The Web of Fear
“The distant echo of far away voices boarding far away trains…” Most old money Doctor Who stories come with a couple of anecdotes attached. Back in the days...
The Abominable Snowmen
“In the meadow, we can build a snowman…” In the 1980s more of Doctor Who was missing than is the case today. Not just in that nearly two dozen episodes have...
The Edge of Destruction
“Back from the edge. Back from the dead. Back before demons took control of my head.” The third Doctor Who serial has a writing and production history almost...
BSB - Introduction: "I don't know why you say 'Goodbye' I say 'Hello'."
Interviewed for the New Jersey Network’s The Making of Doctor Who in 1988, producer John Nathan-Turner explained his wish to leave the series by saying it...
The Brain of Morbius
“Where’s your head at? Where’s your head at? Where’s your head at? Where’s your heeeeeead at? Where’s your head at? Where’s your head at?” Doctor Who...
"All of Me, Loves All of You?"
Something that comes up a lot online is the idea of how much of Doctor Who you have to have engaged with (or have recall of) to legitimately call yourself a...
The C Bomb
The word “companion” is routinely used in the real world as a description of supporting characters in Doctor Who. But I recently found myself wondering how...
"Look to the future now, it's only just beguuuuuu-un."
The announcement of a 2026 Doctor Who Christmas special less than a week after I wrote this led to considerable joy in this household and I’m sure many...
1990
“It’s all just a little bit of history repeatin’.” “1990 was the brainchild of Wilfred Greatorex, and conceived as literally ‘1984 plus six’; a series that...
Planet of Fire
“Fire! I want you to burn!” I wound up with a VHS copy of most of Planet of Fire in early 1990. It was an unlikely choice for only the sixth story I had even...
Genesis of the Daleks
“It’s time to start all over, make a new beginning.” As I’ve said before here, sometimes the most celebrated Doctor Who stories are both the hardest and the...
ESREVER NI EMIT
“But is tomorrow yesterday? Or has it been and gone today? I wish someone would say.” George Kaufman and Moss Hart’s 1934 play Merrily We Roll Along is the...
TIME IN REVERSE
“But is tomorrow yesterday? Or has it been and gone today? I wish someone would say.” In the July 1994 cover dated issue of Doctor Who Classic Comics1 Marvel...
Journey’s End
“You’re my number one, I’d do anything for you.” Only a handful of Doctor Who episodes have reached #1 in the television charts for the week they were first...
Boom Town
"Boom boom boom boom, I’m gonna shoot you right down, right off your feet. Take you home with me. Put you in my house.” Anniversaries fly by once you’re a...
The Time Warrior
Attentive readers of this newsletter, assuming it has any, will have been expecting Genesis of the Daleks next. It was, after all, on the same tape as last...
The Sontaran Experiment
“Experiment - make it your motto day and night. Experiment - and it will lead you to the light.” At the end of 1989, and with exquisite timing, I went to my...
"Memories are made of this."
“A man is the sum of his memories, you know. A Time Lord even more so.” But not my memories. The second of our short series of pieces about the most recent...
Ncuti Doc Thing
To start with this week, here’s a time capsule; something I wrote for The Guardian back when Ncuti Gatwa‘s casting as the New Doctor Who was announced. Some...
Survival
“Cat People. Putting out the fire.” Doctor Who fandom has long done easy jokes about the final serial of the final twentieth century series of Doctor Who...
