Poor Sandy from The Rescue, Vicki’s harmless pet, who met a cruel fate.  But did you know that Sandy’s life was tougher than we ever imagined.  Look at this shocking photographic evidence of a skeletal man about to hit Sandy with a heavy object:

Source: tragicalhistorytour.com

The stuff of nightmares, right?  Poor Sandy.  I have to admit, when I first found that photo I was baffled.  Who is the masked man?  The mask certainly doesn’t belong to old “Cocky-lickin”, as the potty-mouthed Ian Chesterton misnamed the villain of The Rescue, so who is he?  Another photo will help us to clear up the mystery:

Source: tragicalhistorytour.com

All becomes clear… ish.  The object in the man’s hand is a paint spray gun, so these photos must be from the creation of the Sandy prop by Shawcraft Models.  Shawcraft were most famously the creators of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but they also made many props for Doctor Who, including the beautiful Dalek city from The Daleks, the Time-Space Visualiser and the Mechanoid city from The Chase, the moonbase model from The Moonbase, the giant Macra prop… and of course, Sandy.  The one question I can’t answer, is why is the man in the photos wearing a skeleton mask?  My best guess is he thought it was an amusing alternative to protect his face from the spray paint, instead of wearing a more traditional mask and goggles.  Quite by accident, a photo that looks like a snapshot of an unseen story was created… The Deadly Skeleton Man of Dido.  It actually sounds a bit more exciting than The Rescue.   RP

Read next in the Junkyard… Unusual Doctor Who Photo #8: Zarbi Conga