Hyde's robot vet

It’s not without reason that Godley resident Pete Brocklehurst has assumed the title ‘robot vet’ after working on Hyde Fundraisers replica K-9 over the past couple of years.

For those unaware, K-9 was the robot dog assistant that first appeared with The Fourth Doctor played by Tom Baker. He returned in a special one-off adventure K-9 and Company with former assistant Sarah Jane Smith.

Both those characters made a return to the new Dr Who series in 2006 with the Tenth Doctor played by David Tennant in the episode School Reunion where he was somewhat rusted and damaged. At the end of that story The Doctor gifts a new K-9 to Sarah, which went on to join her in the Sarah Jane Adventures for several episodes.

For some years Hyde Fundraisers have had a replica of the corroded and damaged version from the School Reunion episode until taking ownership of a version that appeared on BBC Breakfast in 2023. That model was owned by Mark Dando, a great supporter of the group, and already had working eye probe, tail, ears and lights but sadly wasn’t mobile.

So, in December 2025 Pete began work on the replica, reworking the radio controls, replacing some lighting with LED’s and adapting electric scooters to provide the motive power for this traditional styled K-9. Even though he had worked on the other version of the dog the task to introduce mobility had its challenges but determined to succeed Pete was successful and this new K-9 is set to appear later this year at an event.

It's not just robot dogs that Pete has a talent for, he already brings out his R2D2 to many of the group’s events and will be taking his BB8 droid to the Hyde Fundraisers Character Curry night at The Indian Plaza on February 17th!