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Doctor Who: The Wife in Space
Adventures with the Wife in Space
Neil loves Sue. He also loves Doctor Who. But can he bring his two great loves together? And does he have the right?
In January 2011, Neil Perryman set out on an insane quest to make his wife Sue watch every episode of the classic series of Doctor Who from the very beginning. Even the ones that didn't exist any more. And so, over the next two and half years, Sue gamely watched them all: William Hartnell (the Miserable Git); Patrick Troughton (the Scruffy Drunk); Jon Pertwee (the Pompous Tory); Tom Baker (the Mad One); Peter Davison (the Fit One); Colin Baker (the Court Jester); Sylvester McCoy (the Crafty Sod) and Paul McGann (the One-Night Stand). The result was a wildly successful and hilariously revealing blog called Adventures with the Wife in Space.
But the adventure continues. From awkward years at school, terrified of giant insects, Daleks and rugby players, to even more awkward years as an adult, terrified of unexpected parenthood and being called a Whovian, here Neil tells the all too true story of life as a Doctor Who fan. Funny, honest and surprisingly brave, he also captures perfectly the joys - and fears - of sharing the thing you love with the people you love.
Adventures With the Wife in Space is, at its heart, the story of 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.
In January 2011, Neil Perryman set out on an insane quest to make his wife Sue watch every episode of the classic series of Doctor Who from the very beginning. Even the ones that didn't exist any more. And so, over the next two and half years, Sue gamely watched them all: William Hartnell (the Miserable Git); Patrick Troughton (the Scruffy Drunk); Jon Pertwee (the Pompous Tory); Tom Baker (the Mad One); Peter Davison (the Fit One); Colin Baker (the Court Jester); Sylvester McCoy (the Crafty Sod) and Paul McGann (the One-Night Stand). The result was a wildly successful and hilariously revealing blog called Adventures with the Wife in Space.
But the adventure continues. From awkward years at school, terrified of giant insects, Daleks and rugby players, to even more awkward years as an adult, terrified of unexpected parenthood and being called a Whovian, here Neil tells the all too true story of life as a Doctor Who fan. Funny, honest and surprisingly brave, he also captures perfectly the joys - and fears - of sharing the thing you love with the people you love.
Adventures With the Wife in Space is, at its heart, the story of 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.
290 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
13 people are currently reading
344 people want to read
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October 30, 2014
I'm starting this review before I even quite finish- nearly there!- because this book has left a bit baffled so that even though it's the book I am least likely to even recall having read in 2014 by next year, I absolutely have to get some of my confusion out. Bear with me here.
Doctor Who, like a lot of 'cult' series, tends to get a lot of unofficial memoir-style non-fiction written about it by fans. I actually do like a good book in this tiny genre. I enjoy reading about people enjoying things, and especially when they combine it with an interesting take on the thing in question. It's one of those oddly insular fandom things that I'm actually willing to jump on board with, given a book that looks well done.
So. This book. It's very much in the style of the early blogs that began to spring up quite some years ago now surrounding watch-a-thons. It's weirdly formatted. It seems to try to be a blog half the time and a book the rest, with no consideration for pacing (who reads a blog all in one or two goes vs. reading a short book?). The script-format stuff is kind of... awful. It's just a mediocrely-written book, to be frank. Mostly it's the author just talking. What he's saying isn't all that interesting or funny. It's full of weird tangents, and odd asides, and again, none of them are all that engaging to me. It needs three or four heavy goings over by an editor or two, at the absolute least.
And... ugh.
Here's the thing that gets me- you know how things can be more than the sum of their parts? This is a book that manages to be less than the sum of its parts. Everything about it banal and mediocre, but I just walked away from it feeling distinctly unpleasant. I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's that the way the author talks about his experiences as a fan mirrors so many encounters with arseholes in fandom over the years. I don't know if it's that he's simultaneously self-deprecating about this thing I'm reading him talk about to the point I can't find it fun, deprecating of those geekier than him AND at times kind of deprecating of those LESS geekier than him. I don't know if it's the fact he doesn't seem to be able to pick any real target audience for the book. (It's not "proper geeks", whatever those are- he distances himself from those. It's not non-fans or '"casuals", because why would they pick up this niche book? It's not people who like analysis of pop culture; he couldn't analyse how to escape a wet paper bag.)
The book's just basically nothing. It's a load of air where there ought to be words! And sentences! And actual, real thoughts! It's some anecdotes about the life of a guy I have never met that he tries and fails to connect to Doctor Who while seeming unerringly embarrassed about, I dunno, liking a sci-fi show, I guess. He talks about watching episodes of the series with his wife. (His wife, admittedly, seems pretty funny, and if there's a book here, surely it's in the idea of putting pop cultural icons to the test by showing them to someone with no real close familiarity.) Nothing of note is really discussed. And then I got that weird, unpleasant vibe that just put me off it altogether.
There's shedloads of books like these around if you know where to look; people who have noticed the 'trend' of giving book deals to people for their watching of shows, or reading of books, whatever it is, entertainingly. Trouble is, the best of sites tend to include people who look deceptively casual about their consumption, but are actually a) much better writing than most can manage and b) usually try to focus on at least some actual analysis of the show.
I guess it's just- I can see wanting to read a book that details something a person loves in a joyful (and perhaps critical) light, using their own experiences to personalize it. What I don't get is how that turns into 'someone by their own admission feeling kinda bad about liking the show, passive aggressively whining about other fans and mostly trying to justify talking about their life like I really care that much'.
So please, can we stop giving blogs books when they're probably just fine as blogs?
Doctor Who, like a lot of 'cult' series, tends to get a lot of unofficial memoir-style non-fiction written about it by fans. I actually do like a good book in this tiny genre. I enjoy reading about people enjoying things, and especially when they combine it with an interesting take on the thing in question. It's one of those oddly insular fandom things that I'm actually willing to jump on board with, given a book that looks well done.
