Doctor Who

Accidental Beginnings

When I was four years old, I was watching TV and my regular Sunday programme came to an end. I was quite upset about it and complained about there being "nothing on TV to watch". My mother went through the TV guide (I couldn't read back then) and said that there was a show called "Planet of the Spiders" that was about to start. It sounded good, so I watched it. I was rapt for six weeks and then the hero died at the end. Well, he changed anyway.

On the seventh week, there was nothing else to watch, so I just assumed that it was a one-off show (at four, you don't really have a concept of a TV series).

I never forgot how powerful those six weeks were.

A few months later, another show was on. I didn't know what it was called at the time, I was just flipping channels when I saw "Sarah Jane Smith being attacked by a Cybermat". I watched the series and then it ran for several other shows and ended. Another show came on (The Time Warrior) and it starred a different person (Jon Pertwee). Unbeknowst to me, I'd watched the final Jon Pertwee story first, then caught Tom Baker's first run partway through and then the ABC (our TV station) had gone back to repeating Jon Pertwee's last season. I was stunned when Planet of the Spiders came back on and I made the connection that Jon was also the guy from the Time Warrior but I was even more surprised when he morphed into Tom Baker.

Almost 50 years later (and counting) and I'm still watching intently.