Dalek I Loved You

by Nick Griffiths

Nick Griffiths watched his first Doctor Who aged four and a bit. He would have hidden behind the sofa but it was back against the wall and his parents didn't let him move furniture so he hid behind a cushion instead. He's since been told by his mum and dad that they didn't have a sofa only armchairs. So this book should really be called Behind the Armchair, but that didn't sound right. And so began a life long obsession. When Doctor Who started getting rubbish (after Tom Baker basically) he nearly escaped into the world of music and girls until he discovered someone selling tapes of old episodes in the small ads and that was that again. Only in the last few years has an anti-social obsession become something he can earn a living from as a journalist and happily this coincided with Doctor Who getting good again. Plus he has a son now so he can claim he's watching it for him. Oh and his son's called Dylan not Gallifray or Davros.

Genres: Nonfiction, Doctor Who, Biography, Memoir, British Literature, Pop Culture, Biography Memoir

263 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2007

About the author

DeadStar, Nick's first book in ten years, launches 25 January 2022. It concerns the fate of punk/New Wave musician, Garth Tyson, who fled the stage at Glastonbury 1985, having been pelted with mud, and was never seen again.

Nick's also the author of Doctor Who-based memoir, Dalek I Loved You, and the locations-based travel book, Who Goes There. He's written two editions of the comic-travelogue Dextrose Trilogy: In the Footsteps of Harrison Dextrose and Looking for Mrs Dextrose. And three Dangerous Books: For Cats, For Dogs and For Anglers.

Reviews

[Melanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is one of those rare instances in which I can't tolerate a book enough to finish it. By the second page, I was annoyed by the middle-school mentality of a forty-something married dad and journalist. By the fifth page, I was wondering how many episode synopses I was going to have to read. I'm a Doctor Who fan, but even if I weren't and wasn't already familiar with the episodes, I could watch them. If I wanted to read wordy summaries if them, I could visit any number of websites. Here, they simply muddy the already muddied point. The bottom line is that I gave it 10%, meaning that I rolled my eyes through the majority of 10% of the book's length before deciding that I simply do not care about the memories and observations of someone who seems to think he's cool enough to warrant the publication of memoirs but has failed to grasp the golden rule of cool - that the coolest people don't care where you rate them on the nerd or any other scale because they're too busy living their own lives to their own satisfaction. I'm sure this book does contain some charming observations or recollections of mildly amusing moments, but, at least in the beginning, they are too few and far between for me to want to waste my time finding them. I'd rather watch the first Doctor while sipping a Butterbeer and knitting Spock ears. Just kidding. I don't know how to knit.

[Michael Legge · Rating 1 out of 5]

Promise me you'll never read this. An unforgivably boring trawl through a incredibly dull man's life. The worst part of it is he clearly hates Doctor Who. A complete wanker.

[The Bookish Wombat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sweet memoir of a man's life-long love of Doctor Who (just in case anyone doesn't know, it's a British sci-fi series that started in the early Sixties, was cancelled in the late Eighties, then a failed attempt to bring it back was followed in 2005 by a triumphant return). The author loved and feared the show in equal measure as a child in the Seventies and now works as a journalist who frequently visits the set and interviews the show's stars.

I'm a couple of years older than the writer, so I have many of the same frames of reference as he does, and recognised the world he portrays. Although I watched Doctor Who as a child I was never fanatical about it then, but I'm more fanatical about it now than any middle-aged woman has any right to be.

The book reminded me of Andrew Collins' book "Where Did It All Go Right" (which I would also recommend) in that it portrays normal family life in a stable and happy home - a great antidote to all the misery memoirs that were in fashion a couple of years ago. It also shows a normal life in which the author blunders along with no great life plan, makes mistakes, gets over them and everything seems to work out for the best. Just like the rest of us "normal" people.

Some of it is funny, some of it sad, some of it painfully honest, but reading it made me feel better about life and gave me a warm glow. It's definitely worth a read.

