The Story So Far…

The story so far is that you don_t need to know any story so far. There_s a man who calls himself the Doctor. He travels in time and space in a wooden box that_s bigger on the inside than the outside.

That_s all you need to know.

But some of us might want to know a little more.

The Doctor is old. Impossibly old. He says he_s 900 years or so, but you have the sense that like any vain person he might be lying about his age. He changes his face a lot. When he was a younger man, he looked much older. He_s been short. Fat. Old. Young. Dashing. Crazy. Recently he even had a Northern English accent.

But who is he?

The Doctor is a Time Lord, a race of alien beings that was able to conquer the laws of physics and propel themselves backwards and forwards in time. They traveled in a machine called the TARDIS_Time and Relative Dimension In Space. The Doctor _borrowed_ such a craft from his people a long time ago and went off to explore the universe and fight monsters. But now his people are gone. Perished in a war.

What war?

A Time War. The last battle between the Time Lords and a monstrous race called the Daleks. It was a war in heaven_high above the universe_barely observed by lesser species. It resulted in the virtual destruction of both races_although survivors have emerged.

What about the Doctor?

Now just a lonely man fighting monsters. Until one day he met Rose.

Rose?

Rose Tyler, a shopgirl from London. One day the Doctor saved her from monsters and her whole world changed. She began to travel with the Doctor and his whole world changed too. They became better people from knowing each other. Rose became more confident, more intelligent, more courageous. The Doctor became more alive. They traveled around the universe through past, present and future battling monsters.

Tell us about the monsters.

Creatures from the dark places. There were plastic shop window dummies that came alive. Gaseous creatures that took over the dead. Giant aliens who zipped themselves up into human bodies. Zombies that all looked as though they were wearing gas masks. Clockwork men and werewolves. Bat-winged creatures and flesh monsters that absorbed people. And Cybermen_humans placed inside robotic shells without any souls. And of course, the Daleks. blobs of tentacled hate who travel in a metal tank, exterminating everything not like them. Eventually, they tore Rose and the Doctor apart.

What became of Rose?

The Cybermen came from a parallel world through a void and brought with them the Daleks. The two races began to war with each other on earth, until the Doctor and Rose opened the void and sucked them back in. Only Rose let go and was about to be lost to the void. She was saved, but now must live on a parallel world separated from the Doctor forever.

What about the Doctor?

Now just a lonely man fighting monsters. Again. But one day, he might find someone else.

That_s the story so far. Only, really, the story so far is that you don_t need to know any story so far. There_s a man who calls himself the Doctor. He travels in time and space in a wooden box that_s bigger on the inside than the outside.

That_s all you need to know.

Doctor Who Series 3 Begins on CBC Monday June 18 at 8pm

�2007 Graeme Burk; Doctor Who �BBC