Who blasphemy! We’ve all come across it. When your otherwise sensible friend says, “City of Death’s not much cop, really,” or disses the amazing Donna Noble. But one of the most egregious cases of Who blasphemy happened in our house recently when not one but both twins, while watching An Unearthly Child, declared of Ian and Barbara, “They are really rubbish actors.” They are what?! Could they possibly be referring to the astonishingly fabulous Jacqueline Hill and William Russell? I couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing.
Before you declare that my children are from now on personae non grata in Doctor Who circles for expressing this unconscionable opinion, let me explain. What they found laughable and unconvincing was the running-from-side-to-side TARDIS wobble acting. “I could do it better!” said Non-Fan Twin, and demonstrated. We wondered how often prior to Doctor Who actors would have been called upon to do this. Maybe if there were programmes about shipwrecks? Children: looking at things in a slightly different way to you, forever.
ILLUSTRATION: BEN MORRIS