Experimental formats, the ‘War on Christmas’, greener grass, fatalistic myopia, the nature of satire, ergodic literature, silliness vs seriousness, embedded narratives, & more are explored in this discussion over Flip-Flop, the 2003 Doctor Who Christmas audio drama.

(00:00:00) Christmas stories

(00:04:53) Jonathan Morris as a writer

(00:10:02) Ergodic literature

(00:18:54) Promotion of the story + CD details

(00:26:51) Looping the story

(00:30:42) (So seminal)

(00:37:32) Doctor Who Magazine coverage

(00:42:02) Antagonistic attitudes towards stories + choices theme

(00:54:00) Structural choices + more magazine coverage

(01:00:56) The art + grab-bag of racism

(01:10:22) Satire & anti-intellectualism

(01:17:41) Inspiration & morality

(01:24:36) Incoherence & bleakness

(01:28:52) Clip #1: Armed refugees + blindness

(01:37:05) Clip #2: Hard-hitting philosophy + slavery

(01:42:12) Clip #3: Committee inclusion + signal boosting

(01:54:30) Satire in Doctor Who

(02:02:13) Clip #4: Grass is always greener (White)

(02:04:20) Clip #5: False flag attacks

(02:06:27) Clip #6: Minorities

(02:09:59) Clip #7: War on Christmas

(02:14:22) Clip #8: Presidency & power

(02:19:11) Clip #9: Grass is always greener (Black)

(02:22:59) 2011 interview: Iraq War, Devil’s advocate

(02:28:39) 2021 interview: Hindsight & horseshoe theory

(02:31:47) Tweetalong: Parody, Daily Mail, discomfort, Iraq

(02:41:44) Tweetalong: Dialogue, sex, pride, firsts, books

(02:50:57) 2019 Twitter thread; ‘progressive bona fides’

(02:57:55) Final thoughts…

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Characterising historical figures, Gatiss writing, rift origins, contrasting moralities, cultural force, immersive settings, binary oppositions, the drafting process, invective & idolatry, & more are discussed in this review of The Unquiet Dead, the 2005 Doctor Who Christmas episode from Mark Gatiss.

(00:00:00) Back to 2005

(00:02:34) The episode’s purpose

(00:06:29) Celebrity historicals & deploying Dickens

(00:18:08) Gatiss & tone

(00:26:33) Expensive scenes filmed & unfilmed

(00:31:33) Sneed parallels + snowy steps + companion bond

(00:38:52) The Cardiff Rift

(00:42:16) 2018 RTD on the episode

(00:47:08) Dangerous TARDIS journeys + snowy Cardiff

(00:54:58) Series 1’s immersive settings & linkages

(01:03:16) RTD contributions to the episode + Gwyneth/Rose

(01:13:54) Different morality + social conscience

(01:23:30) Gwyneth in the arch + Dickens science

(01:32:24) Believers and skeptics

(01:38:44) Historical representation

(01:46:44) Charles Dickens as an integrated character

(01:52:50) Gatiss as a writer & a fan

(02:02:28) Christmas episode

(02:04:39) Refugees, reception, & Lawrence Miles

(02:12:53) Lawrence Miles blog post #1

(02:18:59) Investment, influence, & invective

(02:29:08) Subtext, fury, system shocks, cultural force

(02:36:53) Calling someone ‘a racist’; binary oppositions

(02:46:10) Duty of success

(02:52:01) Lawrence Miles blog post #2

(02:58:48) Idealising Classic Who; New Who as The Enemy

(03:04:35) Live feed psychoanalysis

(03:10:31) Writer responsibilities

(03:17:06) It’s About Time

(03:20:59) ‘That’s the way it is’

(03:28:32) End…

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Comic book London, merging British & American detectives, deindustrialisation, literal edginess, 2010 in detective TV, societal decay, murder morality, & more are discussed in this review of the first series of Luther, Neil Cross’ detective show starring Idris Elba and Ruth Wilson.

(00:00:00) Thoughts on Neil Cross

(00:04:39) What’s interesting about the show?

