The TV series Doctor Who was first broadcast on November 23rd, 1963 in the UK, but it wasn’t until January 12th, 1965 that the long-running sci-fi show came to TV screens in Australia—specifically Western Australia as the national broadcaster had yet to align programming in all states. Doctor Who continues to hold a special place in the hearts and minds of people around the world and it’s been sparking their imaginations ever since.

The original Doctor Who TV series went into hiatus in 1989, but the spin-off novels, short stories, audiobooks, radio dramas, and fan creations kept the characters alive for many people. When the series was rebooted in 2005, it found a whole new legion of fans.

Today, it’s not unusual to see Doctor Who-themed cosplay at pop culture events or to see Doctor Who-themed MOCs at LEGO fan events. This is especially true in Australia where the series has retained its popularity since its first broadcast in 1965. Why is Doctor Who so prevalent in Australia? I don't know for sure, but from my perspective, it could be that it was on almost constant repeat in the 70s and 80s—and now that all those kids have grown up and are peak AFOL and nostalgia age, they are building what inspired them back then.

On the 58th anniversary of the first screening in Australia, we present an overview of many of the Australian MOC builders and their Doctor Who-themed LEGO creations listed in reverse order from the most recent to the earliest.

Matthew Fazakerley (2022)

Matthew has been a Doctor Who fan for as long as he can remember. He started watching the series during the 4th Doctor reruns and became a big fan of the books published by Target. He’s been a Doctor Who fan ever since that time.

His main Doctor Who build from 2021/2022 features four vignettes of 30cm high Daleks in four different settings. These are: a Dalek from Dead Planet in the arch of one of the doors from the Dalek City; an Imperial Dalek from Remembrance of the Daleks on board the Dalek mothership; the Special Weapons Dalek on a London Street; and Dalek Sec from Army of Ghosts/Doomsday in the sphere room. Even when his build is not Doctor Who related, you’re likely to find a TARDIS hidden somewhere on the build.

He’s always wanted to build a life-sized Dalek, because Daleks are cool, but he lacked the skills, patience and money to complete the task, so building one out of LEGO seemed to be an easier option. Of course, in the end, he found the LEGO version also challenged his skill, patience and money. Recreating the unusual shape of a Dalek was extremely difficult as there are odd angles and shapes and they change as you go from the bottom to the top of the build. There are lots of Mixel joints, SNOT techniques and probably several “illegal” builds holding each model together.

Matthew’s Daleks were exhibited at Brixpo in 2022 and he has plans to expand the build for future exhibits.

Nicole and Abbyleena Mooney (2021)

As a child, Nicole used to sneakily watch Doctor Who hoping her father wouldn’t notice. As an adult, she actively watches the TV show with Abbyleena and her other children and regularly attends local Doctor Who club meetings.

Doctor who builds by Nicole and Abbyleena Mooney

Most of Nicole and Abbyleena’s Doctor Who-themed MOCs have been for building challenges for their local LUG in 2021 and 2022. Nicole made the inside of the TARDIS for an 8x8x8 challenge and Abbyleena has made a Cyberman head and Weeping Angel for a “one colour” challenge. Nicole also made a small K9 mosaic for their display at Bendi-con. Abbyleena’s Cyberman head was displayed at Bendigo Bricks in 2022.

Greg King (2021)

Greg is a lifelong Doctor Who fan since discovering the series in the late 1960s/early 1970s as a young child. These days, he’s an active member of his local Doctor Who fan community and is often seen cosplaying as the 3rd or 12th Doctor.

His first Doctor Who-themed MOC, called Doctor Who and the Free Jelly Babies, was built in 2021 and features the 12th Doctor being lured to an alien planet with the promise of free jelly babies and other tempting goodies. Little does he realise it is a trap set by the Master, who has teamed up with the Daleks, Cybermen and other races, in order to capture the Doctor.

Doctor Who and the free Jelly babies by greg king

In 2022 Greg built Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Classic Space where the Master, yet again, lures the Doctor with the promise of free jelly babies. This time he ends up in a Classic Space scene where the invading Daleks are infiltrating by changing their liveries to match the theme. The Doctor is held at gunpoint, but help is at hand with the appearance of the 11th Doctor and Clara who have not been noticed by the Daleks.

The first build was exhibited at Bendigo Bricks in 2021 and the second at Bendigo Bricks and Brick Relief in 2022.

Doctor Who and the dalek invasion of classic space by greg king

David Velasquez (2020)

David is relatively new to the world of Doctor Who, having only been a fan for a little over 10 years. He really loves the Doctor Who universe and thinks there are not enough LEGO sets featuring the characters.

