As was forecast long ago, Royal Mail will mark 50th years of the BBC Doctor Who series with a blockbuster issue of stamps and booklets. Originally reported to be issued in 8 January (a report repeated in error by at least one daily newspaper last week) the stamp issue will be on 26th March 2013.
Royal Mail chose 26th December to publish the press release for this issue, to get maximum coverage in the British media. With the government and politics in general very quiet over Christmas the coverage achieved was predictably wide so you probably already know about the basics. Now, we bring you the bigger picture.
The first Doctor Who episode was broadcast on 23 November 1963 at 5.15pm, but Royal Mail and the BBC are wisely marking the 50th anniversary throughout 2013.
Dr Who Stamps
Each of the 11 Doctors is featured on a 1st class stamp. The first two, William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton are in monochrome, while the remaining 9 are in full colour.
From the top: William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, and Matt Smith. (Current face value £6.60)
The stamps are printed in three sheets, 11-9, 8-5, 4-1, by Cartor Security Printing in litho.
Dr Who Miniature Sheet
The miniature sheet shows the TARDIS and four of the Doctor's enemies. The sheet is self-adhesive and the publicity pictures suggest that the four 2nd class stamps have designs extending beyond the perforations, and these may be 'free-form' die-cut as was used with the Charles Darwin stamps. We've modified the image to show what we think individual stamps might look like. This has not been confirmed by Royal Mail.
1st class TARDIS; 2nd class Dalek, The Ood, Weeping Angel, Cyberman. Current Face value £2.60)
Dr Who retail booklet
A retail booklet of 6 x 1st class stamps will also be issued. This will contain the 1st class Matt Smith and William Hartnell stamps (ie the original and latest Doctors), with the 4 definitive-sized stamps showing the Tardis, rather than being Machin definitives. (Current face value £3.60 -
probably printed in gravure by Walsall Security Printers.)
Dr Who Prestige Stamp Book
The prestige stamp book contains 5 panes of stamps. The 11 Doctors are split over 3 panes, but these images have narratives unrelated to the Doctors on the pages. These are publicity pictures which are subject to change; the images are low resolution. The announced price of the PSB is £13.77 (as usual, almost £1 over the £12.82 face value of the stamps).
Cover and Definitive pane: 4 x 1st class Tardis, 1 each 5p, 10p, 20p, 87p Machin and Tardis label
Five panes:
Definitive, miniature sheet, Doctors 11-9, 8-5, and 4-1.
PSB Technical Details added 26.2.13:
All panes are gummed except for the mini-sheet pane, which is self-adhesive.
MS pane is printed by Enschede Cartor in litho (corrected 27.2.13)
Doctor panes are by Cartor in litho
Machin/Tardis pane is by Walsall in Gravure, with iridescent security layer on the Machins but not the Tardis stamps.
PSB Format:
Maintaining the distinction between the (8) Old Doctors and the (3) New Doctors the Prestige stamp book has two covers, and two ends.
The order of the pages is:
1. Coloured cover
2.
Miniature sheet stamp pane
3. (11th Doctor info page/ Tardis info page)
4. (10th / 9th Doctor info pages)
5.
stamp pane - Doctors 11, 10, 9
6. (The Time Lord Returns / monsters from the modern day info pages).
Then inverted
7. (Creatures from the Classic Era / 8th Doctor)
8.
Stamp pane (gummed side up) - Doctors 5-8, narrative 'The 7th Doctor'
9.
Stamp pane (gummed side up) - Doctors 1-4, narrative 'The 6th Doctor'
10. (5th / 4th Doctor info page)
11.
Machin stamp pane (gummed side up), narrative 'The 3rd Doctor'
12. (2nd/1st Doctor info page)
13. Monochrome cover, with FSC logo and bar-code.
UPDATE 26 MARCH
We now have the Miniature Sheet pane from the PSBs. Although there may be some technical details (above) still to be verified by Royal Mail we can confirm that the stamps in the PSB are not the same as those on the MS.
The phosphor bands on the 'enemies' stamps are fractionally wider on the MS than on the PSB pane. The gap between the bands is 11mm on the MS and about 7mm on the PSB pane.
