Doctor Who USA Tour

The following timeline is a summary of the route taken by the Tour, with just some of the significant moments and milestones highlighted.

For a much more detailed account of the Tour stops, dates, the guests travelling with the truck, and admission prices, visit our DEDICATED PAGE HERE. For newspaper clippings, visit the Doctor Who Cuttings Archive.

1986

8 May

The Doctor Who USA Tour Trailer leaves Elstree Studios, UK, to begin its voyage to the US...

The Doctor Who USA Tour sets off on its two-year, multi-city journey, starting with the eastern states...

The inauguration is held on the National Mall beneath the Washington Monument in Washington DC. Controller of BBC One, Michael Grade, and Peter Davison attend the event.

USA Tour launch item on Entertainment Tonight

A short interview with Michael Grade at the launch appears on the Doctor Who Then & Now video.

The Tour exhibition was created by Brian Sloman, head of publicity and promotion at Lionheart's New York office through his company Monarch International, acting as the BBC's US promotions agent. BBC Enterprises Ltd in the UK supplied the props and costumes. The 48-foot trailer was constructed in the UK then shipped over to the states.

Initial plans are to take the Tour on the road for two years, starting in the east, then heading west to make its final stop in Washington state in March 1988.

It is hoped that in that time most of the markets where Doctor Who is screened in America will be visited; some reports cite as many as 181 cities, while others state 185 - although it's clear that the actual number of stops made in the truncated 20 month run that the Tour achieved fell well short of that ambitious target.

There are no actors from the series traveling with the Tour during 1986. Brian Sloman, Lionheart's director of Special Projects based in New York and the principal planner and organizer of the exhibit, travels with the show for several months.

Tour-specific merchandise - such as t-shirts, caps, key-rings, pens and badges - is sold from tables set up outside the trailer; the selling of these souvenirs is vital to keep the Tour on the road, but on a few occasions, they are refused permission to sell commercial wares when parked on public grounds!

Most stops - predominantly in shopping mall car parks - are planned for weekends (both days at one location), while mid-week stops are usually on a Wednesday.

Some of the city stops coincide with organised conventions and other fan events, and guests at those conventions would sometimes visit the Tour for the day.

May to September

On its first leg, the Tour (without any guests from the series) traverses the east coast, visiting Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, then back to New York and through to Ohio.

• On 25 May 1986, the Tour stops in New Brunswick, where the Whovent 86 convention is taking place over the Memorial Day weekend. The Doctor Who guests take time out from the event to visit the travelling exhibition. While there, they also take part in the Hands Across America event.
• 15 June 1986: The Tour reaches New Jersey and sets up at the Action Park amusement and ski-resort in Vernon. It has been on the road for six weeks.
• 28-29 June 1986: The Tour reaches Central Park in New York.
  • An interview with BBC Enterprises representative Brian Sloman (conducted in the Park) appeared in Starlog 113.
• 5-7 September 1986: The Tour comes to Schenectady, New York. The trailer parks at the Latham Circle Mall. Brian Sloman and Louise Jameson visit the trailer on day two.
  • A reporter from the UK morning show "Breakfast Time" visits the Tour on its second day at the mall (see video below). Sloman talks of taking the exhibit to Australia and New Zealand! (The item doesn't air on "Breakfast Time" until 11 September.)

USA Tour in Harrisburg 30 May 1986

UK TV "Breakfast Time" reports on the Tour visiting Schenectady in September

October to December

Troughton and Baker are in town for a convention when the Tour stops in Madison, Wisconsin on 5 October 1986; Wisconsin State Journal, Sept. 14, 1986

The Tour moves from Ohio to Minnesota then Wisconsin. It makes its final stop for the year in South Carolina.

• 5 October 1986: Colin Baker and Patrick Troughton are in Madison Wisconsin to attend the unrelated Doctor Who Festival convention at the Madison Civic Center. The Tour comes to town and stops at the convention venue for the weekend.
• The Tour moves east to West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
• 8-9 October 1986: The Tour comes to Morgantown, West Virginia. According to contemporary newspaper reports, it has made "30-some stops so far".
• 17-26 October 1986: The Tour is on site for all ten days of the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh.
• 14 December 1986: After a month in South Carolina, the Tour takes an extended break for six weeks...

