Dr Who at 50: Tardis crash lands in Ipswich school library for book week

Doctor Who crash landed into the library of Northgate High School

Northgate High School celebrated the 50th anniversary of the BBC series and the school’s annual book week by building a life-size Tardis replica and staging the crash last week.

The idea began over two years ago when the library bough a life-size cardboard cut-out of a Dalek for the boys zone section of the library – an area designated to get boys more interested in books.

The library was stocked with various Doctor Who related books for the event and several replica Doctor Who props were crafted.

The library staff also ran a competition for school pupils to guess which unfortunate children’s author had been trapped under the Tardis when it crashed.

Only the legs of the mystery author were visible, however clues to their identity were scattered around the crash site.

Libarian at Northgate High School Mrs Revell described it as a “really super week”.

“There was a real buzz right from the youngest in Year 7, through to Sixth Form,” she said. “We ran the competition from Monday to Thursday when the winners were announced and we had over 200 entries, prizes went to five pupils ranging from within those years.

“The Tardis that we had here was an absolute pleasure to have, it’s wonderful having it in here and it raises our profile within the school, we see pupils that perhaps wouldn’t necessarily come into the library coming in to see the Doctor Who week and that has a knock-on effect.

“Pupils are still coming in seeing the Doctor Who books that we have; we have a wide range of fiction and non-fiction. It keeps their interest going at all levels and it’s something that appealed to all ages and groups, and we couldn’t have timed it better; for it to culminate in the Doctor Who episode on Saturday was just fantastic.”