imagined ones, church vestries become unlikely screening rooms, and treasured recollections gather around VHS covers painted by Sid Sutton. Somewhere amid it all lurks the catastrophic evening the Winter Hill transmitter failed! An event capable of inducing genuine national despair in certain households. And, inevitably, the question emerges: does more money really make better television… or merely shinier television?

The Travel Trunk creaks open to reveal the first conventions we ever attended, those magical, slightly chaotic gatherings where fandom suddenly became real. Long queues, overexcited conversations, treasured autographs… and one particularly eyebrow-raising story involving a well-known BBC science-fiction star and a public lavatory. The only remaining mystery is which one of our three custodians was actually there to witness it?!

And so the Emporium continues to expand—shelf by shelf, recollection by recollection. One memory leads to another, one conversation opens a dozen more doors, and before long you realise you’ve been wandering the aisles rather longer than intended.

You can get in touch with us on all sorts of social media.

Gavin's Twitter and Bluesky: @themindrobber

Paul's Twitter: @paulcarmichaelv / Paul's Bluesky: @paulcarmichaeluk

Music by Graeme Allan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The door is easier to find this time. Or perhaps it’s simply that you remember where it ought to be....

Either way, the Emporium is open once more, its shelves quietly shifting, its contents rearranging themselves as if in anticipation. There are stories waiting, after all… and not all of them are entirely where you left them.

From there, the boxes begin to stir…

The Post Box opens onto a rather special excursion, as Gavin journeys to Riverside Studios to witness the recovered episodes of The Daleks' Master Plan on the big screen and to take his place among the panels discussing their return. But amid the excitement, a mystery presents itself: looming quietly in the foyer, an unusually tall and rather skinny Dalek… not quite as expected. Where did it come from? And why does it feel just a little… off?

The Memory Box whirs reassuringly to life with the soft clunk of a VHS cassette. This week, it’s the golden age of Doctor Who on video. Treasured releases that arrived not just as stories, but as moments in time. A particular tape, a particular cover, a particular evening… all anchoring us to who we were when we first pressed “play.” Memory may be unreliable, but a worn cassette case rarely lies.

The Tool Box reveals something altogether more formidable: Davros, creator of the Daleks, reborn here through the decidedly less malevolent hands of Mike Rymill. The wires, the textures, the unmistakable presence… a villain painstakingly reconstructed, not to conquer the universe, but to celebrate the craft that first brought him to life.

The Travel Trunk carries us to Llangollen, a picturesque town in North Wales with a quietly remarkable place in Doctor Who history. Once home to the Dapol factory, where countless figurines were brought into being, it stands as a reminder that even the smallest objects can hold entire worlds within them… if you know where to look.

And so the Emporium shifts once more. its contents rearranged, its stories retold, its corners revealing just a little more than before. There are always more journeys to take, more artefacts to uncover… and, inevitably, more questions than answers.

The door, you may notice, is still there.

For now...

Rymill & Son's Doctor Who Emporium is presented by Mike Rymill, Gavin Rymill and Paul Carmichael.

Music by Graeme Allen.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The bell hasn’t rung. The door may not even have moved. And yet, somehow, you’ve stepped inside.

This first excursion into Rymill & Son’s Doctor Who Emporium begins, as all good journeys do, at the beginning… or at least, several beginnings at once. Who are your hosts? What curious paths led them here? And what was it, exactly, that first made them hide behind the sofa, peering out at a universe that was, by turns, thrilling, terrifying, and utterly irresistible?

From there, the boxes begin to stir…

The Post Box creaks open with whispers of The Daleks’ Master Plan, that most elusive of stories. Missing episodes, tantalising recoveries, and the ever-present question: how much of the past can we truly hope to reclaim? And if we never find it all… what then?

The Memory Box glows faintly with the light of early television sets. Flickering screens, unreliable signals, and imaginations doing the heavy lifting. Mike was there at the very start, watching it all unfold in real time. But memory, like time itself, is not always to be trusted… do we remember Doctor Who as it was, or as we’ve quietly improved it over the years?

The Tool Box hums into life with the arrival of a Polyphase Avatron, because of course it does. But before long, attention turns to something equally magical: film itself. In a world of pristine digital clarity, there remains a peculiar joy in the tactile. Film reels, records, tapes. Film is fabulous, after all… and perhaps it always will be.

The Travel Trunk bursts open with recent adventures: Paul and Mike spending a day in the delightful company of Sophie Aldred—and more Ace jackets than strictly necessary—while Gavin finds himself in London alongside Peter Purves, among the first to witness the remarkable return of long-lost fragments from The Daleks’ Master Plan.

And so, with introductions made and memories stirred, the Emporium reveals just a hint of what it contains. There are more boxes yet to open… more journeys yet to take… and, one suspects, more than a few surprises waiting patiently on the shelves.

After all—this is only the first visit.

Do mind the door on your way out… if, indeed, you can find it.

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