I have no idea how to write a blog but I'm writing a test now!

I have been a fan of the sci-fi show Doctor Who ever since I was a little chap.
I started watching the show at the back end of Tom Baker's tenure and back then I only ever watched the current stuff.  So when it ended in 1989 I pretty much forgot about it (barring the Children in Need special "Dimensions In Time" in 1993 & the Paul McGann TV Movie in 1996).

That was until a few years ago when I'd just started going out with my then girlfriend (now wife) Siobhan who cautiously told me that Doctor Who was back on that Saturday, if I wanted to watch it.  I leapt at the chance as it was the first I'd heard of it coming back!

It was brilliant, funny, fast-paced, exciting and I loved the new series.  After a while I started to think back fondly about the old series and thought it would be nice to dip my toe into the old series.  So I started by getting the first Doctor Who DVD - "The Five Doctors Special Edition" (Special features included "Chapter Selection" & "Music Only Option"!).

I enjoyed it more than I should have and decided to start buying more DVDs - including the earlier Doctors stuff that I'd never seen as a child...

This brings me to 2014 - the year after the 50th anniversary - and I get to finally start to achieve a long-held ambition.  To watch every POSSIBLE episode of Doctor Who from the start until now.  This will take years and I don't want to do this alone.

I didn't want it to be a massive group (as there would be more chance of clashes of availability etc) just a core gang of four.  I mused the idea to my friend Mark Bullock and he thought it a good idea and we thought it's be nice to have with us my best friend (Jason Smith) along with another fine friend Leigh Morris.

Also four members meant I could have the great group name of:

"The Four Whores-men of the Apologetic-nature's Doctor Who Marathon Group!"

And then my friend Jim Willisher mentioned that he would like to join us - I did invite him ages ago but thought he said no!  Anyway, as I liked the pun I decided to change the name to:

"The Four Whores-men of the Apologetic-nature's Doctor Who Marathon Group -

& Jim!"

Above: Us as the first TARDIS TEAM!Leigh (Ian Chesterton), Me (The First Doctor),
Mark (Barbara Wright) & Jason (Susan "Foreman")!
AND JIM!

So here we go - Sunday 12th January 2014 will be the start date around Jason's.  I shall try and keep this up to date and add photos as and when.  I'll also post about what we're doing about the missing episodes - we might have separate meet-ups to watch recons of these.

Anyhow that's it for now - I shall post more after our first meet-up.

All my best
MJ FOULDES - 09-01-2014

UPDATE (7th August 2015): Jim bowed out of the group after watching ALL the First Doctor stories with us.  It was a shame to drop the "AND JIM" part of the name so we did keep it a while, hoping he would re-join us.  Sadly as we approach the 2nd Doctor's final season this hasn't happened.

However all is not sad - our friend Shaun Clark joined us on our quest, on 20th July 2014, to watch the story "The Crusade".  Since then he has stuck with us - and has watched ALL the previous stories that he didn't watch with the group (including re-cons).  He's a trooper!