1987

The 1986 Tour ran at a loss, so a re-think was needed. BBC Enterprises and Lionheart took full control of the 1987 leg of the promotion.

The name and branding for the Tour is changed to Doctor Who Celebration & Tour 87-88 (although the trailer retains its "Doctor Who USA Tour" signage).

While none of the trips made during 1986 had permanent guests on board, all the stops in 1987 included at least one star from the series travelling with the exhibit. Brian Sloman continued to accompany the Tour on occasion.

The 1987 exhibit is also a much more elaborate affair than the 1986 show. The new version of the Tour includes not only the trailer, but also video screenings (at least four different items were shown on a loop; one of these may have been The Home Whovian, another was possibly the 1985 Lionheart Promotional short), merchandise tables and autograph and Q&A sessions with the visiting guests, some of which are held in the evenings; these are staged in another venue (usually a hall, hotel or school auditorium) close to where the trailer is parked.

Pertwee and McCoy also partake in special "Dinner with the Doctor" receptions.

For the second year of its travels, the Tour is set to visit the western states for the first time; stops in 78 cities across 36 states are scheduled in that 12-month period. There is also a sojourn to Toronto planned for the end of May, but ultimately that trip over the border to Canada is dropped.

Several other of the planned stops are dropped or replaced with alternative destinations. Most stops are scheduled for weekends (both days in one location), while single day mid-week stops are usually on a Wednesday.

Map showing the stops planned for 1987, although several of these are dropped from the schedule

January to February

Doctor Who Celebration & Tour 87-88 press-kit from NATPE

For the 1987 leg of the Tour, the trailer starts in Louisiana, travels down to Florida, then up to Alabama.

• 21-25 January: The trailer makes its first appearance of 1987 in Louisiana, at the annual NATPE Television program showcase event held at the New Orleans Convention Center, with Peter Davison on board. (NATPE runs from 21-25 January, but the Tour is on site for only some of that time.)
  • A lavish press-kit folder advertising the series and Tour is distributed at Lionheart's stand; surplus copies of the kit are available during the Tour.
• 7 February 1987: After a two-week pause, Davison and the trailer begin the first leg of the Tour, travelling to various cities in Florida.
• 21-21 February 1987: The Tour - now with Jon Pertwee - comes to Walt Disney World in Orlando.
• 22-28 February 1987: The trailer heads northwards again: Pertwee makes stops in Louisiana, and Birmingham, Alabama (en route the trailer's roof is damaged when it passes under a low bridge).
  • USA TOUR in ALABAMA, 28 February 1987

March

The Tour with Pertwee heads northeast making its way through Georgia, Tennessee and the Virginias. (A planned stop in North Carolina is dropped.) For some of this leg, he is accompanied by Brian Sloman.

• 7 March 1987: The Tour stops at Mercer University in Macon near Atlanta, Georgia. Live from Atlanta is broadcast that evening. Pertwee and Sloman are joined by new Doctor Sylvester McCoy and producer John Nathan-Turner, who are in town for the Whovian Festival Tour convention. Eric Luskin hosts an interview session with the four guests.

McCoy, Pertwee, Nathan-Turner, Sloman interviewed by Eric Luskin part 1

McCoy, Pertwee, Nathan-Turner, Sloman interviewed by Eric Luskin part 2

Live from Atlanta, 7 March 1987

April to June

Janet Fielding joins the Tour for this leg, accompanied by Sarah Sutton or Anthony Ainley for part of the journey to Maryland, and Connecticut.

McCoy returns in May (having just completed recording Time and the Rani), traveling to Maine, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. The interview with McCoy that appears on the video Doctor Who Then & Now was likely recorded during this time.

John Nathan-Turner is picked up in New York. (A trip over the border to Toronto had been scheduled for this leg but is dropped from the itinerary.) Janet Fielding rejoins in Ohio, while Sarah Sutton takes over in Pennsylvania, traveling through Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana.