His first Doctor Who-themed build was in 2020 and he has since built a 60cm tall TARDIS, a 70cm tall Weeping Angel sculpture and a few large figures of some of the Doctors and villains.

The Weeping Angel was the most challenging of the builds as he wanted it to be a more realistic design rather than a cartoonish sculpture. It took many rebuilds and redesigns before he was happy with the final build. So far, David has exhibited his Doctor Who builds at Brickvention, Wyndham Brickfest, and Brixpo.

Jacen Carpenter (2019)

Jacen has been a Doctor Who fan since he started watching repeats of the Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker era as a 10-year-old and has even built a life-sized TARDIS (not out of LEGO) as the entry to his comic room.

As a big builder of pop culture-related BrickHeadz, it was inevitable that Jacen would create at least one of the Doctors in this style. He chose the 13th Doctor as Jodie Whittaker was new to the role and it meant he wasn’t replicating the work of other builders. The biggest challenges of the build involved the hair, the rainbow stripe and the jacket.

The 13th Doctor BrickHeadz was exhibited at Brickvention in 2020 and will be returning with over 120 other BrickHeadz at Brickvention in 2023.

Tamara Dadswell (2019)

Tamara first discovered Doctor Who as a small child of 7 or 8 while watching the series with her dad. Although she stopped watching during the 5th Doctor era, she went back to it when it was rebooted in 2005. She now watches it with her own children who are third-generation viewers of the series.

Her stained glass Dalek was inspired by the Chris Thompson cover art for the Big Finish audio book, Order of the Daleks. Although it was constructed in 2019, Tamara had spent some time thinking about how to construct it prior to that time. Some issues she had to overcome included creating a transparent interior and building the 11 oddly-shaped panels for the lower half of the Dalek.

Since 2019, the Dalek has been exhibited in Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Wollongong, and Bendigo where it has received much admiration. It was also featured in a Beyond the Brick video.

Grant Keats (2019)

Jon Pertwee was still the 3rd Doctor when Grant started watching the TV series in the 1970s. He’s been a lifelong fan and still prefers the classic series to the modern reboot.

Grant has been an avid builder of Doctor Who-inspired MOCs and has so far constructed five different ones: the classic TARDIS console room; the Master’s console, the wooden Victorian-style console from the Tom Baker era; Warriors Gate, and a Christmas-themed Doctor Who MOC. He also has a collection of customised Doctor Who minifigs, companions and other characters from minifigs.me and Big Kid Brix as well as some he created himself. Like so many other Doctor Who fans, he was inspired to create his MOCs because there were not enough LEGO Doctor Who sets to cater to his double passions of LEGO and Doctor Who.

Despite being a prolific builder, Grant has yet to publicly display his creations other than in a couple of LUG-based Facebook groups and pages.

An assortment of the collection and builds by Grant keats

Alan Jager

Alan was a regular builder of architectural-themed models and an avid member of the Melbourne LEGO User Group. We featured his work in a previous BrickNerd article. He was also known for the bonus scenes within his builds, including this one featuring Daleks inside his Majorca Building from Brickvention 2017.

Daleks inside the majorca building by alan jager

Andrea Munro (2016)

Andrea was always tantalised by Doctor Who as a child as it used to come on the TV just as she was supposed to be going to bed. Even now, the giant spider episode still gives her the creeps.

A lack of representation of the older Doctor Who series amongst the official LEGO sets inspired her to create two MOCs featuring TARDIS interiors in 2016. They were challenging builds as the TARDIS interior is an odd shape and she had to practice building non-square shapes to capture the look of the iconic interior. She has also constructed a range of custom Doctor Who minifigs and is still continuing to add to the range.

Her builds have been exhibited at various Brixhibitons in Tasmania.

custom Doctor Who minifigs by andrea munro

Darren Hutchesson (2016)

Darren has been a Doctor Who fan for over 50 years, is active in his local Doctor Who fan community and is known for his life-sized recreation of Dalek Sec—though it’s not made of LEGO.

Starting in 2016 after the release of the Doctor Who LEGO Ideas set, he has built a number of MOCs inspired by the TV series. The largest has been a Smith/Capaldi era console room, but he has also built a TARDIS exterior with his children, an 8x8x8 vignette of a TARDIS interior for a LUG competition and a classic console room with extended corridors and chambers which was too fragile to be transported. Even if not building a Doctor Who-themed MOC, Darren likes to include a minifig-sized TARDIS on his build.

a very early tardis build by Darren hutchesson (and children)

His Smith/Capaldi era console room has been exhibited at Bendigo Bricks and Queenscliffe Bricks in 2016.