The paper surface is different, which means the bands appear sold on the PSB but not on the MS.
We're now just waiting for the Generic Sheet to confirm that that the Tardis stamp in that will also be different.
The Tardis stamp in the retail booklet has phosphor bands almost exactly the same size as those on the MS, but the stamp image size is different! On the MS & PSB the image size is 17 x 21 mm. In the retail booklet it is 17.5 x 21.25mm.
There are 4 Official Royal Mail
first day covers, using the postmarks shown below. The miniature sheet, and the definitive (half-)pane from the PSB are on two. The 11 Doctors are split between the 8 Classic and 3 Modern Doctors. The publicity pictures show the Classic stamps on a cover with a different design.
However, only one blank FDC has been listed for us to order, so either the image or the order form is in error.
Update 25.2.13:
There are two FDE’s.
Royal Mail will use the multicoloured one for the three recent Doctors, Mini Sheet and PSB (Machin) Pane.
The more monochrome cover will be used for the eight earlier Doctors. (The retail book stamps are not supplied on FDE by Royal Mail.)
Dr Who Smilers Sheets
The Tardis stamp is being made available in Royal Mail's Smilers (c) service, and so a generic sheet will also be issued. The generic sheet will comprise of 20 1st Class TARDIS definitives accompanied by labels featuring four different incarnations of Cybermen, Daleks, Silurians, Sontarans and the Master. Cost from Royal Mail £12.50.
The TARDIS stamp will be in the consumer Smilers service and the Business Customised Service. Smilers are available at
www.royalmail.com/smilers and also through the iPhone App. Smilers will be available in sheets of 10 and 20 stamps (sheets of 20 perforated down the centre). Personalised Smilers are £9.99 for 10, £18.25 for 20.
Other Dr Who Products
Royal Mail will issue 17 stamp cards - one for each stamp and one for the miniature sheet - which can only be obtained in sets price £7.65.
The presentation pack containing all 11 stamps and the miniature sheet is £9.70 (50p over face value).
How to get the stamps and other products.
Royal Mail have made it easy to buy these,
on a new webpage.
We will
not be stocking these products:
a. Doctors set
b. miniature sheet
c. presentation pack
d. Smilers Generic sheet
e. prestige stamp book
f. set of stamp cards
g. first day covers of a, b, d or serviced stamp cards.
We
will stock:
h. Machin Definitives from Prestige Stamp Book
i. mini-sheet stamps from PSB
j. retail stamp booklet
k. single stamps from Generic Smilers sheet.
l. First Day Covers of
- Machin stamps from PSB (with and without the Tardis stamp)
- single stamps from retail stamp book as these are self-adhesive Doctors
- single stamps & labels from Smilers sheet as these are a different printing
Details and prices will appear
on our website.
UPDATE 4 DECEMBER
The Post Office (rather than Royal Mail) have a blogpost which includes a Dr Who Timeline. In theory it should be there forever, but I can't vouch for that.
Acknowledgements and Copyright
Stamp (etc) images Copyright Royal Mail 2013. BBC, DOCTOR WHO (word marks, logos and devices), TARDIS, DALEKS,
CYBERMAN and K-9 (word marks and devices) are trade marks of the British
Broadcasting Corporation and are used under licence. BBC logo © BBC
1996. Doctor Who logo © BBC 2012. Dalek image © BBC/Terry Nation 1963.
Cyberman image © BBC/Kit Pedler/Gerry Davis 1966. K-9 image © BBC/Bob
Baker/Dave Martin 1977.
Two of the actors who played Doctors have previously appeared on British stamps - can you remember which stamps?
The Association of Great Britain First Day Cover Collectors reports that the Dr Who issue will be the most challenging/expensive ever in terms of using copyrighted material. (And we thought the Olympic organisations were strict!)
"Do not under any circumstances be tempted to put any image or wording on your covers relating to Doctor Who or the BBC. ..... A licence for just mentioning Doctor Who or anything to do with Doctor Who is £1000. The BBC will vigorously pursue through the courts anyone infringing copyright. So you have been warned. It is a minefield like no other."
