THE DOCTOR'S BIRTHDAY

As the screening of The Day of the Doctor draws ever closer I thought I’d reflect on what I’ve liked about the errant Time Lord.

Most , if not all of my interest in Dr Who these days is purely nostalgic. I remember the early series with William Hartnell  and Patrick Troughton  and enjoyed the odd serial.

I would say I became a bit of a fan when Jon Pertwee took over, buying the annuals and the odd jig- saw, although I don’t remember much in the way of merchandise.

The comic strip in Countdown, a much better rendition artistically than TV Comic ,  was good way to feed my interest in Dr Who.

When Tom Baker became the fourth incarnation I progressed to a fully-fledged Who fan (the term Whovian was yet to be invented) . Tom’s popularity in the role meant a surge of spin-offs.

I managed to collect most of the Target books, the usual annuals, the odd Denys Fisher toy, breakfast cereal promotions and an incredibly long scarf.

My bedroom wall was full of posters of the Doctor.

Following Tom’s departure from the show my interest in Dr Who quickly waned.  While Peter Davison is extremely popular with many people, I felt he was too young for the part and totally miss cast.

As well as that I was getting older and had other interests to occupy my mind.

Colin Baker’s brief tenure as The Doctor seemed to over in a flash and his replacement, Sylvester McCoy was the incumbent when my son started watching.

Suddenly, I was buying up Dr Who merchandise all over again, but this time not for me, but for someone belonging to  the next generation of fans.

Although, I  don’t consider myself a fan of this new rebooted series of Dr Who I know for those who are, especially the youngsters who  believe the Doctor is as important as Father Christmas I’m taking this opportunity to wish Doctor Who many happy returns of the day.