On the Time Lash

Send us Fan Mail After some hot off the presses RTD reactions, Ben and Mark are joined by Pting expert Millie McKenzie to discuss 'The Tsuranga Conundrum' and 'Nightmare of Eden'. Is 'The Tsuranga Conundrum' really as bad as everyone says it is? The discussion touches on Chekhov's abdominal pain, Chris Chibnall's limitations as a writer, the tonal inconsiste...

Send us Fan Mail In a creepy crawlie special, Ben and Mark discuss two giant insect stories by way of 'Arachnids in the UK' and 'The Web Planet'.  Is 'Arachnids in the UK' even a pun? And is 'The Web Planet' actually just Doctor Who at it's most cynical? Under discussion: 'The Green Death' for the Trump administration, the environmental impact...

Send us Fan Mail Ben and Mark tackle quite the tonal tightrope as they discuss 2019's 'Rosa' and 1965's 'The Romans'.  Dodging both white liberal hand wringing and patronising audiences of colour, Ben and Mark attempt to discuss the importance and freshness of 'Doctor Who' confronting racism head on.  As they discuss the relevant Reithian values of both stor...

Send us Fan Mail In a very special bonus episode Ben and Mark try to unpack all the news from a packed and slightly chaotic week in Doctor Who. They've become everything they said they'd never be... Under discussion: San Diego Comic Con, Series 13, potential replacements for both Chris Chibnall and Jodie Whittaker as well as pointless, uninformed speculation about the future of Doctor Wh...

Send us Fan Mail Ben and Mark continue the Jodie Whittaker/Chris Chibnall era with looks at two races against time without much urgency - 'The Ghost Monument' and 'Enlightenment'. Struggling to study for their NVQs, Ben and Mark tackle dodgy portrayals of coordination disorders, one of the best cliffhanger resolutions in Doctor Who and the ghost of Sydney Newman.  Whilst back i...

Send us Fan Mail Ben and Mark return to cast their bloodshot, drunken eyes over the Jodie Whittaker/Chris Chibnall era as they pair ‘The Woman Who Fell to Earth’ and ‘Time and the Rani’ – two series openers that will eventually lead to the Doctor being revealed to be “more than just a Timelord’. Hoping to avoid being dragged into the never-ending culture war, Ben and Mark discuss the many positive...

Send us Fan Mail Ben and Mark are joined by artist, model maker and friend of the show Millie McKenzie to bid a fond, melancholic farewell to Peter Capaldi, Steven Moffat and Tom Baker. Is ‘Twice Upon a Time’s meta look at the show’s history from 1963 to 2017 perfect Christmas viewing or one last self-indlugent flourish from a departing writer? And is ‘do the exact opposite of Douglas Adams’ a wis...

Send us Fan Mail Two fine examples of body horror, Ben and Mark discuss Cyber origins by way of 'World Enough and Time'/'The Doctor Falls' and the Big Finish audio 'Spare Parts'. As well as discussing the inevitability of the Cybermen, they also discuss the relatable aspects of the Master's self-destructive downfall. With 'Spare Parts', they ponder how...

Send us Fan Mail Ben and Mark discuss two TARDIS trips to bonnie Scotland by way of 'The Eaters of Light' and 'The Highlanders'. As they're roman in the gloaming, they chat about Peter Capaldi's old-school charm, the National Theatre of Scotland, the Falkirk Wheel and Ben's crystal waving fascination with standing stones. After that they top up their glasses and...

Send us Fan Mail Ben and Mark tackle two Doctor Who stories placed at Britain's exit and entrance into the Europe - The Empress of Mars and The Curse of Peladon. What do these two stories tell us about exceptionalism, federalism and the ideal of something larger than ourselves? Who are we kidding, it's mostly knob gags and digs at Big Finish. Also: How good are the Ice Warriors, really?...

Send us Fan Mail Ben and Mark discuss two benevolent dictatorships as they tackle 'The Lie of the Land' and 'The Macra Terror'? Does the Monk trilogy reach a satisfying conclusion? Were British holiday camps all that bad? Under discussion: Would the Monk arc have worked better as a 12 part Netflix series? Is 'The Lie of the Land' the most overt bit of political commen...

Send us Fan Mail Ben and Mark discuss hangovers, wasted potential and climates of fear as they try to spin a few hours out of ‘The Pyramid at the End of the World’ and ‘Warriors of the Deep’.Ben and Mark try to criticise the failings of ‘Pyramid’ without being too insensitive, discussing how successfully Doctor Who tries to tackle Brexit and Trump through the Monk’s trilogy. Meanwhile, Margaret Th...