So. This book. It's very much in the style of the early blogs that began to spring up quite some years ago now surrounding watch-a-thons. It's weirdly formatted. It seems to try to be a blog half the time and a book the rest, with no consideration for pacing (who reads a blog all in one or two goes vs. reading a short book?). The script-format stuff is kind of... awful. It's just a mediocrely-written book, to be frank. Mostly it's the author just talking. What he's saying isn't all that interesting or funny. It's full of weird tangents, and odd asides, and again, none of them are all that engaging to me. It needs three or four heavy goings over by an editor or two, at the absolute least.
And... ugh.
Here's the thing that gets me- you know how things can be more than the sum of their parts? This is a book that manages to be less than the sum of its parts. Everything about it banal and mediocre, but I just walked away from it feeling distinctly unpleasant. I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's that the way the author talks about his experiences as a fan mirrors so many encounters with arseholes in fandom over the years. I don't know if it's that he's simultaneously self-deprecating about this thing I'm reading him talk about to the point I can't find it fun, deprecating of those geekier than him AND at times kind of deprecating of those LESS geekier than him. I don't know if it's the fact he doesn't seem to be able to pick any real target audience for the book. (It's not "proper geeks", whatever those are- he distances himself from those. It's not non-fans or '"casuals", because why would they pick up this niche book? It's not people who like analysis of pop culture; he couldn't analyse how to escape a wet paper bag.)
The book's just basically nothing. It's a load of air where there ought to be words! And sentences! And actual, real thoughts! It's some anecdotes about the life of a guy I have never met that he tries and fails to connect to Doctor Who while seeming unerringly embarrassed about, I dunno, liking a sci-fi show, I guess. He talks about watching episodes of the series with his wife. (His wife, admittedly, seems pretty funny, and if there's a book here, surely it's in the idea of putting pop cultural icons to the test by showing them to someone with no real close familiarity.) Nothing of note is really discussed. And then I got that weird, unpleasant vibe that just put me off it altogether.
There's shedloads of books like these around if you know where to look; people who have noticed the 'trend' of giving book deals to people for their watching of shows, or reading of books, whatever it is, entertainingly. Trouble is, the best of sites tend to include people who look deceptively casual about their consumption, but are actually a) much better writing than most can manage and b) usually try to focus on at least some actual analysis of the show.
I guess it's just- I can see wanting to read a book that details something a person loves in a joyful (and perhaps critical) light, using their own experiences to personalize it. What I don't get is how that turns into 'someone by their own admission feeling kinda bad about liking the show, passive aggressively whining about other fans and mostly trying to justify talking about their life like I really care that much'.
So please, can we stop giving blogs books when they're probably just fine as blogs?
Read
August 1, 2018This is more than a book about a man coaxing his wife to watch all of the classic episodes of his beloved Doctor Who tv show, and you do not have to have knowledge of the classic show to enjoy this book. It is also a loving ode to Perryman's wife and their relationship. It reads more like a memoir than just a book adapted from a cherished genre blog. Read it. Thanks to the author for giving me an advanced copy of this book to read in exchange for my honest review.
February 8, 2014
A little salve for my geek soul: Neil Perryman’s Adventures with the Wife in Space deals with the author’s mission to force his wife Sue to watch every episode of classic Doctor Who — in other words, from the BBC sci-fi series’ birth with William Hartnell to its temporary demise with Sylvester McCoy. It helps if you know what they’re talking about, or else discussions of Daleks, Yeti, Zygons, and the sartorial selections inflicted on Sixth Doctor Colin Baker may well go over your head, but it’s funny and loving as a portrait both of fandom and marriage, even if, by the end, Perryman concludes that no small number of Doctor Who episodes just aren’t very good. It’s that plot/character thing again, and something else: no matter how bad the episodes, those of us who were, and are, devoted to the series came back because we got to spend time with the Doctor in the Tardis.
October 31, 2013
Disclaimer! I was given an ARC from Faber & Faber via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and impartial review. I was absolutely delighted to get to read it before the release date (it's out now), but the husband and I had already pre-ordered a copy, which will hopefully be arriving in the post any day now.
Like Sue Perryman, I too am the wife of a life-long Doctor Who fan. While now the show is so huge and popular that even Norwegian tabloids write stories speculating on the identity of the new Doctor, and now about the upcoming 50th anniversary special, and the teenagers I teach discuss the relative merits of Matt Smith, David Tennant, Amy, Rory, Rose and Donna, I had never heard of the show, until I went to university in Scotland. Several of my friends there liked it, and showed me episodes on grainy VHS-tapes. I didn't think it was bad, as such, but it was no Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Babylon 5.
Then I met my husband. We met, while still at St. Andrews, in 2000. Long before the show was relaunched so successfully in 2005. I didn't really hear all that much about the show until it was coming back, and the husband was full of anticipation and dread. What if it was as bad as the TV movie? When my husband (then still the boyfriend) moved to Norway to live with me in 2005, the first few episodes had aired. He was very enthusiastic and wanted me to watch them with him. I was sceptical, but quickly came around and am now a big fan of the newer series. The husband, like Neil and Sue, has watched every single episode of the old series, even the reconstructed lost ones, and literally cried tears of joy when the news broke about nine missing episodes being found and reconstructed. He can, and will, go on at great length about the show, and which episodes he'd recommend you start with and which episodes of the various Doctors are his favourites and so forth. He's shown me a wide selection of episodes of the classic series, and I've sat, half watching out of the corner of my eye while busy doing other things, countless others.
So when Neil launched the blog, the husband, already a fan of Neil's podcast work with Tachyon TV, started reading it aloud to me, as Neil and Sue watched their way through the series. He'd usually focus on their summaries of stories I'd seen, but I also got to experience some of the stories first through the eyes of the Perrymans. So when the book was announced, it was an obvious pre-order for us. I knew it was probably going to be entertaining, because the writing on the blog was usually very funny. I had no idea how laugh-out-loud hilarious much of it would be, though, and how sweet and honest and touching reading about young Neil's love for the show, and later his love for his wife. Obviously, having followed the blog, I felt like I knew a bit about them, but I suspect the book will be a great read to people who've never heard of the blog, or Neil Perryman, or frankly, don't know that much about Doctor Who. It's not so much a book about a nerdy TV show, as much as the story of a devoted fan of that show, and anyone who's really been a fan of something, should be able to identify at least partly with Neil and appreciate this book.
