A FAMILY doctor has admitted making obscene pictures of young children.

To his patients in an affluent suburb, Dr Peter Finklestone, 39, was a trusted and popular GP.

He was known for his love of Doctor Who and spent his spare time restoring old episodes of the show.

But the doctor hid a sordid secret for four years.

At Newcastle Magistrates' Court yesterday, he pleaded guilty to nine counts of making indecent images of children. The offences happened between November 1998 and October last year.

The case was adjourned for three weeks after a five-minute hearing for the preparation of reports.

As he walked from court, he rebuked photographers for taking his picture, protesting: "That isn't fair."

After the case, a Northumbria Police spokesman said: "In April, officers raided a house following information that a doctor had some indecent pictures of children.

"He was arrested and subsequently charged. He is now on the sex offenders' register."

Finklestone was commissioned by the BBC to carry out his labour of love - restoring Dr Who footage.

He spends his spare time as part of a team paid by the corporation to restore old episodes of the show, some of which had gathered dust locked away in archives for decades.

Working from a studio in his home in Gosforth, Newcastle, he restores grainy copies of the famous BBC programme to optimum quality ready for release on video.

He became a core member of the team after his tinkering with technology led him to invent VidFIRE, a process that removes jerkiness from films.

Thanks to the team, every available episode of Dr Who is expected to have been restored within a year.

In an interview before his arrest, he said: "I am almost 40. As a teenager I enjoyed the show, but for the past 20 years I have held an interest in video technology, so this gives me a chance to merge the two interests."

The video restoration company he works for, System Enterprises, in Durham, distanced itself from Finklestone last night.

A spokeswoman said: "This is nothing to do with us and we have nothing to say about him."