Neil Gaiman calls out ‘true Doctor Who fan’ for criticising young boy’s Dalek costume

Snooty message from angry Whovian went viral on social media

Neil Gaiman has called out a “true Doctor Who fan” who criticised a young boy’s Dalek costume.

The author, who previously wrote two episodes of the BBC series, was responding to a post by Twitter user Andy Dobson, who posted a photo of his son Rory dressed up as one of its fearsome villains.

In his reply, Dobson shared a screenshot written by an unnamed person who called Rory’s costume “crap” because he was holding the Dalek’s weapon (in the makeshift costume’s case, a whisk) in the incorrect hand.

“Stop posting photos of that kid in his crap Dalek costume – he's not even holding the energy weapon in the right hand,” the message read, adding that he was “embarrassing proper Doctor Who fans”.

The message continued: “Get off Twitter and leave fandom to the true fans who care about the show.”

Dobson shared the message alongside the adorable photo of his then 18 month-year-old son, writing: “Well, this is a charming DM from a ‘true fan’, received this morning.”

He quipped: “I do get the distress caused by the whisk being in the wrong hand – but my son was only 18mths old and is much wiser now.”

Neil Gaiman calls out ‘true Doctor Who fan’ for criticising young boy’s Dalek costume (Instagram)

American Gods and Good Omens author Gaiman shared the post to his followers, writing: “True Doctor Who Fans know you can hold the whisk in either hand. As long as you remember to say ‘Exterminate’ or something vaguely like it, you are a real Dalek.”

In response, Dobson thanked Gaiman.