Site member and YouTube star DaleWho shares his very personal connection with the Time Lord in today’s Guest Blog. And be sure to subscribe to Dales’ online Doctor’s Diary series here!
Okay, so I’m a Fanboy and I admit it. Actually, no; I’m proud of it. It’s done me several favours, it’s kept me happy and amused, and it’s one abiding and deep love I’ll never lose. For me it’s Doctor Who—a very British series about space, time and dustbin-shaped aliens…and in 2005 the oddest thing happened. Doctor Who saved my life.
I’d been stuck in Lincoln, UK for 12 years. I had friends and family close by, I had some amazing toys, but I was slowly dying inside. I was long-term unemployed, incredibly depressed and often thought about ending it all. I had no drive left and no ambition at all. The one thing I did still enjoy was going to do the occasional event in my Dalek. Now if you don’t know what a Dalek looks like, I’d suggest popping onto Google Images and looking them up. Basically, it’s a robotic-looking alien from Doctor Who. They’re a five-feet-six-inch pepperpot with various appendages (an eye at the top, a manipulator arm and a gun about half-way down), a fantastic grating metallic voice and a great line in exterminating anyone who stands in their way.
Doctor Who had just returned to UK TV in 2005 with the first very successful new series after many years, and the BBC opened an exhibition in Brighton, on the south coast of the UK. I’d had a phone call to organise a few Daleks and operators for the opening, so the press launch had something interactive to entertain and film with, which I duly did; but after an admittedly fantastic day of publicising the series and the exhibition, it was back home to Lincoln; to depression, no hopes and slowly just fading away to nothing.
A week passed, the exhibition officially opened to the public and was a success. And then my phone rang. It was the head of the company that owns and runs all Doctor Who exhibitions, and he was in a panic. Lots of visitors were asking for the interactive Dalek they’d seen on the TV news, and they wanted me back in Brighton as soon as possible to operate the Dalek for the entire run of the exhibition—a complete run until the display finished. Would I be willing to move if I was guaranteed a full-time job there?
The move itself was orchestrated in about three days flat. I moved on that Friday, and was at work in the Dalek on that Saturday. That Dalek of mine (with me inside operating and voicing the creature) got everywhere: National News, newspapers, magazines, the Internet…even on YouTube! (see above). I ran into the actors who have played the Doctor over the years, assistants, the operators of the original Daleks, and was even charged with dusting and hoovering round a weird and wonderful assortment of aliens and monsters on occasion, as well as filling in visitors on what did what, in which story and when. I was being paid to be a Doctor Who fan, and I loved every single second of it. Every single second.
It was that five-and-a-half foot alien that completely changed my life and my outlook. The exhibition finished after 6 months, and I’d finally found enough confidence to carry on and move forward in my life, into other employment and bigger and better things. I have a nice home, I have my life, my family and my friends, and I have the deepest gratitude for whomever/whatever force it was who smiled upon me that fateful day and sent me a job being an alien…for it was Doctor Who that saved my life.
Awww, thanks for sharing that. I’m a big Doctor Who fan, as well, and reading how you got to meet so many people connected to the show had me grinning like crazy at work . On a barely related note, my fave soap is Hollyoaks. There’s this moment when one of the popular girls is about to be dumped by her nerdy boyfriend. She surprises him by reciting the names of all the actors who have played Doctors from the original series and the updated one. It was such a cute moment.
Havoc 04/28/2009 03:21 pm
That really is an amazing story. Very touching.
I love that clip too. I bet that kid will remember that day for the rest of his life
Brightons great too, I love it. Wish I lived there You’re lucky they started the exhibition there and not Wales
Razz-Bel 04/28/2009 03:00 pm
That’s an awesome story. It tugs at the heart strings. Being at a job you completely hate is also a soul-crusher. Glad to hear all turned out well for you. Long live the Dalek’s!
