Do you ever wonder what if the Doctor exists, and walks among us? That ‘Torchwood’ is real and the television show ‘Doctor Who’ is just an elaborate cover up ? If the answer to that is yes, ever wonder who he might be?

Well, in the grand tradition of me not wanting to discern between fact and fiction, let me tell you exactly who I think the Doctor is. Last month I told you who I thought the Sixth Doctor was in real life. This month:

The Seventh Doctor: Stephen Fry

I’m bucking my trend of choosing scientists when it comes to the Seventh Doctor, though I did think Ernst Gell-Mann or Paul Dirac have similar qualities to Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor (mostly their hair). Instead, I chose Stephen Fry, as the man is a not only an amazing mentor, but also has an exceedingly brilliant mind (oh, and a penchant for sweater vests). That first part is particularly important, as no other Doctor took on the position of mentor in quite the same way that Seventh did with Ace.

The Seventh Doctor and Ace

Suffering from Bipolar Disorder, and struggling to find his own sexuality, Stephen Fry has gone out of his way to talk about his own life in order to help others who either won’t recognize they have a problem or won’t seek help.  I’ve personally have always quasi-considered Stephen Fry to have been sort of  a guide for me, and it’s hard not to appreciate his desire to help others both intellectually and emotionally. I feel as if I’m some sort of a companion; that is, if being like a companion means never meeting the person and therefore never going on adventures with them.

Here, Fry wears a bowler, very similar to the Doctor’s own hat though a different color.

Furthermore, Fry is famous for portraying Jeeves in the adaptation of the immensely popular P.G. Wodehouse books,  ‘Jeeves and Wooster’. I bring this up because Jeeves is described in the book as someone who can “nip through space in a sort of disembodied way and assemble the parts again just where” he wants to be (“Leave it to Jeeves” as found in ‘My Man Jeeves’). Thus, as Fry has always been able to play Jeeves so convincingly, I can only assume it’s from some sort of innate knowledge of actually being the Doctor in real life.

But really, if those seem arbitrary to you, in addition to his mentoring status, he hosts a show called ‘QI’ which stands for “quite interesting”, a panel show about nearly useless –but alway interesting!– trivia. There is no topic he doesn’t have an opinion on, or some knowledge that is beyond just casual acquaintance with the subject. It honestly makes me wonder how dull us ordinary people must seem to him. But, hey, if he’s the Doctor, he loves to run around with us ordinary people, so it’s fine!

If you have any doubt, here is his thoughts on loving knowledge for the sake of loving it: