Pyramids of Mars was the first Doctor Who episode I remember watching. My brother had discovered the show a day earlier on the local public station while flipping channels one afternoon and said we should both watch it the next day.
Having recently moved to a new city and just started at a new school, we did not yet have a circle of friends to hang out with so some afterschool TV seemed just right.
We settled into school, started to make friends, and our afternoons begin to fill up with other activities that took us from our sessions with The Doctor.
Fortuitously, just as our social network and interests grew, the public station moved Doctor Who programming to Sunday evenings. Clearly, they had some insight that there was a different audience for the show and it was not just some simple British kidshow filler.
Sunday night became destination viewing for my brother and me and what a lead-up to the weekly episode of Doctor Who it was: Benny Hill; Monty Python’s Flying Circus; Dave Allen At Large.
Maybe it was 10 PM or maybe even 11 when the WTTW voiceover would segue from British comedy to The Doctor and the signature theme music would set the mood. Entranced by the adventures of The Doctor & his companions but bleary-eyed with the late hour (school night!), we would often never make it to bed and just fall asleep to Image Union or whatever programming aired until signoff.
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With the Doctor Who reboot in the early 2000s, I would pick up the season DVDs on trips to London and then binge-watch on a region-free player with my wife. Maybe her becoming a fan and enjoying Doctor Who as much as I did helped those early days of dating?
We were planning a trip to London one December and learned of a Doctor Who “museum” in the East End and thought that would be an interesting stop to add to the weekend itinerary.
Our last full day in London was a Sunday morning and we took the underground from the hotel at Paddington, exiting at the Upton Park station.
Navigated the streets to The Who Shop. Find that whole experience here.
On the return to the station, I was curious about what team (what sport even?) played in the stadium we passed. I dropped a pin on Google Maps and then did some research to learn that West Ham United was the resident team. High from the Who Shop visit and chuckling at the cheeky connection to the WHU Stadium, I went down a West Ham rabbit hole.
Boleyn Ground. 1904. Bobby Moore. The Irons, The Hammers. Geoff Hurst. “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles”. Martin Peters. A logo that crudely reminded me both of Pink Floyd’s The Wall and the Tower of London. Green Street. Ghandi.
From a love of Doctor Who to a curiosity about the WHU football club.
So I became a West Ham fan. And it’s massive.
