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This is Toby Hadoke's autobiographical piece told along the
timeline of Doctor Who history, using comedic observations
and excerpts from his teenage diaries. These include how he
coped with being bullied, why he never got the girl, and later
how being such a fan of Doctor Who helped to actually
get the girl and end up with two children that are now the
envy of every kid in the playground, all thanks to a geeky
obsession...
Moths
Ate my Doctor Who Scarf is a studio recording of Toby
Hadoke's stand up show which he originally performed at the
Manchester Comedy Festival in 2005 and was transmitted on
Radio 7 in July 2007. It is a meandering tale of how one man's
passion for a show affected and informed his life...
The
disc is part autobiography, part observational comedy and
totally funny. Toby narrates the trials and tribulations of
being a Doctor Who fan, when it was less than fashionable
with an easy eloquence, a grasp of the English language which
I'm sure he inherited from watching all those Who stories.
The monologue is broken up with a BBC announcer (James Quinn)
who, for the most part, states the bleeding obvious. It had
never occurred to me just how silly most of the Doctor
Who story titles were, especially Deadly Assassin,
wherein the assassin is er... deadly, as opposed to other
attributes an assassin might possess.
The
whole show runs for an hour, with nary a dull moment. It is
split into two parts - The Skinny Defective and That
Was the Geek That Was - though it's entertaining enough
to listen all the way through.
As well as staring Toby as himself the disc has the delightful
Louise Jameson, playing his mother, and Colin Baker popping
up in a cameo as well as book ending the show. The story is
further fleshed out with the vocal talents of Rebecca Ridgeway,
who plays Mrs Toby; Ashley Margolis who plays five different
child parts, Niall Shepard plays Toby's school yard nemesis
Kyle Spade, who must have mixed feelings about being immortalised
in a comedy show. The last two vocal talents are George Weaver
playing Louis, Toby's son and Alfie Joey filling out the remaining
male roles.
As
someone whose experiences of growing up a Doctor Who fan
were similar to Toby's it was pleasant to see that, apart
from the obvious humour to be drawn from such an experience,
Toby has also woven in poignant moments of childhood isolation,
the problems of sharing your interest with the opposite sex
and the joy of handing down your passions to your children.
The delight and pleasure which he derived from the show is
palpable and goes a long way to explaining why the show, at
times, even moved him to tears - tears which were often misunderstood.
I, personally, remember a particularly embarrassing moment
of being in a cinema crying my heart out over the death of
Spock with my date looking on with even measures of disbelief
and horror. The evening did not end well, but then sometimes
our passions run away with us.
That
said this is not a show just for a niche market, even my wife
found it funny and she normally falls asleep during anything
to do with science fiction. What we have here is a delightfully
funny trip down Toby's memory lane, which reflects many fans
experiences, wrapped up in a stand up routine which will have
you laughing out loud.
Charles
Packer
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£8.49
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£6.99
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£6.99
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