The Allure of 60's Who

It's been a while since I wrote a blog, but I'm going to try and compose one anyway.

Only a year or so ago I finished a Doctor Who rewatch. I did the whole of the classic series and the TV Movie. There was an intention to continue with NuWho, but the Classic series speaks to my nostalgic obsessions, and so it didn't feel right, at this time, to do a NuWho rewatch. I should add that I have done NuWho rewatches before. Maybe too many. Maybe I feel like I've watched it to death. I just didn't feel the desire on this occasion.

So if I've only just recently completed a Classic Who rewatch, why am I drawn to watch again so soon?

Now, look, there's no chance of me doing another full pilgrimage. I just don't have the time for that, but there's a certain era I am constantly drawn to. A certain type of Doctor Who that constantly pulls me back in, begging me to pull out the DVDs and Blu-rays and soak myself in them again. And really, I just wanted to put my thoughts down on the digital page as to why I feel a pull to this particular era.

And that particular era, if you haven't already figured it out from the blog title, is Seasons 1 to 4. This, for the uninitiated, and I doubt there's anyone out there reading this who doesn't know, encompasses the entirety of the William Hartnell era and Patrick Troughton's first season.

So, why Seasons 1 to 4?

I truly believe this ties into those nostalgia vibes again. But that can't be right, surely? I grew up watching Day of the Daleks, Pyramids of Mars, and The Five Doctors. So why am I not drawn to them? It's very hard to explain. Very hard to unpick. But I think at the core of it are a number of different factors. So let's first look at the nostalgia factor.

The very first William Hartnell story I ever saw was The Daleks, which I still refer to as The Dead Planet.

I was seven years old when it was released on VHS in 1989. My dad had bought it for himself, and also for me to watch. It was a Friday night and we sat, with the lights off, as these weird black-and-white images played out before us on his 14-inch TV set. Even now, whenever I get to the end of “The Ambush” and Ian realises they've left the fluid link in the city, I still feel the need to switch VHS's over!

Not long after, I saw the pilot version of An Unearthly Child when it was shown on BBC2 in 1991. I thought they'd landed on Skaro and that the shadow on the landscape at the end was a Thal. It blew my mind when I eventually got An Unearthly Child on VHS and discovered three other episodes I had no idea existed! I was so confused because I had no idea that there was a caveman story following on from that.

The details of what came next in my own jigsaw-puzzle collecting of the stories become a little fuzzy, but I suspect it was The Dalek Invasion of Earth. There's home video footage of me, recorded in the early 90s, sat on a Sunday afternoon with the curtains closed at my dad's flat, watching the story. Eyes transfixed on the screen as the Black Dalek wheels around, issuing out his orders. It was probably this story that made me a Dalek fan and caused me to embark on the insane collecting of Character Options Dalek toys that I have amassed over recent years.

Sometimes, as a kid, when I was walking about, I'd imagine the Daleks chasing me through the streets of Grimsby. I'd walk past power stations and imagine they were Dalek cities. I'd play with friends by old, uncovered air-raid shelters, imagining the Daleks emerging from them. The Daleks were everywhere, and it was because of those black-and-white stories that I'd come to love them so much.

I don't want this to become overly long, but suffice to say I long for those days. Days when the world didn't seem so dark. When I could lose myself on a Sunday afternoon in a monochrome world and know that the Doctor could save me from the monsters. And it says a lot when I admit that I'd rather face the monsters from the minds of 1960s Doctor Who creators than the real monsters of 21st century Earth.

So nostalgia definitely plays a part in that. A huge part.

And stories came thick and fast through the 90s. I was very lucky to have a dad who loved Doctor Who and would buy the VHS's as they were released. And then there were the inevitable UK Gold recordings that his friend Eric taped for us, and later my Uncle Rob. My dad was also one of those people who had seen the stories on original transmission, so he would tell me about how he was frustrated that he missed the first part of “The Survivors”, episode two of The Daleks, because my grandad had taken him to watch Flipper at the cinema. He'd recount his memories of seeing Marco Polo. He clearly remembered the TARDIS being taken across the desert, the condensation running down the walls, and much, much more. I'll have to get him on the podcast one day.

But my imagination was fuelled by those memories of missing stories, stories I'd likely never, ever see. If only we could tap people's memories, eh? And I think that endeared the era to me even more. The fact that, yes, we could watch The Rescue and The Ark and Tomb of the Cybermen, but we'd probably never see The Smugglers or The Myth Makers. What were these fabled stories? My dad had seen them. But I wasn't jealous. I was enchanted by the memories. Again, there's another home video of me reading through an issue of DWM, reading the list of missing episodes out to my dad.

