Editing TARDIS (section)

===Exterior design===
{{multiple image
| align             = right
| total_width       = 400
| header            = Police boxes
| image1            = Ilford Manor Road geograph-3065865-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg
| alt1              = Photograph of a street with trolleybuses and a police box on the pavement
| caption1          = A police box is visible in this 1955 photograph of a street in [[Ilford]] in London.
| image2            = Here's that TARDIS again, SW5 - geograph.org.uk - 906215.jpg
| alt2              = A blue police box on a street
| caption2          = A police box still stands outside [[Earl's Court tube station]] in London.
| footer            = [[Police box]]es were once a common sight on British streets.
}}
When ''Doctor Who'' was being developed in 1963 the production staff discussed what the Doctor's time machine would look like. To keep the design within budget<ref>Howe; Walker (2003), p. 23</ref> it was decided to make the outside resemble a [[police telephone box]], a common piece of [[street furniture]] that had originally been designed in the 1920s by the Scottish architect [[Gilbert Mackenzie Trench]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Meighan |first1=Michael |title=Glasgow with a Flourish |date=15 October 2011 |publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited |isbn=978-1-4456-1261-4 |pages=34–35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SGqoAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT34 |language=en}}</ref> The idea for the police-box disguise came from a [[BBC]] staff writer, [[Anthony Coburn]], who rewrote the programme's first episode from a draft by [[C. E. Webber]].<ref>Howe; Walker (2003), p. 15–16</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-13411516 |title=Doctor Who fan in tardis replica plan for Herne Bay|date=16 May 2011|publisher=BBC|access-date=20 February 2013}}</ref> While there is no known precedent for this notion, a November 1960 episode of the popular radio comedy show ''[[Beyond Our Ken]]'' included a sketch featuring a time machine described as "a tall telephone box".<ref>{{Cite web |date=23 March 2021 |title=How Tall Is The Tardis? Tardis' Height |url=https://colonelheight.com/how-tall-is-the-tardis-tardis-height/ |access-date=25 June 2023 |website=Colonel Height |language=en-US |archive-date=25 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230625000730/https://colonelheight.com/how-tall-is-the-tardis-tardis-height/ |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The concept of a [[cloaking device|cloaking mechanism]] (later referred to as the "chameleon circuit") was devised to explain this. In the first episode, ''[[An Unearthly Child]]'' (1963), the TARDIS is first seen hidden in a London scrapyard in 1963, and after travelling back in time ("[[The Cave of Skulls]]") to the [[Paleolithic era]], the police box exterior persists.{{sfn|Haining|1995|p=114}} In a subsequent story, ''[[The Time Meddler]]'' (1965), the [[First Doctor]] explains that the TARDIS should automatically adopt a disguise, such as a [[howdah]] (a carrier on the back of an Indian elephant in the [[Indian Mutiny]]) or a rock on a beach.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chakoteya.net/doctorwho/2-9.htm|title=The Doctor Who Transcripts – The Time Meddler|website=chakoteya.net|language=en-gb|access-date=27 January 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202024622/http://www.chakoteya.net/doctorwho/2-9.htm|archive-date=2 February 2017}}</ref>

Accounts differ as to the origin of the police box prop. While the BBC asserts that it was constructed specially for ''Doctor Who'',<ref>{{cite web|title=Doctor Who Classic Episode Guide: An Unearthly Child |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/unearthlychild/detail.shtml|publisher=BBC |last1=Howe|first1=David J.|last2=Walker|first2=Stephen James|access-date=30 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070330065005/https://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/unearthlychild/detail.shtml |archive-date=30 March 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> it has been claimed that the box was a reused prop from the BBC television police dramas ''[[Z-Cars]]'' or ''[[Dixon of Dock Green]]'' (a claim repeated by ''Doctor Who'' producer [[Steven Moffat]]).<ref>{{cite web |title=The Police Signal Box: A 100 Year History |last=Stewart |first=Robert W. |date=June 1994 |publisher=[[University of Strathclyde]] |page=16 |url=http://www.eee.strath.ac.uk/r.w.stewart/boxes.pdf |access-date=6 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318143908/http://www.eee.strath.ac.uk/r.w.stewart/boxes.pdf |archive-date=18 March 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Doctor Who boss not worried by budget squeeze |publisher=BBC News |date=23 March 2010 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8580299.stm}}</ref>

The dimensions and colour of the TARDIS police box props used in the series have changed many times, as a result of damage and the requirements of the show,<ref name="themindrobber-tardis"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://medium.com/tardis-history/the-props-74481fcd14c4|title=The Props|last=Brooks|first=Will |date=4 March 2020 |website=Medium |access-date=24 April 2020}}</ref> and none of the BBC props has been a faithful replica of the original MacKenzie Trench model. Numerous details have been altered over time, including the shape of the roof, the signage, the shade of blue paint, the presence of a [[St John Ambulance (England)|St John Ambulance]] emblem and the overall height of the box.<ref name="tardis2">{{cite web |url=http://www.themindrobber.co.uk/tardis-police-box.html |title=Doctor Who A History of the TARDIS Police Box Prop and its Modifications |access-date=17 February 2010}}</ref> The original prop remained in use for around 13 years until it collapsed – reportedly on [[Elisabeth Sladen]]'s head. A new prop was introduced for ''The Masque of Mandragora'' in 1976, and there have been at least six versions in total.<ref name="Who-ology">{{cite book |last1=Scott |first1=Cavan |last2=Wright |first2=Mark |title=Doctor Who: Who-ology |date=7 June 2013 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-1-4481-4125-8 |pages=264–265 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Okr1_6pV6cQC&pg=PA264}}</ref> The evolution of the prop design was referenced on-screen in the episode "[[Blink (Doctor Who)|Blink]]" (2007), when the character [[Detective Inspector]] Shipton says the TARDIS "isn't a real [police box]. The phone's just a dummy, and the windows are the wrong size."{{refn|group="nb"|The episode's writer [[Steven Moffat]] confirmed that this line was an [[in-joke]] aimed at fans on "Internet forums".<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Pixley |first1=Andrew |last2=Morris |first2=Jonathan |author-link2=Jonathan Morris (author) |last3=Atkinson |first3=Richard |last4=McGown |first4=Alistair |date=23 March 2016 |title=Blink: Pre-production |magazine=Doctor Who: The Complete History |publisher=[[Panini Comics|Panini Magazines]]/[[Hachette (publisher)|Hachette Partworks Ltd]] |volume=56 |page=57}}</ref>}}