Another small point of pride becomes a thing of the past.

There was a time when I used to say, "Sure, I'm a nerd, but I never watched Doctor Who."

Well... I can't say that anymore.

The 21st Century version(s) of the Doctor have an advantage over the 20th Century versions.

It's called a budget.

I've started watching the first season of The New Who and I have to say, three episodes in, it's pretty good. Christopher Eccleston plays the mysterious alien timelord, and he's got a sweet way about him and a great goofy grin. When he tells the girl who will become his sidekick that he's an alien, she replies "You sound like a bloke from the North."

"Lots of planets have a north." he answers, a little put off.

So in the first episode, they save the world. The second episode takes place five billion years into the future when the world ends, and the third episode takes place in 1869. In Cardiff.


What's so all fired interesting about Cardiff in 1869? Well, Charles Dickens is on tour. And who do they get to play Dickens? Simon Callow, the terrific British actor who was so good in Four Weddings and a Funeral, Angels In America, Shakespeare In Love and No Man's Land and so many other roles, including Charles Dickens several times.

Callow should never be mistaken for Simon Cowell, the British blight on humanity most famous for American False Idol. I wanted to make that clear.

Even if the episode were complete bollocks, and it's not, Callow's presence pushes it up a couple notches.

If you have Netflix, you can get many of the recent seasons of Doctor Who on streaming video. I haven't watched them all, but it's a hell of a lot better than that nonsense from the 1960s that some people have a fondness for, caused by misplaced nostalgia and the onset of senile dementia.

Matty Boy says check it out.