A Hamster With a Blunt Penknife - a Doctor Who Commentary podcast

Welcome to Episode Two of Strictly Come Hamster, featuring guests Jonathan Morris & Jason Thompson. Discussed this week are The Christmas Invasion, The End of Time, The Snowmen, Time of the Doctor, Twice Upon a Time, Resolution, Revolution of the Daleks & Eve of the Daleks. Let the debate ensue!

Joe & the dazzling Michael Mills discuss the first piece of Doctor Who that Russell T Davies wrote. Where is the line? Is this Doctor Who? Are there better Doctor Who books than this? How much does this book inform?

Joe & Paul; 'Even remains change! It's this planet, it can't help itself!' The final instalment of our walk through Paul's brilliant mind and the Victorian fantasy horror that Marc Platt evokes.

Join Joe, Rod, Toby Hadoke & Michael Mills as they traverse the Doctor Who Christmas Specials in the first episode of Strictly Come Hamster! Debate, laughter, voting and much breaking of souls in this first exciting episode.

Joe & Paul; 'quintessence of evil...corruption incarnate...' We're all toys, we're just Josiah's toys. How many allusions, references and examinations can one guest squeeze into one episode. Let the incomparable Paul Quinn find out.

Joe & Paul; 'is this an asylum with the patients in charge?' What to make of this brilliant, layered, complex story with its dramatically juxtaposed characters, stylish set pieces and instantly quotable dialogue? Scratch the Victorian veneer, and something nasty will come crawling out.

Joe & Rob; heading for a dangerous climax! Why is Doctor Who not involved in his own show anymore? Why must women (Dodo) meddle? And why is the final shootout so impressive?

Joe & Rob; 'the meanest gunslingers in the West...' Enter Jonny Ringo, the meanest outlaw in the West. Rob is happy about the injection of some tension, and Joe is dying at Dodo's gun toting antics. We're heading for a climax, but is it Doctor Who?

Join Joe & James as they take a side step into the the Doctor Who comic strips to talk about the Eighth Doctor graphic novel, The Glorious Dead.

Joe & Rob; 'How do we proceed?' There's flashy direction and wild comic performances and great set pieces...but there are also missed opportunities and insane accents too. We come to celebrate, but we play some intellectual exercises.

Joe & Rob; 'I must say this is most unprofessional!' Doctor Who squeezing the most cinematic of genres into a tiny BBC studio? With wit and warmth. Hartnell on fine comic form. This is deconstructed by a master craftsman.

A day of visiting Doctor Who landmarks, meeting our hero, and watching the Christmas Special to come. There’s no spoilers, but there’s a ton of enthusiasm!

Join Joe & Paul in this special episode as they dissect the thorny subject of wokeness in Doctor Who as we ask the question ‘are we upsetting the right people?’

Joe takes Jonny for a walk through his myriad of brilliant Big Finish stories; discussing the conception of Flip, Vienna, Thomas Brewster, what succeeds, and how to carve out your own unique style.

Joe talks to Jonny Morris; a writer of more excellent Doctor Who stories in print, on audio and adorning the pages of DWM than you could possibly mention. In this first half, Jonny talks about writing Doctor Who novels and taking on the challenge of the Comic Strip for over a year.

Joe & Jack; 'that was really therapeutic!' The duo are back together again to talk about this very special Doctor Who episode. What will they make of the weird, unsettling, slower than usual performance piece?

Paul Magrs is a staggeringly creative author, who writes books full of humanity, warmth, imagination and a lust for life. The Bookclub was very fortunate to talk to him about his work.

What's this? A episode of Hamster without Joe? Never fear, this is an episode of We're All Stories in the End with Iain Martin. If you like the Hamster Book Club then this could be right up your sleeve! Discussing Warhead by Andrew Cartmel...with Andrew Cartmel!

Joe & David; 'Can it be that I have the world entirely wrong?' Gatiss is hailed the new hero of Doctor Who with his traditional script with a bigger budget but is it as old fashioned as it seems? David & Joe put this Dickens ghost story under the microscope to find out.

Join Joe, Andrew, Mark and Luke as they traverse the pages of Steven Moffat's novelisation of the Day of the Doctor. Does it do the episode justice? Are the innovations worthwhile? And can Joe handle being nice about Steven Moffat for a whole episode?

Joe (and the Ham Fam!) plus Frazer; ‘We could sell Mad Paddington for a million quid!’ Tennant & Tate, Beep the Meep, gorgeous Yasmin Finney, a new TARDIS, spectacular action…but what did the Fam think? Stay tuned for Frazer at the end!

Joe, Si & Frazer; ‘Doctor whoever I’m about to be…tag, you’re it’ Right up to date with the brilliant Jodie Whittaker bowing out in style. Energy, wit, madness, cameos, drama, emotion and departures. It’s all here.

Joe & Mark; ‘Rival Time Lord…oh my God!’ It’s the mid point between classic and new - prepare yourselves for a chaotic, quote filled, love-in. Mark & Joe owe this story a lot and now they can explore all the ways they love it.

Joe, Frazer & Si; ‘Fear makes companions of all of us…’ The end of the beginning; and triumph is little more than getting back to the TARDIS alive. Surely we’re going home now, right?

Joe, Si & Frazer; ‘We’re never going to get away from this dreadful place!’ We make a case that this is one of the most realistically dramatic episodes of Doctor Who. No, we’re not mad!