Dr Who fan goes over the top to welcome Dalek to Shrewsbury
The problem was getting the Dalek over the roof. Not known for their agility, or for negotiating terrain more challenging than a gentle incline, Andrew Morris's newly acquired science-fiction monster suddenly required human chivalry and a touch of brawn.
The problem was getting the Dalek over the roof. Not known for their agility, or for negotiating terrain more challenging than a gentle incline, Andrew Morris's newly acquired science-fiction monster suddenly required human chivalry and a touch of brawn.
"It took four of us to get it over the side roof," says Andrew, 31, from Shrewsbury.
"Anybody spotting this Dalek going over must have thought they were seeing things, but I hadn't thought of how to get it into the house."
It was certainly bigger – and heavier – than Andrew had expected it to be when it turned up on the back of a lorry from Barry Island, south Wales.
Certainly too wide for the front door for a start.
Any self-respecting Dalek, true to its destructive characteristics, might simply have exterminated the front door and barged its way in.
Andrew, a huge fan of Doctor Who since he was a kid, has in his living room an impressive collection of Time Lord memorabilia.
It includes DVD copies of every TV episode, every film, lifesize cut-outs of various Doctors, replica models of Daleks, Tardises and other space creatures from the series.
He even has a Tardis fridge and Doctor Who fishtank which enables Jimmy the fish to live in his own underwater police box.
But part of his collection was not complete. Andrew had always fancied his Dalek.
So last year when he found one that had been built by a BBC worker in the 60s or 70s being sold by a children's hospice in south Wales, he took the plunge.
"It was quite significant for me to put my money into it in this way, because my wife and I had been trying for kids and last year we were expecting, but halfway through the process complication were found with the baby and we had to have forced termination. It was a hard time.
"I was struggling to cope and my release was science fiction. I was looking online and a Dalek came up in Barry. I saw that the proceeds were for a children's hospice and that made my mind up.
"My dream had come true – that I could get a Dalek."
On his honeymoon in Blackpool, Andrew was spotted walking along the sea front with a full-size cardboard cutout of David Tennant.
And at parties he hides cyber monsters in the toilet to frighten the guests. Sometimes he'll place a lifesize cardboard cut-out of one of his Doctors in the room to give them a little jump.
He adds: "My wife thinks I'm crazy – and then she will buy me little things for the collection all the time.
"I would not say I'm crazy, but I'm borderline!"
