Happy Dr Who Day!

J has been celebrating Dr Who Day, the sixtieth anniversary of the first broadcast episode in 1963, and wanted me to take photos of some of the Dr Who related objects she has in her room to share in her social media fan posts. She also has a couple of large posters and blue starry bed covers and curtains as a backdrop to it all. She started watching when the programme was revived in 2005, and immediately became a huge fan, especially of Billie Piper as Rose. We programmed a page of key phrases, vocabulary and questions onto her communication aid to make her Monday morning conversations with friends about the latest episode quicker and easier. Her devotion has continued through every subsequent series and all the spin-offs, she has everything on DVD and has visited Dr Who exhibitions in London and Newcastle and more recently the Dr Who experience in Cardiff. She also scoured fan websites to plan our walking tour round Cardiff Bay to view the shooting locations of key scenes and instruct me on how to frame the photographs of them. She particularly liked Matt Smith, the eleventh doctor, and the most recent regeneration played by Jodie Whittaker. She took a very robust view of the complainers who considered it unrealistic that the Doctor should regenerate as a woman, rightly pointing out that the whole concept of the character's regeneration in the shape of each new actor is inherently unrealistic, as are the police box time machine which is so much "bigger on the inside" and the stories of monsters and aliens. J is pleased and excited at the return of Russell T Davies, who was in charge for several series from 2005 on, as showrunner for this year's three specials and next year's new series, with the promise of more to follow. She's also enjoying all the documentary material on BBC iPlayer and has started working through the "classic" episodes from the 1960s on, which are now all available with subtitles for the first time. I'll probably watch the anniversary special with her on Saturday: I've never been a huge fan, though my family used to watch the late sixties and seventies episodes together over Saturday tea, the only time we were ever allowed to picnic in the living room and eat watching television, but J's excitement is infectious, and it will be a rare opportunity to sit on the sofa with my knitting.