Stephen Fry was this week’s guest on the Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast where he discussed all things TV, including how he was ‘blown away’ by the first ever episode of Doctor Who.
“The biggest moment I remember was when I was seven we moved from Buckinghamshire to Norfolk, where we moved into this big house,” he told host Kelly-Anne Taylor. “All our furniture came and was fitted into so many rooms, and there was one room where the television was, my father shoved it in there and plugged it in.
“The week before in Buckinghamshire we had seen the first ever episode of Doctor Who with this old man and his granddaughter [William Hartnell and Carol Ann Ford] and a police box that could travel in time and we were absolutely blown away by it.”
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The actor explained how heartbroken he was when after the move, the TV didn’t work, but his father didn’t fix it before the second episode aired.
“A valve had blown, and my father was too busy to bother mending it. He said ‘Oh, I’ll mend it tomorrow,’ and we said ‘But, but, but, but,’ and he said, ‘Don’t be ridiculous it’s just a television programme,’” Fry explained.
“And I think for the next 20 odd years, there was a little gap in my heart which could only be filled by watching that second episode, which I managed to do eventually, [when] they all came out [on] video and we lived in a different age.”
It won’t be long before Doctor Who: Power of the Doctor lands on our screens. Luckily, those who miss the episode when it airs on BBC One will have the chance to catch up immediately after on BBC iPlayer.
Doctor Who is available to stream on BBC iPlayer with episodes of the classic series also available on BritBox – you can sign up for a 7-day free trial here.
Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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