"I love the show in its own right. But then it's fascinating to see them visit areas I've researched."

Dr Marcus Harmes says the history textbooks on his shelves and the Dalek posters on his wall "mix very comfortably".

"Doctor Who is full of references to famous texts," he said.

The University of Southern Queensland academic says he's watched the program for as long as he can remember and has been known to insert Doctor Who references into lectures.

"There is always something you can use Doctor Who for in lectures. If I taught science I'd even bring him into physics lessons."

Excited for the brand new series, he has more time for the popular BBC science fiction series than some historical dramas.

"I think Doctor Who has a license for imagination," he said.

"It's different for something like The Tudors which I don't like even though my original research was in Tudor history.

"That's probably why I don't like it; because it annoys me when I see everything they get wrong while claiming to get it right."

He says Doctor Who is different.

"They aren't making claims for accuracy. They have fun with the sources they are using. It is a serious show, but the writers are very inventive," he said.

"In one episode they visited ancient Rome. You can tell the writer of that story had been reading classical Roman texts because he had all the details right about Nero.

"It's tremendous fun to watch and spot the references. Sometimes they are clever and sometimes very obvious."

From childhood to cool

"The thing you never forget about Doctor Who is the fact that, as a child, it's really scary," Dr Harmes said.

"There are episodes I can still remember and wonder why my parents let me keep watching this show."

He is happy the British sci-fi series has become "cool" in the past decade.

"Audiences have gone up and down over the years," he said.

"The rivalry I remember wasn't so much Doctor Who and Star Wars, it was Doctor Who and Star Trek.

"Trekkies had it better for a time, but I think it's pretty cool to be a Doctor Who fan now.

"People seem to be happy to be seen in their Doctor Who scarves and Tardis hoodies.

"I think people are feeling the love for the show now."