Look: Father and son earn world record for 'Doctor Who' collection

Oct. 3 (UPI) -- A Chicago-area father and son earned a Guinness World Record for their collection of 7,507 pieces of Doctor Who memorabilia.

Lee Thompson said he has been a Doctor Who fan since watching the British sci-fi series on PBS when he was a child, and he introduced his son, William Thompson , to the franchise when it returned to the airwaves in 2005.

"The first episode [of the revival], just both my sister and I, we watched it, and we're like, 'Holy cow, this is amazing,'" William Thompson told KERA News . "Then my dad got excited, and then he started looking everywhere, and he got some old VHS of the original Doctor Who , and then he showed us all that. Then it just kept going."

The duo have amassed more than 21,000 items in their collection, which they dubbed The Thompson Library, and 7,507 items were approved by Guinness World Records to earn them the title for the largest collection of Doctor Who memorabilia.

The previous record-holder, British woman Lily Connors, had her collection counted at 6,641 items in 2016.

The father and son posted a video to YouTube showing their process of tallying each piece in their collection.

"We are thrilled to have broken this record," Lee Thompson said in a news release . "Our love for Doctor Who is clear in this collection, which speaks to the show's enormous impact on our lives. We are determined to honor the rich history of Doctor Who and encourage other fans to follow their interest in it."