Doctor Who and my wife – with hilarious consequences
A Doctor Who fan who made his wife watch every episode of the series will publish a humourous account of the project as a book in November.
Neil Perryman, from Hartlepool, decided to watch every episode of the cult show in order from the beginning.
To give a unique take on a task which Perryman says is undertaken by several fans, he asked his wife, Sue, to join him in watching over 600 episodes, including some episodes which had been wiped by the BBC and recompiled by fans using home audio recordings.
Perryman chronicled his comic exchanges with his wife in a blog.
“I’ll be writing it, then Sue will interrupt me with clarification, so the front of the book says ‘with constant interruptions from Sue Perryman’.”
Perryman was contacted by an editor who suggested that the project would become an interesting book.
Faber and Faber commissioned Adventures With the Wife in Space, which is to be published in November, to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of Doctor Who.
Although the book contains extracts from the original blog, about 90% of the book is new material.
“It’s all about tracing my life, the memories I have of watching it when I was young, and becoming fascinated by the way it was made, leading to me becoming a teacher in media,” he told Radio Teesdale’s Peter Dixon.
Perryman conceived the project because he thought it would be “interesting to get someone with no experience of Doctor Who to watch it from the very beginning without any preconceptions.”
“There were episodes which I thought were wonderful and fantastic, and Sue pointed out some glaring flaws that I’d never picked up before; but, she made be appreciate some stories more than I had before.”
He says that he wanted to “share his passion” with his wife by watching every single episode, including some episodes which had been wiped by the BBC but compiled by fans from home audio recordings and photographs, known as ‘telesnaps’, taken for the directors’ records.
Sue, who only became aware of the extent of Neil’s passion for the show when they moved in together and he brought a large cardboard box full of VHS tapes, says that she is now used to Doctor Who being a big part of his life.
She recalls: “He’d say he’d stay up to do some work, and I’d come downstairs and hear the theme tune.”
Neil quickly interrupts: “I could’ve been watching a lot worse!”
Adventures with the Wife in Space: Living With Doctor Who will be published by Faber and Faber on 7 November 2013. You can read the introduction here.
