Hello, Insiders!
I’m Matt, which is short for my full first name, which I’ll leave you to work out for yourself (“Mattress? Is that a name?”). David, the not-me one, already wrote you a little introduction – I hope you managed to struggle through it to the end. He does his best, bless him. Now it’s my time to shine.
So buckle up as I reveal a little about the talented, brave, humble little guy I like to call me (Matt).
Oh, the email title wasn’t a lie, I’ll also be telling you about THE BEST TV SHOW EVER. We’ll get there, hold on.
I’m from the north of England, so pronounce words like ‘bath’ and ‘scone’ correctly. I have six siblings, which seems way too many, and I’ve always written stories.
Well, not always. For a good few years I couldn’t even write, I was just a dumb, stupid, adorable baby that could barely speak, let alone wrangle a pen and correctly spell the word ‘sausage’. From around the age of seven, that’s when I realised I liked making stuff up and writing it down.
I still remember my teacher telling me what a good story I’d written in class, then typing it up on the school’s only computer and pinning it to the board. Validation! Me like, me want more, me write silly stories for rest of life instead of getting proper career with stability and money and much more easily attainable goals.
So basically it’s all that teacher’s fault.
I haven’t always written prose, I’ve hopped around lots of different mediums. For a long time I thought I was going to end up a sitcom writer.
Here are some random tidbits about my glorious writing career before going all in on the Uncanny Kingdom:
- I wrote an episode of a kids’ TV show about a talking dog.
- I worked a bit on the popular British sitcom, The IT Crowd.
- I once had an agent who also represented Liam Neeson. For some reason, this agent was much more interested in helping Liam Neeson than he was me, just because he made them millions with his acting and I made them nothing with my writing.
- That’s not quite true, I made them around £200, easily enough to pay for a month or two’s food shopping, but I suppose all of that Taken 1,2, & 3 money turns an agent’s head. Disgusting.
Don’t worry, we’re almost done, but before I go I suppose I should tell you about the story world I love the most. The one I’ve watched since I was a teeny-tiny kid unable to spell ‘sausage’. The GREATEST TV SHOW OF ALL TIME. I’m pretty sure, alongside that life-wrecking teacher, it’s what made me want to tell fantastical stories myself.
Yes, it’s Quantum Leap! (see, how did I not make it as a sitcom writer, I so funny with the jokes)
Doctor Who is a show that can be anything from week to week. You might find yourself skipping from a full-on sci-fi in space story, to a horror story, to a historical, or even, yes, to something resembling an urban fantasy. Almost any genre can take up home in the TARDIS.
‘So who are your fave Doctors, Matt?’
Good question, me. I’ve got one classic and one modern. From classic Who, it’s Doctor number 7, Sylvester McCoy. From modern Who, it’s Doctor number 11, Matt Smith.
Do you like, love, or tolerate Doctor Who? Then I’d love to hear who your Doc is! Who’s your fave companion? Your fave monster, fave story, fave ANYTHING ABOUT DOCTOR WHO, TELL ME TELL ME TELL ME.
*cough*
Sorry.
Okay, really gonna wrap things up now.
It means a lot that you’ve decided to join us in the Uncanny Kingdom. We think there are a lot of really fun UF stories in the Uncanny Kingdom line already, and we’re only going to get better.
Multiple series, one magical Uncanny universe. Let’s go!
Mattress at the Uncanny Kingdom
Favourite Classic Doctor: Patrick Troughton
NuWho: Matt Smith
Companion(s) Classic: Jamie and Zoe
NuWho: Amy Pond
Favourite Story. Classic: Talons of Weng-Chiang
NuWho: The Doctor’s Wife
Monster: The Cybermen
Villain: The Delgado Master