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1967 saw a continuing decline in the amount of new merchandise available to the collector.
A small number of books and a record were released in 1967. “Fugue for Thought” by Bill McGuffie, a reworking of the theme music to the "Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D." film that had premiered the previous year, was issued as a 45 RPM single by Philips. A paperback version of “Doctor Who and the Crusaders” was published by the Dragon imprint of the Atlantic Book Publishing Co. Ltd.; originally released in hardback by Frederick Muller in 1964. Similarly, in the US, the Avon Books division of the Hearst Corporation published a paperback version of “Doctor Who: In an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks,” also originally released in 1964 by Frederick Muller in the UK and subsequently issued as a paperback by Armada in 1965. World Distributors once again published the “Dr. Who Annual” in time for Christmas.
Image from the Wall's Ice Cream television commercial for the Sky Ray promotion featuring Doctor Who
Most significantly, Wall’s Ice Cream used Doctor Who and the Daleks in a promotional campaign for their Sky Ray ice lollies over the summer. The promotion included both television and extensive print advertising. Sky Ray lollies had a Doctor Who themed wrapper and included one in a set of thirty-six collectors’ cards. An illustrated “Dr. Who Space Adventure” book was available from Wall’s for 1 shilling, in which the cards could be mounted. Promotional point-of-sale items also exist, including a shop banner, shop and shop window advertising cards, counter displays, a freezer card and a book order form. The Space Museum is seeking several of these items as illustrated in the Gallery and listed in the WANTED section.
The addition of Deborah Watling to the regular cast as Victoria Waterfield provided both an individual cast card and a combined card with Frazer Hines as Jamie. Both are illustrated in the Gallery, but are missing from The Space Museum’s collection.
TV Comic continued to provide good coverage of Doctor Who throughout 1967. With issue number 788, dated 21st January 1967, the Doctor Who strip moved to the front cover in colour, and, for the first time in TV Comic, the Daleks appeared. The arrival of the Daleks in TV Comic was announced a week earlier in the comic and, unusually, was advertised in the Radio Times issue dated 14th – 20th January 1967. The "Dr. Who and the Daleks" strip as it was now billed, continued in colour on the front of TV Comic until issue number 809, dated 17th June 1967, when Doctor Who returned to a black and white strip inside the comic.
Stickers from the TV Comic promotion, "My Super Book of TV Stars"
TV Comic issue number 824, dated 30th September 1967, saw the Doctor Who strip move back to the centre pages in colour and introduced the Cybermen, which were to return several times over the next 18 months. Doctor Who was included in the 1967 TV Comic Holiday Special and the TV Comic Annual 1968, published ahead of Christmas 1967. Patrick Troughton as the Doctor was one of the stickers in this year’s “My Super Book of TV Stars” provided free to readers of TV Comic; the final year that this give-away was published.
Doctor Who continued to be well covered in the Radio Times throughout 1967, with a short article accompanying each new story and occasional small photos with the weekly episode listing. There was again one Radio Times cover dedicated to Doctor Who for the issue dated 2nd – 8th September 1967 at the start of The Tomb of the Cybermen. A complete list of Doctor Who in the Radio Times can be found HERE. In Ariel, the BBC staff magazine, a photo from The Underwater Menace appeared in the January 1967 issue and a full-page article on Innes Lloyd’s work on Doctor Who was printed the following month.
Other collecting opportunities from 1967 include material related to Terry Nation’s efforts to sell a Dalek television series in the US; a planned Dr. Who radio series by Stanmark Productions Ltd. (on which the definitive article can be found in the Doctor Who research magazine, “Nothing at the End of the Lane,” Issue Three, January 2012); and the appearance of Doctor Who monsters at the Daily Mail Schoolboys & Girls Exhibition, held at Olympia, London, 27th December 1967 to 6th January 1968. Doctor Who appeared regularly in newspapers and magazine articles throughout the year; a selection of which can be found in the Gallery.
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