Even if you're not a passionate fan of something, but just share your life with one, because you will recognise your loved one in Neil's story of himself. I'm a big fan of Doctor Who, and am very invested in it being good, but it hasn't been an important part of my life since I was a child, and I can never know what it's like to have the same favourite show when you're seven as when you're in your thirties (or even older), and to have lived for years when it was off the air, and then seeing it resurrected to huge international popularity and acclaim, becoming the BBC's flagship and loved by new generations. My husband has that, and still gets a bewildered happy look when I talk about my pupils discussing the show on their lunch break. What I'm trying to boil this down to is: the book is great! I had high expectations of it, because the blog is also very good, but it surpassed all of them. I laughed, I was moved to hints of tears in parts of it, and if we hadn't already pre-ordered a copy, the husband and I would do so immediately after both finishing the ARC. I will buy it as gifts for several of our friends. That's how much I liked it, and I will recommend it to anyone who will listen.
Like Sue Perryman, I too am the wife of a life-long Doctor Who fan. While now the show is so huge and popular that even Norwegian tabloids write stories speculating on the identity of the new Doctor, and now about the upcoming 50th anniversary special, and the teenagers I teach discuss the relative merits of Matt Smith, David Tennant, Amy, Rory, Rose and Donna, I had never heard of the show, until I went to university in Scotland. Several of my friends there liked it, and showed me episodes on grainy VHS-tapes. I didn't think it was bad, as such, but it was no Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Babylon 5.
Then I met my husband. We met, while still at St. Andrews, in 2000. Long before the show was relaunched so successfully in 2005. I didn't really hear all that much about the show until it was coming back, and the husband was full of anticipation and dread. What if it was as bad as the TV movie? When my husband (then still the boyfriend) moved to Norway to live with me in 2005, the first few episodes had aired. He was very enthusiastic and wanted me to watch them with him. I was sceptical, but quickly came around and am now a big fan of the newer series. The husband, like Neil and Sue, has watched every single episode of the old series, even the reconstructed lost ones, and literally cried tears of joy when the news broke about nine missing episodes being found and reconstructed. He can, and will, go on at great length about the show, and which episodes he'd recommend you start with and which episodes of the various Doctors are his favourites and so forth. He's shown me a wide selection of episodes of the classic series, and I've sat, half watching out of the corner of my eye while busy doing other things, countless others.
So when Neil launched the blog, the husband, already a fan of Neil's podcast work with Tachyon TV, started reading it aloud to me, as Neil and Sue watched their way through the series. He'd usually focus on their summaries of stories I'd seen, but I also got to experience some of the stories first through the eyes of the Perrymans. So when the book was announced, it was an obvious pre-order for us. I knew it was probably going to be entertaining, because the writing on the blog was usually very funny. I had no idea how laugh-out-loud hilarious much of it would be, though, and how sweet and honest and touching reading about young Neil's love for the show, and later his love for his wife. Obviously, having followed the blog, I felt like I knew a bit about them, but I suspect the book will be a great read to people who've never heard of the blog, or Neil Perryman, or frankly, don't know that much about Doctor Who. It's not so much a book about a nerdy TV show, as much as the story of a devoted fan of that show, and anyone who's really been a fan of something, should be able to identify at least partly with Neil and appreciate this book.
Even if you're not a passionate fan of something, but just share your life with one, because you will recognise your loved one in Neil's story of himself. I'm a big fan of Doctor Who, and am very invested in it being good, but it hasn't been an important part of my life since I was a child, and I can never know what it's like to have the same favourite show when you're seven as when you're in your thirties (or even older), and to have lived for years when it was off the air, and then seeing it resurrected to huge international popularity and acclaim, becoming the BBC's flagship and loved by new generations. My husband has that, and still gets a bewildered happy look when I talk about my pupils discussing the show on their lunch break. What I'm trying to boil this down to is: the book is great! I had high expectations of it, because the blog is also very good, but it surpassed all of them. I laughed, I was moved to hints of tears in parts of it, and if we hadn't already pre-ordered a copy, the husband and I would do so immediately after both finishing the ARC. I will buy it as gifts for several of our friends. That's how much I liked it, and I will recommend it to anyone who will listen.
June 15, 2025
I met Neil Perryman once, hanging around with one of his former students at the big 40th anniversary Doctor Who bash in London. I knew his name from various online Who forums. I’d love to claim the experience was an earth-shattering meeting of minds but I’d be shocked if he even vaguely remembered it. Anyway, I knew him well enough to follow the Tachyon TV blog and was there towards the start of what seemed to be a majestically insane project, to force his not-we partner Sue to watch every episode of the original run of Doctor Who. I fully expected a decree nisi to be served by the end of the Hartnell era, let alone before the torturous longeurs that constitute The Monster Of Peladon.
Instead it ended up gradually becoming a minor wonder. Most long-term fans come ready conditioned with their own army of prejudices – we know the stories, where every gag and flaw is and what we think about every story. This wasn’t the case here, this was Who through fresh and revealing eyes, a reminder of the innocence our obsession cost us. And Sue wasn’t burdened by ridiculous notions like diplomacy but called it just as she saw it, with Neil playing the hapless comic fan foil set things up perfectly. It’s almost a classic sitcom set-up, but with added Who. Check the blog now and you’ll see an impressive roll call of the great and good of Doctor Who – the likes of Steven Moffat were known to pop up every now and again.
This book is the background to the blog – how Neil became a fan, how Neil and Sue met and their subsequent life. It’s a very modern tale of what it’s like as a fan living with a norm – the outsider perspective on ‘norms’ where you can see how fannish behaviour’s quite sane by fan logic. Maybe, given decades of fannish obsessiveness I should worry given how much I constantly empathised with Neil. I suspect Sue would certainly be entertainingly blunt in confirming that. In a lot of ways we fans simply don’t grow up, we retain a laserlike focus on our childhood favourites and our family, friends and partners simply indulge us, put up with our strange quirks. It’s good to know we’re not alone in that, and it’s good for our other halves to know that they’re not the only ones who have to put up with our obsession.
