After a 15-year hiatus, everyone's favourite Time Lord has returned to our screens. Dr Who is back, this time played by Christopher Eccleston, and the nation's children are once again spending Saturday teatime quivering behind the sofa. Not wanting to miss out on the fun, we've researched/cobbled together some little-known facts about Who in Gloucestershire which will intrigue fans of the series: - In 1980 a Doctor Who spin-off called K-9 and Company was filmed near Cirencester. It featured the Doctor's erstwhile robot dog doing battle with a witches' coven. - It had a demented title sequence featuring K-9 perched precariously on a wall while his friend Sarah Jane sped around the Cotswolds in a convertible Metro (see link on left). It was not recommissioned. - The Doctor Who story The Hand of Fear, starring Tom Baker, was shot in Thornbury and in a quarry in Wotton-Under-Edge (aka the planet Kastria). - Gloucester is home to Who fan club The Mind Robbers and the Offstage Theatre company, who tour conventions performing Who-themed shows.
Read the story here. - Spaced and Shaun of the Dead star Simon Pegg, who grew up in Gloucester, plays a villain called The Editor in the new Who series. - In 2004 daleks, sea devils and cybermen materialised at the GL1 leisure centre for the BBC Experience event. See the pictures here. Make a monster Can you make a monster? Fans of the original series have fond memories of the Doctor's alien foes: daleks, autons, dinosaurs and a even a man made of liquorice allsorts (fact). Despite their evident cheapness and the occasional visibility of zips and eye-holes, they scared the living daylights out of us. Such is our enthusiasm for these low-budget baddies that we at BBC Gloucestershire Online decided to make our own adversary for the Doctor. With the limited resources at our disposal (three King Edwards and a biro) we created Spudraxx (right), evil carbohydrate-based denizen of the Soil Planet. Spudraxx is hell-bent on destroying all non-vegetable life-forms. He terrorises the galaxy with his Starch Ray and has the ability to turn green if left lying around for a long time. Here's a computer-enhanced impression of Spudraxx doing battle with the Doctor:  | | Spudraxx 'menaces' the 'Doctor' |
The Administrator User Cheryl Brown, clearly pressed for time at work, made a monster out of office supplies. Called The Adminstrator (right), this fearsome beast can: - Stand on his head to time travel to any day between 1995 and 2006. - Sharpen pencils by standing on them, - and er... sharpen Secretary's nails... Crater Fungus  | | Crater Fungus. Scarier than an orange... |
Matt and Gordon sent us this scary crittter, made from a mouldy apple, some tie-wraps and a few safety pins.
It lives in the craters of an isolated moon near to the place the Slitheen come from, and has the ability to suck the nutrients out of an area and leave it de-energised and mouldy. Make a monster
If you think you can make a Dr Who monster email us a picture to gloucestershire@bbc.co.uk and we'll feature it on the website. Use whatever comes to hand, keeping it cheap and cheerful (think toilet roll tubes, paperclips etc). Tell us a bit about your creation: what it's called, what it's made of, where it comes from, any special powers...and please don't spend too long on it! 
If you would like to comment on this story get in touch at gloucestershire@bbc.co.ukor have your say on our messageboard | 
Prepare to cower behind the sofa - Doctor Who is back. But did you know that the Time Lord has visited Gloucestershire? And can you make a scarier monster than us?
