Doncaster sci-fi fan builds Doctor Who's TARDIS in back garden in latest amazing project

Actor and TV and film fan Ricky Butler has spent much of lockdown creating the famous blue police call box time travel machine with his son Prince – and the amazing model adds to his impressive sci-fi collection which already includes a Dalek, Doctor Who’s robotic dog companion K-9 and Star Wars’ R2-D2 robot.

His friends and neighbours have told him that his Askern back garden now looks like ‘a Hollywood film set’ – and he has more plans to keep coming up with much-loved TV and film creations to stay active during lockdown.

Ricky, 67, said: “We built a K-9 during the last lockdown and a family friend suggested that we should build Doctor Who’s TARDIS this time round.

"I got in touch with a friend at the BBC to see if he could get me the plans - he told me were to get them so we had the genuine size and specifications.

"We worked out what timber was needed and got started.

"In all, it took about six weeks to build at a cost of £350 to £400."

The iconic TARDIS – which stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space – first made its appearance in Doctor Who in 1963 – and is famously bigger on the inside than outside.

The time travel machine is now so much a part of British popular culture that the shape of the police box has become associated with the TARDIS rather than with its real-world inspiration, the police box, many of which no longer exist – although there are examples in Sheffield city centre and on the seafront at Scarborough.

Ricky and Prince ensured their TARDIS came complete with blue light on its roof – as well as the iconic dark blue paintwork.

But rather than travelling the galaxy, it will have a much more mundane use – storing the family’s garden tools.

He added: “Friends and neighbours say it looks like a Hollywood film set.

“The next project is the unfinished Dalek we started two years ago. It needs some attention but everything else is fully electronic and working.”