(00:13:01) Noir / comic book Luther + style

(00:19:58) Episode #1 & openings

(00:23:49) Accents

(00:25:50) Stakes & inertia, doors & fiddling

(00:28:01) Datedness & masculinity

(00:34:54) Alice & femininity

(00:37:18) Love triangle

(00:39:46) Dark matter & sci-fi + narcissism

(00:49:22) Doctor Who & John Luther

(00:58:48) Episode #1’s ending

(01:05:09) Whodunnits & how-to-catch-ems

(01:09:42) Stages of womanhood

(01:12:41) Episode #2, cops, military

(01:27:14) You should kill us all on sight

(01:35:20) Rooftops & Mark

(01:40:30) Episode #3 & weird killers

(01:50:20) Joking Apart comparison

(01:52:29) Alice & Mark

(01:58:33) Schenk

(02:06:28) Episode #4, Gotham, Nicola Walker

(02:15:52) Luther valuing human life + grossness

(02:23:08) Alice & Ruth Wilson

(02:36:19) Mark moments

(02:41:49) Episode #5 & white collar crime

(02:47:17) Ian, Iago + Alice & indifference

(02:56:46) Idris Elba’s musical input on Alice + murder obsession

(03:04:24) Ian’s characterisation + Batman morality

(03:14:47) Episode #5’s ending

(03:22:39) Music in the show

(03:27:36) Episode #6

(03:33:50) Teller’s top detectives

(03:39:41) Mark as Bilbo

(03:45:49) Alice’s glee

(03:47:58) End…

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Why did the Chibnall Era end the way it did? What motivated the final decisions across the three final episodes? What sort of finality did the era arrive at? How do the actor and audience relationships with Doctor Who differ? We explore these questions in a metacommentary unpacking the audio commentary tracks for The Power of the Doctor, Legend of the Sea Devils, and Eve of the Daleks.

Along the way, we discuss circularity, ‘we’ll fix it in post’ mentality, unity of effect, character continuity, audio afterlives, accumulated history, performer humility, editing bay instincts, Guinness Recordification, & more!

(00:00:00) Metacommentary

(00:03:00) The Power of the Doctor introductions

(00:04:26) The lost bullet train episode

(00:07:15) Extra special + showrunner changeover

(00:09:54) Chibnall coming up with episode titles + spoilerphobia

(00:13:35) Dan’s departure

(00:15:48) Killing off companions

(00:18:34) The triple threat

(00:20:26) UNIT led by women

(00:24:36) Sacha getting lots of lines; Jodie humility

(00:29:04) Sacha Dhawan interview + draft issues + clarity of focus

(00:39:28) Audio afterlives; living on in Big Finish

(00:47:24) Splitting actors up

(00:49:02) Original oil rig idea for the Daleks

(00:51:05) Ace & Tegan’s guns + actor authority

(01:11:34) Forced regenerations

(01:13:18) The Master’s dance

(01:14:50) Splitting the centenary in half

(01:16:42) Eve of the Daleks introductions

(01:18:46) Creepiness & tone

(01:22:59) Briggs on Chibnall’s reorientations

(01:23:46) Marvel moments

(01:27:14) Focusing on love

(01:28:47) Legend of the Sea Devils introductions

(01:30:51) Sea Devil ADR + production issues

(01:33:36) Directorial choices

(01:35:37) Featurettes: Jodie and Mandip’s friendship

(01:39:40) Resuming The Power of the Doctor: 13’s costume on men

(01:42:35) Chibnall writing the multi-Doctor scenes

(01:47:27) ‘Insane ideas’

(01:50:58) Sylvester and Sophie + accumulated actor history

(01:54:15) The meaning of ‘The Power of the Doctor’

(01:56:54) Deleted Master scenes

(01:59:20) Chibnall’s oldest ideas

(02:00:44) The un-kiss

(02:02:23) Ice cream loneliness

(02:05:09) Grief group therapy

(02:09:56) Ian’s return

(02:14:54) Jodie on her regeneration

(02:17:51) 13’s last lines

(02:21:58) Segun’s last cue + music as a resource

(02:26:25) Regeneration secrets…

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We discuss the first TV show from Russell T Davies! Mystical computers, proto-Doctor Who, 'no subtext', the power of TV, writing to children, showrunner semantics, career origins, genre savviness, extra novelisation material, bifurcated structure, fantastical contrasts, blonde supremacists, & more are explored in this review of Dark Season's 1991 run of six episodes.

