Gordon Bennett!
I grew up watching "Doctor Who" in--of all places--the American midwest on my local PBS station. During the '80s, "Doctor Who" had an extremely strong American following that very nearly rivaled "Star Trek"--and I do mean the original series.
I was fortunate to have been able to see episodes of all the Doctors--and grew to appreciate them all in different ways (as the Brigadier would say, "
Excellent chap...all of them").
I think "Doctor Who" had
quite an impact on me growing up--I even think some of the Doctor's personas rubbed off on me when I was impressionable, and even today I catch myself sometimes acting like different Doctors with certain expressions...
As I said, it had QUITE an impact on me...
I still have an electronic 8-inch TARDIS with a 7th Doctor action figure on my desk as a reminder of the good times I had with that show.
I'd probably collapse and regenerate out of sheer shock if the BBC finally decides--after 14 years of false alarms--to actually bring the series back for its 40th anniversary this year...