P.S. You don't have to like Doctor Who to read this - it would help, but it's not compulsory.

[Jazza1971 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book, I liked it a lot. But...

My main problem with it is the way how the author, Nick, seems to want to disassociate himself from his love of "Doctor Who" - note the title is "Dalek I Loved You" (past tense) and not "love you". When the book starts he is at pains to state he isn't an uber-nerd fan, rating himself low on a scale of 1 to 10 (and then as if to prove he isn't a complete uber-fan he says he has to look up the details about one story he is mentioning)...and yet we then find out that in his adult life he has spent a lot of money on Doctor Who related items (including props from the TV show itself).
Come on Nick, less of the past-tense - let yourself be free, give in to the inner nerd!

[minnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a humorous memoir of a lifelong Doctor Who fan, who writes for the Radio Times.I enjoyed the childhood parts of this book as Nick describes his love of Doctor Who and goes into some detail about his favourite episodes. The older Nick seems to be apologetic or embarassed for being a fan and the book lost its charm for me then. We have to endure his student years, and various girlfriends, while all the while wondering what happened with Doctor Who. I am not a Doctor Who fan but found the start of the book a good insight into why people love this programme,unfortunately it lost it for me after that.

[Rabid Readers Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading “Dalek I Love You: Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Edition” by Nick Griffiths, I cannot call myself a Whovian. While Griffiths doesn’t consider himself a hard-core Whovian his long experience with the show (from the age of 4) surely qualifies him for expert status. While the book is as much about Griffiths’ life as the show, it does give readers an idea of the sort of person who adores, follows and obsesses over the iconic show. People the world over whether they watch the show or not know when they see Tom Baker’s scarf the show from which it originated.

There is a Dave Barryesque reticent charm to Griffiths’ writing. At the start of the memoir he tells us he has a child so at least one woman was willing to sleep with him and then cites another girlfriend so that was two. He also openly states that some facts will be slightly blurred due to either memory or convenience. The tone is light and fun and there’s no shortage of laugh out-loud quotable moments. “Surprise is everything. Without it you have stuff; with it, you have stuff plus wonderment.” (Location 875) This author certainly surprises the reader in a delightful way as no matter how far the author gets away from his Doctor Who, he always comes back to the show and actors begging the question of how pop culture shapes us.

“Dalek I Love You: Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Edition” by Nick Griffiths doesn’t simply chronicle a love affair with Doctor Who. In respect to a cultural barrier, the football team was the only point where I stumbled. “Dalek I Love You: Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Edition” was fun, warm hearted and even David Tennant liked it. Who am I to disagree with one of the two greatest Doctors ever?

[Calamus · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the title, most would assume that the entire book is about Daleks and Doctor Who. Instead, Griffiths has composed a series of vignettes about how Doctor Who has influenced his life in so many ways. The stories are woven in and out of chronological order giving the reader a broad insight to how exactly Doctor Who shaped the author and led to his seeing the TARDIS and meeting David Tennant. However, the quickly changing settings sometimes made it difficult for me to maintain interest for longer periods of time and the book felt a little disjointed at times.

As someone who admittedly has not seen much of the original Doctor Who, I really enjoyed the synopses of the episodes and detailed descriptions of leading characters. Names will be familiar to those who have only seen the new rendition of Doctor Who. The stories are often hilarious and mostly interesting regardless of how much knowledge you may have about Doctor Who.

Largely due to its vignette style, this book is best to be read in small doses. Catch a story while riding the bus to work or waiting in line at the post-office this holiday season. Anyone with a basic familiarity of Doctor Who will enjoy Dalek I Loved You.

www.CalamusWorks.com

[Maria · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have put this book on my read shelf but that is a bit of a lie as I only got about a quarter of the way through before giving up as i found it very irritating and not as funny as I thought it would be. I don't often give up on a book but that I did just shows you what I thought of it !

