This Woolston Doctor Who fan has created lockdown films about living with Cystic Fibrosis

Peter Trengove makes films as a hobby and has been doing so since 1996, when he was 16.

Peter’s love for Doctor Who started in 1983. It was his dream to get inside a Dalek and control it like the operators did in the series.

His dream came true when he built a Dalek in 2003 for a film he was making at the time; Genesis of a Time Lord.

He wrote this film in 1998 and told the story of life with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) using Doctor Who.

Peter was diagnosed with CF at birth and spent his childhood in and out of hospital where he was on IV antibiotic treatment to help keep his lungs clear of mucus. However, as he got older, the effects of CF became less due to a healthy lifestyle and improved treatments brought out throughout years.

Peter wanted his recent lockdown film, Master of Deception, to raise awareness of the impact that Kaftrio has on the Cystic Fibrosis (CF) community.

The 41-year-old began taking Kaftrio in September. Since then he has noticed significant improvements to his health.

Kaftrio is a modulator tablet. When taken, it does the work of the faulty gene that causes the symptoms of CF.

The Tardis

Peter said: ‘‘Kaftrio is a medical breakthrough to being closest to a cure for CF, which is something CF researchers have been working on and trialling various treatments since the gene that causes CF was found by Geneticist Lap-Chee Tsui at the University of Toronto in August 1989, on my 10th birthday.’’

As well as a significant improvement to his lung function, Peter has noticed a vast improvement to his health such as;

• An increase in lung function from 48% to 64%, being able to digest food better resulting in a reduced dose of Creon which is used to digest the fat content of food,

• Better absorption of food, which has resulted in weight gain from 68kg to 72kg whereby he no longer requires the use of the food supplement Fortisip,

• And being able to do cardio and strength activities such as walking, gardening, running and laughing without getting out of breath or having a vigorous cough.

Peter had the idea for his recent film from talking to other CF people about Kaftrio and the effects it has had on them.

He said: ‘‘One CF friend, Chris Strand, has made video blogs about the effects of Kaftrio where he comments on how it has changed his life.

‘‘This led me to the story of Master of Deception, which tells what life would be like for the CF community had the CF gene not been discovered resulting in life saving treatments that help control the symptoms of CF.’’

Peter wanted to change the angle for his film making, so other actors could film their own footage to make a film without the need to leave their house during lockdown.

He added: ‘‘The film was made as a reminder of how life used to be before Kaftrio and what would have happened had the CF gene not been discovered, which includes the possibility of life saving treatments such as Orkambi, Symkevi and Kaftrio not being made resulting in the CF population and life expectancy remaining as low as it was prior to these treatments made since the discovery of the CF gene in 1989.

‘‘The film is an example of the importance of research needed for CF for making better treatments and hopefully one day a cure.’’

The positive feedback Peter has received from the CF community and Doctor Who fans has encouraged him to make more Doctor Who films.

The Muppet Show

Peter has already recruited one CF friend to play a part in his CF related episode, Master of Deception.

Another of Peter’s CF friends has shown interest in being in future episodes.

All four of the Doctor Who episodes made have been entered in competitions at the Altrincham Movie Makers, which has been run via Zoom meetings during the pandemic on Wednesday evenings.

Peter said: ‘‘The Doctor Who episode, COVID, came first in a competition and I've had brilliant feedback from the members about it.

‘‘They have praised how I've managed to continue making films despite limitations set by shielding and being limited on travel.’’

Peter has already started working on the next episode that follows on from his CF story line.

To watch his latest film, you can visit here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9225G5WZBsw