‘Doctor Who,’ a series about an eccentric alien who travels around the universe along with a myriad of companions in a time machine shaped like a British police telephone box debuted in Britain in 1963 and continued in regular production through into the early 90s. It was regular fare on PBS stations throughout the 80s. There was a U.S. movie version with series option produced for Fox in the late 90s but the Americanization of it tanked, unlike ‘Queer As Folk’ which attained huge success as an American adaptation. The show left British airwaves but continued in book and radio show forms. Last year, the BBC reinvented it as a splashy new Sci-Fi series relying heavily on the history and mythos of the legendary Timelord known as “The Doctor,” but less on the camp that the show was known for during the course of its run. From what I understand, its comeback and stronghold is akin to that of Sci-Fi Channel’s ‘Battlestar Galactica.’ Since the show has run for so long, a number of actors have played the title role over the years.

I met several of the actors from the show at conventions and recall one meeting vividly. I once saw Colin Baker (the sixth actor to play The Doctor) in a cabaret. I had an aisle seat and in part of the show he came in from the back and made his way down along the aisle bantering with other actors on the stage. Sitting in the row in front of me and a few seats in was a girl who was just obsessed with him. She had brought a red rose with her to give him and since he stopped to do his thing and sat down on the steps right next to me, she passed her rose to me to give him. I held it out, he looked at it but ignored it (well of course, he was performing). I was sort of glad. Even at 17 I felt that it was imposing of this girl to hand it over and expect someone else to hand it to him while he was performing. So I passed it back over to her. Shortly thereafter he was laughing in response to something from the stage and patted me on the shoulder and belly-laughed leaning into and on me. I was in heaven and thought I will never wash this shirt
again!

Anyway, just before he got up and moved on, there was something in his dialog with an actress on the stage that referred to someone being gay and he shouted back to her, “He was gay!” Now I wanted to sink into the floor. I was not out. I did not even admit to myself that I was gay at that point and… I was with my mother. At the end of the show when they all came out for a bow to a standing ovation, the girl threw the rose up on the stage. He ran over, picked it up and put it between his teeth and looked up at me with a big grin… now I really wanted to sink into the floor! And that was my close encounter with The Doctor!