[Leo H · Rating 1 out of 5]

A very flimsy excuse for the author to write the auto-biography he is clearly hell-bent upon inflicting on the world. You like David Bowie and Withnail & I, Nick? Wow! I bet you're the only person ever to be a fan of both of those things!

[funkgoddess · Rating 1 out of 5]

what an ego.

some nice memories of old doctor who, but ultimately it's a book about nick griffiths and sorry nick, you're really not that interesting.

[Soho_Black · Rating 2 out of 5]

A friend of mine, knowing I’m a “Doctor Who” fan, recommended this to me as being very funny. Indeed, it’s kind of funny that there is even the option to buy a book such as this. The return of “Doctor Who” has suddenly made it the kind of program that a man in his 30s can admit to liking. In years past, I would never have considered buying a book like this, as I would never have wanted anyone knowing I watched “Doctor Who”, much less enjoyed it.

That is essentially Nick Griffiths’ reasoning behind writing this book. Until the return of the series around three years ago, being a “Doctor Who” fan was something you kept quiet; for fear that people would think you a nerd. Before then, a “Doctor Who” fan was someone who hung around “Outpost Gallifrey” and wrote fan fiction and the description would possibly have fitted relatively well.

However, since the return of the series, everything has changed. It’s no longer aimed purely at making children hide behind their sofas, but is now family viewing. I can be proud that my claim to fame is a flatmate so involved in the show that his name appears in the credits and it now means that people like Nick Griffiths can proudly admit that, yes; they were “Doctor Who” fans all along.

This is the whole thought process behind “Dalek, I Loved You”. Now that he can admit to it without being laughed at, Nick Griffiths takes us through his history as a “Doctor Who” fan: starting from the age of four when he first remembers seeing the show. We follow his life through his teen years, through girlfriends and friends who couldn’t understand the attraction and to whom he never mentioned that he was a fan out of shame.

We see Nick eventually break into journalism and how he fills the dead years after “Doctor Who” was cancelled by the BBC. We see his ever growing collection of “Doctor Who” videos (and later, DVDs) and memorabilia. We are invited into every aspect of his life until, finally, his job and his passion coincide and he becomes a journalist for the “Radio Times” and is able to write about “Doctor Who” and even meet and interview some of the cast, or both the modern version and of shows gone by.

To be honest, this sounds terribly dull to me. But a friend said it was very funny and there’s a quote on the front from David Tennant, who played The Doctor with such enthusiasm and skill saying pretty much the same thing, so I guess it must be quite funny. Unfortunately, I swiftly discover that they were wrong and my first impressions were correct.

The problem isn’t the writing. Several years of working as a journalist have given him plenty of practice at writing and he’s not too bad at it. He’s also had a fair amount of practice at writing about “Doctor Who” and he’s spent the majority of his life as a fan, so he’s perfectly qualified in that regard. His qualifications to write about the rest of his subject matter aren’t the issue either. After all, he’s lived every single minute he recounts here, so he’s the best person to be talking about it.

The problem is that Nick Griffiths is a married father of one who went to public school, then to university and ended up working as a journalist. Sure, he can write, but someone should have told him that before you start telling a story, it’s best to have a story to tell. Nick Griffiths’ life is so mundane it’s virtually a non event. This wouldn’t be so bad if there was a great deal about “Doctor Who” in here, as that’s why we’re buying the book and the whole reason it was ever published, but we don’t even get that.

Like Tom Baker’s autobiography, which I also only read because the title suggested his “Doctor Who” links would be prominent, there are large chunks where nothing “Doctor Who” related happens. In any other biography, that wouldn’t be too bad, as something else interesting would be happening, but in Nick Griffiths’ case, if nothing “Doctor Who” is going on, then nothing of note is really happening. I realise that all the events were important to him, but they’re just not worth telling to anyone else.

