On the eventual necessity of watching K9 And Company

It came up one night recently, I don't remember how, but there is a very limited list of classic Doctor Who that I have not seen. The Tenth Planet, the recently recovered episode of The Underwater Menace, Terror Of The Zygons and Scream Of The Shalka pretty much makes up the list. Of these all but The Underwater Menace will be out on DVD before the end of the year.

So, that's that, with The Underwater Menace (with, one hopes, animated versions of its two still-missing episodes) I'll have reached the point of having seen all of Classic Who it is possible to see. It might not be the most glamorous or worthy ending, I was rather hoping Terror Of The Zygons originally, but it does have the allure of a previously missing episode being the final one I see fresh.

But there's something else I really should watch first, as my friend pointed out the other night. I could take The Tenth Planet or Terror Of The Zygons as my moment of completion, they're classics, and I can accept The Underwater Menace as the delightful bonus it is usurping their place, however...

I cannot allow myself, completist bastard that I am, to cross this finish line with K9 And Company: A Girl's Best Friend still unwatched. I know it isn't “proper” Doctor Who, I know it isn't very good and that Philip Sandifer described it as “a murder mystery without a murder” from an author who later wrote a murder mystery without a mystery for Doctor Who itself whose scripts always pause for a quick lunch. I know all this because I am a fan and so going into these things totally fresh isn't really possible.

It is an odd psychology, I know, but since this is my favourite TV show I do want to “go out” on a high and whilst The Underwater Menace is nowhere near a classic it has a chance of impressing me (Troughton, you see) but I'm very much afraid A Girl's Best Friend does not. I'll probably do it after I wrap up the Season 21 Marathon, if nothing else it can't be a letdown after watching The Twin Dilemma.

Can it?

This has been a curiously moany couple of weeks, I do apologise. I shall try to be more positive tomorrow.