According to early reviews, 26-year-old actor Matt Smith (pictured above) has proved a big hit as the "new incarnation" of the Doctor, hero of the BBC's long-running popular sci-fi series, Doctor Who.
According to British tabloid newspaper The Sun, Smith recently encountered some problems at an airport in Belfast - when customs officials mistook his Sonic Screwdriver for a possible weapon.
 A Dalek, sold for £20,400 |
As fans of the series - or "Whovians" as they are sometimes known - will attest, the Sonic Screwdriver is one of the Doctor's most valued tools in saving the world.
Smith reportedly explained to the customs officers that the Sonic Screwdriver was just a prop, and the confusion was abated.
Nevertheless, he may want to take extra special care of his Doctor Who props in future, and items from the show have previously proven very valuable at auction.
Among starring lots at a recent Bonhams sale were two Daleks, the Doctor's most ardent enemy in the series.
A once-fearsome, now slightly battered, white Imperial Dalek Mk 2 which starred in the 1988 television adventure Remembrance of the Daleks sold for £15,600 - twice its estimated value.
Also featured was a black Imperial Dalek Mk 1, also featured in Remembrance of the Daleks. Estimated at just £2,500-3,500, it sold for even more than its white Imperial Dalek Mk 2 colleague.
Perhaps scared by the Dalek's menacing plunger gun, excited bidders pushed the Dalek Mk 1's value all the way up to an Earth-conquering £20,400.
Other star lots in the sale included a tuxedo worn by 10th Doctor David Tennant in the 2007 television adventure Voyage of the Damned. It sold for £5,040.
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Images: Bonhams