(00:00:00) Intro, first thoughts, & the show’s structure

(00:07:54) Accessing the show

(00:11:04) RTD traits of the show

(00:15:11) Genesis of the show

(00:21:05) School & home lives

(00:25:18) Development of the show

(00:30:15) Fantastical juxtaposition & a keen-eyed lead

(00:34:32) Supremacists, teachers, mothers

(00:42:47) No subtext

(00:46:41) The novelisation

(01:01:39) Series 2 & future ideas

(01:11:21) Was RTD the showrunner?

(01:19:34) Osley & fascism

(01:25:12) Messiness

(01:28:11) The tone & audience

(01:39:39) Marcie’s Doctor-y dialogue

(01:45:47) The power of TV

(01:50:07) Technological themes + Eldritch’s motivations

(01:56:24) Victoria Lambert

(02:01:04) RTD, Scott Handcock, Big Finish

(02:06:21) Looking forward to series 2…

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Which showrunner has the best take on the Daleks? Three opposing sides battle this question out in a Doctor Who Debate!

(00:00:00) Intro

(00:01:20) Tomtit: Argument #1

(00:07:37) Ingiga: Argument #1

(00:12:14) Neo: Argument #1

(00:18:09) Tomtit: Argument #2

(00:23:22) Ingiga: Argument #2

(00:28:25) Neo: Argument #2

(00:34:31) Tomtit: Conclusion

(00:40:38) Ingiga: Conclusion

(00:45:53) Neo: Conclusion

(00:52:00) Debrief 2021

(01:01:16) Debrief 2022…

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The Fourteenth Doctor's first story is out, over a year before their actual TV specials air. Meanwhile, lots of new topics (and debates) are cropping up as Doctor Who transitions from Chibnall's era to the second era of Russell T Davies. So we discuss 14’s first story, future furor, 13 to 14’s costume debate, Disney & doomsaying, pre-emptive storytelling, fans feeling scorned, ‘sanctity’ of regenerations, novelty & familiarity, erasure & overshadowing, era liminality, & more.

(00:00:00) Entering RTD’s second era

(00:03:19) 14th Doctor comic: why does it exist?

(00:09:35) The comic’s relevancy & structure

(00:18:19) Oddities in the comic

(00:22:49) Pre-emptive expanded universe

(00:32:27) RTD2’s new team

(00:36:32) Overshadowing

(00:44:59) People preferring David Tennant

(00:51:04) Fan grudges towards popularity

(00:58:36) The future

(01:05:17) Kissing the past + Ncuti truthers

(01:12:36) No Jodie to Ncuti handover + ‘tricking’ fans

(01:21:31) How/why did RTD2 begin?

(01:29:06) Disney

(01:54:14) The show’s future

(01:58:32) Costumegate

(02:11:28) Anniversary rituals…

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Chibnall’s era is over. How did it end? Degeneration, past possessiveness, holographic agency, character arcs, worshipped iconography, emotional incuriosity, actors as museums, literalised toxicity, and companion therapy are just some of the topics we discuss, as we chew over the final episode of the Thirteenth Doctor’s era.

(00:00:00) Intro: is this an outlier?

(00:03:37) What’s a centenary?

(00:09:49) What Could Have Been + liminality, linkages

(00:26:24) Doctor actors and character endpoints

(00:34:31) The Tragedy of Yaz: Addendum

(00:46:54) The Kiss That Never Was

(00:59:27) Disconnections

(01:06:11) Ice cream and Yaz’s ending

(01:23:54) 13’s character arc

(01:32:38) Hologram

(01:39:19) Companion reunions

(01:50:18) Guardians of the Edge + comparing with Night of the Doctor

(01:58:48) Those that return, those who don’t

(02:20:31) The Master & the plot

(02:40:21) Degeneration

(02:49:44) The Timeless Qurunx & Chibnall’s vision

(02:56:03) Exposition & Chibnall’s style of showrunning

(03:10:05) Dan, actor decisions, companion futures

(03:23:55) Companion support group

(03:33:20) Ian & William Russell

(03:46:47) Queerbaiting questions

(04:05:31) Guns & contempt

(04:09:55) Final thoughts

(04:13:41) Can’t Give Anything Away…

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A deep dive into the longest-running companion of Doctor Who. Who is Yasmin Khan? What is Yaz’s story, what is Yaz’s character, what has been Yaz's journey, and what is the nature of Yaz’s relationship with the Doctor?

