New Hammer and Carry On stamps from Royal Mail

By John Freeman on June 7, 2008

2008 is the fiftieth anniversay of both Hammer’s classic Dracula movie and the Carry On films (although in the case of the latter you’d be forgiven for not knowing that giving the lack of fanfare over such a milestone!).

To celebrate these landmark anniversaries, on 10 June the Royal Mail are releasing a scrumptious set of stamps featuring poster art from Carry On Sergeant (which featured Doctor Who actor William Hartnell), Carry On Cleo and Carry On Screaming (which both included Jon Pertwee in the cast), The Curse of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy.

These three Hammer films all starred another Doctor Who in the form of Peter Cushing. The presentation pack includes notes from sci-fi/movie expert Kim Newman.

• See the stamps and order them at www.royalmail.com

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.