Doctor Who - The TV Series Which Became a Legend


I remember the first ever moments of any Doctor Who I ever saw. Strangely it was in about 1987, and it was The Krotons. I came into the lounge and my dad was watching some old black and white thing. Normally random old black and white TV programme isn't very appealing to a boy of less than ten years old, or even a cynical youth of less than 18 years old, but something about this caught my attention. I don't recall much else about it but all I know is that when some construction work was being done on my bedroom that summer I was kept entertained by The Five Doctors.

This series caught my imagination in a way that no other series had. It was a rapid progress towards doing that thing which all obsessive children do so well, and absorbing all possible information I could about it. I don't recall very much about the very beginning of my infatuation with Doctor Who but I know that by the time that Time and the Rani was broadcast for the first time on BBC One, I wanted to watch it. I remember vividly being utterly terrified of the Tetraps. Not actually the things once we saw what they looked like, but the possibilities of what they might have been. Yes, folks, those edge-of-screen shots where you can't quite see enough of the monster really do work! Certainly for small kids who are scared of werewolves, the furry legs of those bat-monsters made me hide behind a cushion. I never hid behind the sofa. Just like Stephen Moffat says - Does anyone?!