'I wanted to see the universe, so I stole a Time Lord and I ran away'

Where did my Doctor Who journey start?

Strangely enough, with not liking Doctor Who.

I was brought up on a diet of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Tolkien, Star Wars, Narnia... all feature heavily in my childhood memories. It wasn't all positive. I have two distinct negative impressions of science fiction. My Dad, bless him, wasn't all that good at judging what was age appropriate. Even The Empire Strikes Back gave me nightmares, though I loved it.

One of those negative impressions has led to my life long hatred of Star Trek, so much so that even with a cast I loved, the newest movie failed to get any reaction other than apathy (The Wrath of Kahn - worms in ears and screaming are not a good combination for a first memory).

The other, even earlier and fuzzier impression was of Doctor Who. I have no idea which episode, or even which Doctor it was. But it definitely involved those imperialistic pepperpots. Yes, the Daleks. For my entire life up until my mid 20s, all I knew of Doctor Who was that the Daleks terrified me and to bring the show up in conversation was a good way to make me to flee into the hills.

So growing up, Tom Baker was a grumpy marshwiggle living in a teepee and eating eel stew, certainly not a time travelling alien.

Oh how times change.

The 2005 revival of the show didn't have much of an impact on me. I wanted nothing to do with it. I knew it was happening, and I think I saw tiny bits of the Slitheen 2 parter (no that I knew that was what it was) while babysitting kids who were fans. It wasn't until friends of mine started talking about this show called Torchwood and how great it was that slash was canon on their own journals that I started to fall into the Who!verse.

2009, the year of the specials, I got hold of the first couple of Torchwood episodes and fell in love with a man called Captain Jack Harkness. And no Daleks in sight! Then a friend brought her DVDs around so I could see some of Captain Jack's original Doctor Who episodes. I was hooked by the end of The Doctor Dances (thank you Moffat!).

Still, I never managed to see anything as it aired. I bought every DVD box set I could get my hands on.

I promptly fell in love with David Tennant.

So I eagerly awaited the release of the specials on DVD. In the meantime I rewatched the previous 4 series and the first 2 Torchwood series over and over again. I had to gird my loins for Torchwood: Children of Earth, knowing my favourite character would be lost. But I watched it (once - I think I've only seen the first episode twice).

I was in a frenzy of anticipation tinged with worry over The Eleventh Hour. It arrived in due course... and left me gobsmacked.

Steven Moffat brought me the sheer joy of watching this amazing show week by week. And Matt Smith...

I will always love Ten. I have a crush on David Tennant a mile high and I adore much of his other work. No one else would convince me to see a horror movie in the cinema, yet I toddled off to Fright Night merely for Tennant (and loved it btw). However...

Eleven is truly MY Doctor.

Looking back, he had me at "Early days. Steering's a bit off."

Steven Moffat's brilliant writing and Matt Smith's fantastic portrayal have given me the childish joy to outweigh the long standing Dalek fear of my childhood.

So, my name is Elanor and I am an unashamed Doctor Who geek.

GERONIMO!