Doctor Who Universe

The Doctor Who universe is vast and sprawling, including “classic” and “new” Who, novels, comics, audio dramas, and spin-offs, including Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. Check out our commentaries, reviews, interviews and discussions!

Doctor Who Commentary – 5.10 ‘Vincent and the Doctor’

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Tony Curran as Vincent Van Goch holding a self portrait painting

Caleb and Sarah discuss Scottish accents, art and death, rom-coms and more in our fan commentary on series 5 Doctor Who episode, ‘Vincent and the Doctor’!

The Doctor and Amy meet famous painter Vincent van Gogh in this episode penned by none other than Richard Curtis. But is Saturday teatime sci-fi the right slot for exploring themes of depression and suicide? Or is this episode proof that Doctor Who can be broader and deeper on the small screen than weekly alien invasions and unlikely raising of the stakes to imperil all of reality itself? Let us know what you think, in the comments or via Twitter and Facebook!

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:15 — 50.8MB)

Points of Who #7 – Caroline John, Series 7 and more

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Caroline John as Liz Shaw

Caroline John, 1940 – 2012

Welcome to our monthly round-up of Doctor Who news, views and rumours.

We reflect on the sad death of Caroline John and examine her role as Dr Liz Shaw, one of the most distinctive companions of the Classic Series. Was she dropped for being too strong a character, or did the show’s new Earth-bound format simply work against her?

We also look ahead to the debut of Series 7 and the return of the Daleks. Listen to our theories about what lies in store!

Plus, we make a couple of very exciting announcements about the future of the podcast, including your chance to take part!

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:47 — 23.6MB)

Doctor Who Commentary – 5.09 ‘Cold Blood’

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Your intrepid hosts, Sarah Burrow and P.G. Bell conclude their commentary on the return of the Silurians. Frankly, it could have done with a few dinosaurs…

As the humans and Silurians teeter on the brink of war, we discuss the thorny issue of gender politics in crisis situations, wonder why the new Silurians act more like Cybermen than reptiles, and ask why on earth Chris Chibnall decided to have a secondary character start narrating the action half way through the story.

And, of course, there’s that ending…

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:41 — 49.2MB)

Doctor Who Commentary – 5.08 ‘The Hungry Earth’

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There’s something amiss in the Welsh valleys (isn’t there always?) but fear not – your commentators Sarah Burrow and P.G. Bell are here to talk you through it.

As Moffat redesigns his second classic monster of the series, we ask whether the new-look Silurians are really such a failure. There’s also a brief discussion of POV Monstervision, the logistics of running the world’s biggest deep-core drilling operation from a couple of laptops in a shed, and whether Chris Chibnall could have crammed any more Pertwee references into this story if he’d tried. All it’s missing is the Whomobile!

Now there’s an idea for the 50th anniversary…

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:13 — 46.9MB)

Doctor Who Commentary – 5.07 ‘Amy’s Choice’

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Join Swithun Dobson, Sarah Burrow and Caleb Woodbridge as Doctor Who goes all wibbly-wobbly, dreamy-weamy.

As the TARDIS crew are forced to choose between two competing realities, we ask why the show doesn’t do more of these “format breaker” episodes. Plus, we assess the emotional see-saw that is Amy’s love life, the dark side of the Doctor and re-examine the start of a phenomenon – Rory kicking the bucket.

Join us, for all this and more!

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Doctor Who Commentary – 5.06 ‘The Vampires of Venice’

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Caleb Woodbridge, P G Bell and Sarah Burrow face the Vampires of Venice in our latest Doctor Who commentary!


We discuss vital questions such as, what is the Doctor thinking with his matchmaking techniques? How much does this story fall prey to “time tourism” syndrome? Are alien fish creatures an acceptable substitute for real vampires? All this and much more!

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:50 — 47.2MB)