The Mad Tattoo

February 21st 2026

I am on a train back to London staring down at my ankle, where a tattoo of a Mondasian Cyberworm is shining, freshly inked onto my skin. It’s like I have a little friend with me at all times. A symbol of who I am, where I’ve come from and where I’m going. Maybe I’m insane, or maybe it’s the most sane thing I’ve ever done.

No need of emotions? Nah. I now have a constant reminder of my capacity to feel.

You’re probably wondering exactly how I got here. Should we take a trip back in time?

VWORP! - VWORP! - VWORP!

July 8th 2024

‘It’s far from being all over…’

It’s funny how art can parallel the events of your life. A chapter in my life is about to end, just like the Doctor’s in The Tenth Planet, which I have just finished watching.

I’ve seen it before, but this time I am struck by the sheer poetry of it.

The Cybermen were created to show us the importance of our ability to feel. That suffering is an integral part of what makes us human. Though the ending of a chapter can be painful, that pain is what makes the future so beautiful. If you can feel pain and loss and heartbreak, you can feel love and whimsy and euphoria.

And through the pain of regeneration, the Doctor lives on forever, while the Cybermen are defeated under the weight of their own plan (with the help of their all-feeling enemies).

‘Keep warm…’ the Doctor says before he renews himself. It is with warmth that the Doctor continues on, adventure after adventure, touching our lives and lending us hope.

What does my future hold? I could regenerate, like the Doctor. Or I could become numb like the Cybermen.

VWORP! - VWORP! - VWORP!

November 8th 2025

I had my best friend put to sleep today.

Pepsi the cat was my rock for almost fifteen years, and one of the only constants in my life. It has been a difficult year of caring for him while he’s been ill, so I am happy that he is at peace. But my world has turned black.

Chapters keep ending and plot twists keep coming.

I am struggling to keep warm.

November 10th 2025

My flatmate (and best pal) Niamh has just sent me a video on Instagram. It’s every single Doctor DRAWN AS A WORM, by a tattoo artist based in Brighton. The Doctor Whorms are silly, whimsical and fun.

God. For the first time in ages, I feel a warm tingle. Just a little one. The worms spark JOY in me!

Grief is about to make me do something insane.

November 14th 2025

I don’t know why, but I think it has to be a Cyberman worm. Because I could never pick one Doctor - I love them all. And because this tattoo will be born out of grief.

I wouldn’t be feeling such pain without fifteen years of wonderful companionship. Without all the love I’ve experienced that has made all the loss I’ve faced this year become almost unbearable.

What better reminder of my humanity? A symbol of what it would be like to lose it. Everything that makes me, me.

And I’ve been thinking about all that Doctor Who has done for me. This is a true dedication to the television show that shaped my life.

I’ve been thinking about how it all began.

VWORP! - VWORP! - VWORP!

July 2006

I am eight years old and I have just become a fully-fledged Doctor Who fan. And having recently made their New Who debut, the Cybermen are absolutely everywhere during the first few months of my fan experience. The towering metal men who want to remove all emotion and turn the human race into feeling-less silver clones.

I haven’t even been alive for a decade, but I am already well aware that life is not easy. I can’t switch my emotions off like the Cybermen, so I lose myself in the Doctor’s universe instead.

This keeps me very warm indeed.

VWORP! - VWORP! - VWORP!

December 30th 2025

I’ve just booked in to get my Cyberworm tattoo in February. A month which coincidentally lands in the 60th year of the Cybermen! And Niamh is getting a sixth Doctor worm. I’ve never been so happy to have a friend who matches my freak.

And I can picture the Mondasian Cyberworm so clearly. I’ve even got a little head canon about how he’d fit into the show’s lore, though some would argue that’s going a step too far.

The growing warmth ebbs and flows. I hope that come February 21st, I’ll have finally defrosted.

VWORP! - VWORP! - VWORP!

February 21st 2026

I am on the train to Brighton. It’s nice and early, and it is, of course, raining. I haven’t really slept. But I don’t care! It’s Cyberworm day! I’ve decided I’m going to call him Glitch!

Despite the chilly, rainy weather, I do start to feel warm inside.

The tattoo studio is the most welcoming of any I’ve been in. It’s female-run, feminist and LGBTQ+ inclusive. Our tattoo artist, Gemma, is lovely. She understands fandom, and she definitely understands how to do worms.

She’s created the most perfect little Cyberworm just for me. Nobody else in the world is going to have this tattoo.

I lay down on the cling-film wrapped bench, ankle ready for tatting. And off she goes! It’s a huge relief. There is pain, but it doesn’t hurt. I am a person who can feel, who can bruise, who can create joy and experience adventure. I’m about to have a permanent reminder of that.

When I see Glitch on my skin for the first time, I can’t stop smiling. I realise I am not only keeping my twenty-eight-year-old self warm, but also my eight-year-old self. I am overcome with joy. I think Glitch has cut through the numbness.

Minutes after the tattoo is complete, me and Rich Tipple (of Doctor Who colourising fame) serendipitously find a copy of The Tenth Planet target novel in a local vintage shop. If signs exist, this definitely feels like one.

​Like the First Doctor in his final story, I start to really feel that it is far from being all over. The pain might continue, but that just means I’m alive.

And what’s the point in being alive if you can’t be a little bit silly sometimes?