MCM Birmingham Comic Con special guest - Mike Tucker

Mike Tucker is Director and Effects Supervisor of ‘The Model Unit’, a visual effects company based at Ealing Film Studios that specialises in miniature sequences for television and film.

Mike started in the effects business in 1985, when he joined the BBC Television Visual Effects Department as a holiday relief assistant. After six months on temporary contract he was made up to a permanent design assistant working on a variety of shows including Tomorrow’s World, Last of the Summer Wine, Top of the Pops, Galloping Galaxies and The Singing Detective.

Starting a long association with Doctor Who, he worked as one of Mike Kelt’s assistants on the motion control sequence for the 1985 serial The Trial of a Timelord before becoming one of the principal effects crew during the Sylvester McCoy era. Mike was also part of the principal effects crew on the science fiction comedy series Red Dwarf  on which he built many of the models used in the series.

Mike became a fully fledged effects supervisor in the early 1990's, initially co-designing 999 International with Tony Auger before going on to supervise the effects for shows including I Was a Rat, Raging Planet and Twister Week. Starting to specialise in miniature effects, he went on to handle model sequences for Egypt's Golden Empire, Disasters at Sea, Timewatch and The Brighton Bomb.

In 2005 he became the first person to work on the original series of Doctor Who to work on the revived version starring Christopher Eccleston as The Doctor, employed as model unit supervisor for several episodes, overseeing the construction of the new look Daleks and the memorable model effects sequences in Aliens of London.

Following the closure of the BBC effects department he set up The Model Unit, the company has since contributed to miniature effects sequences for the Munich Air Crash segment of BBC's Surviving Disaster series, Krakatoa – The Last Days and the feature film Atonement starring James McAvoy and Keira Knightley.

Mike has been recognised twice by the BAFTA Craft awards - once for his work on the BBC’s Hiroshima documentary and again for the miniature effects work on Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor. He was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy for his work on Dangerous Film’s Human Body – Pushing the Limits.

As a writer he has contributed books to both the Virgin and BBC ranges of Doctor Who books as well as several Merlin novelisations for Random House. He was also the co-author, with Sophie Aldred, of the non-fiction book Ace, a behind the scenes book covering the three years of Sylvester McCoy’s tenure as The Doctor. Mike also co-authored VFX - The History of the BBC Visual Effects Department with ex-BBC Visual Effects colleague Mat Irvine which provides a detailed look at the history of the department from its birth in the 1960's through to its closure in 2003.

Mike Tucker will be appearing at The Prop Gallery stand at the MCM Birmingham Comic Con on Sunday November 23rd at the NEC Birmingham.