Kale Frost (2015)

The 7th Doctor and his companion, Ace, were Kale’s first introduction to Doctor Who. He loved reading the Doctor Who New Adventures series of books and the era provided the inspiration for his Doctor Who LEGO creations.

Kale started creating Doctor Who-themed MOCs around 2015 with a small light-up TARDIS which he still likes to hide on his more recent MOCs, even if they aren’t related to Doctor Who. His larger TARDIS creation was built in 2016 at a time before BrickHeadz were released and drew inspiration from the 7th Doctor, Funko Pops and the need to create a light and easy-to-transport MOC. As it was one of his earliest MOCs, there were many new techniques to learn along the way with the added challenges of trying to recreate an iconic design that has changed many times over the years. To add extra detail to his build, Kale used his graphic design background to create the signage normally found on the TARDIS.

The larger TARDIS model has been displayed at Brickvention, Brick-a-laide, Bendigo Bricks, Sydney Brick Show and various other shows around Australia and may appear again in the future after further refinements.

the 7th doctor and the tardis by kale frost

Anita Eenink (2015)

Anita did not become a fan of Doctor Who until the arrival of the 9th Doctor but has been inspired to create two MOCs related to the TV series since 2015. The first was a Christmas-themed Doctor Who display and the second was a random build related to the series.

Both builds were part of a larger display at her local library.

general doctor who build by anita eenink

Joel A Moroney (2015)

Watching the 5th Doctor story Castrovalva as a 5-year-old is Joel’s earliest memory of Doctor Who. He’s always loved the series and believes creating LEGO MOCs is like having a toy that was exclusively made for him.

The doctor, amy and rory investigate a strange statue by joel A moroney

After the Doctor Who LEGO Ideas set was released in 2015, he produced a large number of Doctor Who-themed MOCs including: a minifig habitat of the 12th Doctor on an alien planet; a Cyberman conversion chamber; a scene with the 11th Doctor, Amy and Rory exiting the TARDIS to discover a Weeping Angel; and, more recently when Jodie Whittaker was announced as the 13th Doctor, a series of BrickHeadz featuring the Doctors and assorted other characters.

Joel’s creations have been displayed at the Sydney Brick Show and at other shows around Sydney.

assorted Doctor who brickheadz by joel a moroney

weeping angel brickheadz by joel a moroney

Sam Hayes (2015)

Sam has been a fan of Doctor Who since the 4th Doctor era and was inspired to build her own TARDIS after seeing Shelly Timson’s build at display in Melbourne. She used an English telephone box as a reference point and found the doors quite challenging but managed to adjust the build so it looked like the 10th Doctor’s TARDIS.

It was exhibited at Brickvention in 2015 and was visited by Mat King who directed an episode of Doctor Who.

Brickman (2015)

A special mention of the Brickman team who constructed a life-sized TARDIS in 2015 for the BBC. The TARDIS was teamed with a similar build from Bright Bricks (UK) for a BBC promotion for the 12th Doctor, Peter Capaldi. It was used for several promotions in Australia before becoming part of the Brickman’s Awesome exhibition and, eventually, returning to the BBC. During its time in Australia, it was seen in at least Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.

The brickman team and the life sized tardis

Shelly Timson (2014)

Shelly barely remembers a time when Doctor Who wasn’t part of her life. Her mother was a fan and as soon as Shelly and her sisters were old enough they would also watch the TV series.

Her TARDIS built is roughly 1/3 scale and came into being in 2014 when a friend was looking for a use for an excess of dark blue LEGO pieces. The MOC includes lights and originally had sound which was created by ringing an old phone hidden inside the build. At the time it was built, the availability of dark blue LEGO pieces was limited, so some parts are not as well integrated as she would have liked and she hopes, in the future, to change the design to allow the doors to open.

The TARDIS has been displayed at Brickvention, BrisBricks, and fourteen other LEGO exhibits across Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. It was also on display at Inside the Brick for 12 months.

Magnus Hindsberger (2014)

Magnus is a reasonably recent convert to the world of Doctor Who having only started watching the series in 2014 because his daughter, who was a big fan of the 10th and 11th Doctors, encouraged him to watch it.