All these sorts of questions are explored through an exhaustive journey through Chibnall’s era, examining every episode, and a multitude of interviews and extras. Along the way, key running themes and storytelling quirks of the era are identified and discussed, in a cumulative analysis capturing how the era was shaped, and how it shifted over time.

The character of Yaz is approached from a place of curiosity and empathy. Topics visited along this journey include the idea of storytelling ‘time loops’, evolving character writing, infantilisation, the impact of an audience upon how characters are written, character regression and storytelling oscillation, the interplay between offscreen platonic relationships and ‘in-character’ relationship shipping, expectations of audience affection, disinterest in drama, claims and positioning of LGBT representation, and many more.

(00:00:00) Intro

(00:02:27) Hopes for Yaz

(00:09:28) 2018 Comic-Con

(00:14:38) Promises of representation

(00:18:17) Emotions & three companions

(00:23:09) The Woman Who Fell to Earth

(00:34:21) The Ghost Monument

(00:40:56) Rosa + Ryan romance

(00:47:40) Arachnids in the UK

(01:17:35) The Tsuranga Conundrum + Demons of the Punjab

(01:24:30) Likability, timidity, & fully-rounded characters

(01:36:19) Kerblam!

(01:41:24) The Witchfinders

(01:43:09) It Takes You Away

(01:45:53) The Battle of Ranskoor av Kolos

(01:49:31) Resolution + looking back on Series 11

(02:01:32) Ships, police, arcs, character development

(02:12:15) Spyfall: Part One

(02:20:40) Spyfall: Part Two

(02:28:05) Orphan 55

(02:31:58) Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror + mid-era interviews

(02:40:10) Fugitive of the Judoon

(02:54:34) Praxeus

(03:01:43) Can You Hear Me?

(03:28:18) The Haunting of Villa Diodati

(03:37:20) Ascension of the Cybermen

(03:42:21) The Timeless Children

(03:51:57) ‘She’s almost there’, joining Torchwood, progressions

(03:59:15) Yaz’s mental health & relationship with the Doctor

(04:10:19) Revolution of the Daleks

(04:28:43) Promises of a third series + romance rumours

(04:36:13) The Halloween Apocalypse

(04:44:55) War of the Sontarans

(04:51:55) Once, Upon Time

(04:58:39) Village of the Angels

(05:00:40) Survivors of the Flux

(05:16:41) The Vanquishers

(05:23:25) Emotional turmoil, emotional intelligence, & loyal fans

(05:28:27) Cast thoughts on queer fanbase + cast chemistry

(05:40:41) Yaz stepping up + WWTDD

(05:44:21) Eve of the Daleks

(06:25:55) Children in Need skit + official statements on Thasmin

(06:37:22) Gallifrey One 2022 + God in the gaps

(07:04:59) Unpleasant surprises, tragic endings, & queer romances

(07:31:53) ‘Thasmin is canon’ + taking things seriously

(07:38:34) Legend of the Sea Devils

(08:03:43) Chibnall’s Thasmin plan all along

(08:17:21) Mandip’s input on Thasmin + Yaz’s arc

(08:34:22) Conclusions…

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Moffat finales, murder elitism, TV writing conventions, self-martyrdom, everyman characters, sitcom structure, intellect & indulgence, realism & redundancies, the show's future, & more are discussed in this review of the last two episodes of Inside Man, Steven Moffat’s 2022 thriller.

(00:00:00) Intro & engagement with Moffat

(00:05:44) Jefferson Grieff: intellect & indulgence

(00:12:29) Series 2, & Jefferson’s wife

(00:16:29) Character deaths & Moffat’s planning

(00:20:16) Murder & Moffat’s motivations

(00:27:44) Insight & interiority

(00:34:24) Mary, Morag, & murder

(00:44:06) Moffat writing women & children

(00:47:05) Enjoying episode 3

(00:50:24) Harry’s characterisation, & characters trailing off

(00:57:38) Sitcom style & reactions

(01:01:16) Repetition & redundancies, improvisation & inspiration

(01:10:38) Fathers & sons

(01:15:06) Self-denial & shortcuts

(01:20:37) Religion & masculinity

(01:27:32) Grieff lore, Harry’s ordinariness, RTD proximity

(01:33:45) Everyman characters

(01:40:05) The show’s future…

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