Send us Fan Mail Ben and Mark compare holiday destinations, discuss Catholicism and their own audiences with the Pope as they discuss 2017's 'Extremis'- Just how difficult is it to get information from a book in 2017? Is this just a Greatest Hits collection with a killer new track? Shouldn't it be Donald Trump dead in that chair? And they pair that up with another tale of simul...

Send us Fan Mail It's space, the final frontier as Ben and Mark traverse two less than utopian visions of mankind's future via 'Oxygen' and 'Colony in Space' from a less than utopian present. Is 'Oxygen' just 40 minutes of set-up for one gag? Is Bill the most human and real Doctor Who companion? Is that a chip and pin terminal on the airlock? And then '...

Send us Fan Mail In the first of another round of Lockdown Lashes, Ben and Mark tackle some creepy goings on in an old house and a murderous rampage in a spooky lighthouse as they discuss 'Knock Knock' and 'Horror of Fang Rock'.Just how accurate a representation of modern student life is 'Knock Knock'? What is it about lighthouses that have become so ingrained in popu...

Send us Fan Mail In a special live Christmas broadcast, Ben and Mark discuss 'Thin Ice', 'Fury from the Deep', punching Richard Spencer, the obligatory 1960s BBC foam party, dodgy Doctor Who gifts and much much more. ALSO: A couple of absolutely deranged DICS, the return of both negative Ben and negative Mark, canonising the Margate waste water plant, Blinking Angels, pots of w...

Send us Fan Mail Aubergine emojis and a bit of a gunging, it's Ben and Mark's discussion about 'Smile' and 'The Happiness Patrol', will happiness prevail? Yer auld da writing about emojis for yer auld space uncle, the old-school charms of 'Smile', stunning location work. Then it all gets a bit high-fallutin' with a discussion of the influences of Margar...

Send us Fan Mail On the Time Lash: The College Years opens with a discussion of 2017's The Pilot and the unfinished 1980 serial Shada. In other words, it's Joy Division and cheap lager v.s bicycles and acapella choo-choos. Is The Pilot really a fresh start? Who or what influenced Steven Moffat's re-imagining of the 12th Doctor as an educator? What happens when you add orange juice t...

Send us Fan Mail In a crossover worthy of Marvel comics, Ben and Mark are joined by Dylan and Jack from 'Doctor Who: Too Hot for TV' to discuss fake invasions, hollow pastiches, dodgy American accents and much more by way of 'The Return of Doctor Mysterio' and 'Invaders from Mars'.Under discussion: letting an old man in through your window, awkward sex stuff, nostalgi...

Send us Fan Mail Ben and Mark attempt to save Christmas with a discussion about two seasonal stories of romance, decapitation, precious jewels, swashbuckling and braining someone with the Royal sceptre - The Husbands of River Song and The Androids of Tara. Under discussion: Endings, Steven Moffat's extended farewell, watching Doctor Who with your family, four Mary Tamms, the flimsiness of the...

Send us Fan Mail A homesick Ben and Mark discuss the Doctor's difficult homecoming in 'Hell Bent' and delight in the first meeting with one of the Doctor's people in 'The Time Meddler'.Along the way they'll fundamentally miss the point of 'Hell Bent' by wittering on about Timelord mythology, discuss why Steven Moffat's writing sometimes rubs people...

Send us Fan Mail Ben and Mark discuss pain, anguish, death and loss in another hilarious episode of On the Time Lash which pairs 2015's Heaven Sent with 1982's Time Flight. Heaven Sent: Paul McEvoy writes in to tell us all about the beauty of Murray Gold's score, Mark tries to structure the plot around the Kubler-Ross 5 stages of grief, and Ben unpicks the clockwork mechanisms of St...

Send us Fan Mail Ben and Mark say farewell to two long-serving companions and celebrate the 46th anniversary of The Hand of Fear by pairing it up with Face the Raven. Trap Street's back, alright? Visiting an alien refugee camp, the Lash Lads quibble the legality of Me's contract with the raven, Mark's disappointed to see a bunch of drably costumed extras on a Harry Potter set, Ben&a...

Send us Fan Mail Ben and Mark celebrate 100 episodes with their listeners in a very special bumper episode of the podcast which discusses ‘Sleep No More’ and ‘Timelash’. Two disparate stories that, as the episode plays out, have something very special in common. We talk about Doctor Who coming late to the found footage party, the inherent nastiness of the Sixth Doctor era, eye bogies, missed poten...

Send us Fan Mail Bang the War Gong! Ben and Mark are back with Lee, Dave and Cameron of The Polis Box to discuss The Mutants. Following an impromptu Jon Pertwee themed round of Would I Lie to You? they discuss the end of empire, science fiction allegories for recent appalling geopolitical behaviour, a disappointing lack of Roger Delgado, jumped up tyrants with gravy on their shirts and unconvincin...