The question fans are still asking 60 years later.

Way back in 1963, when my mom was two years old, in fact, a show came on that made people take notice. With the arrival of the first Doctor, William Hartnell, something amazing started, a story that spanned the entirety of time and space, and introduced us to someone who took us to those places as well. We met infamous foes like the Cybermen, the Daleks, and later Silurians, the Silence and more. It has spanned so far, 13 doctors, with 14 on the way.

The story, as it explains, is that the Doctor has only 14 regenerations, teased by the eleventh Doctor, who manages to circumvent this (ooh, look at me avoiding hard spoilers) and regenerate despite being at the end of the cycle, giving a softer reboot to the soft reboot the series got in Christopher Eccleston, the ninth Doctor and a new generation’s introduction to what has sometimes been called ‘New Who’

Now, I’ll start off by answering the question that many people are asked at some point. “Who’s your Doctor?” For my mom, it was Tom Baker’s fourth, but for me, who else could it be but David Tennant’s tenth Doctor. My favorite companion? Rose Tyler, any day. Favorite non-companion? Madame Vastra. To a new viewer, none of that makes sense, but once you submerge yourself in it, you’ll eventually come to answer those questions for yourself.

Now, sixty years is a long time and good cast only makes half a show, and so I shine light on some of the writers. New who starts with Russell T Davies, who it should be stated is returning, or anticipated to next year. Then, we entered the era of Steven Moffat, but let’s not forget some guest writers over the years. Douglas Adams, as well as Mark Gatiss have written for the series as well.

On the topic of breaking barriers, new who saw a regeneration of a time lord into a woman, and the Doctor regenerate into Jodi Whittaker’s 13th Doctor, and the casting is already shaking things up, with the introduction of one of the first transgender actors in the series, teased as a companion but with the intriguing tagline of “How can there be another Rose?”

Also a first is the 14th doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa, who is Rwandan and Scottish, making him the first black actor to lead the series. Now, most of this has been clinical, and I can do very little to capture the emotion and the excitement of the series as a whole, or relatable moments like the first Doctor saying “I tolerate this century, but I don’t enjoy it.” Or episodes that crossed over out of the screen in plausibility, from water on Mars, or the possibility of the Silence, Silurians or Racnoss in the earth, just waiting, the Nestene possessing mannequins, the Weeping Angels in a society that loves its statues and makes you wonder when you walk by one. Should you blink? Can you blink?

Now, I could certainly go on about this series forever, and you’re certainly free to ask my mom, who has been subjected to it recently, from the ninth Doctor onward, but considering the dreadfully short word count I’m trying to adhere to, I’ll leave it at this:

When all of time and space is out there, why not give this series a chance, whether you go way back to the very beginning or only to the start of New Who, you’re in for a treat, and soon, you too can answer “Who’s your Doctor? What companion is your favorite? What side character is your favorite?” For me though, there’s really only one word I could ever pick to end this properly…

Allons-y!

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