Goodness me, nothing existed of The Massacre? And what do you mean they wiped Patrick Troughton's first story? Utter madness! And we had fragments. We had episodes. We were airdropped into the middle of stories like The Enemy of the World, and forced to figure out, firstly, where we'd been before, and secondly, what happened after. No amount of Peter Davison or Sylvester McCoy filling in the gaps would suffice. We needed to see the whole lot.

My fascination with the missing stories peaked during my mid-teens. I was 14 or 15 and had attended a sci-fi market at Grimsby Town Hall with my friend Alex. There, a dealer had offered him episodes 1 to 3 of The Tenth Planet. Wow! How could we refuse? He bought it, knowing full well that there might not be anything on the tape. But the chance of experiencing a Doctor Who story we'd never seen before was too much to pass up. This was new Doctor Who to us, and not only that, it was forbidden Doctor Who. Doctor Who that couldn't be released because it didn't all exist. We went to his house, switched off the lights, and pressed play, watching these utterly terrifying, sing-song Cybermen striding out from the snow. And even as we reached the end of episode three, there was still that faint glimmer of hope that episode four would begin.

It didn't. Obviously.

But the real gold on that bootleg VHS was the cine clips. Oh my word! What was this? Silent footage from 1960s stories? No. Surely we weren't allowed to have this. Did anyone else know about this? Were we the only ones, and the dealer, of course? And what stories were they from? Oh no, there were scenes from The Chase. But we already had that. But then - but then - there were clips from The Macra Terror. From The Faceless Ones. Scenes from The Savages. And was that a clip from The Massacre? It had to be. IT HAD TO BE!!

It wasn't. It was from the Doctor's chat with Katarina towards the end of The Myth Makers. Still magical, though.

Alex and I were drunk on these missing clips. We were so young and naïve, and even went as far as to contact the BBC, asking if they had access to these clips. When the BBC didn't show any interest, we attempted to sync up sound to the silent clips ourselves by pointing a video camera at the TV screen, hooking my Walkman's headphones over the camcorder's microphone, and pressing play on the relevant clip from The Macra Terror. God, it took so much effort to get them synced up. And I still remember the hours I spent trying to actually locate where these clips came from.

We are missing so, so much. That's not a new statement. Others have said it before. But think of the amount of Douglas Camfield direction we're not seeing. The playful little moments from Troughton. The utter horror of the end of The Daleks’ Master Plan and the entirety of The Massacre. It's a crime that we can't see this.

But I think this adds to my love for the era. The fact that these stories are fragmented. That they're lost and missing, and even now we're still trying to cobble them together. There's still that tantalising hope that we may wake up tomorrow and discover that Power of the Daleks has been found. There is still new Classic Who left to watch, and that is such an exciting prospect! Maybe one day I'll be able to close the curtains in my living room, with my cheese on toast, as I bask in the Daleks screaming at me that they “will get their power!”

I think the other reason why I am so drawn to this era, and I'll keep this short, is because this is a show finding its feet. Seasons 1 to 4 changes every single story. One day we're on the planet Dido, next we're meeting Nero, and then we're on the planet of the space butterflies. We have something new and modern like The War Machines sandwiched between the very Star Trek-esque The Savages and the pedestrian, but still fun, The Smugglers. Troughton is still cooking during his first few stories. We have a very different version of Jamie McCrimmon in The Highlanders.

It was during Season 5 that the show settled into a style and a rhythm. It felt safer and more secure and stable. And that's good. That's great. There are some amazing stories in Seasons 5 and 6. But it's those first four years that capture my imagination, that I find myself coming back to time and time again. I only have to hear that sting of Tristram Carey's music in The Daleks and I'm back on Skaro, a ten-year-old boy wanting to explore the Dead City with the Doctor. I only have to see the shot of one Macra claw from The Macra Terror and I'm a teenager again, hanging out with my friend Alex, hooking headphones to camcorders. Falling out because he secretly bought episodes 1 and 3 of The Faceless Ones and wouldn't let me have a copy! I was 15. I was obsessed with this stuff!

Well, that came out longer than I'd expected, and it probably only just touches the surface of what this era means to me. Even now, as I type, I'm thinking of going home and popping on Galaxy 4. Well, maybe not Galaxy 4, but you know what I mean. And while we still have missing stories, there will still be new Classic Who to watch. And that's incredibly exciting, isn't it?