Since then, his Doctor Who-themed MOCs have included a TARDIS, the 11th Doctor, K-9, and a small sonic screwdriver and he has plans to build a Dalek in the same scale sometime in the future. The most challenging build, for Magnus, has been K-9 which probably doesn’t have any 90˚ angles in the whole build and relied heavily on wedges and hinges to put it together. Initially, it was very fragile and had to be fixed several times each day it was on display before it was redesigned. He anticipates that his future Dalek build will have an even more challenging geometry,

His Doctor Who builds have been seen at Oz Comic Con, BrisBricks LEGO Fan Expos and various other smaller displays around Brisbane with an average of two exhibits a year.

Geoffrey Reid (2013)

Geoffrey first encountered Doctor Who in 1970 during the time of the 3rd Doctor. He’s a huge fan of the series and has watched it all in order. It is his favourite sci-fi of all time.

Created to celebrate 50 years of the Doctor Who series in 2013, his build depicts all of the Doctors and companions up until that point in time. The TARDIS console was particularly tricky and he has modified it over the years to improve the design. To create the companions he utilised decals purchased from the greatly missed Fine Clonier.

50 years through time and space by geoffrey reid

Even though Geoffrey built his 50 Years Through Time and Space in 2013, it was not displayed until 2015 at the Albury Library and, since then, it has been exhibited at the MYER department store in Albury, Brickvention, and at the recent Albury Brick Muster.

Drew Sneddon (2013)

Drew remembers watching repeats of the 4th Doctor era and has been a fan since around 1980. He has designed, and constructed with the help of his friend Brad, two large Doctor Who-themed mosaics - X, featuring the 10th Doctor, and Terminate, featuring Dalek Sec. Both were built for the 50th Anniversary celebration of the TV show at the Hayden Orpheum cinema in Cremorne in Sydney.

At the time they were constructed, Drew had to work with a limited colour palette due to a fast-approaching deadline so X ended up a little darker in colour than originally planned. With Terminate, he had to create light and shadow where there wasn’t any but is pleased with what he was able to achieve.

Apart from their original appearance at the Orpheum, both mosaics have been exhibited at the Armageddon pop culture expo in Melbourne. They are both now in the hands of private collectors with X appearing at a number of pop culture events and LEGO Fan exhibits in Melbourne and around Victoria.

Keith Carroll (2012-13)

Keith has dabbled in watching Doctor Who on and off since the 1970s. In 2012 he started making Dalek building kits and instructions based on the work of Alan Saunders. He had originally thought they could be used as a Dalek squadron patrolling a LEGO City at a Brixhibition LEGO Fan event in Tasmania but ended up making just enough kits to send to his young nieces and nephews around Australia. He was fortunate that the exchange rate for the Australian dollar was in his favour at the time and was able to purchase the parts for a reasonably cheap price. Reverse engineering the Daleks was also a good excuse to learn the basics of LEGO Digital Designer, though he hasn’t had reason to use it since that time.

The Dalek kits ended up being fantastic conversation starters with the younger family members who proudly displayed them in their lounge rooms in Canberra and Perth. Keith also has them on display in his own lounge room and has yet to use them for a LEGO Fan Exhibit.

Tim Burdon (2011)

Tim is a late follower of Doctor Who having only started watching around halfway through the 10th Doctor. After a while, he went back to the start of the reboot series and watched all the way through to the end of the 11th Doctor, but has struggled to enjoy the more recent series.

Small Tardis signed by billie piper with miniland Doctor and weeping angel by tim burdon

He started creating Doctor Who-themed MOCs around 2011-2012 and has built many characters at Miniland Scale as well as a TARDIS and some mosaics. He likes to build in the Miniland Scale as it is an easy way to incorporate pop culture references in his builds. When building at that scale, there is always to challenge of creating something that makes the character identifiable - such as a fez for the 11th Doctor or a trench coat for the 12th Doctor.

arthur darvill and mosaic of himself as rory by tim burdon

Tim’s work has been displayed at Brickvention, Brick Expo, Bricktopia, Brick-a-laide, Brixpo and various other events around South Australia.

Rob Torok (2011)

Rob is of the generation who watched Doctor Who and The Goodies every weeknight on ABC throughout the 1980s. They often repeated the episodes multiple times and he thinks he may have seen the 4th Doctor’s first season at least half a dozen times.

doctor who apartment interior by rob torok

Before the release of the official Doctor Who LEGO Ideas set in 2015, Rob had designed a couple of different TARDISes including one using the now-defunct LEGO Design by Me service. His most developed Doctor Who MOC was for the Tasmanian Brick Enthusiasts’ Apartment Build collaborative challenge in 2020. For this he reworked a couple of half-finished vignettes - these being an 80s-style TARDIS console room and another inspired by the 10th Doctor stories, Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead. By taking advantage of the collaborative challenge rules allowing for a balcony, he was able to intersect the TARDIS with the corner of an otherwise ordinary building. This provided a few challenges but made for a more interesting build.

