Gunfighters (episode 1)
I don’t remember exactly when I first realised there was a thing such as Doctor Who in the world. I used to joke that my first word was Dalek. I recall vividly seeing the inside of a video cover, which promoted Doctor Who videos and being terrified by Jon Pertwee’s face. Strange how you remember things like that, yet don’t remember what you had for tea last week!
Eventually, I saw The Moonbase (yes), The Green Death (terrifying), Pyramids of Mars (more so) and Genesis of the Daleks (you wouldn’t believe quite how terrifying). I was hooked. I even remember finding out that my hero, Jon Pertwee, had died just before a primary school parents night, and for lots of concerned adults to think I was upset about the teachers comments, only for me to cry: “No, Doctor Who died!” I was nine.
Sadly, something even worse threatened to drive a wedge between me and this beloved show.
I think its called “being a teenager” in scientific circles.
I stopped watching the show.
And then, one evening in 2002, I was channel flicking and UK Gold came on. They were showing The Pirate Planet. I remembered it being rubbish.
Five minutes later, I was thinking: “this isn’t so bad!”
Two hours later, Doctor Who and I had been reunited.