Instead it ended up gradually becoming a minor wonder. Most long-term fans come ready conditioned with their own army of prejudices – we know the stories, where every gag and flaw is and what we think about every story. This wasn’t the case here, this was Who through fresh and revealing eyes, a reminder of the innocence our obsession cost us. And Sue wasn’t burdened by ridiculous notions like diplomacy but called it just as she saw it, with Neil playing the hapless comic fan foil set things up perfectly. It’s almost a classic sitcom set-up, but with added Who. Check the blog now and you’ll see an impressive roll call of the great and good of Doctor Who – the likes of Steven Moffat were known to pop up every now and again.
This book is the background to the blog – how Neil became a fan, how Neil and Sue met and their subsequent life. It’s a very modern tale of what it’s like as a fan living with a norm – the outsider perspective on ‘norms’ where you can see how fannish behaviour’s quite sane by fan logic. Maybe, given decades of fannish obsessiveness I should worry given how much I constantly empathised with Neil. I suspect Sue would certainly be entertainingly blunt in confirming that. In a lot of ways we fans simply don’t grow up, we retain a laserlike focus on our childhood favourites and our family, friends and partners simply indulge us, put up with our strange quirks. It’s good to know we’re not alone in that, and it’s good for our other halves to know that they’re not the only ones who have to put up with our obsession.
January 18, 2023
This book was brilliant! Had me in stitches. I love Sues views on all of the Doctor Who programs and how brutally honest she is on them. I also like Neil’s passion for Doctor Who and what it’s brought to him over the years. Being a big Doctor Who fan myself (although not sure I can quite call myself a Whovian quite yet) I can really relate to what they say, there thoughts and feelings on the different Time Lords. Makes me want to watch as many as I can from start to finish. Will try and convince my husband lol
September 9, 2019
Being married to a Dr Who aficionado and having more than a passing appreciation for at least the earlier incarnations ( I was seven when the series began to grew up with it) I found this humorous and light documentation of the Perrymans Dr Ho watching challenge journal amusing and weirdly satisfying. Even made me want to revisit some golden oldies.... No problem there... Husbands library is still intact..... Just need to find some time!!! Oh wait ... Dr Who is a time lord so maybe I should just check in with him/her!!!!
Only one problem .....locating the TARDIS!
Only one problem .....locating the TARDIS!
November 28, 2018
This is the book about (not the book of) the hilarious blog in which a Doctor Who fan persuades his wife to watch the whole of the classic series, and blogs her reactions.
The book's laugh-out-loud funny too, and quite poignant in places. Probably only for people who like Doctor Who at least a little bit, but mostly for people who like Neil and Sue, and it'd be hard not to.
The book's laugh-out-loud funny too, and quite poignant in places. Probably only for people who like Doctor Who at least a little bit, but mostly for people who like Neil and Sue, and it'd be hard not to.
November 18, 2018
now i'm thinking i should make my sister watch all the old episodes...... mwahahahaa
August 7, 2020
I haven't seen a single episode of Doctor Who but I really enjoyed this book. I love it when couples share their hobbies with each other and this book was a perfect example of that!
July 27, 2016
Opening lines: ‘…This story begins in a static caravan that was not, I can promise you, bigger on the inside …’
We enjoy watching Doctor Who in our family but it is not necessarily compulsory watching – I wouldn’t go out of my way to go to a convention or make a bet with my spouse to watch every single episode ever made and blog about it as we went. Neil Perryman did. He says he is not a real whovian – but when compared to my family I think he might be.
The title ADVENTURES WITH THE WIFE IN SPACE comes from Neil Perryman's blog of the same title. Neil managed to convince his wife Sue to watch all of the classic Doctor Who episodes with him, while blogging about the experience and her reactions to each episode so for almost 3 years the blog followed the progress through the all the available Doctor Who episodes. Now I have to confess I did keep an eye on the blog from time to time and enjoyed it and wondered how on earth the snappy repartee between Sue and her husband was going to come over in print form. However, there is much more to the book than just rehashing the watching and commenting on the episodes – as amusing as they were. Instead Neil has padded it out with his life story, his childhood, his teens, meeting Sue and becoming her husband and their parenting adventures. He also links these stories into how his enjoyment of Doctor Who played in his life. So these extra stories pad out the necessary duplication of the blog posts and add a dimension that is not found on the blog – the human element.
However, I found that the focus of the book meandered a bit and I think this was because the two main elements, the blog and real life, didn’t want to be neatly blending into a cohesive unit. While the Doctor Who timeline went forwards the reminiscing was all over the place and got a little confusing. There was humour – mostly with Sue’s comments on the show - and I really enjoyed them, agreeing with many of them, but as a whole unit the book just didn’t gel enough to be a wow read for me. I would certainly recommend the book for any Doctor Who fan as there is a wealth of knowledge about the series contained within its pages.
Oh – and I don’t like daleks either – never have, never will.
We enjoy watching Doctor Who in our family but it is not necessarily compulsory watching – I wouldn’t go out of my way to go to a convention or make a bet with my spouse to watch every single episode ever made and blog about it as we went. Neil Perryman did. He says he is not a real whovian – but when compared to my family I think he might be.
The title ADVENTURES WITH THE WIFE IN SPACE comes from Neil Perryman's blog of the same title. Neil managed to convince his wife Sue to watch all of the classic Doctor Who episodes with him, while blogging about the experience and her reactions to each episode so for almost 3 years the blog followed the progress through the all the available Doctor Who episodes. Now I have to confess I did keep an eye on the blog from time to time and enjoyed it and wondered how on earth the snappy repartee between Sue and her husband was going to come over in print form. However, there is much more to the book than just rehashing the watching and commenting on the episodes – as amusing as they were. Instead Neil has padded it out with his life story, his childhood, his teens, meeting Sue and becoming her husband and their parenting adventures. He also links these stories into how his enjoyment of Doctor Who played in his life. So these extra stories pad out the necessary duplication of the blog posts and add a dimension that is not found on the blog – the human element.
