“Spoilers, Sweetie.”

Another cultural discussion about spoilers is upon us, with a chunk of online discourse devoted to their definition and their statute of limitations.

This has in part been prompted by the announced simultaneous “drop” of the next series of Doctor Who, with some fans who’re intending to watch the programme on transmission concerned that it being available on iPlayer from midnight Saturday mornings means they will, in practice, be unable to use the internet between then and that evening’s showing, for fear of being told what happens without asking.

(It is, additionally and incidentally, delightful that this discussion should be occurring in the same week that Steven Moffat’s return to Doctor Who as a guest writer is confirmed, with many fans hoping / assuming his new episode will provide for a meeting between Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor and his spoiler phobic wife, River Song.)

The galaxy brain take on spoiler discourse is to declare caring about knowing what happens in fiction in advance laughably unsophisticated. As such, the concerns of anyone who does so can be dismissed.