Neil Perryman
Adventures With the Wife in Space is the story of what happens when you take the thing you love and you share it with the person you love. I love Doctor Who and one day I convinced my wife, Sue, to watch them all in order with me, for two and a half years. In public. This result is a book about Doctor Who, and its fans, seen through the eyes of two people - one who knows almost nothing about the programme and another who knows way too much. It's also an excuse for loads of jokes about Doctor Who and the people who watch it.
Why were you so keen to make your wife watch Doctor Who?
Doctor Who has always been an important part of my life, but I'd always managed to keep it separate from Sue. For example, I would sneak downstairs in the middle of the night to get my Tom Baker fix, and I never really bothered her with it. And then one day, I decided it might be possible to combine my two loves together after all. Luckily for me, I had the perfect excuse: payback for living in a static caravan for three and a half years while Sue perused her lifelong dream of building her own home. Watching old episodes of Doctor Who with me was the least she could after subjecting me to frozen toilets, no telephone line, and all those sleepless nights when it rained.
What were her initial thoughts?
To be honest, I didn't think she would last a month, let alone the two and a half years it took us to watch every single episode (including the ones that didn't exist anymore – it's a long story) because Sue was very scathing at first. She didn't like the first Doctor, William Hartnell, at all, and she thought the Daleks were pathetic. But once she got used to the slow pace, the less than special special effects, and the unlikable lead character, she secretly began to look forward to it. At least that's what I kept telling myself.
Why is it important for you to share your love for something with your partner?
Sue always says, "The couple that plays together, stays together". This isn't to say that Sue ended up falling in love with Doctor Who (well, maybe Peter Davison a little bit) but at least now she understands why it's so important to me, and why it's influenced my life and career so much (at one point, if you can believe it, I was actually studying for a PhD in Doctor Who). Plus we got to spend loads of time together, which meant I got to fall in love with her all over again.
Please can you tell us a bit about the blog?
The blog (www.wifeinspace.com) is basically a conversation between me and my wife while we watch classic episodes of Doctor Who together. The main reason I did this online was because I thought it would force her to carry on with it if she ever got bored (she never did). In fact, this turned out to be the trap I set myself: I was the one who consistently felt like giving up, but I couldn't, because Sue's fresh and unique perspective on Doctor Who had attracted such a loyal and passionate following, I would have been lynched if I'd thrown in the towel.
When did your passion for Doctor Who come about?
My earliest memory is watching Doctor Who when I was three and a half years old: Jon Pertwee is being terrorized by two dogs with impossibly long necks while I suck on a Farley's Rusk. Forty years later, I still can't stop thinking about it.
What are your wife’s thoughts on Doctor Who now?
Sue adores the new series with Matt Smith as the Doctor and she never misses an episode. And even though I don't think I'll ever catch her sneaking downstairs to watch Doctor Who in the middle of the night, she does tell me that watching all the episodes in order has given her a new appreciation for the series; she gets all the in-jokes now. And when Tom Baker made a surprise appearance in the 50th anniversary story, she even shed a tear, which was nice.
What is next for you?
Blake's 7! All the way through! And we'll probably do it in a static caravan while Sue builds a new home. It's the least I can do.