Doctor Who Day

"The monsters and the Doctor. It seems you cannot have one without the other." Happy Doctor Who Day! The beloved BBC sci-fi series celebrates its 58th anniversary! What would the First Doctor, William Hartnell, make of that?

My earliest memory of watching Doctor Who is The Sontaran Experiment! Aged 2, seeing Styre melt (before my young eyes) marked a nightmarish childhood encounter with the body horror genre and ignited a lifelong love of adventures in space and time. Also, a brief addiction to Jelly Babies as popularised by the Fourth Doctor, my Doctor, Tom Baker.

As my tweet published in Doctor Who Magazine (DWM) issue 557 suggested. Watching Doctor Who at Saturday teatime soon became a family tradition (as long as I was able to watch with dad!). That said, I was once left alone to watch Genesis of the Daleks! All the while, hiding behind the sofa, terrified the Daleks would fall out the back of the television and into our living room...

Last Sunday's Village of the Angels was a gothic callback to those treasured formative Whovian years.



The BBC has announced details regarding the New Year's Day special:

"The Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and friends will kick-start 2022 with an action-packed spectacular episode set to air on BBC One on New Year’s Day. The festive special will feature guest stars Aisling Bea (This Way Up, Living With Yourself, Quiz), Adjani Salmon (Dreaming Whilst Black, Enterprice) and Pauline McLynn (Father Ted, Shameless).

Sarah (Aisling Bea) owns and runs ELF storage, and Nick (Adjani Salmon) is a customer who visits his unit every year on New Year’s Eve. This year, however, their night turns out to be a little different than planned…

The festive episode is the first of three Doctor Who Specials airing in 2022. The second Special airs in Spring and Jodie’s final feature-length Special (in where the Thirteenth Doctor will regenerate), will transmit in autumn 2022 as part of the BBC’s Centenary celebrations."

The BBC has also announced Doctor Who: The Abominable Snowmen (affiliate link). The classic Second Doctor serial has been fully-animated. The story stars Patrick Troughton, Jack Watling, Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling and features the Doctor's first encounter with the Yeti and the Great Intelligence.

Doctor Who: Flux continues Sunday's on BBC One, BBC iPlayer, BBC America and AMC+. Stay tuned for Nick Smith's, our US-based Whovian, series 13 review soon.

How are you celebrating Doctor Who Day? What are your earliest memories of adventures aboard the TARDIS? Let me know in the comments below.