I can’t see this book really appealing to anyone. I bought it as a fan of the modern “Doctor Who”, only to discover that the current series was barely mentioned and that it really isn’t an interesting life. Fans of the original “Doctor Who” will probably already know all the “Doctor Who” bits he puts in and be equally qualified to write their own autobiography on the same grounds. Any fan of autobiographies will soon discover than this one isn’t worth reading because it was never really worth writing in the first place.

This is a desperate attempt to cash in on the popularity of the new “Doctor Who” that should have been exterminated before it even started. I don’t know who is most to blame; the author for thinking his life was worthy of publication, or the publishers for agreeing to this. One thing is for sure – even if they were capable of it, the Daleks wouldn’t love Nick Griffiths back.

This review may also appear, in whole or in part, under my name at any or all of www.ciao.co.uk, www.thebookbag.co.uk, www.goodreads.com, www.amazon.co.uk and www.dooyoo.co.uk

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being of a similar age to the author, I too grew up with Dr Who. Here in Australia many of our favourite programs came via Britain's BBC. Dr Who was one of my earliest viewing memories, and I still look forward to each new series.

I downloaded this title as an Amazon freebie. It is currently only $1.01 (AU), so with a title like Dalek I Loved You there is a good chance I would have downloaded it anyway.

I am less than 10% in, so really shouldn't comment too much on the book at this stage. So far, I can say it is a memoir, written by a British journalist, in the context of growing up with memories of a favourite television program. But so far, I'm getting the feeling the emphasis will be on the role of memoir of a perfectly normal person - no images yet of someone running around dressed as a Dalek, thank goodness!

I haven't been reading a lot lately - too distracted. So, it's saying something for the writing style that I was able to start this book at 9.30pm last night, and still get drawn into it. The voice is definitely British, but I like that, because as I said, I grew up watching Brit TV and it is comfortable and familiar to me.

I hope I don't end up disappointed in Dalek I Loved You. Stay tuned for further impressions.

[Angela · Rating 1 out of 5]

This has got to be the worst book I've read in a long time. The writer clearly just wanted to write his memoirs and did so by jumping on the bandwagon of Doctor Who. You could forgive this, if the stories he told were interesting but they just aren't! The author admits himself that he had a pretty normal upbringing, but still felt the need to bore us with it. Subject matter aside, it was extremely badly written. I had to re-read several parts, assuming that I had misread it. I hadn't! There is also no structure to the book. It could go from a brief introduction to an episode of Doctor Who, to a story about having to hold in his farts whilst on a car journey (no, really) to a list of "things that are really good"!
He also spends the entire book claiming he isn't a nerd whilst also bragging about how he's spent hundreds on Doctor Who collectors stuff that was free with Wheatabix in the 1970s.
The only positive thing I can take away from reading this is that its made me realise I could write a much better book, and no that is not me blowing my own horn. It really is that badly written!

[Alex Sarll]

A Nick Hornby-style bloke-memoir of Doctor Who fandom, crippled by the author's need to insist that he also likes music (especially Interpol!) and football and girls (though girls never like Doctor Who, amirite lads?). Struggling through his cringing to read this well-meant stocking-filler, I started to know how it would feel to be gay-married with kids in 2014 San Francisco and happen across a sad, apologetic artefact of a less civilised age such as Victim or The Well of Loneliness. Yes, at times Griffiths can be fairly funny about eg the awfulness of Adric - but I know at least two dozen people who could be funnier on the same topic, without having to excuse themselves for knowing unfashionable things and detour into reality TV bullshit by way of social camouflage.

[Darren Humphries · Rating 3 out of 5]

The autobiography of a Dr Who journalist and lifelong fan with the word dalek in the title ought to have more about Dr Who and less about very ordinary childhood and youth memories. Nick Griffiths is engaging, but the title promises more than the book delivers.

