“Remember, remember the fifth of November…”
On Bonfire Night 1966, against a background of Guy Fawkes parties and fireworks, the Troughton era of Doctor Who began. The road to this “renewal”, as the...
“It’s not really like me to lash out (Oh, oh, oh, oh) I gotta let it out.”
Episodes: Timelash Seen: 9th and 16th March 1985 On the 9th March 1985, HTV’s Robin of Sherwood returned to the ITV network for a second series. While the...
The Two Doctors
“Doctor, I’m in trouble... ” Seen: 16th / 23rd February and 2 March 1985. The Long Way Round In his introduction to the novelisation of The Two Doctors, its...
“Ooh, the second time is so much better, Baby..”
The brave new era of streaming is suffering some teething troubles. Recently several people on the late, unlamented Twitter were very exercised about the...
“My brain is scattered. You can be Alice, I'll be the Mad Hatter.”
I’ve alluded to the tall, felt hat worn by Patrick Troughton’s Doctor in a handful of Doctor Who episodes a couple of times in this newsletter already. I’m...
The Mark of the Rani
“My troubles are coming by threes and by twos, We’ll lay off tomorrow with the coal miner’s blues.” Seen: 2nd and 9th February 1985 The Doctor Who stories...
Vengeance on Varos
“She said ‘Viva Las Vengeance’…” Seen: 19th and 26th January 1985 The Long Way Round Writer Philip Martin approached the Doctor Who production office because...
“Toymaker, Toymaker, how do you know / Where all the pieces in your jigsaw puzzle go?”
This is an amended, edited and shortened version of a much longer essay sent to paid subscribers early this year. One which I’ve produced in response to some...
“‘Ha! Ha!’ said the Clone.”
The Sontarans are a clone species. Every fan knows that. But when did we find it out? When did the idea become textual?1 Well, on meeting Sarah Jane Smith in...
Season 18
"18 and life, you got it18 and life, you knowYour crime is time and it's18 and life to go." Season by Season Logopolis was the first of three 1980s Doctor...
“And if you go chasing robots..."
This is a full length and free to read version of a post written and sent to paid subscribers a while back. You may have read the first third back then,...
Season 8
“It’s the Master, step in time!” Season by Season Doctor Who got out of the 1960s more or less by accident. Once a top ten series watched by more than 10m...
"Better Living Through Chemistry"
For the best part of a couple of decades many Doctor Who fans regarded The Krotons (1969) as little more a punchline, and that was true for both the four...
Season 14
“Fourteen's all about being free.” Season by Season Back in the 1990s there was a running joke among Doctor Who fans that if asked in a social situation what...
“We're at the lost and found.”
The first time The Tomb of the Cybermen whizzed past on Twitch, a staggering five years ago now, it did so as one of around one hundred and twenty five...
Earthshock
“You once said that you liked happy endings, and no-one can ever know.” Earthshock Part Two Seen: 16th August 1982 The Long Way Round If anyone acquainted...
“Now I'm in exile, seein' you out.”
On the 21st June 1969 Patrick Troughton made his final regular appearance as Doctor Who. For the first (and arguably only) time in the twentieth century...
Attack of the Cybermen
“Daddy was a bank robber, but he never hurt nobody.” Seen: 5 & 12 January 1985 The Long Way Round Attack of the Cybermen is the first story of the 1985...
“Three is a magic number.”
In 2017, Peter Capaldi ruined my birthday. He didn’t mean to. By all accounts he’s a very nice man who would never do any such thing on purpose, and besides...
The Twin Dilemma
“When we switch, you can't tell which is which. We’re twins.” The Twin Dilemma Parts Two & Four Seen: 23 & 30th March 1984 The Long Way Round Historically,...
