SRH and DWM

There was always the farcical notion among Doctor Who fans that the show should grow up with them. This idea has already been nicely debunked in one of Mr Hunt's columns recently. There remains, however one aspect of the Doctor Who world that grew up with me, DWM.

My lifetime devotion to the magazine began way back in 1980. We were out shopping in Bristol and there on the shelves in the newsagent sat a copy of issue 44. The first monthly issue. It had a vivid green cover with the Doctor and a woman surrounded by some guards outside the TARDIS. It was, after a little pestering, bought for me and so it began.

The first few issues were wonderful. They were wonderfully colourful with big iconic photos on them... "See The Doctor Stalked by the Power of MEGLOS!" being my favourite. It was very different to the magazine now. There were lots of photos from the current stories, archives that merely told you the story (and who couldn't fail to love stories like Seeds of Death or The Three Doctors lovingly retold with some great photos) and of course the wonderful comic strips with the Dave Gibbons artwork. I loved them! "The Collector", "Dreamers of Death" fabulous stuff.

The next few years saw the magazine develop. The articles became more complex, and as I learned to read, I managed to keep up with it. Matrix Data Bank was always my favourite. That's where I learnt all my silly Doctor Who knowledge. We had features which lasted issues and issues about where the TARDIS had landed, interviews with everyone, colour posters and merchandise guides every Christmas to help you write your Christmas lists. We had Russell's Rate-O-Meter to tell us how great the Target books were and we always gasped at his more controversial drubbings of "Logopolis" or "The Krotons". More innocent days and a more innocent Simon Hart.

I got to 16 and the show had been cancelled. Yet strangely there never seemed any doubt that DWM would go on. The days had passed now when I'd pull out all the issues with the same comic strips in them and read them all in order and for a while it looked as if the magazine had stopped growing with me. Then Andrew Pixley's archives arrived. Oh my! This was more like it. In depth enough to tell me lots of things I didn't know (my thirst for Doctor Who knowledge was never quite quenched!) and it seemed perfect for a fanboy like me. Although I read lots of other magazines around this time, DWB, TV Zone and Skaro, DWM was always there.

And it still is. We've come through the TV Movie together with its wonderful coverage and survived the wilderness years and you know they still have something interesting to say every month. Gary Gillat steered it through my days in Sheffield and into my first job and living by myself and Clayton took over as I moved to Bracknell and started at the Library.

The new DWM was out this morning. I was there to buy it in WH Smiths first thing. Its a lovely little fixed point in my ever changing life and I'd really miss it if it stopped.