GUEST POST - Thank You, Doctor Who! -

Over the course of the next few weeks/months/years/centuries (delete as applicable), I will be letting people guest-blog and be interviewed on this very site. Maybe. Or maybe not. And to start this brand new series that may or may not actually become a series is Mrs Evil herself, Tricia Hayes, who has written a rather sweet little piece about how Doctor Who led her to love. It isn't for the cold-hearted, as there is romance involved. It also highlights just how much Doctor Who can mean totally different things to different people. Everybody has their own unique relationship with the show, which is why there are such a diverse range of fans out there, and a massive variety of opinions and theories on the show. And that is brilliant.

But anyway, without further ado, here is my amazing girlfriend, talking about stuff. Enjoy!

The first episode of Doctor Who I saw was 'Rise of the Cybermen'. I didn't see it on its' original broadcast, but a few years later when BBC 3 started showing repeats of the television show that would change my life, in a way I never could have imagined.

I had seen the Paul McGann TV movie a few years before and had enjoyed that, so I'm not sure why I didn't watch the series when it returned in 2005. Then again, I guess everybody discovers Doctor Who in their own way! Anyhow, I started watching regularly from the repeats of 'Rise of the Cybermen and 'The Age of Steel' onwards, and it had me right from the opening credits. I started watching whenever I could, and the DVD Files helped me build up my knowledge of the earlier episodes I had missed, and fill in the gaps. I have been a fan ever since.

By now, I had seen four actors in the role of the Time Lord known only as the Doctor. McGann, Eccleston, Tennant, and Smith, but what about the other seven before them? Soon enough, I would get to experience stories from Doctor Who's past, as my life changed unexpectedly. Here is how it happened....

I joined Facebook in February 2012. I had never bothered or thought about it before, but it was the curiosity of signing up to the site that led me to a Doctor Who Page, and caused a series of events that would spiral out of control. I can't remember the name of the page I liked, but on it were lots of people moaning and complaining about various aspects of the show. And then, amongst all that, there was a lovely, positive comment from this chap called Cory John Eadson. It was so nice to see somebody with such an optimistic attitude, and I decided, rather nervously, to send him a friend request.

We became friends on Facebook in March, and if you are wondering how my life has changed since then, well, in just under four weeks time we will be celebrating our 10-month anniversary together as boyfriend and girlfriend. I live in Ireland at the moment, but I am writing this in a notepad in England, sat on Cory's bed surrounded by his amazing Doctor Who collection.

Doctor Who has changed my life in a way that I could never have imagined. It introduced me to my very own Time Lord, Cory John Eadson. I would never have thought, sitting down to watch 'Rise of the Cybermen', that a few years later I would be sitting in a different country with the love of my life. In fact, the very first time we met physically was when Matt Smith returned in 'Asylum of the Daleks', the first episode we watched together.

It is through Cory that I have a fondness for 'classic' Doctor Who. I was inspired to watch 'Remembrance of the Daleks' at home by Cory, and afterwards we had a little chat about it. He also had a star letter printed in Doctor Who Magazine, an article on Season 6B published in a fanzine (and HERE), and had done a great many short stories based on the Doctor, all of which deepened my interest for the old series. One of Cory's stories involved Eight regenerating into Nine in a different and original way to what actually is believed to have happened, and it was a beautiful piece that really fired up my imagination.

Cory has taken me on a great adventure through time and space, introducing me to every Doctor I hadn't seen before, many amazing episodes, and telling me things about the making of the show that I never knew.

Me and Cory have also had a great many adventures of our own, away from the escapades of the TARDIS, and I know we will continue to have them for Evermore. We might have met through Doctor Who, but it is because of us that our relationship is so strong, because of us that we are in love.

I am fond of Doctor Who, but I am in love with my Cory John Eadson. And I will be, forevermore.

Tricia Hayes, January 2012