Doctor Who... What... Where... When... Why... How

An Introduction

“My memories such as they are.” ~ Terrance Dicks, Seeds of Death commentary.

This is probably a really poor quality idea. The gist of it is that I want to know what every transmitted story means to me when I think about it. Not just the story itself – but whatever is around it. Where did I first see it? When was that? What does it make me think of? There is a Troughton story which always makes me think of lemon juice. There’s Colin Baker story which reminds me of a beautiful day with the first love of my life. One Sylvester McCoy tale is irrevocably linked with fish cakes and another with the death of my grandfather. I was born in 1976 – no really – so I can comfortably claim first hand snap shots of the show’s final classic decade. Though I was by no means an avid viewer. So this will be a mish mash of videos, satellite television, omnibuses, holidays, novels and I can guarantee one mention of Michael Palin. That wasn’t it by the way. He comes in later.

It is by its very nature an enormously vain idea to write about ones own little life. But there is enough analysis and opinion on the internet – time for some appalling self indulgence. Where I can’t think of anything to say about a story I will try and say nothing in as entertaining and brief a way as possible. As far as I know everything I write will either be true or as true as memory can be. Unlike other features elsewhere I won’t be making things up in a childish attempt to be featured in a hastily written history of the series penned by a hack with a web browser and two weeks in which to cover 45 years of exciting adventures in time and space. This will be the truth. As dull and tiny as it may be. I’m sure I will embarrass myself a few times along the way.

If I find myself lapsing into analysis I will slap myself heartily. I know there is a queue but I’m working to a deadline here and haven’t time to send out appointments. I’m planning on writing this in order – from Story A to the birth of the New Series. If you’re reading this it means I’ve finished it. I’ll be going back and tidying up here and there but most of what you read will be a stream of consciousness, an outpouring of everything I and my small five year diary have to offer. I’ve kept the diary contents to a minimum as I was limited to about eighty words a day and most of those were about lust masquerading as love. But it has been useful for pining down dates and chronology. There will undoubtedly be errors in my personal time line but there is no point mentioning them as I won’t be correcting them.

I want this to be nostalgic as well as vaguely amusing. Partly to engage otherwise disinterested readers and partly so you’ll ignore the obvious defects in my personality thing which this project will make abundantly clear. Though it is worth mentioning that as this is a Doctor Who column, it doesn’t include anything (ok, much) which doesn’t have a Doctor Who connection. I’d hate for you to get the impression that the first thirty odd years of my life thing have been solely devoted to that creaking old show. It has been a small but significant part of my existence. The rest won’t be of interest to anyone until the investigation begins into how I got that gun and what made me use it. Or something.

“There is nothing more unreliable than memory” ~ Terrance Dicks again and from the same commentary.

Enjoy(ish).