However, I found that the focus of the book meandered a bit and I think this was because the two main elements, the blog and real life, didn’t want to be neatly blending into a cohesive unit. While the Doctor Who timeline went forwards the reminiscing was all over the place and got a little confusing. There was humour – mostly with Sue’s comments on the show - and I really enjoyed them, agreeing with many of them, but as a whole unit the book just didn’t gel enough to be a wow read for me. I would certainly recommend the book for any Doctor Who fan as there is a wealth of knowledge about the series contained within its pages.
Oh – and I don’t like daleks either – never have, never will.
January 15, 2015
Okay so to be honest from the offset I actually know Sue and have come across Neil during my time at Sunderland University. I've known about this book for sometime and have come to know Sue as firstly a teacher and then colleague.
I doubt I'll be giving this book a very polished review because a) it's been a very long time since I poised pen over paper (or thumb over keypad in this case) to craft any sort of review of anything and b) I'm completely biased towards the author and its subject.
I purchased this last year and it's been sitting on my bookshelf ever since just begging me to have the spare moment to read it and finally this afternoon, I did such that. Actually I picked up the book at around 1pm and didn't put it down until I finished the back cover at nearly 3 o'clock.
What I found was an endearing account of one man's experience of Doctor Who from his early childhood, right up until adulthood. Not only has the author written a very light-hearted and completely amusing mini-memoir of his life so far but he's also spoken with such clarity of his wife on the page whilst exploring their experiment.
If you haven't done your research about their blog then I forgive you for being confused and as for the recent passage I read of a reviewer just not getting the whole style of the book... Well just take a step back and accept the book for what it is.
Did I feel enlightened and did the book change my life? Well not really, it was just lovely trip down memory lane for me hearing first hand some of the things I've experienced whilst at Sunderland and knowing these people. Did it make me laugh and did I happily lose a good portion of my afternoon to an easy read? Hell yes. I did learn a thing or two but really I very happily fell into the world of funny comments and phrases that really just cheered me up.
Basically this book is a beautiful companion piece to the blog and a glimpse into how two people have experienced the oddities of achieving some internet fame within their lives.
If you like Doctor Who and want a funny little read about the older series then the blog and this book is for you!
I doubt I'll be giving this book a very polished review because a) it's been a very long time since I poised pen over paper (or thumb over keypad in this case) to craft any sort of review of anything and b) I'm completely biased towards the author and its subject.
I purchased this last year and it's been sitting on my bookshelf ever since just begging me to have the spare moment to read it and finally this afternoon, I did such that. Actually I picked up the book at around 1pm and didn't put it down until I finished the back cover at nearly 3 o'clock.
What I found was an endearing account of one man's experience of Doctor Who from his early childhood, right up until adulthood. Not only has the author written a very light-hearted and completely amusing mini-memoir of his life so far but he's also spoken with such clarity of his wife on the page whilst exploring their experiment.
If you haven't done your research about their blog then I forgive you for being confused and as for the recent passage I read of a reviewer just not getting the whole style of the book... Well just take a step back and accept the book for what it is.
Did I feel enlightened and did the book change my life? Well not really, it was just lovely trip down memory lane for me hearing first hand some of the things I've experienced whilst at Sunderland and knowing these people. Did it make me laugh and did I happily lose a good portion of my afternoon to an easy read? Hell yes. I did learn a thing or two but really I very happily fell into the world of funny comments and phrases that really just cheered me up.
Basically this book is a beautiful companion piece to the blog and a glimpse into how two people have experienced the oddities of achieving some internet fame within their lives.
If you like Doctor Who and want a funny little read about the older series then the blog and this book is for you!
June 24, 2015
I read this book in two days, breezing through it. It's a bit of a strange book: a bit of a memoir of a passionate fan, and the series he is a fan of. Even more: of his marriage. And as a description of the joy of being a geek, the comfort and hope fiction can give one growing up, and the adventure of striking out and beginning a relationship with someone who is genuinely different than you, it cam close to home for me. I liked the humor in here, but also the self-depricating self-disclosure on display here. I myself have only seen a couple of episodes of old Doctor Who (my knowledge comes mainly from reading SFX), but I am a fan myself of several series of comicbooks, Star Trek and Lord of the Rings, SF and dinosaurs, aquariums and cold blooded animals in general. And I have known quite a feel people rolling their eyes at my enthusiasm growing up, e.g. when I started to describe the courting behaviour of my mouth breeding dwarf cichlids in detail. The main discovery the author makes is that doing something together with his wife improved their marriage - it was not about Doctor Who, it was about relationship (which is one thing these enthousiasms are about), and engaging on a journey together. And his wife, Sue, is clearly in love with him, sticking to the plan and engaging with his world. That being said, she never becomes a real fan. but that's not the intention. Relationship is what counts. I count myself lucky to have found a spouse who is genuinely interested in the things I am passionate about (and I in her enthusiasm for e.g. 19th century literature), and encourages me to start a fourth fish tank in the living room. But just like the author: if I had to choose, I'd choose her. Sharing my live with her is a bigger adventure than Lord of the Rings, and much more satisfying!
March 22, 2014
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2281787.html[return][return]One never knows, with a book based on a blog, if it's going to be just a recycling of the best pieces, perhaps augmented a little, or something a bit different. This is something a bit different. As many fans know, Perryman persuaded his wife Sue to watch every single episode of Old Who first shown from 1963 to 1996, and then blogged her distinctly non-fannish reactions. Watching Old Who from beginning to end is something that others have done (myself included) but it is of course fascinating to see what someone unburdened by fan lore makes of it. Her three 10/10 stories, incidentally, were Spearhead from Space, The Seeds of Doom and City of Death, and her lowest rating, -1/10, was for Time and the Rani.[return][return]But the book has surprisingly little of the blog in it; it's the story of Neil's life, and his life with Sue, and his life with Doctor Who, and it's a moving tale of growing up in the late twentieth century and living in the early twenty-first, and making sense of the world through a show that started the day after Kennedy was shot, ended just after the Berlin Wall fell and then started again in 2005. And what is nice is that the project, which started as his request of Sue, became for her a matter of pride - to get through the next story, and the next, and the next. (And there are a lot of them.) It's a lovely book, and anyone who knows a Doctor Who fan will enjoy it.
