Steve Ray Archives Vol XII - I Am A Who-A-Holic

Article by Steve J. Ray

Over the last five months I've been collecting together all my old and historical works, to republish them on my own website. It was by pure chance that I stumbled across this piece from 2010.

My son Adam and I had essays published in the first volume of 'You And Who' a Doctor Who anthology, where fans of the show gave their thoughts on the show, and their recollections of it.

This piece was held back and a different essay of mine made it into the book. The publishers and editor, though, liked this article enough to feature it on their website.

Reading through it brought back fond memories, and I was happily surprised at my own foresight, predicting - in a positive way - one day having a female Doctor. With Jodie Whittaker making her debut as the 13th Doctor in the autumn, I think this is the right time to republish this piece.

So here, with only a few minor alterations, is 'I'm A Who-A-Holic.' I hope you enjoy it.

Hi, My name’s Steve, and I’m a Who-A-holic.

Not just the TV series, oh no; my family and I only got our first small black and white TV when I was three or four, so my first Doctor Who adventures were on the written page. I read about William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee’s first, second and third incarnations of the Doctor quite a while before I ever got to see a single TV episode. I don’t know how now, but – according to my parents – I was reading these and later handfuls of the Target novels between the ages of six and sixteen?!?

I loved The Target Novels - small paperback adaptations/novelisations of the TV show - and the 1968 – 1973 Doctor Who and TV Comic Annuals my older cousins had; big A4 technicolour hardback pieces of wondrous imagination.

The adventures I read, being so young at the time, were mostly visual to me. The comic strips featured Doctor Who, along with lots of vivid and colourful images of the Daleks, the Cybermen, wondrous planets, alien life-forms, cosmic scenarios and the wonderful, wonderful TARDIS.

My elder cousins and my mum started reading the stories to me, and I was fascinated. At first I thought Patrick Troughton was the original Doctor, who aged into Jon Pertwee, who then aged further into William Hartnell. (Young with dark hair, to older with grey hair and cape, to oldest with white hair and walking stick...). This was the only way that I could logically tie three completely different looking people as all actually being the same man. I was, however, soon reading them on my own, and learned about regeneration. That's when I became well and truly hooked.

After that the concept of reading about a man who could completely change his appearance – and personality – whenever he was mortally wounded completely fascinated me. I then apparently proceeded to buy all the stories where the Doctor regenerated, and every other Target book I could lay my grubby little hands on – no VHS or DVD in those days!

So began a love which has wavered over the years, but has never died. As you can probably tell, it's actually still going strong 40+ years later. It's even stranger that I even remember all this, but can barely remember what I ate for dinner last night!

I can clearly remember, aged only five, finally seeing Doctor Who on TV with the story The Green Death. I loved watching Planet Of The Spiders and was blown away actualy watching the Doctor regenerating. I followed the new Doctor into Robot because, at last, I knew the reason why all the Doctor Who books I'd read showed the Doctor with different faces on the covers, and was described as looking completely different from book to book.

I think that it was serendipity that I started watching the actual show just as Jo Grant moved on, Sarah-Jane Smith came on-board and Jon Pertwee regenerated into Tom Baker... the rest, as they say, is history.

Reading and watching the adventures of a character that can renew his face, his body and his entire personality is still a subject that fascinates and inspires me. It truly is an amazing and original way for a TV show to go on, theoretically, forever! I don't even see the Doctor changing skin colour as much of a leap any more, after all he’s had several different regional accents; Scottish with Sylvester McCoy, and Peter Capaldi, and Mancunian with Christopher Eccleston!

I personally believe that the companion he’s with, and his level of connection with that companion, will decide the outcome of his regeneration. There is some proof – the ninth Doctor spoke with a northern accent but fell for Rose and regenerated with a southern one.

Taking this to its logical conclusion, would it be that much more of a stretch to think that if he developed a love/strong connection for a companion of a different race he could regenerate in the same way? Or if he developed a love/powerful bond for another male companion he could regenerate as a female? (Though if Captain Jack became a full time companion again it wouldn’t matter either way.)

After all, we are talking about a character that changes body, face and personality upon death, and who can travel through time and space! As long as it's a talented actor in the lead role, then that's all that really matters to me.

I was born between Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee so the third Doctor was my first Doctor. I only saw/remember seeing sporadic episodes featuring the third Doctor until his final story. The fourth Doctor was the Doctor of my childhood.

Sadly I fell out of love with the show roughly when I fell in love with girls (shortly after Peter Davison left) and I came back to the show mid-way through Sylvester McCoy’s run. I adored Paul McGann as the Doctor, but wish he’d been given more of a chance on TV (his audio adventures are outstanding).

