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Rymill and Son's Doctor Who Emporium
Episode 3: The Ghosts of Winter Hill
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.
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2. Episode 2: The Space Centre
01:05:20||Season 1, Ep. 2The 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.1. Episode 1: The Master Plan of Memory
01:03:34||Season 1, Ep. 1The 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.