Firstly, allow me to apologise for the use of the appalling term pre-teen. If you know of a better way of describing someone who doesn’t have teen in their age but can still roll their eyes like a professional, let me know in the comments.

I recently took two of the afore-mentioned pre-teens to the Doctor Who Experience in London.
In case you have not come across it before, it’s been set up the by the BBC and is running until the Autumn. It’s hard to describe, really – it’s a mix of sets from the show, visual effects and museum. You spend some time walking into sets (for example, you are standing in the Tardis at one point) with very clever visual effects and some interaction. That takes about 30 minutes or so and you are led in groups by a guide, so there is no lingering. You then exit into a museum area where you can look at all sorts of costumes, props and monsters, mainly from the last few series but also from the series you might remember from your own childhood. It’s been well done and what’s there is very good quality. Some of the visual effects are quite startling – younger children might be a bit frightened.

The website tells you that you should allow an hour and half – I think that’s a bit generous unless your child wants to spend a really long time in the museum area or the adjoining retail opportunity where you can buy a set of Doctor dolls for a bargainous fifty quid. (There were cheaper items on sale too).

The verdict from the pre-teens was that it was good, but didn’t blow them away. We were in and out in 60 minutes, and the total cost including booking fees for one adult and two eye rolling children was £45. I’m not sure that represented fantastic value for money – my advice for older children would be don’t go to London for just that – plan something else as well.

The highlight for all of us was walking out of the experience and seeing a little lad, maybe 5 or 6 years of age, trotting towards us in full Matt Smith Doctor regalia – bow tie and all – whilst clutching a sonic screwdriver. Bless him. He made my day. I hope he had a great time.

Travel info: it’s on at Olympia, which is on a sub branch of the District line that you can only access from High Street Ken or Earl’s Court. The train is infrequent: 2 – 3 times an hour so factor that in to your journey time. There is a Pizza Express at Olympia, don’t forget to download whatever the current voucher is.