The timelord had landed. I knew this because I heard a clatter of footsteps as the Doctor and his crew descended the steps to our basement flat. David Tennant had made some effort to disguise himself by blackening his face, and his assistant had tried hard too, dressed up as a dowdy middle-aged woman. However, since they were both shepherded by a camera crew and a sound team carrying masses of equipment, they were hardly making their visit incognito.

“I am holding the prisoner in here” announced TPR, in greeting to our timelord visitor. As he unlocked the cellar I wondered what he was talking about. The Doctor, his assistant and I followed TPR through the cellar door. Right at the far end of the cellar we came face to face with the so-called “prisoner”: a full-size Dalek, bleeping mournfully in the dark.

“Excellent!” shouted the Doctor cheerily. “Do you have anything else in the house?”

Before coming inside David Tennant wiped off his make-up. He then picked me up in the hall just outside the kitchen door and planted two big kisses on each of my cheeks. I wanted to comment on his surprising height (before meeting him I had no idea that he was 6’4″) and his likeness to our friend SM, but I felt that it would be rude to do so. So instead I pointed out the rail of theatrical costumes (in reality a range of ancient fur coats from our dressing-up box) that we keep in the hall, and then took him into the kitchen where our brother-in-law RH had lined up two further surprises for our visitor. These were our silver Dalek biscuit barrel (a present from TPR’s sister S), and the sonic screw driver that AM gave to TPR at Easter. We hoped that these precious objects would help our timelord visitor feel at home.

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