Captain’s Log

“I want chips.”

Doctor Who has always been in my life. In fact, I think it might actually be my first memory. It’s always been a big part of my life, an important part. But it truly changed my life when it returned in 2005. Humour me if you’ve already heard this: I was at university, studying journalism, when the revived show began its rise to glory. As a fan – where it had never been “cool” to like such things – I hadn’t really given much thought to it becoming popular, I was just glad to see it back.

When suddenly everyone loved it, and newspapers and magazines couldn’t get enough of it, I finally had an opportunity to turn my nerdiness, coupled with my uni classes, to good use. Being able to write about Who, new and old, for various publications – while I was still studying! The audacity and the nerve! – set me on a course to a career I could honestly never have dreamed of.

The thought of those Saturday nights in Edinburgh, watching Christopher Eccleston breathe new life into a war-damaged hero, fill me with joy. If I could go back and tell the younger me what was coming he wouldn’t believe it. Sometimes I’m not sure I do, even now.

Although his story of the time he played the Doctor is still to be fully told, it’s wonderful to see him return to the role for Big Finish. To finally be able to relay some of the joy that I, and fans all over the world, feel for Eccleston’s Doctor when talking to the man himself this month for SFX is definitely another of those “pinch me” moments. Fantastic, you might say.