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The last time I was in Edinburgh I bought a coffee from an outlet that excited me in the sense that I was drinking coffee from the Tardis.Tardis coffee

I am fully aware of the fact that the Tardis was inspired on these type of buildings, but as not being local to the UK and a big fan of Doctor Who, I prefer the mental note that I was drinking coffee from the Tardis.

Since Doctor Who is mostly situated in London, I am wondering if there is a "Doctor Who" themed tourist attraction in or around London.

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    Are you aware that these days, Doctor Who is mostly filmed in and around Cardiff in Wales? – Gagravarr Mar 21 '14 at 13:31
  • No I wasn't, but now that you say it, it all make sense. I edited the question accordingly – user141 Mar 21 '14 at 13:33
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    The chameleon circuit must've malfunctioned, because that's a red box, not a blue box! – Tim S. Mar 21 '14 at 14:50
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    That coffee shop has no relation to a tardis that I can see. – OrangeDog Mar 21 '14 at 16:41
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    That coffee shop is a former police box, though it is a somewhat different style/shape to the Tardis. There are a number of these old police boxes in Edinburgh, quite a few have been repainted and converted to coffee shops. – vclaw Mar 21 '14 at 18:02
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There's the one at Earl's Court in London. Here it is on Google Street View.

Now my favourite part, if you use the arrows to move towards the TARDIS, Street View takes you INSIDE THE TARDIS! :)

Another article here which shows the views from outside as well as INSIDE the TARDIS, if you don't want to have to load up the maps yourself.

It's also possible to do a three hour private Doctor Who Tour in London. Highlights include:

  • 3-hour private tour of Doctor Who sites in London
  • Visit popular locations from the series covering 50 years
  • See London’s top attractions in a private black taxi
  • Enjoy photo ops at each stop (including one with a TARDIS)
  • Hear lively commentary and fun anecdotes from your private guide

In addition, since the new series started there are several places in and around Cardiff that you can go see, but there's nothing highlighting them, just places you may recognise - for example, Bad Wolf Bay.

There is however, the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff Bay. It's described as:

An interactive journey that takes you on an adventure through space and time.

Step through a crack in time and help the Doctor, armed with his Sonic Screwdriver to escape from his foes, fly the TARDIS and come face-to-face with some of the scariest monsters seen on screen. Featuring exclusive filmed sequences with Matt Smith and packed with amazing special effects this multi-sensory experience is fun for the family and fans alike. After your action-packed journey with the Doctor, there is so much more to see...

It's open daily from 9.30am to 5pm excluding Tuesdays during term time.

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  • How much I try, I don't manage to enter the Tardis on Google street view :( – user141 Mar 21 '14 at 14:46
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    Your answer is incorrect with respect to Cardiff as other answers have said. You might want to correct as appropriate since it brings down the quality of your otherwise good answer (since as I understand it it is the main doctor who attraction in the UK). – Chris Mar 21 '14 at 17:26
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    @Chris argh, totally forgot about it, I was thinking more of labelled sites. Thanks, have updated. – Mark Mayo♦ Mar 21 '14 at 22:29
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The original episodes of Doctor Who were filmed in and around London, especially West London (near BBC Television Centre). The current series are largely filmed in and around Cardiff in Wales. If you're a fan of Torchwood, you'll see lots of shots of there, while for Doctor Who it's often presented as being in London even though it's normally filmed in Wales.

So, to see lots of things about Doctor Who, to tour filming locations etc, you need to head west from London and off to Cardiff! There you'll find the Doctor Who Experience. Around there, you'll find a lot of the locations.

(I've not been, but friends have and seemed to like it!)

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    I can recommend the Doctor Who experience as well. As a plus, it's right by the river, so the location is really beautiful too. – Shantnu Tiwari Mar 21 '14 at 16:50
  • They redid it recently to incorporate a lot more I believe. We were last there before the reconstruction, though we actually stumbled across it by accident as huge (new) Dr Who fans and enjoyed ourselves. It definitely deserved to be bigger and better. – dlanod Mar 21 '14 at 21:36
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    If you watch very carefully during the first episode of Torchwood, you can actually see the Doctor Who Experience sign. You have to know what you're looking for, of course, and where it should be. – Chris Mar 23 '14 at 3:01
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There seems to be a blue Police box replica at Earl's Court tube station. The don't seem to serve any coffee, but it looks like a place to go and take a picture.

enter image description here

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There's the fantastic Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff (used to be London, not any more) which has a great walk-through experience with scenes in the TARDIS with a recorded Matt Smith AND loads of original props, sets and costumes (including the ability to walk on the original Tennant TARDIS set)

If you just want somewhere to take pictures, doctorwholocations.net is great as well - it's a massive database of everywhere the show's been filmed over the years, with many recognisable locations around London and SE England.

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The new series were filmed in Cardiff, so most places you can see in the show are actually locations from there. That's why the Doctor Who Experience center is based in Cardiff, where you can find Tardises, Daleks and other items from the show. It is located around Cardiff Bay, where you can find the "entrance" to the fictional Torchwood Three, Cardiff, and also the "memorial" of Ianto Jones. (Torchwood is a spin-off series of Doctor Who with a story line mainly paralell with the 10th Doctor's storyline)

In London there is an old police box at Earls Court, but that's an original police box and not one of the DW designs.

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  • The Dr Who attraction in Cardiff is now closed. – ajtrichards Apr 25 at 17:12
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I seem to recall a Dr Who tourist attraction in Blackpool, but Blackpool is pretty grim, so it'd be best checking out reviews and so forth before you go there. Also from time to time there are museum exhibitions of Dr Who material that crop up around the country.

The original police-boxes can still be found in Glasgow; there are four that I can think of off-hand, and at least one of them (at the botanic gardens) serves coffee. The most obvious one is in Buchannan Street, and it's the blue you're used to seeing. The one at the top of the High Street, near Glasgow Cathedral, is sometimes painted red; the original colour of Glasgow police boxes.

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    The Blackpool Doctor Who museum was closed in 2009 ; it had quite a lot of props and costumes which have since been redistributed. – Adrian Mar 21 '14 at 20:05

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