Doctor who apartment exterior by rob torok

Rob’s Doctor Who-themed apartment was exhibited along with the other participants in the Tasmanian Brick Enthusiasts Apartment Build at Brixhibitions throughout Tasmania in 2021.

Alan Saunders (2009)

Alan is old enough to have hidden behind the sofa as a small child when Tomb of the Cyberman was first broadcast in the UK, so he grew up with Doctor Who as a Saturday tea-time institution. He started to watch it, without hiding, from the first 3rd Doctor series in 1970. In those days, you were never really a fan; it was simply something you watched and loved and he has continued to watch and, mostly, love since then. It’s just part of his life.

Over the years, Alan has created a number of small Doctor Who-themed MOCs, some of which were for Flickr challenges where your build could only contain 11 pieces. His earliest MOC related to Doctor Who was of the Torchwood team. Those who have an interest in Doctor Who MOCs may be familiar with his Dalek build which was designed in order to recreate the infamous nude Katy Manning & Dalek picture from Girl Illustrated. Recreating the image was surprisingly challenging as minifig legs don’t move in the same way as human legs.

Alan has never publicly displayed his builds other than on Flickr, but his Dalek design inspired Keith Carroll’s Dalek kits for his nieces and nephews and, with slight alteration, was used in the very popular Build a LEGO Dalek programme items at the World SF Convention, Aussiecon 4, in Melbourne in 2010.

Sue Ann Barber (2006)

It’s only fair that I should feature my own Doctor Who-inspired creations as part of this round-up.

Doctor Who has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I have no idea when I started watching the show; it was just always there. It doesn’t matter when people are negative about the show. Just having *any* new Doctor Who to watch is a good thing.

It was somewhat inevitable that I would build something related to the series out of LEGO. My first Doctor Who build, and my second only MOC, was a TARDIS. Inspired by the arrival of the new series in 2005, the TARDIS was constructed using the Doctor Who Technical Manual as a guide. Sourcing parts delayed the build, but the first version was completed in 2006. Since then, it has had the roof rebuilt, printed signs added and, briefly, TARDIS sounds via an MP3 player. The sounds were abandoned when it was realised they couldn’t be heard over the crowd noise at bigger events.

My second Doctor Who build, called The Doctor Escapes, features the 12th Doctor in a series of Minifig Habitats being attacked by Daleks and Cybermen and, eventually, being rescued by K-9. It is a very vague reference to the classic 1st Doctor Dalek stories and would not have been possible if not for the Doctor Who LEGO Ideas set and the Doctor Who LEGO Dimensions packs.

The TARDIS has been exhibited numerous times at Brickvention - including the very first one in 2006 - and was a regular at Armageddon and Oz Comic Con. It has also been displayed at various Primary School fetes, Queenscliffe Bricks, the Sydney Brick Show, Brick-a-laide, Brick Expo, and at the Seymour Agricultural Show where it once, unexpectedly, won a ribbon. It has also been featured in its own Instagram account.

The Doctor Escapes has appeared at Brickvention, Brick-a-laide, the Skaerbaek Fan Weekend, and at the Great Western Brick Show. Additionally, it was lucky enough to be displayed in the AFOL Showcase at the Brighton (UK) LEGO store.

Bonus Builders!

The following people were children or teenagers at the time of their builds in 2015/2016. We were not able to contact them for this article, but have included their work.

Hannigan Heycox

Max Gregg

Bonus inclusion of TARDISes spotted on a various displays at Brickvention

Photos supplied by the creators, Robert Kingston, Richard Jones and Dianne Hartley

Have you ever built any Doctor Who-themed MOCs? Let us know in the comments below!

Do you want to help BrickNerd continue publishing articles like this one? Become a top patron like Charlie Stephens, Marc & Liz Puleo, Paige Mueller, Rob Klingberg from Brickstuff, John & Joshua Hanlon from Beyond the Brick, Megan Lum, Andy Price, John A. and Lukas Kurth from StoneWars to show your support, get early access, exclusive swag and more

Home

Doctor Who in the Land of Oz

Bonus Builders!

BrickNerd - All things LEGO and the LEGO fan community

LEGO Contests & Challenges

Site Sponsors

Affiliate Shopping Links

Support BrickNerd

Article Archive