[Andrew Lawston · Rating 2 out of 5]

Essentially, the memoir of a 40 year old journalist who's been a Doctor Who fan, I've had this on the shelf for possibly 12 years. I gather at least a couple of editions have been published since, so I've been extra careful to pick the right one on Goodreads, in case the book you can get today is significantly different. Because, ah, I wasn't a fan.

Probably it didn't help that I read Robert Webb's memoir How Not To Be a Boy right before this. There are distinct parallels (rural childhood, privileged education, social awkwardness, and a faintly disastrous series of relationships, written with a comic touch) but Nick Griffiths... isn't as funny, and isn't as self-aware.

And at various times he doesn't really seem like much of a Doctor Who fan, in all honesty. He liked Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker's Doctors, but then went off the show for the 80s, and got back into it while writing for Radio Times. Griffiths didn't like K9, he doesn't rate the Target novelisations (largely written by the astonishingly prolific and wonderful Terrance Dicks), he goes out of his way to pour scorn on all the companion actors who (it seems) he didn't personally find attractive. He writes lists of episodes where he gets details plain wrong, apparently because he's not actually seen the stories in question in many years. He also calls Dalek writer Rob Shearman "Colin" and away from the show talks about the actor "Sam O'Neill" in 2000 film The Dish.

All of this is... OK... all fans have opinions, right? And Nick Griffiths's opinions are probably broadly in line with those of a lot of fans, and this is a personal book after all. It just seems a bit wonky to write a memoir about growing up with Doctor Who when you spent large chunks of your life... not being that into it. As it was first published in 2007, it's hard not to conclude that there's an element of being a hasty cash-in work.

Nick Griffiths also seems to be too enamoured of his own prose. He aims for comic effect, but his extended similes and metaphors just don't land as gags. He refers to the show's attempt to depict the Loch Ness Monster as "looking like a glove puppet a small child knocked up using two gobstoppers, four lolly sticks and a hamster named Nigel". Now, the puppet for the Skarasen has been remembered for all the wrong reasons, and is regularly wheeled out when people want to highlight the shaky production values of 1970s telly. But everything about the description, and there's a similar example of this on every one of the 280-odd pages of this book, screams "trying too hard", like he's that one guy in your local Facebook group who thinks he's a comedian. God, I'm turning into him.

Early on, he assures us he's not impressed by fame or celebrity, refering to celebrity as "tedious" but spends much of the book showing off about celebrities he's met, and made a tongue-tied tit of himself with.

He talks glowingly about his parents, but even this comes with an assurance that he's not one of those "septic-nosed body art enthusiasts with a chip on their shoulder". Despite a whole chapter where he rants about the "stigma of being a public schoolboy". Everything's just a bit weird and spiteful. Even when he talks about the show he professes to love, it's always couched with caveats about shaky effects and quarries and such things.

Despite the fact he grew up in Hampshire, by the end I couldn't help but read this book in the voice of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads character Graham, from A Chip in the Sugar. If you know, you know. And if you don't know, definitely read/watch Talking Heads before you even consider reading this book.

The book is relatively old now, and the perceived chasm that existed in 2007 between the "old" and the "new" versions of Doctor Who has narrowed, in part because some of those 2005 episodes are themselves starting to look a little creaky. The general zeitgeist is more positive these days, and perhaps it's unfair of me to judge a book that would probably have resonated more back when 1970s telly was something to somehow be embarrassed about.

WH Auden once wrote that it's impossible to review a bad book without showing off. I hope I've not done that too much. But Nick Griffiths seems determined to prove that you can't even write a bad book without showing off.

[Mekerei · Rating 3 out of 5]

I;m a Dr Who fan, but found this book difficult. I hated the way that Griffiths doesn't want to associate with other fans in case the "geek" rubs off on him. Once I read these words I found it more and more difficult to keep reading.

I struggled through (see how long it has taken me to read it - two months!!) in fact I started to speed read it to get it off my list of books. I did find it hard to relate to some things, we did not have the same collectibles in New Zealand; you would get rugby cards rather than Dr Who cards in your Weetbix.

