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By David Hartwig
Great Britain’s Royal Mail celebrates the finale of the global hit series Stranger Things with 14 stamps in a Jan. 13 issue.
“We’re thrilled to celebrate Stranger Things with this striking stamp collection,” Royal Mail external affairs and policy director David Gold said. “Each design captures the essence of the series – from its unforgettable characters to the eerie imagery that has gripped audiences worldwide – making this a true tribute to one of modern television’s most popular shows.”
Stranger Things is a science-fiction drama that ran on Netflix for five seasons beginning in 2016 and ending Dec. 31, 2025. The show is set in Hawkins, a small Midwestern town, in the early 1980s, where the disappearance of a local boy exposes a hidden rupture between the ordinary world and a dark parallel dimension known as the Upside Down. As the boy’s friends, family and local authorities search for answers, they uncover a secret government experiment that has allowed dangerous creatures and supernatural forces to cross from the Upside Down into everyday life.
Royal Mail presents 10 of the Stranger Things stamps in two horizontal se-tenant (side-by-side) strips of five, all denominated at the first-class rate (currently £1.70). Four additional first-class stamps appear on a souvenir sheet included with the issue.
The stamps in one of the two horizontal strips show characters in the real world with a red background, and stamps in the other strip represent the alternate dimension with a blue background. The stamps correspond to each of the five seasons of the show, with the leftmost stamp on each strip representing season one and the rightmost season five.
Each stamp foregrounds a single season-defining figure, with additional characters or creatures receding into the background to suggest the wider ensemble associated with that chapter of the series.
The sequence begins with Eleven and Will, whose disappearance and abilities first expose the existence of the parallel realm. The stamp designs then progress through later seasons by highlighting characters such as Dustin, Steve and Nancy as the story broadens beyond its original childhood core.
The final pairing returns to Eleven, now set against Vecna, the series’ primary antagonist, underscoring the convergence of both worlds as the narrative reaches its end.
Beyond the primary designs, each stamp in the set of 10 shows a different image when viewed under ultraviolet light. The images show recognizable signs and logos from the show, including the Hawkins town seal, radio call letters, and the logo for Hawkins National Laboratory.
The four stamps on the souvenir sheet show the four friends Lucas, Will, Mike and Dustin riding their 1980s-era bikes. The irregular stamps have the front tire of the bicycles and the heads of the characters protruding from the straight edge at the top and bottom.
Royal Mail worked with British illustrator and movie poster artist Kyle Lambert on the stamp issue. Lambert has created several pieces of work for the Stranger Things series as well as other popular movies and shows. Examples of his posters can be found on his website at www.kylelambert.com.
Interabang designed the stamps, and they were printed by Cartor Security Printers by lithography in sheets of 50 (two different sheets, one for each se-tenant strip), also sold in panes of 25 at most postal outlets.
The stamps in the set of 10 measure 35 millimeters by 35mm and are perforated gauge 14.5. On the souvenir sheet, the Lucas and Dustin stamps measure 35mm by 35mm with gauge 14.5 perforations, and the Will and Mike stamps measure 27mm by 37mm with gauge 14 perforations. All of the souvenir sheet stamp measurements exclude the protrusions at the top and bottom of each stamp.
An included prestige stamp book includes the set of 10 stamps, the souvenir sheet and a definitive pane of stamps unique to the issue. The pane includes two 50-penny and two £1 King Charles III definitives.
A presentation pack in the Stranger Things issue “provides a highlight reel of the show,” according to Royal Mail, and contains all 14 stamps in the issue.
Royal Mail also offers two fan sheets, one with four of the Vecna stamps and one with four of the Eleven stamps.
A collectors sheet included with the issue contains the set of 10 stamps with attached labels featuring significant moments from the series.
Royal Mail offers three official first-day covers: one franked with the set of 10 stamps, one with the souvenir sheet and one with the definitive pane of stamps from the prestige stamp book. A nonpersonalized first-day cover version, what Royal Mail calls a stamp souvenir, is also available for both the set of 10 and the souvenir sheet.
A postmark from Tallents House features the text “WELCOME TO HAWKINS” and an alternative postmark from the village of Byers Green in Durham, England shows the logo for the Hellfire Club.
Other products offered with the stamp issue include a limited-edition press sheet, a set of 15 postcards featuring enlargement of each stamp and the souvenir sheet, as well as framed versions of the stamps, souvenir sheet and more.
The Stranger Things stamps and related products can be ordered from Royal Mail’s website at www.royalmail.com/shop. Ordering information also is available from Royal Mail, Tallents House, 21 S. Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh, EH12 9PB, Scotland.
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