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

Is there anything more Doctor Who than a Time Lord and a human tied up in a van using the indicators to send out morse code while the army fights a bunch of mannequins in carnival masks?

Who's in charge of you pen pushers these days? What makes good and bad comedy in Doctor Who? What makes scary Doctor Who? What makes entertaining Doctor Who? Terror of the Autons!

Hungry asphyxiating chairs! Troll dollies that strangle fathers! Coppers with blank faces! Jo Grant having a meltdown! What a first day on the job...

The Master! Jo Grant! Captain Yates! A shrunken scientist in a lunchbox! Don't touch her that's a bomb! Daddy issues! So much for Joe & Paul to get their teeth into...

We've synchronised the mega wattage, called New York, prepared the vinegar in squeezies and turned off the sun! Anything else?

Time for another exciting adventure with Sarah Jane and the moppets...and the Slitheen! A new friend, Clyde, joins, and there's some unfinished Doctor Who business...

Is this a disappointing denouement or a rousing conclusion to a story that Rob and I both admit is one of our all time favourites?

Joe’s favourite of the serial; sacrificial wrapping, QueQuiQuod and devastating reticules! Action, suspense, jokes, a brilliant Doctor and Benton and Hawthorne on form!

The Master makes his move on the village and blackmails them all with gossip and scandal! And the great Doctor/Miss Hawthorn debate rages on - Science or magic? 'With horns!'

E-O-Evo-Ay Azal! The Doctor is frozen, Jo is in a state, Miss Hawthorne is in a box and the Master is on the move...enter Yates and Benton to the rescue! My helicopter!?

'Lots of lovely hush!' Rob and I are in total agreement on the fact that this is one of the very best first episodes of Doctor Who; thrills, suspense, jokes, character moments, a great cliffhanger and...Miss Hawthorne!

In a brand new thread for Hamster, Joe & Daniel will be watching and celebrating The Sarah Jane Adventures. How smart, funny, silly, intelligent and mature this series can be.

It's shoddy and boring and pantomimic and gets the Daleks wrong. Screw that! Daleks blowing up, gun battles, mucky punch ups, 'BYE BYE!' Just fabulous!

More great direction, lots of Davros discussion, how ableist is Doctor Who, plus Joe heads down a very strange rabbit hole where he is heading off with Paul (and wife) to a new life!

Just what sinister purpose do the Daleks have for drilling down into the depths of Skaro? Why don't the Movellans die? And is Romana really dead?

It's a Terry Nation part one with Douglas Adams jokes...this is a hybrid that shouldn't work at all. So why are we having such a good time?

This vampiric tale comes to an epic conclusion with mythological beasts from the history of the Time Lords coming to life, Adric defecting to the enemy and Romana on the sacrificial stone! Huge thanks to Peter & Paul for making this such an enjoyable conversation!

The blood of the dead is stale and flat...we must feed on the living! We're into exposition territory now as we learn all about the Great War between the Time Lords and the Vampires...but delivered by Tom & Lalla in love.

What on earth word the names Joe Ford, Paul Dunn and Peter Ould become over the years? Is Aukon horny for Adric? Is Camilla horny for Romana?

Peter dazzles with his first Hamster recording, Paul is in the hot seat asking the questions, but and we head into E-Space for a chilling tale of vampires and crashed spaceships!

Jack isn't the biggest fan of the 13th Doctor's era, but he does really enjoy this episode and we thought we would have some fun picking both of those stances apart. Before the axe falls down on Frazer Gregory.

An ambitious production, a poignant emotional core, fierce regulars, a stunning guests cast and a complex dilemma...is this the best historical of the new series?

‘I’m waving at fat!’ Joe joins me for 90 minutes of silliness and flirting as we navigate the weight loss business via Loony Tunes...let the madness begin.

All but one doomed to die...thus written in this podcast. How did Martin manage to wrangle A Hamster with a Blunt Penknife out of Joe's hands? Sleight of hands! He switched it back again! Oh audience, is there nobody you can trust these days?

'They are not ice crystals!' Joe & Martin hit their favourite episode of the serial and are deeply moved by the introduction of Binro, and laughing their heads off at Garron's absurdly operatic criminal past.