Whenever I’m researching an article for DWM, whether it is The Fact of Fiction, a silly guide to the Master’s plans or a detailed explanation of how regeneration works, the first place I always look is to the magazine itself. I have them piled up in a meticulously ordered heap on the shelf behind me for ease of access; some of the older copies are in plastic bags to protect them from the time winds, their staples having succumbed to entropy, their covers frayed and detached. But whenever I pull one off the shelf to verify some half-remembered fact or interview, the same thing happens. Well, the same two things. Firstly, all the magazines on top of it slither to the floor, and secondly, I end up reading that edition of the magazine all the way through. There’s always something in there which makes me laugh, or a forgotten titbit of trivia, or a comic strip or interview which gives me a frisson of nostalgia. Every single issue, without fail.
And so, in researching this article, I decided to embark upon the ultimate Doctor Who odyssey, to revisit every single issue of Doctor Who Magazine! Not reading every article all the way through, of course – that would leave me one side of madness or the other – but just those features that were unusual or exceptional or deeply peculiar.