doctorAllons-y Whovians, planning to visit London? Here is a list of top 20 iconic places in London you cannot miss.
(May contain spoilers)
20. The Shard
In ‘The Bells of Saint John’, the Eleventh Doctor rides up The Shard on his bike defeating his enemies as he swooshes along the glass walls. How fangirls have swooned over Matt Smith on a bike. Revisit this iconic monument, a 95-storey skyscraper in Southwark, London, today the tallest building in the European Union and enjoy an evening on a rooftop desk. Who knows maybe you’ll find someone in a bow-tie. They are cool after all.
19. Southwark Cathedral
Visited by the Tenth Doctor, in the third series with Martha Jones, this beautiful piece of architecture was the background of the episode ‘The Lazarus Experiment’. Built on the south banks of river Thames, Southwark Cathedral is a standalone building in the area. The best part you get free entry.
18. Canary Wharf
Who can forget the Season 2 finale ‘Doomsday’. The Daleks. The Cybermen. And Rose stranded in a parallel universe. One of the most emotional episodes of Doctor Who was shot in the Canary Wharf district of London, known as the business district. Unlike Doctor Who, where it was the headquarter of Torchwood, the Canary Wharf houses major banks and offices. The view of the Canary Wharf skyline can be enjoyed at night.
17. The Brandon Estate
Doctor Who fans will know this building better as the Powell Estate which is where Rose, Jackie and Mickey lived. It’s fair to say that the Doctor hangs out there quite a lot. Viewers were introduced to the Powell Estate in ‘Rose’, the very first episode of NuWho, and in the following episodes the Ninth and Tenth Doctor landed (and sometimes even crash landed) their TARDIS there quite often.
16. St. Paul’s Cathedral
The Cathedral is one of those places, where you are likely to experience a Cybermen invasion. First appeared in 1968, Second Doctor’s episode ‘The Invasion’ (the clue was in the tittle, really) and then once again as Missy’s minions in the 2014 Series 8 finale ‘Dark Water/Death in Heaven.’ The cathedral sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London. And is the second largest cathedral in London.
15. Shad Thames
If you would have been taking a walk through Shad Thames in 1984, there was a big chance you would have been exterminated. The Shad was infested with Daleks in the Fifth Doctor’s episode ‘Resurrection of the Daleks.’ Nowadays, though, you should be just fine. Hopefully. A beautiful river side street, Shad Thames has Tower Bridge at its west end, and runs along the south side of the River Thames, set back behind a row of converted warehouses; it then takes a 90 degree turn south along. The nearest stations are Tower Hill, Tower Gateway, Bermondsey, and London Bridge.
14. Thames Barrier
The Thames Barrier appeared in the 2006 Doctor Who Christmas special, ‘The Runaway Bride’. The Doctor and his companion Donna Noble emerge from the barrier after defeating the Empress of the Racnoss and her children by flooding her secret underground lair, only to find out that they have accidentally drained the Thames.
13. London Eye
A hot tourist spot, The London Eye is a must see for all tourists. But, for Whovians the London Eye is indispensable. It adjoins the western end of Jubilee Gardens, on the South Bank of the River Thames between Westminster Bridge and Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In ‘Rose’, the opening episode of the revived series, London Eye was used as a gigantic (and very effective, for that matter) transmitter by the Nestene Consciousness.
12. Battersea Power Station
Another popular site in Who universe, the Battersea power station, back in 1966 was used as a manufacturing site for The War Machines and then Ashley Chapel built the Millennium Hall there in 1988. During the reign of the First Doctor William Hartnell, viewers saw the power station turned into a Nuclear Power Plant in the 22nd century while on a parallel Earth it was used as a hub for the Cybermen to ‘upgrade’ the population in 2006’s ‘Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel’ two-parter.
11. Shakespeare’s Globe
Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse in the London Borough of Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames. In the episode ‘Shakespeare’s , the Tenth Doctor combines the power of words by William Shakespeare and J.K. Rowling (Expelliarmus!) to defeat three evil, and stunningly witch-like, Carrionites. And where better to do so than in the Elizabethan Globe Theatre itself?
To be continued...