Doctor Who: 42 To Doomsday

2026 starts now and to help celebrate this we again offer reading of Rob's fiction piece titled Conspiracy written a quarter of a century ago that appeared in the Doctor Who Club of Victoria's fanzine Sonic Screwdriver and is is a story perfect for our times - the collision of power, ambition and manipulation! Not all of UNITs work is on the battlefield, and not all the threats it deals with come...

Episode 117 -It’s Christmas!  In the absence of an actual tv series, Mark, Rob, Dave and Richard return to put the ho ho ho back into your lives! We thrash out what makes a great cliffhanger in a fascinating and wide ranging discussion that will have you reaching for your blu ray collections! We then pore over the works of Gareth Roberts in a throwback to when Doctor Who books were actually readab...

Episode 116 - We are back talking Daleks but not the ones you were expecting! To celebrate the publication of The Evolution Of The Toy Dalek-Collecting Through The Ages we are joined by author Alex Storer and contributor (and fellow Victorian!) Mark Dunne who talk about how the Dalek toys evolved from the halcyon (and out of proportion) days of Dalekmania being manufactured by companies such as Lo...

Suprise! To help ring in 2025 we present a slightly (okay, a lot!) self indulgent reading of Rob's fiction piece titled A Celebration that appeared in issue 100 of the Doctor Who Club of Victoria's fanzine Sonic Screwdriver where the various (canon) incarnations gather together at their favourite restaurant to celebrate the arrival of a certain special someone. But will the Guest of Honour turn up...

Episode 115 – It’s a miracle as the Four Wise Men (Rob, Mark, Dave and Richard) reunite to end the year on a high (?) note for our Ninth Annual Staff Christmas Party to discuss all things Doctor Who.   After acknowledging the state of the world in our opener, we down several G&T’s to get into the spirit(s) of the season and then take a sharp turn right and examine the Top 5 crimes the Doctor h...

Episode 114 - Lock up your mothers and pull out your favourite bottle of red as the Statler and Waldorf of Doctor Who podcasting return with a bang! In this episode we host Aron Challinger, noted merchandising maestro and all round (or is that oval) good egg to chew over the parlous state of Doctor Who merchandising and rue the missed opportunities. We then divert to take a massive whack at the de...

Episode 113 - Our 'hiatus' is over and we provide a long awaited update on the 'hoarder' tapes with guests Aron Challinger and Professor Jason Bainbridge. They bring us bang up to date with what has been uncovered as well as the plan for cataloging and viewing the material. We also delve into the background of the individuals who recorded the material as well understanding the final fate of some o...

Episode 112 - Press Play on (Video) Cassette (Part 2)   We conclude our look back on the Doctor Who VHS range via the fandoms' orifice that was DWB! Listen as the afterglow of the recovery of Tomb gives way to rancour and bile!  Marvel at how the titles of 30th anniversary year are leaked to the outrage of some.  We look at the classic stories that were overlooked and instead replaced with 'patchw...

Episode 111 - To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the home video release of Revenge of the Cybermen we stroll down memory lane and present to you an (extremely) potted history of the Doctor Who video range through the rabid eyes of fandom and its vehicle of choice DWB! In this first installment, we discuss how the range came into existence, the non canon covers, naughty edits, how many times part...

Episode 110 - Everyone in fandom remembers the bombshell news late in 2022 heard exclusively in episode 106 – Unleash the Hoard(ers)! of the 42 to Doomsday podcast, announcing the discovery of a hoard of audio-visual material recorded off domestic television in Australia dating back to the early 1970s.    We promised you, our loyal listeners, that we would keep you up to date with any new informat...

Episode 109 - Doctor Who has always had a troubled relationship over the years with Australian censors.  In this episode we demonstrate how troubled with the able assistance of researcher Mike Pummel who has dug up a treasure trove of correspondence relating to the many cuts that were inflicted upon our favourite show! We discuss the process of how episodes of Doctor Who and other TV shows were su...

Episode 108 - It's our contractually obligated New Years Eve Special and we conclude our 1982 archival dragging sifting through the mountains of fan correspondance sent to both Celestial Toyroom and Skaro!   Listen as fans react to the recently transmitted Season 19.  Was Davison's Fifth Doctor a 'hit' or 'miss' from the off?  What is  the marketing  potential of plastic celery?  Gasp in wonder at...

