THE CHAIRS OF DOCTOR WHO – Season 5

Last time on ‘The Chairs of Doctor Who’.

Season 22 was loud, brash, and full blooded – and the same was true of the chairs. Blue and pink chairs clashed with glittery, crystallised space age seating from the storeroom. And those chairs identifiable are bold statements in their own right.

This time, we switch from colour to black and white, and find out what was happening towards the later part of the 1960’s. It starts badly, but picks up.

The Tomb of the Cybermen

Nul points.

The Abominable Snowman

Wow, where to begin with this one? This search went on for a while, and took in Bishop’s thrones, and Cathedra. In the end I couldn’t work out exact influences, so I just leave you the following images to show my journey.

The Ice Warriors

A very distinctive piece of furniture is on display here. This is a Djinn lounge chair, designed by Olivier Mourque for Airborne 1965. This might look recognisable to readers, thanks to its inclusion in ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, directed by Stanley Kubrick.

Various other artefacts are on display here too. The chair in the corridor doesn’t have enough detail for me to make a proper diagnosis.

The Enemy of the World

Although I couldn’t find the couch armchair on display here, the white Tulip chair is unmistakable. It was designed by Eero Saarinen in 1955 and 1956 for the Knoll company of New York City. Saarinen said: “The undercarriage of chairs and tables in a typical interior makes an ugly, confusing, unrestful world. I wanted to clear up the slum of legs. I wanted to make the chair all one thing again“.

We have this mid century swivel chair – the designer is currently unknown. It was possibly designed by Vincent Cafiero for Knoll.

There is a 1960’s Danish dining chairs by Arne Hovmand-Olsen for Mogens Kold. Hovmand-Olsen frequently used Teak or Rosewood in his work, but it’s hard to tell in black and white.

This chair looks like an Eero Saarinen executive armchair, but it has a higher backrest, so I’m pretty unsure. If anyone has a view, please let me know. You’ll find a 24 hour emergency hotline at the end of this post.

There is quite a range of seating in this story. Not everything was identifiable.

Poking out the bottom of the frame is what looks like a P40 dining chair by Giancarlo Vegni & Gianfranco Gualtierotti for Fasem. However the armrests in the photo are a little more padded, so this is a chair where the pink border (exact identification) could be removed at any time. That’s the knife-edge I’m living on.

The Web of Fear

Impossible to identify these utilitarian designs.

Fury of the Deep

We have another appearance of the classic Tulip chair by Eero Saarinen for Knoll. But this time it is the armchair version.

The Wheel in Space

For the final time in these posts, we say hello to Joe Columbo’s Elda chair, which makes its first appearance in Doctor Who on the wheel. See season 9 and 21, for more on this beaut.

Elsewhere there is the celebrated 1965 Oxford chair by Arne Jacobsen. See season 10 for more.

And behind Jamie is a Globus tub chair from Overman.

Meanwhile on the main flight deck there is an unidentified chair that previously appeared in ‘The Rescue’.

Finally onboard the Silver Carrier, the Cybermen sit on a fairly refined chair, considering its surroundings. It’s a 1960’s Dahlen Mobler AB side chair, previously seen in ‘The Edge of Destruction’.

A delicate end to a bold season, that bigs up the monsters, but also offers an interesting mix of chairs, many of which are contemporary and will be seen frequently in the series.

I wonder where we are going next?