One day, they shall come back. Yes, they shall come back...

Adventures at the Country Park

On Sunday Jake and I headed up to the Country Park. It's a place that has held a lot of memories for me throughout my life.

I'll always remember when me and my friend, Jon, were students. We'd been working on a video project all night and kept encountering a glitch in the playback of a particular scene. We flipped and cleared off around 11pm, intent on going to the Pier nightclub in Cleethorpes. It was my first time walking through the Country Park. It was deathly silent and dark and I'm sure we heard ghostly footsteps follow us across one of the wooden bridges...

There was the many Parkruns I've done there. Many times from 2016 to 2017 (and a few more years after that) it was like a ritual. Saturday morning with my mate, Matt. Picked up at 8.30am, at the Country Park by 9am, finishing with (hopefully) a PB by 9.30am. Brilliant days where I met many new running friends.

Then after the pandemic Jake and I visited here for the first time. Eating sweets by the lake and exploring the surrounding wooded areas. We got a little bit lost that day.

I remember visiting there the night after a certain orange creature had won a certain election. Me and Matt ran through their in the dark discussing politics and our fears for the future. Dark nights indeed!

And so we return to the present. Again, it's a place filled with many memories. Most of them happy. It always makes me feel warm when I return here. For a place that I don't visit that often, it's played such an important part of my life. I guess it will continue to do so.

Finally, here's a small selection of pictures that I took on Sunday.

Radio and Podcasting

One of the things I started doing at the back end of 2022 is podcasting—specifically, Doctor Who podcasting.

So let me take you on a little journey...

Back when I was an 11-year-old kid, I was fascinated with the radio. It was something that never really left me, especially in my teenage years. There was something captivating about listening to people talk. I recorded a Radio 2 documentary about Beatles covers in 1992 and played the cassette to death. I wish I still had that cassette! 

Around that time, I created something I called Radio Who. I used a tape-to-tape player with its built-in microphone to essentially record "radio shows" based on Doctor Who.

To be fair, I didn't do many. They usually consisted of me recording links between playing pieces of music from various Doctor Who stories. I had the "Earthshock" tape, which I bought from the Sheffield Space Centre, and it featured music from "The Keeper of Traken", "Kinda", "Earthshock", etc. I also included episodes of "The Macra Terror", as it was the only missing story I had on tape at the time.

My interest in radio developed further in 1995 when I discovered the pirate radio station Cool FM, which broadcast to my town and surrounding areas. I was fascinated by the idea of young people broadcasting from their own homes, hiding from the authorities, and playing Eurodance music that just wouldn't be played on the usual UK stations. I also loved the personalities of the DJs.

In 1998, the year I started college, I discovered the delights of late-night talk radio. I listened to shows by James Whale and, in particular, Ian Collins and the Creatures of the Night - radio shows that didn't have music or sports, just talking and listeners phoning in. It fascinated me. Strangely, it was around this time that I did my best to erase my local accent and base my voice more on Ian Collins himself.

I dabbled in pirate radio again in late 1998/early 1999 when my friends and I bought a radio transmitter (allegedly the now-defunct Cool FM's transmitter) and formed a radio station called Buzz FM. We broadcast for a few weeks across the area, and my biggest memory is of 10 to 15 mates from college all crammed in my bedroom as we tried, first, to get the aerial outside my window and, second, to launch the station. It all came to an end, though, as we had an overbearing friend who tried to turn it into some sort of business. That and the transmitter burned out!

I studied radio production at college and enjoyed going out there and talking to the general public about things, recording their thoughts and putting together shows, but sadly, our radio class ended when our tutor left. I went into web design... I have no idea why!

With the pirates all but sunk in the area and talk radio no longer appealing to me, my interest in radio faded...

Time passed...

I listened to Radio 4, mesmerized by the Shipping Forecast. I'd be hypnotised by those obscure names being read out. Dogger. Viking. Shannon. German Bight. I fell asleep to dramas and talk shows. I remember waking up in the night and listening to a female cyclist talk about how she'd lost the love of her life, so she dedicated her cycling across the country in his name. I'd be awake at 3 a.m. listening to refugees recount their stories of escaping war-torn countries. There was something in those voices - no faces, just voices and my imagination. Voices drifting through the night.

But that leads me to podcasting.

I first discovered podcasting during the pandemic. I think the first thing I heard was a podcast on Radio 4 called "Fortunately... with Fi and Jane," two female presenters who randomly chatted about things. It held my attention, and after I heard a podcast with David Tennant and Catherine Tate, it pushed me to find more podcasts, particularly Doctor Who ones.