Episode 107 – We are back (and just in time for Xmas!) While Rob is forages through the hoarder's house for any fragments of Power of the Daleks, Mark, Dave and Richard reconvene! We reminisce about our favourite and not so favourite convention anecdotes where discuss our (naughty and nice)  encounters with Doctor Who fans and guests alike.  Gas as we regale you with tales of guests who made a bee...

Episode 106 - Rob and Mark are joined by our special guest, Aron Challinger and in this episode listen to Aron recount how he came across one of the largest and oldest collection of domestic home video tapes in Australia and the strange story attached to them and the possibility of missing material Doctor Who or otherwise included in this haul?

Episode 105 - As the Chris Chibnall / Jodie Whitaker era of Doctor Who fades into the time vortex, Rob, Mark and special guest Rob Lloyd discuss (not review!) the 13th Doctor swan song / BBC Centennial special 'The Pow(d)er of the Doctor'.  Join us as we highlight out likes, dislikes and what we thought about those numerous (French) kisses to the past.  Did they add or diminish our enjoyment of th...

Episode 104 - During April of 1983, Peter Davison was shipped from good ol' Blighty to the colonies for a breakneck promotional tour of our Great Southern Land to meet and greet the general public and Doctor Who fans within the confines of our largest department chain, Myer! This 'blink and you miss it' visit lives on in the memories of only the select few who attended.  However, through the mirac...

Episode 103 - It's Xmas time but not the one you are expecting! Mark, Dave, Richard and Rob are back together on the couch warding off the winter chills by talking Doctor Who! Listen to us reminisce about watching the Dalek movies on the big screen in glorious 4K where we were so close we could feel their fire, and then burrow our way down the nostalgia tunnel to the good old pirate VHS scene wher...

Episode 102 – We conclude our look at the Doctor Who news via Celestial Toyroom issues from 1982! Find out who is on board for the Five / Six Doctors special; the 20th Anniversary documentary that was so good no one can remember it; examine whether Terminus will be terminated; find out who was to return in the ‘The Return’ and what Doctor Who artefacts did those pesky Vandals get their hand on! Al...

Episode 101 – We are back and we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the debut of the 5th Doctor Who by dragging through our fanzine collections of yesteryear, looking at all the Doctor Who news from 1982.  It’s so chunky we are splitting this over 2 episodes!   Travel back with us to the year where the first computer virus was unleased on the world, the greatest microcomputer designed by man was re...

Episode 100 – Australia’s oldest Doctor Who podcast is back and what a way to celebrate our 100th episode by the BBC announcing the newest of new Doctors, NCUTI GATWA! Mark and (real) Rob gather to discuss the impact and implications of this stunning casting news before Mark and Melbourne’s own Rob Lloyd thrash out (our long delayed Top 5 Master stories - with a dash of real Rob and a whole heap o...

Episode 99 - Mark and Rob are (surprised) and delighted to welcome acclaimed Doctor Who researcher and writer Richard Molesworth on to the podcast to discuss his soon to be released book The John Nathan-Turner Production Diary 1979-1990. Richard gives us an in-depth view of writing the book, the new nuggets of information he uncovered while putting the book together and offers a candid assessment...

Episode 98 – In this episode we flip the ‘what is the best story to show a non-Doctor Who fan?’ criteria on its head and discuss with the chaps from the Diddly Dum podcast ‘what would be the worst story you could ever introduce someone to Doctor Who?’ Both the classic and new series are not safe from their ‘suggestions’ including some ‘sacred cows’ (blasphemers!) being slain! Loads of listeners su...

Episode 97 – It's time again for our regular (and slightly delayed) 7th staff Christmas party (or as we are calling it our Summer Special!) where Mark is joined by Dave, Richard and Rob (via time eddy!) in a 2 hour plus extravaganza talking all things Doctor Who! We digest and regurgitate over Flux, discuss what makes a good TV producer, especially in the context of our favourite program,  chat ab...

To celebrate the release of Season 17 on Blu-Ray which includes the 235th version of SHADA since it’s untimely(?) demise in 1979, Mark presents a soon to be award winning dramatisation / audio book / poorly impersonated reading of his then contemporary review of the J-N-T cobbled together version,  which appeared in issue 73 of the Doctor Who Club of Victoria’s fanzine Sonic Screwdriver. An intere...

Episode 96 - We are back (delayed slightly more than anticipated) with our latest podcast where we debut our new ‘Fake Views’ segment where our ‘lovely’ listeners put forward scenarios that they know we are absolutely diametrically opposed to, forcing us to surrender all our morals and values to argue in the affirmative! Listen to us squirm whilst we expound on the musical genius of Keff McCulloug...