With a new non-fiction Doctor Who book on the horizon, this time looking at the creation of Doctor Who back in 1963, Rob sits down for the third time in the life of the podcast with friend of the show and the book's author, Paul Hayes.

Pull To Open: 1962–1963: The Inside Story of How the BBC Created and Launched Doctor Who is available from Ten Acre Films on July 24, 2023.

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‘Fresh and compelling… As definitive an account of those early years as I have read’ Toby Hadoke

When Doctor Who began on Saturday November 23 1963, few could have guessed that it marked the start of perhaps the most extraordinary story in the history of BBC television drama. But there had already been another story, equally extraordinary yet unseen, leading up to the transmission of that opening episode – the creation of the series itself.

Pull to Open explores the behind-the-scenes saga of Doctor Who in 1963, when a chain of events at the BBC brought together a disparate group to launch what would become one of British TV’s best-loved and most successful programmes. It’s the story of why these events happened; the BBC creative culture into which Doctor Who was born; how television drama was made in the early 1960s; and an insight into the people who started this epic journey.

Drawing from the BBC’s written archives and new interviews with some of those who were there, including Doctor Who’s first director Waris Hussein and original co-star Carole Ann Ford, Pull to Open is a detailed and comprehensive account of the programme’s path to the screen. Immerse yourself in the world of BBC Television in 1963 and discover how a series which was almost cancelled before a single episode was shown survived to cement its place in the popular culture of a nation.

Foreword by Toby Hadoke

From time to time, the Doctor Who Show devotes an episode to a series writer. A great chance to talk about numerous diverse episodes, sometimes from totally different eras of the show, only related by the name on the script.

In today's episode... Mark Gatiss. Possibly the most 'Marmite' of all Doctor Who writers, especially in the modern era. Fans tend to love and hate Gatiss' stories... but strangely can never agree which stories are meant to go in which column!

Stories covered in this episode include:

The Unquiet Dead

Plus a number of 'extras' including Gatiss' New Adventure novels, Nightshade, and St. Anthony's Fire, and the 50th anniversary special, An Adventure in Space and Time.

Before then we also talk some recent Doctor Who news, including new cast members for the upcoming Ncuti Gatwa era; Davo's wife has written a book; and are there some missing episodes materialising from the ether in time for the 60th?

Tune in, drop out, and contact us anytime, [email protected]

A new month means a new LIST MAKERS episode!

This time, we have the music we've enjoyed the most in Doctor Who over the years.

If you’ve never heard a List Makers episode before, these are 20m chats based around making a list related to a Doctor Who topic and discussing our similarities, differences, and whatever else comes up during the chat!

Suggestions for future lists to be drawn from The Hat of Rassilon are welcome; get in touch!

Twitter, Facebook or email us old-school style at [email protected]

On May 13, 2023, our Dave travelled up to Sydney to attend the Sophie Aldred fan event, run by our fellow Antipodean podcasters, The Sirens of Audio.

In addition to being there to support the return of small, fan-run events in this country, Dave was also tasked by the hosts to conduct an on-stage interview with Doctor Who author, Jon Blum. This was originally to be a joint interview with Jon and his wife, the celebrated Doctor Who author, Kate Orman, however Kate was unable to attend on the day.

This podcast is a half-hour discussion between Rob and Dave about the day in general, followed by about half an hour of audio from the Jon Blum chat. As we mention on the podcast, the audio of the Blum interview isn't up to our usual podcast standards, but we're sure you'd rather hear a version of the chat than nothing at all, so we include it here.

Enjoy!

Tweet us, Facebook us or email us at [email protected]

We threw a vote out there on Twitter for which season would like us to discuss on the next episode, from a list of four options. The results were:

Season 26 (McCoy) 34.1%

So here we are, tonight, to discuss Season 26, comprising:

Battlefield

Before then, of course, we also talk some recent Doctor Who news, including the ongoing death of Doctor Who on physical media in Australia, and the book the Frazer Hines has always had in him!

Tune in, drop out, and contact us anytime, [email protected]

A new month means a new LIST MAKERS episode!

This time, we have the Top Doctors that we would like to travel time and space with. Who will we pick? Will Rob pick Davo five times? How many snaps will we get?

Thanks to Lozza for the topic!

If you’ve never heard a List Makers episode before, these are 20m chats based around making a list related to a Doctor Who topic and discussing our similarities, differences, and whatever else comes up during the chat!

Suggestions for future lists to be drawn from The Hat of Rassilon are welcome; get in touch!

Twitter, Facebook or email us old-school style at [email protected]

We looked at the first two seasons of The Mandalorian on January 5, 2020, and December 31, 2020.

It's been a long time between drinks and, this time around, we look at Season 3 of the show. 

What did we make of it? Tune in, find out.

Chapter 17: The Apostate

We've looked at the first two seasons of Star Trek: Picard on August 16, 2020, and May 13, 2022.

This time around we look at Season 3 of the show - its final season.

What do we make of it? Does the series continue its downward trajectory from the first two?

Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard

In this episode, Rob & Dave discuss the Virgin Missing Adventure novel, The Shadow of Weng-Chiang, as voted for by... you!

162 votes were cast and Shadow of Weng-Chiang took 35.2% of the vote, just pipping Scales of Injustice on 29.6%, with Sands of Time close behind on 25.9% and Lords of the Storm on 9.3% bringing up the rear. So here we are to discuss it.

Before they get to talking about the novel, the guys also talk about the past month in Doctor Who news, including Season 9 of Classic Doctor Who on Blu-ray still not produced locally in Australia - and perhaps never will be.

Follow us on Twitter @theDWshow or write to us about anything: [email protected]

Our episode on April 30, 2023 features the Virgin Missing Adventure, The Shadow of Weng-Chiang, as its main topic.

In the past when we've done novels, we've included a blow-by-blow summary of the novel, so our listeners are across the story. The theory being that far less listeners have read all the Virgin or BBC novels, and may need the information.

This practice has been appreciated, but has also blown out episode run-times. Given that not every listener even needs the summary, we put our heads together to come up with a way to provide a summary but not blow out the episode.

And here it is... a standalone summary of The Shadow of Weng-Chiang. If you've never read the novel before, or you have but feel like a refresher is in order, this 15m podcast will tell you what happens in the novel, from start to finish. Have at it.

See you on Sunday with our Shadow of Weng-Chiang episode, where you'll hear our actual thoughts on the story in question!