Doctor Who USA Tour

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

1986

8 May 1986: With BBC One Controller, Michael Grade, and Peter Davison at its inauguration, the Doctor Who USA Tour trailer "bus" sets off from Washington DC to begin its two-year, multi-city tour (two cities per week). It is hoped that most of the 185 markets where Doctor Who is screened across America will be visited. Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Sarah Sutton all take part at various legs of the journey during the first year. Some of the city visits coincide with organised conventions.

• • • Interviews with Grade and BBC representative, Brian Sloman appear in Starlog 113

• May to August 1986: On its first leg within New England, the tour visits (in roughly this order) Pennsylvania (in late May), New Jersey, New York and Maine. On 25 May 1986, the occupants of the bus participated in the Hands Across America event.
  • 13-28 September 1986: The Tour heads south, visiting (in no particular order) Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington DC, then north west, to Illinois. (The two Bakers travelled together during September, attending various Whovent 86 conventions along the way.)
  • 27-28 September 1986: Parmatown Strip Center, Parma, Ohio (near Cleveland).
  • 4 October 1986: Colin Baker and Patrick Troughton travel on to Minnesota
    • USA TOUR in MINNESOTA, October 1986 1
    • USA TOUR in MINNESOTA, October 1986 2
  • 5 October 1986: The tour reaches Madison, Wisconsin, again with Colin Baker and Patrick Troughton.

Wisconsin State Journal, Sept. 14, 1986

• October to December 1986: The Tour moves south through Tennessee with Jon Pertwee, who falls ill; he is accompanied by Paul Darrow and Michael Keating from Blakes 7 for part of the journey.

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1987

• By early 1987, the Tour has been renamed the Doctor Who Celebration & Tour 87-88, with at least 36 States on its itinerary.

Map showing States and cities visited by the 87-88 leg of the tour

Doctor Who Celebration & Tour 87-88

Live from Atlanta, 7 March 1987

• February 1987: The trailer reaches Florida.
  • 8 February 1987: The trailer stops in Tampa, Florida, with Peter Davison.
  • 21-21 February 1987: The Tour comes to DisneyWorld in Orlando, Florida, with Jon Pertwee.
  • 22-28 February 1987: The trailer heads northwards again: Pertwee makes stops in Louisiana, and Birmingham, Alabama, before heading to Georgia later the same day.
    • USA TOUR in ALABAMA, 28 February 1987
  • 28 February 1987: That evening, at Mercer University in Atlanta, Georgia, Pertwee is joined by new Doctor Sylvester McCoy, and producer John Nathan-Turner. McCoy is interviewed by Eric Luskin:
    • Interview with Sylvester McCoy in Starlog 120

• March 1987: The Tour heads north east.
  • 7 March 1987: Footage from Pertwee's visit aired with the Live from Atlanta TV "Special".
  • 26-27 March 1987: Anthony Ainley and Janet Fielding call in at Baltimore, Maryland.
• 16-17 May 1987: The Tour stops at the WGBH studios in Boston, Massachusetts, with Sylvester McCoy (who has just completed recording Time and the Rani). On the night of 17 May, a special "Dinner With the Doctor" is held.
  • • USA TOUR 15 MAY 1987 PROGRAMME
• 2 July 1987: The Tour visits west Michigan; Janet Fielding makes an appearance at locally-sponsored events.

• • 4-5 July 1987: Heading north west, the Tour stops again at Chicago. (There are no guests during this leg of the tour.)
• 1 August 1987: Westbound, the Tour arrives in Iowa, with Janet Fielding.

CLIP: USA TOUR in IOWA 1 August 1987

• August to September 1987: The trailer heads north west, stopping in Washington state.
  • 9 September 1987: His work on season 24 completed, Sylvester McCoy rejoins the tour, and the trailer travels south, and arrives in Los Angeles, California.
• 3 October 1987: Jon Pertwee visits San Jose, California.
  • October 1987: Heading east again, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado (Denver), Texas are visited.
• November 1987: The Tour stops in Oklahoma and Arkansas (with Pertwee).
  • 5-6 December 1987: The Tour reaches Jackson, Mississippi.

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1988

• 1988: The Tour once again heads north.
  • Early 1988: The Tour takes Sylvester McCoy to Urbana, Illinois, and north to Maine.
  • Eventually, the bus heads towards the east coast again, where, after two years on the road, and having visited some 180+ locations, the Tour comes to an end.
  • The trailer itself is eventually returned to the UK - and left to rot in a junkyard...

General Coverage of the Tour (External links)

• 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....

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