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I Married a ‘Doctor Who’ Fan
Watching the classic episodes on BritBox brought back memories of dating my husband
My husband and I couldn’t wait to start watching classic episodes of Doctor Who when we signed up for the BritBox streaming service. He’s a big fan of the show, and watching it with him reminded me of when we started dating back in college.
The show follows the adventures of a Timelord called the Doctor, who travels through time and space battling evil and saving worlds. Thanks to the character’s ability to regenerate, the role has been played by 13 different actors since 1963. The Doctor and his companions travel in a spaceship called a TARDIS. It’s supposed to change form so it can blend in wherever it lands, but it’s permanently stuck in the shape of a blue police call box.
The fact that I dated a Doctor Who fan in college probably doesn’t seem all that unusual. After all, the show has been quite popular in the U.S. since the BBC rebooted the franchise in 2005. But in 1980, few Americans had heard of it. In fact, I grew up watching all kinds of British shows on PBS, including Monty Python, Upstairs, Downstairs, and The Two Ronnies, but I had never heard of it either.
The PBS station in our college town aired Doctor Who episodes at 10 p.m. on weeknights, the perfect time for a…
