Books of the Week

Er, sorry about this...

I was going to share with everyone what I'm reading at the moment, but instead I find myself throwing things at my TV (metaphorically speaking).

Why, you may ask?

Because UKTV Drama is showing a Doctor Who marathon this weekend, the theme being "Who's the best Doctor?"

Being an interplanetary hero without TiVo, I missed the first day, devoted to Doctors Hartnell through Davison. Today seems mostly devoted to the Colin Baker period, with McGann, Eccleston and Tennant later this afternoon. Oh, and a brief shot of Sylvester McCoy's regeneration into Paul McGann.

But six hours of Colin Baker? And Nicola Bryant in pink spandex? That's just wrong.

When I was a kid, Patrick Troughton was The Doctor, but I didn't really understand the character. Then Jon Pertwee came along and things got more interesting.

But for me, Tom Baker was Doctor Who. He brought an eccentricity to the role that made it more compelling - I rarely missed an episode...

After that it was pretty much hit-and-miss until Christopher Eccleston came along, and then it was back to the good stuff. I have a nephew who was eight when the show returned, and he loves it. He was disappointed when Christopher Eccleston left the show, but thinks David Tennant is way better. And I agree.

And while we were both sad when Billie Piper left, hey - that's how it goes, and Freema Agyeman as Martha is every bit as good a foil for the Time Lord...

Okay, it's taken a while to write this - I had to put an episode of Star Trek on ("Shore Leave", if it's important), and by the time it finished, Doctor Baker had defeated the Cybermen in their tinfoil suits and fled the jurisdiction.

Sylvester's regenerating now, so I'm off to watch...