Is the Doctor Who Experience about to re-open in Cardiff?
Just over a year after the last Doctor Who exhibition closed, Cardiff Council has published proposals to open a new one...
Cardiff Council has reignited hopes that the defunct Doctor Who Experience will return to the city with proposals for a new exhibition celebrating the BBC sci-fi show.
Documents released by the council reveal that it is proposing opening a new Doctor Who exhibition based in Cardiff Castle in the city centre.
However, when contacted by RadioTimes.com, the BBC denied that it had any plans for a new Doctor Who exhibition in Cardiff.
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The original Doctor Who Experience, an immersive tourist attraction containing props, costumes and interactive sets from the hit BBC series, closed in Cardiff in September 2017.
The closure of the attraction reportedly cost Cardiff Council more than £1 million.
However, Cardiff's local government now appears to be eyeing new opportunities to attract Doctor Who fans to the city, as part of efforts to plug a £24 million maintenance bill for its historic buildings.
In a new report titled 'Securing the Future of Cardiff's Heritage Buildings', the council reveals it is considering launching a new Doctor Who exhibition in Cardiff Castle in order to "broaden the appeal and interest of the castle".
"The Council is currently in the process of introducing two new attractions which are scheduled to be operational by the summer of 2019: the Black Tower Tales, in partnership with Unusual Expo; and the Dr Who Film Tours and Exhibition, in partnership with BBC Worldwide," the report claims.
News of the exhibition was greeted with excitement by Doctor Who fans, some of whom assumed that the new exhibition would be a replacement for the closed Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff Bay.
However, RadioTimes.com understands that the BBC has not yet committed to any new Doctor Who exhibition in Cardiff, and that the plans outlined in council documents are merely proposals at this stage.
"There are no plans for a Doctor Who exhibition in Cardiff at present," a spokesperson for BBC Studios told RadioTimes.com, adding that BBC Studios has also not committed the proposed Cardiff Castle exhibition at present.
BBC Studios is the new name of the BBC's commercial organisation, after the corporation merged BBC Worldwide and its production arm in November 2017.
The Doctor Who Experience closed after five years in the Welsh capital in September 2017.
“The Doctor Who Experience has enjoyed a fantastic five-year run in Cardiff Bay but, sadly, our five-year sub-lease from the City of Cardiff Council will come to an end in Summer 2017,” BBC Worldwide said in a statement.
Rumours that the exhibition would reopen in some form have continued to swirl, however. Andrew Walker, Retail and Merchandise manager of the Doctor Who Experience, told RadioTimes.com prior to the attraction's closure that he was confident that the Experience would be revived in some form.
“Like Doctor Who at the moment, we’re all in a state of expectation to see what exciting new things are going to happen,” Walker said. “And it’s just being devised now what the live experience is for Doctor Who in the future. So watch this space.”
