Digital effects company, Mercury FX Limited, who were responsible for special effects for Doctor Who amongst other British television programmes, is to close as the show approaches its 50th anniversary.

As reported in the Huffington Post, the company, who were responsible for special effects on the recently ended Being Human as well as spy drama Spooks, appointed liquidators on Monday.

Mercury FX Limited, which previously ran under the names DarkHorse FX and BBC Design Bristol, were forced to close after running up an unpaid bill to the Inland Revenue of over £80,000.

There were also other debts owed by the company totalling over £20,000.

An unnamed industry source told Kasterborous that an increasing number of special effects contractors are finding the current economic climate difficult, and with so much competition for work around the globe we don’t think that Mercury FX will be the last BBC Wales outsourcing contractor to meet such a fate…