November 14, 2016
I am so glad I chose to read this book just now. I thoroughly enjoyed it, laughed out loud and found it a sweet but unsentimental and down to earth love story. At a difficult, worrying time (matters big and small) it was a blessing.
I was interested in the book in the first place because it seemed not a million miles from my own situation being compelled to listen to Doctor Who audiobooks due to my son's interests. I have to say that Neil's wife Sue seems to have a better grasp of what is going on but she has the benefit of visuals and is not trying to drive at the same time.
The book relates Neil growing up in Coventry and how he engaged with the series over that time, and how he came to meet Sue. And it is just lovely.... and poignant. It's only a brief section where he describes his parents separation and divorce and I don't think I will ever forget it. His descriptions of entering the life of Sue's four year old daughter would make useful reading for anyone contemplating a 'blended' family and a jolly good laugh for all.
There is potential for something like this to be extremely dreary so the enjoyment is down to the quality of the writing (although Sue gives Neil some fine source material)
I was interested in the book in the first place because it seemed not a million miles from my own situation being compelled to listen to Doctor Who audiobooks due to my son's interests. I have to say that Neil's wife Sue seems to have a better grasp of what is going on but she has the benefit of visuals and is not trying to drive at the same time.
The book relates Neil growing up in Coventry and how he engaged with the series over that time, and how he came to meet Sue. And it is just lovely.... and poignant. It's only a brief section where he describes his parents separation and divorce and I don't think I will ever forget it. His descriptions of entering the life of Sue's four year old daughter would make useful reading for anyone contemplating a 'blended' family and a jolly good laugh for all.
There is potential for something like this to be extremely dreary so the enjoyment is down to the quality of the writing (although Sue gives Neil some fine source material)
April 30, 2014
I adore "The Adventures with the Wife in Space" blog and I enjoy Sue's insights about classic Doctor Who (I even go back and re-read entries from time to time). The whole thing was a major highlight of the 50th Anniversary year (and it inspired me to write about some of my favorite stories that fandom doesn't pay much mind to). So, when I heard Neil and Sue (mostly Neil) were writing a book, I was excited. And it didn't disappoint! This book basically describes how the blog came to be by first detailing how Neil and Sue met and some of the hilarious and heartwarming stories from their lives together and how the experiment got started (they're ridiculously adorable together - if I ever get married and my marriage is half as endearing as theirs is, I'd feel like I'd done pretty good for myself). There's a lot of great humor (Whomor?) and heart behind all the fannish glee. I wholeheartedly thank Neil and Sue for letting us all into a part of their private family life while they undertook this ambitious experiment!
Read the Wife in Space blog (wifeinspace.com), then read this book. Whether it not you're a fan of Doctor Who, it's a treat.
Read the Wife in Space blog (wifeinspace.com), then read this book. Whether it not you're a fan of Doctor Who, it's a treat.
July 27, 2019
If there were a scale that measured how much of a Whovian you are, where 1 is a Trekkie and 10 is someone who names their firstborn Adric, I'd be a 7, maybe even a 7.5. If the term Whovian didn't make me pickle with embarrassment, I would probably be an 8.
I, however, am probably a 2.5, and I kind of want my money and my 90 minutes back. I'm sure this worked as a blog, but I'm not seeing its point as a book, except to prove that really anyone can cash in their 15 minutes of fame. Maybe I should start recording my rants, who knows.
December 16, 2022
It’s good, and frequently very good, but I really was hoping for something a lot better. Sue is as wonderful as ever, but a lot of Perryman’s stories are a little dull and rather than the cross between Who neediness and Dave Gormanesque challenge we should have got, we instead get something close to those books where a comedian talks about how much they loved the seventies and chopper bikes etc. It just needed something extra to really take flight, because as it is it just putters along pleasantly in a rather less inspiring lower gear
September 20, 2014
Light, breezy, informative, fun and inspiring - more than anything it made me want to a) watch loads more classic Who and, more importantly, b) find some kind of large fun project to embark on. One might consider watching all the classic Who back-to-back a waste of time, but ultimately it is still something that Perryman aimed for, and stuck with, and brought him closer together with his wife. THAT's inspiring.
April 21, 2015
Really liked this one! It was delightfully nerdy, took fandom with a grain of salt, and let me think about Doctor Who even though the last season has been over for a little while and the next one is still forthcoming. Lots of giggles. Also a cute idea and inspiration for people in marriages where the partners' hobbies are far from intersecting: there's still hope you can coerce your spouse into liking what you like!
May 24, 2016
(Mainly posting this for Caroline, because she wanted to read this after me.)
Since you and I have never watched really any classic Doctor Who, I was legit googling pictures and references and plots the whole time. Which is fine because I love DW. Would probably have been a little more invested if I HAD watched the classic series, but their relationship is still adorable and I love their dynamic. Some conversations sound exactly like you and me and Austin
Since you and I have never watched really any classic Doctor Who, I was legit googling pictures and references and plots the whole time. Which is fine because I love DW. Would probably have been a little more invested if I HAD watched the classic series, but their relationship is still adorable and I love their dynamic. Some conversations sound exactly like you and me and Austin
December 1, 2013
Actually 4.5 stars, but what the hell. This isn't the best book about Doctor Who that I've ever read, but that's because it's not really a book about Doctor Who. It's a love story, and a delightfully frank one, that happens to feature an awful lot of Doctor Who. Very funny, too.
June 15, 2015
A sweet meander through old Doctor Who.
May 31, 2021
It's an interesting moment in life when you realise you are a Fan of a television show.
Sure, I've been a fan of things and stuff forever. Bands? Sorted. A football team? Sadly. But a TV show? How is that possible?
But it is.
And like Neil, the moment you find this out can be quite an eye-opener (in my case, when the news came out that Doctor Who was coming back - being excited about The Movie didn't even tip me off).
In an only vaguely related note, the collector gene can lay dormant for years. But I digress...
One of the great thing about being a fan can be other fans. Sharing in their joy, their excitement, their journey.
And that's what this book is. It's a Fan's journey.
