You know what makes me most embarrassed to be a Doctor Who fan?

It’s not rubbish special effects (though I wouldn’t ever want to watch Doctor Who in the company of the unenlightened lest it puncture the bubble of affection I have for the show) and it’s not bad acting, silly stories, the Kandyman or Richard Briars. No, the thing that makes me most embarrassed to be a fan are a group of other fans. Not the ones who dress up in costume and seem to act as camera magnets. I don’t really see anything bad in dressing as Tom Baker that isn’t equally bad in wearing an ill fitting nylon football shirt every Saturday no matter how cold it gets. As Ben Elton once said "people who wear anoraks do so because it’s cold – not to piss off the editor of Loaded".

The ones that get me are the ones who never seem to have a good word to say about anything. The past six months have been a tremendous time to be interested in this creaking old show. We’ve had a missing episode returned, we’ve had the 40^th anniversary, we’ve had a prime time documentary, the Marco Polo telesnaps, Zagreus and more. Oh and the announcement of a new series. The negative "fans" have had their say on all of the above.

A missing episode is returned…

Why wasn’t it xxx instead? That would’ve been better.

Why won’t you tell us when it will be out on DVD?

The 40^th Anniversary…

Just an excuse to make money.

We’re being ripped off.

The prime time documentary…

Why was Paul McGann not in it? Does that mean he’s officially not canon?

It wasn’t as good as the 30^th anniversary one.

Just a load of talking heads – where was the new material?

It only got four million viewers – Doctor Who is dead.

The Marco Polo telesnaps…

Who cares about telesnaps?

They made us think it was better than telesnaps.

Why do some people get to know about things before we do?

Zagreus…

A load of fanwank.

I’m going to be a twat and give lots of spoilers.

It wasn’t as good as the Five Doctors.

And then we come to the nirvana of sour faced fans. The new series. To be honest, the above list contains elements that I would agree with and elements that I wouldn’t. We have a right – nay a duty – to be critical of things. If we blindly agree with everything then we are no better off than the citizens of Light City in the marvellous "Natural History of Fear". Only by drawing a distinction between what is good and what is bad can we truly appreciate either. I can disagree with some of the above opinions and the people that hold them and I can certainly disagree with the way that some people present their opinions as facts that all but the most unwashed of mentally retarded peasants would accept as the Truth.

What I find it harder to accept are the people who have nothing but complaints about a new series which not only hasn’t been shown but hasn’t even been made yet. This week we had the announcement of the new writing team and this was greeted by some with protests and rolling eyes. They said that Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffatt, Rob Shearman and co were "predictable" choices and that they were part of a "fan elite" which should’ve debarred them from being hired. What utter bottom chocolate. I found it interesting that those who were negative about this choice – as such people usually do – offered no alternatives. They seemed to think that having written good television and good Doctor Who before were two criteria which had no place being involved in the selection process.

Another criticism levelled at them – and Russell T Davies himself – is that they are "fans" and that "fans" shouldn’t be making Doctor Who. I agree to some extent – I’ve seen enough of fandom to know that most of them shouldn’t be making Doctor Who – but it does the gentlemen (no ladies I notice…) a huge discredit to assume that they cannot be professional. It is a huge insult to say to someone as successful as Russell T Davies that he cannot make Doctor Who because he likes it and therefore he will make fannish Doctor Who which will exclude the casual viewer. Or that Gatiss, Shearman and co will do the same or – as one person witlessly opined – they have already used up their good ideas in Big Finish plays and thus will write poor scripts as a result. It is no different for fans to say the writers will make "fannish" Who than it was for the tabloids to say that RTD would make "gay" Doctor Who because he happens to be gay and have written gay drama in the past.

Do the sayers of doom have any alternatives? They do not. Do they realise that the cliquishness they accuse New Who of is nothing that wasn’t practiced in Old Who? Terrance and Barry – probably the most interviewed of production teams – tell us that they mainly used writers they could rely upon. We’ve heard stories of JNT approaching new writers during the planning of Trial of a Time Lord and the ideas they came up with were so non-Who that he ended up with people he’d used before in every single case. As New Who becomes successful (which I for one hope it will be though I am sure I don’t speak for everyone) then there will be more room for new talent. But for the first year it is more important to have people you KNOW can do the job rather than people you hope can do it.

Producing Doctor Who – whether on audio or TV – is rather like being the manager of a football team. You know that a large portion of your target audience are going to hate your guts. You know you will be called every name under the sun. You know you have no comeback what so ever. Everyone thinks they can do your job better than you can. And any good grace you ever manage to build up get swept away the first time they think you’ve let them down.

The launch of the new series will more or less correspond with the 25^th anniversary of the first target of Doctor Who fandom’s negativity and hatred – JNT. I hope that it won’t be an anniversary celebrated by the vocal minority who are never happier than when they’re miserable but I have too little faith in humanity as a whole and especially online humanity to believe that.

7th March 2004