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... 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.

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

It is hoped that 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 two-year period fell well short of that ambitious target.

Some of the city visits also coincide with organised conventions and other fan events. Guests at conventions would sometimes visit the Tour, while guests traveling with the trailer would make appearances at conventions.

May to September

Wisconsin State Journal, Sept. 14, 1986

On its first leg, the Tour (without any guests from the series) visits 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. 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.
• From September, the Tour now regularly features one or more actors from the series, but several stops are without a guest traveller. (It's not until 1987 that every stop includes a guest.)
• 13-28 September 1986: The Tour heads south, visiting New York, Massachusetts and Ohio. (The two Bakers travelled together for some of the time during September, attending various Whovent 86 conventions along the way.)

October to December

• 4-5 October 1986: Colin Baker and Patrick Troughton (both actors making their only trips with the Tour) travel on to Minnesota and Wisconsin.
• The Tour moves south through North Carolina and South Carolina with Jon Pertwee, who falls ill; he is accompanied by Paul Darrow and Michael Keating from Blake's 7 for part of the journey.
• The Tour takes a break from mid-December for six weeks.

1987

• During the hiatus period, 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).
• For the second year of its travels, it is hoped the trailer will visit over 70 cities in 36 States. It is also planned for the Tour to visit Toronto at the end of May, but ultimately that trip over the border to Canada does not eventuate.
• While only some of the trips made during 1986 feature guests, all the stops in 1987 include at least one star from the series.

Map showing the States and main cities to be visited during the second year of the tour

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 later available to be purchased during the Tour.
• Davison and the trailer move on to 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. For some of this leg, he is accompanied by Brian Sloman from BBC Enterprises / Lionheart (and one of the chief planners and organisers of the Tour).

• 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, traveling to Maine, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. John Nathan-Turner is picked up in New York. Janet Fielding rejoins in Ohio, while Sarah Sutton takes over in Pennsylvania, traveling through Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana.

• 15-17 May 1987: The Tour stops at the WGBH studios in Boston with Sylvester McCoy (who has just completed recording Time and the Rani). On the night of 15 May, a special "Dinner With the Doctor" is held. McCoy and Brian Sloman of BBC Enterprises attend.

McCoy on WVIA

TV commercial on WGVU

July to August

The trailer heads west, stopping in Michigan again, and on to Illinois (with McCoy), Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota (with Janet Fielding taking over star duties), Iowa, Missouri and Kansas with JNT on board, and with no guests when it stops in Colorado, and Utah.

• 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 trailer stops at Chicago. (There are no guests during this leg of the Tour.)

Iowa, Aug. 1, 1987

September to December

For the next four months, the Tour travels down the west coast (calling in at Washington, Oregon, and California (stopping in Redding, Sacramento and Los Angeles, with McCoy and/or Pertwee), then eastwards through Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma (with Fielding), then with Pertwee it went to Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, and back to where it had set out in Louisiana. Its final trip was down to Miami Florida.

• 5-9 September 1987: His work on season 24 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).
• 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 from BBC Enterprises / Lionheart for a special event and screening.

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.
• 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.
• 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...