I could relate to hiding behind the couch when the Daleks came on and yes I was afraid of the other villains, but none were as frightening as the Daleks until the Weeping Angels came along.

If you didn't grow up in United Kingdom then some of Nick's memories probably wont mean much to you.

Two and a half stars

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

For the small percentage of the book where Griffiths unabashedly loves and talks about Doctor Who, I mostly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, he spends far too much of the book acting like being a Doctor Who fan is too big an embarrassment to be borne, diminishing his own love, and looking down his nose at hard core fans while admitting he has an attic full of memorabilia. Add to that the odd stream-of-consciousness writing that goes in and out of completely irrelevant side stories and far, far, far, far too many references to male genitalia for no purpose whatsoever and I honestly just don't understand how this book got an updated printing. Obviously other people do not agree with my take on it, but I really feel like I wasted my time reading this book.

[Neil King · Rating 1 out of 5]

Magazine features writer moves up to authoring a book... and by crikey he really struggles.

This is nothing more than a collection of anecdotes of a pretty unremarkable life and "supported" by crowbarred sentiments hanging around a passing need to regurgitate Doctor Who platitudes without any imagination.

If you see this book in a charity shop - buy it, bin it, and take it out of circulation for anyone else.

[Pearl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had a little chuckle at this book. I DEFINITELY used to hide behind the sofa when the Daleks came on screen. The fact that their "arms" were painted toilet plungers and whisks doesn't matter when you are five - these creatures were the stuff of nightmares! Great memories for Whovians to agree or disagree with, and beautifully told in an easy-to-follow format. That this may have been the last journalist to interview Jon Pertwee makes it all the more poignant.

[Mindbait]

My sister got me for my birthday one year on account of my almost lifelong fandom of DW.

It's really just the memoir of a magazine writer, and I think a lot of his references would resonate with me more if I'd grown up in England. But as it is, he spent a bit of time expounding on HIS lifelong love of Who so there was plenty of geeky stuff in there to keep me happy.

[Gloriamarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fans of Doctor Who will appreciate the history of the iconic TV show, I'm one, so I oughta know.

[Laurel Benson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the Dr. Who references but didn't understand a lot of the book because it was written about England and mentioned lots of famous people/musicians I'd never heard of.

[Maggie · Rating 1 out of 5]

250+ pages of slosh written by someone with maybe the worst & most negative opinions I’ve ever read in a memoir. Explain to me how this got published?

[Eero · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never had the genuine Doctor Who experience, not being British or even an English speaker and all that. This book offers a look into what it would have been like to be introduced to the Doctor as a child. In contrast, my earliest experiences with science fiction TV were Space:1999, The Million Dollar Man, and David McCallum's Invisible Man (later I saw also Sapphire and Steel, which I am reminded of when I see the spookier elements in the new Doctor Who, such as the boy in the gas mask).

Even Star Trek I saw only as an adult, and never really got into it. I get its iconic status, but personally watching it was always a bit of a chore. Ditto with STTNG. The other Trek series I haven't even seen (except the one episode of whatever it was where they time-travelled to the old Enterprise during the tribble episode).

I haven't seen the Classic Doctor Who either. The new series I have watched through, and mostly love it. Torchwood is a bit too serious and therefore less fun: the impression I had was that it wanted to be a Joss Whedon series. But I digress: as of this writing I am just getting into the book. More about it later.

So I finished this. Probably I do not belong to the target audience, because as I mentioned I do not have a lifelong relationship with Doctor Who, like the author. Initially I liked the typically Brithsh self-effacing style - he would describe the most embarrassing childhood situations with a kind of morbid glee - but as the page count increased I started to doubt its sincerity, and the candour started to feel like a kind of inverted bragging. I can see why some reviewers were put off by his conflicted relationship with the show and being identified as a nerd in general - these days it seems to be uncool. Yet I can empathize with that, at least. I have lived with similar conflicts all my life.

