A MUSEUM owner is to be featured in a sci-fi documentary about his career.
Tynedale’s very own Doctor Who historian, monster restorer and all-round artist – Neil Cole - is thrilled to be the subject of an upcoming DVD release from ‘Reeltime Pictures’.
The new documentary begins filming in November in Allendale, home of the now legendary ‘Museum of Classic Sci-Fi’ and will look at Neil’s near lifelong crusade to personally save and restore the original screen-used monsters from the classic era of the British sci-fi institution – ‘Doctor Who.’
Neil said: "I had no idea thirty years ago, when I was lucky enough to be given an old Cyberman helmet that needed a lot of repairs, that it would start a journey that would continue throughout my life."
"The problem was that the BBC really had no game-plan as to what to do with its stock of - what I believe to be – culturally important artefacts.
"They are often overlooked in the art world as ‘ephemera.’ In short, swathes of costumes, props and yes – monsters – were auctioned off to the public or even skipped."
"Sadly, many of these fragile pieces would end up in private hands – often with owners who perhaps did not really know how to sustain and look after such vulnerable materials such as latex and foam rubber. Many monsters deteriorated away.
"With monsters selling in auction for increasingly eye-watering sums of money, my modest budget prevented me from saving several. A huge lot was sold to New Zealand where the climate took its toll and the rubber perished in extreme humidity."
Thankfully for Doctor Who fans and Tynedale residents, Neil managed to save a good number of unique creatures and then constructed his increasingly famous museum for everyone to visit them first hand.
He said: "I never in a million years thought I would leave my teaching career to open a science-fiction museum housing original creature from ‘Doctor Who’.
"When Producer and firm friend of the Museum - Keith Barnfather of Reeltime Pictures approached me to make a documentary about my restoration work, I was bewildered.
"It is just fantastic and extremely flattering that all my self-taught work is being recognised in this way."
The DVD will be released on April 20th, 2024, as apart of ‘The Monster Men’ event at the museum in Allendale where many of ‘Doctor Who’s original monster and prop makers will be attending.
For more information check museumofclassicsci-fi.com and the FB page: neilcoleadventuresinscifimuseum.
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