About Time, hosted by a longtime Doctor Who fan and his sceptical boyfriend, has reached its 100th episode. The duo celebrated the milestone with a live stream episode, About Time: LIVE (20 Years since ‘Rose), on YouTube, with a live commentary on that seminal opener, and it’s best enjoyed watching along with the episode.
The podcast is a journey through 21st Century Who, with occasional sidesteps into the expanded universe, including Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, and the classic series. Stephen has been a fan since 2005, but his sceptical boyfriend, Ben, had never seen the show before. But he has seen plenty now, recently reaching the 2010 finale, The Big Bang starring Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Arthur Darvill.
The podcast features discussions of the show, as well as personal anecdotes and insights into the couple’s lives. It’s a refreshing change from the usual over-enthusiastic podcast hosts, presenting a real conversation with genuinely funny moments. Ben’s unique viewpoint is consistently insightful, complemented by Stephen’s expert/geeky knowledge.
To mark the pod’s centenary, we asked Stephen Alexander for his thoughts on how his relationship with Ben and Doctor Who has changed since they set out on the journey in November 2022…
“When my boyfriend Ben and I went on our first date nearly nine years ago, he saw my ‘The Angels Have the Phone Box’ t-shirt and said with barely-masked disdain, ‘Oh, you’re not a Doctor Who fan, are you?’
“Fellow fans might have said that was reason enough to not go on a second date, and perhaps in a parallel universe, in my own Turn Left moment, that’s what happened. But in this universe we got together, and despite our many differences (including taste in TV), we are still going strong.
“Little did I think that I would ever convince Ben to watch the show, let alone start a podcast about it, but somehow in 2022 we embarked on that iconic ‘trip of a lifetime’, beginning with the 2005 episode Rose.
“Ben is not one for sitting on the fence. As we have journeyed through the series, his reactions to episodes have tended to either one extreme or the other. (His middle name might as well be ‘Marmite’.) But the scathing criticisms and the bewildered perspective of a total outsider have only served to highlight the sheer joy of when he has truly loved an episode.
“The first example of this came with Series 1’s Dalek – Ben finally described an episode as ‘wonderful’, giving it a glowing review, which made me quite emotional after waiting so long to share the show with him. As the show went on, these moments came more frequently, peaking during the Donna era of Series 4.
“Besides discussing Doctor Who though, the podcast has been an opportunity to vent our feelings on life, the universe and everything, through the many tangents we end up going down. It’s also been quite cathartic to speak candidly about our lives, sharing our ups and downs with listeners, talking about LGBT issues and allowing an insight into our own self-discoveries of being neurodivergent. So many listeners have said that they relate to and resonate with these conversations.
“Doing the podcast together, it’s been so lovely to have a joint project on the go and something that we can tangibly see is being enjoyed by listeners who email us, engage on social media, etc. It’s been tough at times to keep consistently creating episodes when we both have busy lives, but knowing that we have a listenership that enjoys what we do is very motivating.”
You can listen to About Time on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube, and follow on Instagram and Twitter.