In the end, what we have here is a memoir by a freelance journalist who covered Doctor Who. It is interesting in its description of growing up in Britain at a particular time, and fellow Whovians can wax nostalgic over shared memories. I get that peripherally, but I am not a part of that crowd.

Actually: the only childhood experience of mine that mirrors Griffiths's earliest Doctor Who memories would have to do with the Adam West Batman series. I was young enough not to understand or care that the whole thing was played for laughs, and having absolutely no English at the time I was dependent on subtitles (which I learned to read precociously young) for the dialogue. For a time I was crazy about the Batman character, wearing my mother's scarves as makeshift capes and the like. Interestingly enough, I did not really go for the comics, perhaps because of lack of easy access at the time, and somehow the darker and edgier Batman of my adult years did not ultimately seem the real thing to me, although I did try to get with the program.

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I’m not British – despite suggestions by my hostess at the B&B I stayed at in Portsmouth this past summer that I be made an honorary Brit, what with all the number of times I’ve been in the British Isles – I thoroughly enjoyed the eccentricity and self-deprecating humor that Griffith exudes in abundance in this, his first memoir recounting growing up as a Doctor Who fan.

It is equal parts history of Doctor Who since Griffith started following the exploits of the Third Doctor, played by Jon Pertwee, with growing up in British suburbia in the 70s and 80s. He’s plenty cheeky, irreverent, and abashedly geeky about his love of all things Who.

Although there is a slight unevenness in his narrative whenever he bounces back-and-forth between his chronological narrative and his contemporary commentary on the new Doctor Who, his best bits include introducing his love of the Doctor to his son. The latter of whom has an entire chapter included at the end of this paperback version in which he, his son, goes on about being a twenty-first century fan of the beloved Time Lord. (Something which I can relate to, despite being many decades his senior. Physically-speaking, that is.)

Any self-professed (or confessed) Whovian should pick up this delightful memoir posthaste.

[Nicholas Whyte]

"http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1269884.html[return][return]I enjoyed tremendously Griffiths' more recent book, Who Goes There?, so thought I should read his earlier memoir about growing up as a Doctor Who fan. It's amusing enough. Griffiths had a slightly but not very unusual childhood (much older parents, few close friends), and since then has had his fair share of career setbacks and failed relationships; he writes about it all with self-deprecating humour which could perhaps have been spiced up with a bit more passion. I imagine that people who like me and Griffiths were children in the UK in the mid-70s will enjoy this, but I think his other book has wider appeal."

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a clolset "Whovian" myself for years (it wasn't always cool) I thoroughly enjoyed reading the musings of another of 'my kind.' Nick Griffiths fear of the Cybermen and love of Tom Baker as the Doctor's fouth re-generation echoed my own early years.

This is a fun read, not just about Doctor, but growing up in England in the 80's and 90's. Public school experiences, girlfriend troubles and the ever present parents. I really enjoyed the book and recommend it all you Whovians out there. You know who you are.

[Scott Schluter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not at all what I expected. Too much of this guy's life (droning on and on and on about things) and not enough Doctor Who. I wouldn't call myself a Whovian, but I do enjoy the show and go back to the Baker years of the Doctor from my childhood. It often seemed like a someone hyper just typed everything that was coming to mind.

The book title is misleading. The book is really an autobiography with Doctor Who sprinkled in. Thank goodness it is sprinkled in because without that, the book would have been a complete snoozefest. Not funny, not interesting.

[Samantha-Ellen Bound · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book divided me. I absolutely loved the parts about Doctor Who: his anecdotes, his rememberances of the show, his lists of favourite episodes. Who doesn't like to feel that lovely little thrill when you're reading about someone else who just gets why you love whatever you do. But the other parts, focusing on his life, I kind of felt a little bit why I should care.

Full review at:
http://bookgrotto.blogspot.com/2011/0...