That’s where I discovered Joe Ford's wonderful "A Hamster with a Blunt Penknife." Over a number of months, I listened to everything he’d recorded up to that point. Through that, I discovered Trap One and On The Timelash. I found Dave Rennie's wonderful "A Kettle and a Piece of String." I delighted in the stories told by the guests on Mike Honor's "Who Gives a Flux." All of a sudden, I found myself being pulled into this wonderful podcasting community, listening to familiar voices and building friendships across Twitter. That led me to appearing on "Hamster," where Joe and I recorded a commentary for "Utopia." I absolutely loved it and got the bug. There was something about being able to freely talk about something I loved that gave me such a buzz.

I followed "Utopia" with commentaries on "The Tomb of the Cybermen," "The Snowmen," "Can You Hear Me?" and also featured on the Strictly Come Hamster Season 18 episode. I also appeared on "Kettle," talking about "Knock Knock," "Arc of Infinity," and "Delta and the Bannermen." I even appeared on "Who Gives a Flux."

But I had caught the podcasting bug and felt I needed to do more. Of course, people are busy, and nobody wants to constantly hear me, so my next option was to start my own podcast. That's when I decided to put together "What's in the Box?" The initial idea for the podcast was for guests to bring their favourite TV story, comic, audio, and book to the podcast, but the rules were relaxed very early on, allowing people to talk about anything they wanted.

Creating my own podcast and talking to some of my friends and those I’d heard on other podcasts has been such a wonderful experience. Not only has it given me the opportunity to experience certain
Doctor Who items that I’d never encountered before, but it’s also allowed me to talk to a fantastic group of people - people like Si Hart, Conrad Westmaas, Rob Valentine, Rod Brown, Joe Ford, and so many more. They bring their love for the show to the podcast. It’s all about positivity, with the odd meandering tangent.

It's been such an experience, and at the time of writing, I've just recorded my second Unplanned episode, and I'm due to record with another three people this coming week. My intention is to reach 100 episodes and then see what happens after that. But I'm loving the experience so much that I can't see myself ending it anytime soon.

It's insane when I think about it. Podcasting really has been my way of finally fulfilling my desire to be a radio presenter and host a "chat show." One of my favourite things to do is the Unplanned episodes, where we don’t plan but just chat Doctor Who for an hour. That may be the direction the show takes after the 100th episode... we shall see. But I'm overjoyed that, after over 30 years since I first discovered my love for radio, I can finally do something along those lines and (as cheesy as this sounds) at least partially achieve a dream I had as a 10-year-old!

You can find "What's in the Box?" here: https://anchor.fm/drwho-whats-in-the-box

Get Fit Jim!

Today I finally forced myself to start getting fit. Don't get me wrong - I'm a hell of a lot fitter than I was, say, ten years ago, but I need to get fitter! I've been running for years and I've just hit a bit of a barrier.

One of the worst things I do is snack. Whether that's in the evening or at my desk. So the first thing I need to do us stop snacking. Today was the first day of "no snacking". I even told my co-workers that if I was caught snacking or buying things form the vending machine that they needed to stop me. I have no willpower, and sometimes I need a little help along the way.

I also need to give myself a cut off point. So, for example, don't eat after 8pm at night. Give myself a good 10-12 hours overnight without eating. The problem is that from around 8pm I'm not doing anything other than sitting there podcasting, watching TV or reading. So I'm not burning anything off.

So no more snacks late at night!

Of course you still need to treat yourself otherwise you'll go insane. So I won't be banning myself from the odd little treat here and there. It just needs to be in moderation.

I also need to add to the exercising I'm already doing. I have some weights so I'm using them now and one of those sit-up/crunches contraption things. I just need to get into a regular rhythm of doing them and pushing myself. I'm also considering a few other avenues. One of them is going back to swimming again. I was at my fittest around 6-7 years ago when I was swimming, so I want to do that again. I just need to figure out if I can afford the monthly membership. I'm trying to save for my deposit so I need to make sure it doesn't affect that.

There are other possibilities as well which I'm considering.

So yeah. Today is Day 1 of "Get Fit Jim". 😂 I'll track my progress on here. I may even post some stats! We'll see.

I can do this. I know I can!

A Week in Pictures (30th Sep - 6th Oct)

One of the things I love to do is take photographs, so I thought it might be an interesting idea to do (potentially) weekly posts with some of the photos I've taken on my journey through the week. I also plan on going back and posting a few of the other pictures I've taken over the year, but firstly here are some of the photos from this past week.

