The
clock tower called Big Ben, or known sometimes as Elizabeth’s Tower, was built
in 1858 and has become a veritable symbol of London and the United Kingdom.
As such, the tower and its clock-face have been imperiled many times throughout
cult-television history. Poor Big Ben has
been battered, destroyed, and even shrouded by alien spacecraft from
time-to-time.
A
British science fiction series, Doctor Who (1963 -1989; 2005 – present) has “clocked”
in the most appearances of Big Ben, naturally.
The clock tower has appeared in several episodes of series including “Aliens in
London,” when a Slitheen ship strikes it on descent, in “The Empty Child” and even the recent Peter Capaldi premiere, “Deep Breath”
to name just three cameos.
Both
iterations of V -- in 1983 and 2009 -- have also featured imagery of giant
alien saucers or spaceships hovering nearby or over Big Ben, thereby casting a
shadow on humanity itself.
The
ruins of Big Ben were also featured in an episode of Thundarr: The Barbarian (1980 –
1982), “Island of the Body Snatchers.”
And the clock tower made an appearance in the movie Gorgo (1961) an “experiment”
endured by Mike and the Bots on Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1989 – 1999).
Big
Ben also cameos in the opening sequence of Patrick McGoohan’s The Prisoner (1968).
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