Guest Blog: Doctor Who Saved My Life
By Chance
April 28, 2009 at 11:34AM EDT
Site member and YouTube star DaleWho shares his very personal connection with the Time Lord in today’s Guest Blog. And be sure to subscribe to Dales’ online Doctor’s Diary series here!
Okay, so I’m a Fanboy and I admit it. Actually, no; I’m proud of it. It’s done me several favours, it’s kept me happy and amused, and it’s one abiding and deep love I’ll never lose. For me it’s Doctor Who—a very British series about space, time and dustbin-shaped aliens…and in 2005 the oddest thing happened. Doctor Who saved my life.
(More after the jump!)
I’d been stuck in Lincoln, UK for 12 years. I had friends and family close by, I had some amazing toys, but I was slowly dying inside. I was long-term unemployed, incredibly depressed and often thought about ending it all. I had no drive left and no ambition at all. The one thing I did still enjoy was going to do the occasional event in my Dalek. Now if you don’t know what a Dalek looks like, I’d suggest popping onto Google Images and looking them up. Basically, it’s a robotic-looking alien from Doctor Who. They’re a five-feet-six-inch pepperpot with various appendages (an eye at the top, a manipulator arm and a gun about half-way down), a fantastic grating metallic voice and a great line in exterminating anyone who stands in their way.
Doctor Who had just returned to UK TV in 2005 with the first very successful new series after many years, and the BBC opened an exhibition in Brighton, on the south coast of the UK. I’d had a phone call to organise a few Daleks and operators for the opening, so the press launch had something interactive to entertain and film with, which I duly did; but after an admittedly fantastic day of publicising the series and the exhibition, it was back home to Lincoln; to depression, no hopes and slowly just fading away to nothing.
A week passed, the exhibition officially opened to the public and was a success. And then my phone rang. It was the head of the company that owns and runs all Doctor Who exhibitions, and he was in a panic. Lots of visitors were asking for the interactive Dalek they’d seen on the TV news, and they wanted me back in Brighton as soon as possible to operate the Dalek for the entire run of the exhibition—a complete run until the display finished. Would I be willing to move if I was guaranteed a full-time job there?
The move itself was orchestrated in about three days flat. I moved on that Friday, and was at work in the Dalek on that Saturday. That Dalek of mine (with me inside operating and voicing the creature) got everywhere: National News, newspapers, magazines, the Internet…even on YouTube! (see above). I ran into the actors who have played the Doctor over the years, assistants, the operators of the original Daleks, and was even charged with dusting and hoovering round a weird and wonderful assortment of aliens and monsters on occasion, as well as filling in visitors on what did what, in which story and when. I was being paid to be a Doctor Who fan, and I loved every single second of it. Every single second.
It was that five-and-a-half foot alien that completely changed my life and my outlook. The exhibition finished after 6 months, and I’d finally found enough confidence to carry on and move forward in my life, into other employment and bigger and better things. I have a nice home, I have my life, my family and my friends, and I have the deepest gratitude for whomever/whatever force it was who smiled upon me that fateful day and sent me a job being an alien…for it was Doctor Who that saved my life.
Previous Comments
That was a cute moment in Hollyoaks (my other half is hooked on it), but it was totally ripped off from Queer as Folk
Awww, thanks for sharing that. I’m a big Doctor Who fan, as well, and reading how you got to meet so many people connected to the show had me grinning like crazy at work
. On a barely related note, my fave soap is Hollyoaks. There’s this moment when one of the popular girls is about to be dumped by her nerdy boyfriend. She surprises him by reciting the names of all the actors who have played Doctors from the original series and the updated one. It was such a cute moment.
That really is an amazing story. Very touching.
I love that clip too. I bet that kid will remember that day for the rest of his life
Brightons great too, I love it. Wish I lived there
You’re lucky they started the exhibition there and not Wales 
That’s an awesome story. It tugs at the heart strings. Being at a job you completely hate is also a soul-crusher. Glad to hear all turned out well for you. Long live the Dalek’s!
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