Reading about Neil's early years watching Pertwee, Baker et al reawakened my own love of the classic era – and I type that as someone who gets the new BluRay boxsets as soon as they are released.
His passion, his pain, it all comes flowing off the page.
What?
Oh there's always pain, trust me.
But that's only a third of the fun of this book.
Another third is how he shared this joy with Sue, the titular wife (if she ever writes her autobiography, this is the title and I want a cut). Going on the journey with both of them, and seeing the episodes through a fresh perspective, just adds to my own fandom, my own pleasure.
And my own pain.
Because the other third of this book isn't about The Doctor at all. It's about the happy couple, about their relationship, and how they bonded by just watching A Thing together.
The Thing didn't even really matter. It was the Together thing that really mattered.
And that just puts the cherry on the Dalek cake.
To see two people enjoying something together is one of life's rich, rare pleasures.
And to have it unfold on the pages before you is just wonderful.
PS: In a rare move, I found myself reading some Goodreads reviews before I started on Adventures, and in total keeping with Who Fandom some of them were just brilliant. One didn't get - or like - the interjections from Sue (these make the book), another said the book was just a reprinting of the blog (it's not) and shouldn't have even been published.
If there's one thing Who Fans can agree on, it's that their opinion matters above all else...
PPS: I didn't even know about Neil's blog until I found this book. It's amazing what you don't find on the internet.
Sure, I've been a fan of things and stuff forever. Bands? Sorted. A football team? Sadly. But a TV show? How is that possible?
But it is.
And like Neil, the moment you find this out can be quite an eye-opener (in my case, when the news came out that Doctor Who was coming back - being excited about The Movie didn't even tip me off).
In an only vaguely related note, the collector gene can lay dormant for years. But I digress...
One of the great thing about being a fan can be other fans. Sharing in their joy, their excitement, their journey.
And that's what this book is. It's a Fan's journey.
Reading about Neil's early years watching Pertwee, Baker et al reawakened my own love of the classic era – and I type that as someone who gets the new BluRay boxsets as soon as they are released.
His passion, his pain, it all comes flowing off the page.
What?
Oh there's always pain, trust me.
But that's only a third of the fun of this book.
Another third is how he shared this joy with Sue, the titular wife (if she ever writes her autobiography, this is the title and I want a cut). Going on the journey with both of them, and seeing the episodes through a fresh perspective, just adds to my own fandom, my own pleasure.
And my own pain.
Because the other third of this book isn't about The Doctor at all. It's about the happy couple, about their relationship, and how they bonded by just watching A Thing together.
The Thing didn't even really matter. It was the Together thing that really mattered.
And that just puts the cherry on the Dalek cake.
To see two people enjoying something together is one of life's rich, rare pleasures.
And to have it unfold on the pages before you is just wonderful.
PS: In a rare move, I found myself reading some Goodreads reviews before I started on Adventures, and in total keeping with Who Fandom some of them were just brilliant. One didn't get - or like - the interjections from Sue (these make the book), another said the book was just a reprinting of the blog (it's not) and shouldn't have even been published.
If there's one thing Who Fans can agree on, it's that their opinion matters above all else...
PPS: I didn't even know about Neil's blog until I found this book. It's amazing what you don't find on the internet.
May 12, 2017
If I could give the first half of the book a different score to the second half, it would have been 2 stars for the first half and at least 4, maybe 4.5 stars for the second half. I wasn't at all interested in the various bits of autobiographical detail which made up a good 50% of this. The rest was very good though, and took me right back to my childhood, particularly the Tom Baker, Peter Davison and to some extent Sylvester McCoy parts.
I'm tempted to do something like this, but then I come to my senses and remind myself that it would probably be a really good way of inducing a deep-seated hatred for Doctor Who in myself which is something I'd never forgive myself for in the long run. And besides, I'd be more interested in a novel reading challenge or marathon. Not that I plan to do that either. Just saying though.
Having almost given up on this during the first half of the book, and then happily realising that the second half was actually the book I thought I was getting in the first place, I was eventually glad I didn't. If I could give any Doctor Who lover a piece of advice, it would be to skim(at best) the first half and then settle in for a really fun, entertaining and interesting dash back through a nostalgic, rose-tinted journey back in time, when bubble wrap and tin-foil were king and a Doctor's regeneration actually seemed like an event rather than the slap-dash, half-arsed, slip-shod excuse to indulge in unnecessary CGI it has become in recent times.
So, skip the first half for it's indulgent, and rather dull autobiographical stuff and head for the real Adventures in the second half.
First half - 2 out of 5
Second half - 4.5 out of 5
I'm tempted to do something like this, but then I come to my senses and remind myself that it would probably be a really good way of inducing a deep-seated hatred for Doctor Who in myself which is something I'd never forgive myself for in the long run. And besides, I'd be more interested in a novel reading challenge or marathon. Not that I plan to do that either. Just saying though.
Having almost given up on this during the first half of the book, and then happily realising that the second half was actually the book I thought I was getting in the first place, I was eventually glad I didn't. If I could give any Doctor Who lover a piece of advice, it would be to skim(at best) the first half and then settle in for a really fun, entertaining and interesting dash back through a nostalgic, rose-tinted journey back in time, when bubble wrap and tin-foil were king and a Doctor's regeneration actually seemed like an event rather than the slap-dash, half-arsed, slip-shod excuse to indulge in unnecessary CGI it has become in recent times.
So, skip the first half for it's indulgent, and rather dull autobiographical stuff and head for the real Adventures in the second half.
First half - 2 out of 5
Second half - 4.5 out of 5
March 3, 2018
Okay, this book has a real specific target audience, and if you're in it, you know. This is kind of a companion* to the author's entertaining blog of the same title, in which he (a lifelong fan) and his wife (not a fan, but game, and very smart and witty) watched the entire 1963–1989 run of the original Doctor Who series, and he blogged her frequently hilarious reactions, and his own, to each episode. This book fills in some of the background to the blog, but also tells stories of the author's engagement with the series at different times in his life, and basically what it comes down to is he's just a really funny writer telling funny stories, many of which involve Doctor Who. If this sounds like something you might like so far, then it almost certainly is, and if it doesn't, then it almost certainly isn't. I thought it was terrific.