Another reason I love Doctor Who, as do many others, is because it can be scary. Is it scary for you? Too scary? Or not scary enough? I grew up watching the show during what was probably it's most terrifying era; did it give me nightmares as a child?

More times than I can count!

Notably : The Brain Of Morbius - the Morbius creature itself; The Talons Of Weng-Chiang - the giant rats (which are hilarious now, but terrifying to a seven year old child) and the enduringly macabre Mr. Sin; The Hand of Fear - creepy, crawly, living severed hand... that one still gives me the creeps; The Deadly Assassin - the decrepit, decaying Master, and the whole Matrix/nightmare sequence.

Ah yes, the Hinchcliffe/Holmes era. Those gentlemen probably damaged my psyche for life! I will be eternally grateful.

Funnily enough, The Hand Of Fear was also the first story to make me cry, though not because of the scare factor. This story was the last to feature Sarah-Jane Smith, as the Doctor left her on Earth. I was heartbroken, and hated the next companion, Leela, for months! I was devastated when the Doctor didn't go back for Sarah after The Deadly Assassin.

Sarah-Jane Smith became the the third Doctor's companion soon after I started watching, and stayed on after he'd regenerated into the fourth. She was my anchor, and my link between one Doctor, and his successor. She was also my first childhood crush. I am man enough to admit that I was one of the dads who jumped for joy when School Reunion aired in 2006.

My son had nightmares for weeks after The Empty Child, and my wife found Blink, and the Weeping Angels deeply disturbing (Yes, this my blatant and desperate attempt to get back onto the subject of scares!)

The post 2005 series to me personally is the show's second "Golden Age", with the aforementioned 1970s Tom Baker era being the first. I love the series today as much as I ever did, and don't differentiate between the 1963-1989 run and the current series. For me there is no old, "Classic", or "Nu-Who", there is just Doctor Who. As a result of this, I will not be drawn into any argument between those who say that any version is better or worse than the other. Doctor Who, whether bad or good, is still head and shoulders above just about anything else on television. I remember some real stinkers during the shows original run, along with some amazing stories. The same can also be said since the show's return in 2005.

In the Ray household my wife adored David Tennant's 10th Doctor, and much of Christopher Ecclestion's tenure. She didn't like Matt Smith at first, but is slowly coming round to him thanks to the many and varied repeats on satellite channels. We all loved Peter Capaldi's run. She will grudgingly watch the '96 TV Movie but, try as I might, my wife refuses to watch any episodes made between 1963 and 1989. I've even tried to put on some of the tales mentioned above, which have been hailed as classics... no dice. It's not that she hates pre-2005 Doctor Who, but almost all British TV, as she sees it as "Cheap, boring, and badly made." She mainly just likes American made programmes. Her idea of great TV is Friends, Blindspot and Ray Donovan. The only British made shows that she actually likes are Doctor Who, Torchwood and Sherlock.

Our son, like me, adores all things Who. He has watched and continues to watch all the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s DVD releases and enjoys something in all of them. In fact he himself will tell you that his favourite Doctors are Patrick Troughton, David Tennant, Matt Smith, Paul McGann, Peter Capaldi and Tom Baker, just don’t ask him in which order.

In short I’m just happy that Doctor Who is back in its second “Golden Age”, happy there’s a Doctor Who to watch again, books to read, toys to play with and people to talk to who share my love for the character and the show. Most of all I’m glad for a programme which brings my wife, my son and I together – and occasionally a whole gang of friends and family – on a Saturday evening. Doctor Who is back, hopefully for good this time. It's getting good reviews, good viewing figures and a prime-time slot in the USA these days too!

My darling wife is sometimes exasperated by my devotion to Doctor Who; after all there is devotion, and then there is obsession. It’s taken many of my family and friends a lot of persuading to give the returned series a try,  either because they disliked Doctor Who even in its original run so much, or – adversely - because of their love for the original version and their refusal to embrace its successor.

I never purchased any of the ’80s Doctor Who VHS Videos, but in hindsight wish I had. I buy some of the toys, some of the audios, a lot of the books and all of the DVDs and comics.

If I could afford to, if I had the space and if my “Devotion” meant more to me than my wife and son, then I guess I’d have more Doctor Who stuff... My faith in the show has wavered, but I watched and waited through the years that it wasn’t on and am elated that it’s back now. I love the programme and the character, but not to the point that I think everything Who is beyond reproach. I have favourite eras, but there are also parts that make me cringe. All part of its charm as far as I’m concerned.

Yes, I’m addicted to Doctor Who.

Nowadays I’m not alone.

(A version of this article was originally published on Weebly in 2010)

(Copyright for all photographs belongs to the BBC. Original art by Paul Hanley)