Tom launched the first issue of the official Doctor Who Magazine with a tour in October 1979.
Recently Tom was interviewed for the 500th issue which sees the Twelfth Doctor, Peter Capaldi, recreating Tom’s cover photo from the very first issue.
In the interview, Tom describes what Doctor Who Magazine means to him personally:
“The older you get, the deeper is your attachment to the past, because you wouldn’t dream of talking confidently about the future. All your stories, all your treasure, is in the past – it’s remembering things, whether they’re sad, or whether they’re wonderful – which is why we’re here, at the 500th edition of the magazine. Doctor Who Magazine has been very good to me, for all these years. You’ve given me such happy memories.”
Tom describes it as ‘the last interview’, remarking cheerfully “I’ll be dead quite soon”. He doesn’t mean to alarm the fans: it’s just Tom’s way of pointing out that he’s 82 and realistically there can’t be very many human years left for him! However, we can reassure fans that Tom is in extremely good health and very good spirits, largely thanks to his dog Poppy who takes him for long walks several times a day.
The 500th issue of Doctor Who Magazine, carries a double page interview with Tom and will be followed up with another edition, on sale in July, dedicated entirely to Tom and the Fourth Doctor’s era of Doctor Who.
Doctor Who Magazine was recently awarded the Guinness World Record as the world’s longest-running TV tie-in magazine.
