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Revisiting Peter Davison’s era of ‘Doctor Who’

The nostalgia kicks in

My earliest memory of the show is watching ‘The Five Doctors’. I must have seen parts of Season Twenty without remembering anything specific, because I identified Peter Davison as the Doctor, indeed my Doctor. I was five when it aired, but would still have been four earlier in 1983. That six months can make all the difference in a young child’s cognitive development. I have specific childhood memories of every single story from Davison’s third and final season, except, oddly, ‘Planet of Fire’, which seems to have made no impression at all… I was in love with the show from an early age. I vividly remember the cliffhanger endings for ‘Warriors of the Deep’ (the Doctor drowning) and ‘The Awakening’ (the creature behind the wall in the old church). Even his regeneration sequence I recall, looking on in horror as ‘my’ Doctor was replaced. When watching these stories, all kinds of memories from early childhood flood back. Even four decades later, nostalgia has a strong influence, colouring our perceptions. On the subject of ‘The Five Doctors’, imperfect it may be, but it’s a fine celebration, and we’re lucky to have it. Isn’t it wonderful to see Troughton and Pertwee back? Despite all of that, I’m nagged with the feeling that this is, to date, the weakest era of ‘Doctor Who’, even if not by much. Part of the reason for that is…

Greg Jameson
Greg Jameson
Book editor, with an interest in cult TV.

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