Phil Creighton

My earliest memory comes from, I suspect, New Year’s Eve 1977. I was just two, and my parents were getting us ready to go out to a church New Year Party.
This is more plausible than the original broadcast in late January and early February that year, but who knows? It was dark, it was evening, and we were going out.

While they were getting ready, the tellybox was on (a BBC household, on the whole) and Doctor Who and Leela discover that one of the robots in the workshop has blood on his Marigolds.

A very distinct memory.

Season 17 gave me nightmares, especially the Mandrels from Nightmare From Eden. But it was the Marshmen rising up during Mistfall in Season 18’s Full Circle that saw the show banned in our household. Bet my parents needed help from ERIC, the charity that helped bedwetters.

A few weeks later, I was unwell and flopped on the sofa while Keeper of Traken came on. This was back in the days of three channels, with Did You See? on BBC2, and probably Buck Rodgers on ITV, which hardly gripped me.

It was the Melkur that intrigued me enough to go from viewer to lifelong fan.

Later that year, on November 2, 1981, came The Five Faces of Doctor Who – a first chance to watch older Doctors. That was enough to keep me hooked.

By day, Phil is a journalist and editor of two weekly local newspapers. By night, he is also a journalist and editor of two weekly local newspapers.