Not The Doctor

I can see a few fans reacting quite harshly to some of Rachel Cooke's comments in her piece in The Observer which is a shame because parts of it really capture what it was like to be watching the series all of those years ago and the shock of re-seeing certain stories in adulthood. What's really interesting is when she says the new series isn't Doctor Who. What I think she means is that it isn't the series she remembers.

I was always a fan of the series although I began to series start following again in the late nineties after a trip to the exhibition in Llangollen, watching The Keeper of Tracken of all things and picking up an issue of DWM. It was an odd time to start again, and it wasn't because of any particular hype. I was amazed to discover that there was more of the series to be enjoyed than ever before, even though no one I knew seemed to be aware of it.

For me at least, Doctor Who is no longer just a television series. It's an epic story told across a series of media in a seemingly infinite number of styles. Which is probably why I'm one of the few for whom their favourite was the 8th Doctor. The flexibility of the format isn't just that the hero could turn up anywhere at any time, it's also how the story is going to be experienced, heard, read or watched. It doesn't really have a natural home anymore. Although it began on television, it's just as valid now in prose and sound. Making it all the more exciting.