THE thing about a shed is you don't want it taking up the whole yard, but you've got so much stuff to cram in it.

It's an age-old problem, but Earby man Matt Lunney has found the answer. He took inspiration from his favourite childhood TV show and now he's got a Tardis in his yard.

For as every Dr Who fan knows, the Tardis is "dimensionally transcendental" - bigger on the inside than on the outside.

So now 30-year-old Matt has plenty of room for all his stuff and as an added bonus he can travel through time and space whenever he feels like it.

Okay, time to come clean. It's not a real Tardis and Matt doesn't really imagine he's a Time Lord from Gallifrey. Well, not all the time.

As he puts it: "I'm a fan, but I'm not dangerous!"

Asked how he came to have the classic police box Tardis in his yard, Matt gave a much more down to earth explanation.

"I wanted a shed so we went to the DIY superstore but they were all the same and boring. I mentioned it to my father-in-law Michael Conboy, who's a joiner, and he said he'd knock one up and asked what I wanted.

"I said I'd always fancied a Tardis and he said no problem, so I did my research on the internet, he built it and I painted it."

As fans of the series know, the Tardis is Dr Who's space ship, capable of travelling through time and space. Tardis stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. It can take on the appearance and form of any object to blend in with any surroundings, but the Doctor's temperamental time machine got "stuck" in the shape of the classic police phone box.

Matt grew up peering from behind the settee to watch the latest thrilling episode of Dr Who, a series that commands a huge cult following.

Matt's favourite Doctor was the fourth one, Tom Baker (1974-81) and his favourite assistant was Romana, apart from K9, the Doctor's robotic dog.

Unlike many fans he doesn't get dressed up and attend the regular Dr Who conventions, although he once visited an exhibition in Wales.

In real life he works for Lancashire County Council's Youth and Community Service, promoting drug awareness among young people and managing the youth centre at Barrowford.

His Tardis arrived when he lived in Barnoldswick and was a big help when he moved back to Earby. "We didn't need a removal van - we just loaded everything into the Tardis, set the dial to Earby 2003 and pulled the lever.