Debating Doctor Who

We introduce ourselves, discuss the Bechdel test, and look at Doctor Who's frustrating lack of women writers. Then, in the second half, we debate the question: What is Doctor Who's most adventurous episode? Caroline goes to the mat for “The Girl In The Fireplace,” while Alasdair champions “The Doctor’s Wife.”

We finally did it! We've talked about every new series Doctor Who episode! After a couple cameos (or maybe that's Cameos) to open the episode, Alasdair and Allison discuss the 13th Doctor's New Year's Day clash with a lone Dalek. We felt deeply meh about this episode when it first aired back in 2019, but coming back to it now? Dang, we actually kind of love it. We discuss how this might be the best story Chris Chibnall has written during his tenure as showrunner, and how it feels different from really anything in either series 11 or series 12. We were so pleasantly surprised by this one, folks. Better late than never, we guess.

We start by discussing the latest Doctor Who: Lockdown production, a moving epilogue to The Sarah Jane Adventures and tribute to Elisabeth Sladen, who died nine years ago today. Then we tackle a pair of emails from listeners. First up, do the Cybermen work as monsters without a mouthpiece, and why does it always seem to be the Master these days? Then, we take another look at that infamous bit from "Spyfall: Part Two".

That's right, we're doing another live show! It's 1 p.m. Eastern this Saturday, May 9, and it will be at https://www.crowdcast.io/e/ddw-liveshow. We hope you'll come join us for it! After sharing those details, Alasdair does some more solo riffing about something that's been on their mind recently, which is performances by actors who played the Doctor that show hints of the Time Lord to come. There are some general thoughts about David Tennant's work on Blackpool and Casanova, the time Rufus Hound kinda sorta spoiled Peter Capaldi's casting as the Doctor, and where one might look for hints of the War Doctor in John Hurt's legendary filmography. More to come on this, probably!

Announcement! We have a live show this Saturday at 1 p.m. Eastern! We hope you'll come join us! As for what we have this week, yep, we *finally* got round to this episode. Only took us three and a half years! But first, we read a little excerpt from Russell T. Davies and Steven Moffat interviewing each other in Doctor Who Magazine, and pay a little tribute to Davies's brilliance in reimagining the show back in 2005. Then, we launch into our discussion of the 12th Doctor's penultimate Christmas special. We generally like this one a lot, though we do look at some pretty basic ways the story doesn't do right by its sole female character, which, yeah, that sounds familiar. Beyond that, we find a lot to praise, especially in the plotting and the performances and the general warm feelings it elicits. You'll be shocked--shocked!--to hear we say a lot of really nice things about Peter Capaldi. Some things never change...