• 4-5 April 1987: Janet Feilding and Anthony Ainley appear in Baltimore. Six days earlier, Ainley had been in Columbus Georgia attending the Magnum Opus Con II convention at which Patrick Troughton had died.
• 13-14 May 1987: McCoy is interviewed by WVIA during the stop in Scranton, Pennsylvania (see video clip below)
• 15-17 May 1987: The Tour stops at the WGBH studios in Boston with Sylvester McCoy. On the night of 15 May, a special "Dinner With the Doctor" is held in the Winthrop Ballroom at the Embassy Suites Hotel. McCoy and Brian Sloman attend.

McCoy on WVIA (Scranton Pennsylvania; 13/14 May 1987)

TV spot on WGVU for Michigan visit (2/3 July 1987)

July to August

The trailer heads west for the first time, stopping in Michigan again, and on to Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota with McCoy (who has just completed work on Delta and the Bannermen), then North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri with Janet Fielding taking over star duties, then Kansas and Colorado with JNT on board for the next two and a half weeks; his last stop is in Salt Lake City Utah.

The Tour then heads northwest towards Washington. There are no stops in Wyoming, Montana or Idaho since Doctor Who does not air in those three states. There are also no stops in Nevada.

• 2 July 1987: The Tour visits west Michigan with Janet Fielding. The Tour is advertised on WGVU - see video clip above.
• 4-5 July 1987: Heading northwest, the trailer stops at Chicago. For the first and only time during the 1987 tour there are no guests on site because the Navy Pier location did not have a suitable indoor venue in which to stage video screenings and signings.
• 11 July 1987: McCoy stops in Green Bay, Wisconsin -- see flyer and entry ticket at right.
• 12 July 1987: McCoy stops in St Paul, Minnesota -- see video clip below.
• 1-2 August 1987: The Tour comes to Des Moines Iowa with Janet Fielding, and features on a local TV news report - see video clip below.

The Tour with McCoy in Minnesota, 12 July 1987

The Tour with Janet Fielding in Iowa, Aug. 1, 1987

September to December

For the next four months, the Tour travels down the west coast - visiting in Washington, Oregon, and five locations in California (Redding, Sacramento, San Jose, Fresno, and Los Angeles) with McCoy and/or Pertwee onboard - then eastwards through Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma (with Fielding). With Pertwee returning, it went to Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, and back to Louisiana, from where it had set out at the beginning of the year. Its final trip was down to Miami Florida.

• 5-9 September 1987: His work on season 24 now completed, Sylvester McCoy rejoins the Tour, and the trailer travels to Washington state, then south to Los Angeles.
• From mid-September to mid-December Jon Pertwee accompanies the Tour for the longest stretch taken by a single guest (albeit with a short break during October). Aside from the Tour, Pertwee also performed his "cabaret show" in the evenings.
• 19-20 December 1987: The Tour makes its final-ever stop in Miami, Florida at the WPBT studios. Producer John Nathan-Turner is joined by Nicola Bryant, Eric Luskin, and Brian Sloman for a special live "farewell" broadcast during the day.

End of the Road...

• Although it had been hoped to continue the Tour into 1988 (when the series celebrated its 25th anniversary), the December 1987 leg is to be its final stretch.
• 39 states plus the District of Columbia had been visited. Four markets which were still airing the series were skipped - Alaska, Nebraska, Nevada, and Rhode Island. (Getting the Tour to Alaska may have been logistically impossible anyway!)
  • The series had not been shown by any local stations in Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Vermont or Wyoming, so those states were not included in the itinerary. And although the series had been seen in Kentucky in the early 1980s, there were no stations still airing it in 1986-87, so that state was also skipped.
• After some 20 months on the road with over 90 locations visited (less than half the originally planned 180+) the trailer and exhibits are shipped back to the UK. (A rather worse for wear "Bessie" later appeared in Battlefield, with some of the damage it had sustained during the Tour still evident!)
• The trailer is later sold to the owner of a fair-ground in New Mills in the High Peak district of central England - and used as a workshop shed!
• The rusting shell of the vehicle stood on the property for nearly 30 years, but when the land was sold for a new housing development in 2018, the wreck was removed and sold for scrap.

General coverage of the tour (External links)

• FACEBOOK Group dedicated to the trailer Tour
• USA TOUR 1986 PHOTOS 1
• USA TOUR 1986 PHOTOS 2
• USA TOUR 1986 PHOTOS 3
• USA TOUR OVERVIEW - and the sad fate of the Trailer...