Why is the TARDIS a blue police box and not a red telephone box?

Question

This is linked with Why did the First Doctor land in a junkyard, and why didn’t the TARDIS disguise itself as junk?

The discussion’s salient points were:

”"The TARDIS had a malfunctioning chameleon circuit, at the time of the debut of the first episode of Doctor Who in 1963 it was common to see Police call Boxes in British Cities. That is why the Tardis disguised itself as a Police box, "answered Jan 7 at 18:39 DoctorWho22

Then

"within the first nanosecond of landing its chameleon circuit analysed the surrounding area, calculated a twelve-dimensional data map of all objects within a thousand-mile radius and then determined which outer shell would best blend in with the environment.”

and

"thousand mile radius would take in the whole of the UK and most of Europe (as well as a large area of sea)" answered Jan 5 at 14:59 Richard

Well, given 1000 miles it is very unlikely that it would transform into anything specifically British.

However let's say it is an oversight and it is only 100 miles, or even that in a 1000 miles but the immediate surroundings are more important that the farthest ones, and that’s why it would be something specific to the UK.

Given that, and given that the English Phone Box is a cliché, is there a reason, why it is not just that?

Was it just to be a bit original since most would have expected an English box disguise used as a vessel to be a red telephone box?

Answer 1

I'm just going to throw this out there- the red telephone boxes have windows. Therefore the bigger-on-the-inside thing wouldn't work as well. It makes sense the TARDIS would choose something opaque. That might explain why the blue and not red.

Answer 2

The Tardis Handbook (which contains a collection of various period memos and internal BBC documents) records that the design was chosen in order to have a device that was "humdrum", "portable" and something that was a "recognisable symbol" without being too "science-fiction".

The original suggestion was that of a night-watchmen's shelter.

DR WHO'S "MACHINE"

When we consider what this looks like, we are in danger of either Science Fiction or Fairytale labelling. If it is a transparent plastic bubble we are with all the lowgrade spacefiction of cartoon strip and soap-opera. If we scotch this by positing something humdrum, say, passing through some common object in street such as a night-watchman's shelter to arrive inside a marvellous contrivance of quivering electronics, then we simply have a version of the dear old Magic Door.

Therefore, we do no see the machine at all; or rather it is visible only as an absence of visibility, a shape of nothingness (Inlaid, into surrounding picture). Dr. Who has achieved this "disappearance" by covering the outside with light-resistant paint (a recognised research project today). Thus our characters can bump into it, run their hands over its shape, partly disappear by partly entering it, and disappear entirely when the door closes behind them.

[Handwritten note from Sydney Newman: "Not visual. How to do? Need tangible symbol"]

It can be put into an apparently empty van. Wherever they go some contemporary disguise has to be found for it. Many visual possibilities can be worked out. The discovery of the old man and investigation of his machine would occupy most of the first episode.

Apparently, a follow-up version of the document (see below) notes that BBC Head of Drama Sydney Newman rejected the idea of an invisible ship as "Not visual / What do we see?" and supplemented the words "Blue Police Telephone box" after seeing one outside his office:

"Dr. Who has a 'machine' which enables them to travel together through space, through time and through matter. When first seen, this machine has the appearance of a police box standing in the street, but anyone entering it is immediately inside an extensive electronic contrivance. Though it looks impressive, it is an old beat-up model which Dr. Who stole when he escaped from his own galaxy in the year 5733; it is uncertain in performance and often needs repairing; moreover, Dr. Who has forgotten how to work it, so they have to learn by trial and error."

Answer 3

Not everyone would have access to police phone boxes...only police officers. Therefore, they would be ordinary items but not something people would be attracted to. It hides in plain sight.

Answer 4

Phone boxes have loads of windows so people would be deterred from urinating in them. Police boxes had no windows, concealing the insides of the Tardis from unwanted interest.

Answer 5

You answered this yourself:

within the first nanosecond of landing its chameleon circuit analysed the surrounding area, calculated a twelve-dimensional data map of all objects within a thousand-mile radius and then determined which outer shell would best blend in with the environment.

This doesn't say that the result has to be something that might be found across that entire thousand-mile radius. That would be absurdly limiting.

You're also massively overstating the ubiquity of the red phone box design.

Answer 6

It's more practical:

1. As mentioned before - red telephone boxes are see through.
2. There's be issues with the public trying to use it.
3. Red telephone boxes are a lot smaller - it looks a lot less dodgy if two or more people get into a police box together!