Blocks. Shapes. Buttons. One of the walls of our local library.

Sunrise on my way to work.

Sunrise from my office window.

Abandoned. But not forgotten.

Edible Festival.

A favourite place to go drinking.

One of the oldest buildings in the town. Allegedly a woman discovered a time portal inside it, which transported her from the 1950's to the 1700's. Allegedly...

Paralysed in the Purple Zone

The title of this post reflects somewhere I've been stuck all too often over the last few years and somewhere that I keep trying to escape, and yet I keep being pulled back into, like a whirlpool that won't let me go. An area of stagnation.

It's something I'm trying very hard to get out of...

I'm not going to dwell too much on the past in this post. But what I really want to do is tell you about my hopes for the future and how I want to climb out of this "no man's land".

So things have changed a lot over the last three years. Moving house. Relationships that didn't work out. I got a bit lost thinking I was something I wasn't. I found myself once again in that "purple zone". A bit directionless and looking for something to grab hold of and something to help me rebuild myself.

So where am I going next? Well, I have a Doctor Who podcast called 'What's in the Box?' that you can find here: https://anchor.fm/drwho-whats-in-the-box and also on all good podcasting hosts like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc... Each week I talk to fans about some of their favourite things from the Doctor Who universe. At the time of writing 60 episodes have been released as well as a handful of specials and I don't see myself stopping any time soon.

I'm also intending on starting up my writing again. I've left my work languishing for too long. Projects such as "The Haunting of Polly Webster" and "The Ghostwood Chronicles" will be worked upon soon...

I'm also still running. I finally completed a Half Marathon again back in September. I'd trained for two years for it with lots of ups and downs, but finally completed it in 2 hours and 11 minutes. I was overjoyed and I can't wait to push myself further. And talking of running, I'm also looking at pushing my fitness some more. I'm not entirely happy with where I am at the moment. I just want to tone up a bit. Strengthen myself a little. Whether that's the gym or going back to swimming I don't know. I guess I'll figure it out as I go along.

Eventually I hope to have my own place. That may be a house. It may be a nice little apartment. But that's a goal for the new year hopefully. And on top of that, after 16 years, I finally left my job and started a new one. And I couldn't be happier. I actually love going to work every day and feel like I'm a part of such a lovely, welcoming team.

And above all else - I'm a dad. My little boy means everything to me, and he will always be the most important thing in my life. He's going to be seven soon and is such a clever, sweet, kind little boy. I can't wait to see him grow and learn over the next few years.

So yeah...that's where I am right now. It's not plain sailing, but I have people in my life - friends, family and loved ones. I have goals and I have building blocks. Now I just have to learn to put those blocks together to rebuild the staircase that will get me out of this purple zone.

Oh, and here's the "Purple Zone" song itself...

Until next time...

Regeneration

Hello and welcome to a brand new version of my blog. For those who don't know, I once published a blog that ran from 2007 right up until the end of 2021. It covered lots of aspects of my life, chronicling the changes that I went through over the years.

I closed it down in December 2021 for the very simple reason that I wanted to close that particular chapter of my life. The Jim (or James) that existed within those blog posts had, not exactly ceased to exist, but had become something different. That final year - 2021 - was a very tough year for me. It was a time of change. A time of difficulty. A time of things coming to an end, and that blog represented a lot of my life that I wanted to put to rest.

It was also, at times, quite painful to go back and read some of those posts. Posts that spanned 14 years. And whilst it was interesting to see the changes in me over the years, it also served as a reminder of what I no longer was and, on occasions, served to remind me of events I'd rather forget.

So, why start a new blog?

It's simple - life is about change and renewal. I've been posting on Twitter and various other social media networks for some time now, and through those places I've met some truly wonderful, positive people. But I want to expand into something a little bigger. I want a place to express larger thoughts. Bigger ideas. I want to chronicle a new and different chapter of my life. The good and the bad.

What will you find here?

I don't quite know just yet. Personal thoughts, ramblings and musings on life. My fitness and weight-loss journey perhaps. Thoughts on things in my life. Challenges and wonderful moments of being a dad. Music, poetry maybe. Some of my writing. My love for Doctor Who and my joy at taking photographs. The books I'm reading and the TV shows I'm watching. It's going to be a bit of an eclectic mix.

In my next post I'll give you a brief summary of who I am, where my life has been over the last few years and where I'm hoping it's going to take me, but that's for another time. Until then...

Keep dreaming!