Doctor Who: 10 Secrets Of The Sonic Screwdriver You Need To Know

9. They Weren’t All Original Builds

Doctor Who sonic screwdriver Fourteenth Doctor Eleventh Doctor
BBC Studios

Though it's undergone several rebrands over the years, the sonic has always maintained the same basic design – a pocket-sized metallic cylinder with a button on the side and some sort of glowy thing at the end.

So, you might be surprised to learn that despite having such a simple template, the Doctor Who team hasn't always brought it to life from scratch themselves.

Take the Third Doctor's screwdriver from the 1970s. A longer-looking shaft (stop it) with a yellow bit in the middle and a thin circular shape sitting on top is quite a unique look for the sonic, and that might be because it was cobbled together from two props from an entirely different outlet.

The BBC had bought a load of stuff from the recently-defunct Century 21, the company behind Gerry Anderson shows like Thunderbirds and Joe 90. The Third Doctor's sonic was made from two items: the main bit was a recycled prop from the 1966 film Thunderbirds Are Go, while the transmitter on top was another recycled prop from an episode of Captain Scarlet.

Captain Scarlet Thunderbirds Are Go sonic screwdriver
ITV Studios/United Artists

Pretty cool, eh?

 
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Jacob Simmons has a great many passions, including rock music, giving acclaimed films three-and-a-half stars, watching random clips from The Simpsons on YouTube at 3am, and writing about himself in the third person.