Oh yes, it also isn't available in the US, as far as I can tell, and I had to special-order a copy from some Amazon seller.
*(Pun not intended, but oh how I wish it had been.)
Oh yes, it also isn't available in the US, as far as I can tell, and I had to special-order a copy from some Amazon seller.
*(Pun not intended, but oh how I wish it had been.)
March 4, 2017
Neil Perryman is a huge Doctor Who fan. His wife, Sue, is not. Perryman hits on the idea of getting his wife to watch every single episode of Doctor Who - even the ones that technically no longer exist - and recording her reactions as a 'civilian', someone who isn't immersed in the fandom, someone who doesn't visit Doctor Who websites and someone who doesn't know that Robots of Death is supposed to be really good.
The result is not this book. Instead it's a blog, to be found here. The experiment took in watching 700 episodes and 156 serials over the course of two years, accumulating half a million words in the process. It would have been cheap and easy to simply condense the blog into a book format, but fortunately Perryman doesn't do that. Instead, the book is more about the experience of being a Doctor Who fan and the love/hate relationship that inspires with the show. It's also about the relationship between someone who is a geek and SF fan and someone who is - apparently - a 'normal person'. The result is a book that works surprisingly well on number of levels. It can be read by Doctor Who fans - the author slips in a few in-jokes only they will get - as well as their spouses/children/partners, who will find themselves sympathising more with Sue and her daughter as Neil makes another doomed attempt to get them into the show. The relationship dynamics at play are quite interesting, and it is amusing to discover the things that Sue obsesses over as well (such as carpentry and house renovations).
It helps that Neil Perryman is an engaging writer, with prose skills honed by many years working on various Doctor Who websites, attending conventions and working as a university lecturer. He has a dry sense of humour and a level of self-awareness over the crazier aspects of Doctor Who fandom - which sometimes inspires him to do ill-advised things as a wince-inducing encounter with Colin Baker demonstrates - which is entertaining. Perryman knows when to explore a subject in further depth and when to briskly move on to more interesting topics. There's also occasional, Dave Gorman-ish diversions into statistics and how Sue's view of individual episodes compares to the fandom's, which could be dry but ends up being amusing (especially how Sue's least-favourite Doctor ends up providing the highest-rated episodes). Mostly, it's a book about a relationship between two people with very different interests and how they manage to bridge that divide. The cover blurb that the book may work as therapy may not be as far-out as it sounds.
Adventures with the Wife in Space (****½) is a book for Doctor Who fans and non-fans who have to put up with them. It bridges the gap between SF fans and non-fans and presents differing perspectives of fandom. It's also funny and occasionally even sweet (without ever getting twee).
The result is not this book. Instead it's a blog, to be found here. The experiment took in watching 700 episodes and 156 serials over the course of two years, accumulating half a million words in the process. It would have been cheap and easy to simply condense the blog into a book format, but fortunately Perryman doesn't do that. Instead, the book is more about the experience of being a Doctor Who fan and the love/hate relationship that inspires with the show. It's also about the relationship between someone who is a geek and SF fan and someone who is - apparently - a 'normal person'. The result is a book that works surprisingly well on number of levels. It can be read by Doctor Who fans - the author slips in a few in-jokes only they will get - as well as their spouses/children/partners, who will find themselves sympathising more with Sue and her daughter as Neil makes another doomed attempt to get them into the show. The relationship dynamics at play are quite interesting, and it is amusing to discover the things that Sue obsesses over as well (such as carpentry and house renovations).
It helps that Neil Perryman is an engaging writer, with prose skills honed by many years working on various Doctor Who websites, attending conventions and working as a university lecturer. He has a dry sense of humour and a level of self-awareness over the crazier aspects of Doctor Who fandom - which sometimes inspires him to do ill-advised things as a wince-inducing encounter with Colin Baker demonstrates - which is entertaining. Perryman knows when to explore a subject in further depth and when to briskly move on to more interesting topics. There's also occasional, Dave Gorman-ish diversions into statistics and how Sue's view of individual episodes compares to the fandom's, which could be dry but ends up being amusing (especially how Sue's least-favourite Doctor ends up providing the highest-rated episodes). Mostly, it's a book about a relationship between two people with very different interests and how they manage to bridge that divide. The cover blurb that the book may work as therapy may not be as far-out as it sounds.
Adventures with the Wife in Space (****½) is a book for Doctor Who fans and non-fans who have to put up with them. It bridges the gap between SF fans and non-fans and presents differing perspectives of fandom. It's also funny and occasionally even sweet (without ever getting twee).
September 27, 2017
I'd expected a collection from the highly entertaining blog: those are on sale at Sue Me books but this is not they. Instead, excerpts are interspersed with a book by Neil about his love of the show and wife Sue and daughter Nicol. There's the strange after-feels of having been let into intimate relationships over a long period of time. This really is less about Doctor Who than the Perrymans. It's (and I think I'm quoting here) a love letter to fandom. With all the weight and sincerity of that, and the ease and the joy, this is a very generous work. Oh, its funny too.
July 17, 2019
Reading Adventures with the Wife in Space was sometimes how I imagine Neil and Sue felt while engaging with the experiment. Sometimes it was funny, sometimes boring, and sometimes I even saw myself a 'New Who' in bits of both of them. And when it was all over, I felt like maybe I wasn't quite ready for it to end either. Whether you've read the blog or not (I haven't), if you're a fan of Who, you'll probably enjoy this endearing book.
January 17, 2024
Neil Perryman likes 'Doctor Who'. When he meets his future wife, he decides to stay over because she has cable and he can watch repeats on UK Gold. Sue is not a fan, mildly tolerating his obsession until an amazingly insane idea occurs to him: have her comment on every classic 'Doctor Who' episode ever made while experiencing it for the first time.
This is a nice book to read, as it is as much about the Perrymans' relationship as it is about their relationship with 'Doctor Who'.
This is a nice book to read, as it is as much about the Perrymans' relationship as it is about their relationship with 'Doctor Who'.
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