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A petition begging for Cardiff Bay’s Doctor Who Experience to remain open is approaching 10,000 names.

The much-loved attraction will close its doors for good later this year when a five-year lease expires.

The news has dismayed fans of the long-running BBC science fiction drama – thousands of whom have put their name to a call for a stay of execution .

Bex Ferriday, who set up the petition, said it would be “counter-intuitive” to close the Experience.

“It’s been an opportunity to make Cardiff a unique and special place, and so it does seem strange,” she added.

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“I know the land was only leased for five years but surely anyone can see that... to knock this on the head, when we have got Doctor Who being filmed here and the studios here, seems like a really stupid thing to do.”

Bex, who lives in Splott, added: “I set it up just expecting friends and family to sign it. I was pretty shocked and terrified by the popularity it garnered pretty quickly.”

And, asked if she was optimistic the petition could have an impact, she said: “I think the way it’s been done suggests they know this was going to cause a great deal of upset . I think the deal has been done, but my message to people who have signed the petition is that we want to have something, a smaller version, somewhere in Cardiff.”

(Image: Andrew James)

She also said that since starting it she had received messages from people around the world who were disappointed by the news of the closure – as well as from people whose loved ones have conditions including autism but who found the attraction to be somewhere comforting for them.

“Many visitors with autism, anxiety and depression cite the Doctor Who Experience as being one of the few places they can go and feel completely ‘at home’, some travelling from overseas every year in order to enjoy their own, personal form of therapy,” Bex added.

Last week we reported on the release of emails between Cardiff council and BBC Worldwide which suggested the council was trying to delay the news confirming the closure.

The land on which the Experience stands is leased by the Welsh Government to Cardiff council before being sublet by BBC Worldwide. The five-year sublease was always due to end this summer.

BBC Worldwide has previously said it that it is “always looking at new and exciting ways to increase fans’ enjoyment of Doctor Who”.

A spokesman for Cardiff council said: “The land currently occupied by the Doctor Who Experience is owned by the Welsh Government and their development partner, Igloo Regeneration.

"It was leased to the city council for five years to enable the relocation of the Doctor Who Experience from Olympia to Cardiff on a temporary basis.

“It has always been the intention for the site to be developed as part of the ongoing Porth Teigr regeneration project. The agreement was always intended to be for five years only, reflecting the nature of the attraction.

"The decision to close the Experience at the end of the lease next summer has been mutually agreed by all parties involved, including the operators BBC Worldwide."

A copy of the petition is due to be presented at the Doctor Who Experience at 12pm a week on Saturday.