Doctor Who: the World Enough and Time podcast

It's 2022 and Andy and Alex celebrate the fact that its 30 years (30!) since The Tomb of the Cybermen was returned to the archives. Well they don't exactly celebrate this as I've only just worked it out for these episode notes but it's a neat milestone all the same. During proceedings Alex orders 'a bottle of a bottle', Andy fails to print his podcast notes, and a robin in a black cagoole causes a...

After a brief hiatus - they got caught in a time eddy - Andy and Alex return to tackle Andy's favourite story of all time: Pyramids of Mars. It's a story they first watched at a chimney sweep's house in North Northumberland in the mid-Eighties (the chimney sweep was one of the few villagers with a video player!). Andy feels Pyramids is part of his very being and is regularly reduced to just making...

This extra episode is an interview with the wonderful Neil Cole, curator and custodian of the Museum of Classic Science-Fi in Northumberland, recorded during my hols last week. We talked about how the museum came to be, his long off-and-on relationship with The Garm (from Terminus), the sourcing of his beloved Galsec rifle (from The Sontaran Experiment), restoration of a Cheetah person (from Survi...

Join Alex and Andy as they travel to Lanzarote (or is it Sarn?) for the penultimate Davison story Planet of Fire. What will they make of Peri's entrance and Turlough's exit? Why is this month's Dressed for Success such a bumper segment? How exactly does the Trion prison planet system work and was Sarn (or is it Lanzarote?) ever fertile? And if so, why? Elsewhere the return of the 'Planet or Planot...

It's joyful for Andy to be reunited with Alex again in their joint podcasting endeavour to watch and critique all of classic Doctor Who. The story is the Season 2 finale The Time Meddler which sees a new TARDIS crew and an unforgettable guest star in Peter Butterworth as The Meddling Monk. But before we get to the time meddling there's a quiz on Prehistoric Monsters in Doctor Who and some Adventur...

It's 1971 and Doctor Who is being reinvented for its 8th season! New companion! New recurring villain! New Autons! But what do Alex and Andy make of it? While there is much love for a particular stunt sequence and the horribly decorated interior of Rossini's grubby caravan, the pair struggle to like the story and reflect on why it might be that they've only watched it a few times. They have questi...

Andy and Alex fall in love with Doctor Who all over again when they watch the first instalment of the Key to Time season. Andy takes us back to a dark time before even the Doctor Who Programme Guide existed while Alex is as happy as a 'babbit in the springtime' when she clocks Romana's boots. The con is on and these classic Doctor Who podcasters are here for it. Elsewhere Alex is almost on topic f...

This month Andy and Alex turn their attention to another animated Troughton tale. While Andy shares his love of the cosy Harris residence and its Broken Sword-esque dinette, Alex gets on board with Robson's frustration at Harris's University education. Elsewhere they uncover the most often repeated phrase in the story, the gift of jumpsuits and the criminally hidden gem that is Megan Jones. All th...

Alex and Andy watch the partially lost Troughton adventure The Faceless Ones. While Andy realises that there's more to this story than crouching beside aircraft wheels, Alex cottons on that this isn't Ben's first story! Although they find much to enjoy here: Pauline Collins, the postcard plot, and clappy music to name just three, Ales and Andy admit to being confused by the Chameleons plan, but ar...

Happy New Year! Yes, its our first episode of 2021 in which we explore the Season 21 opener Warriors of the Deep. We are very pleased to be joined by the very lovely Martin (Andrew Ward) Holmes (Andy's 'A to Z of UK TV Drama' podcast co-host) as we hold forth on the much anticipated - well in 1984 - return of the Silurians and the Sea Devils. It is probably fair to say that we are all a bit underw...

The Christmas Special that very nearly wasn't! After losing most of our first recording of this episode - ironic given the episode we were reviewing is the most missing Doctor Who episode of them all - we proceeded undaunted and re-recorded our thoughts on this the first Doctor Who Christmas Special: episode 7 of The Daleks' Master Plan - The Feast of Steven. Along the way - thanks to the Time-Spa...

In this episode Alex and Andy go right back to the first series of Doctor Who as the original TARDIS crew encounter The Sensorites. They enjoy Susan’s new-found strength but are aghast at the Doctor’s reaction. Andy shares his weird Ilona Rodgers coincidence which in turn prompts a guest appearance from Prisoner Cell Block H’s ‘The Freak’, while Alex reveals how disturbing it is when people try ou...

A special extra episode of the pod in which Andy interviews Phoenix Andrews co-author of BBC Books' The Monster Vault (with Jonathan Morris). As well as asking all the important questions (such as: Daleks or Cybermen?), Andy finds out how Phoenix became involved in the project, how it was written during the pandemic and some of their favourite entires in the book. He also shares his own favourite...

Andy and Alex get all nostalgic this month as they look back at one of the very first Who videos they owned and watched a gazillion times back in the day: the glorious Revenge of the Cybermen. Although it has plot-holes you could drive a cute little Vogan cave-train through, they heap praise on this often maligned story for its pace, its music (yes its music!), its characterisation, but, most of a...

In our 30th episode we travel back to 1966 and even further back to Culloden Moor for a tale of Jacobite intrigue which continues to flesh out the newly regenerated Second Doctor and introduces everyone's favourite piper: Jamie McCrimmon. Neither Andy or Alex were familiar with the story but find much here to enjoy despite all the terrible accents and the oooh-arrghhhing of the stereotypical Trask...

Andy and Alex find themselves on a truly surprising journey of discovery as they explore that classy Season 14 opener The Masque of Mandragora. The surprise chiefly comes in the form of their special guest, elder sister Anna, who has so much knowledge about the story that her siblings start to believe that she is a much bigger fan of Doctor Who than she has ever let on. Not only does Anna provide...

It's back to those heady days of 1986 where news of Bonnie Langford's casting devastated Andy, and even 8-year-old Alex understood what a terrible threat to Doctor Who this irrepressible endlessly tap-dancing stage-school screamer posed. But what did they make of Mel's debut then and now? Alongside this debate (there is no debate dear listener just resigned horror) they consider the purpose of a J...

Andy and Alex are feeling 'a bit umpty' after their rewatch of the highly regarded Pertwee four-parter Carnival of Monsters. They have searching questions about an anachronistic dinosaur, if the disappearance of the SS Bernice remains a mystery, and whether the Doctor ever did lobby for the banning of miniscopes. As well as requesting more Ogrons and Cybermen and better attention to scale, they al...

Alex and Andy hurtle through a Charged Vacuum Emboitement to enjoy the 1980 vampire-themed classic State of Decay. They revel in the clash of science and gothic horror, the relationship between the Doctor and Romana, and the intentional theatricality of the Three Who Rule. Elsewhere, we spoil you with no less than two quizzes. Two! While the Cailleach asks if they are going to do the accent or not...

In their 25th episode Alex & Andy hurtle back to 1982 to the jungle paradise of Deva Loka where mystery boxes shouldn't be opened, you can't mend people and Nerys Hughes is practically perfect in every way. In Kinda they find much to enjoy and reflect on its first broadcast in 1982 and its repeat in 1983 as well as how they feel it stands up today. There's even a recording of a 4-year-old Alex sin...

Episode 24 sees Andy and Alex Gond joined once again by Brian Gond as they talk about Robert Holmes first Doctor Who story The Krotons. Andy remembers his first experience of it during the Five Faces of Doctor Who season in 1981, while Alex recalls the video release. Brian meanwhile just makes Kroton noises. As ever, various important questions are asked: Who is the Grumpy Elf? Why is Episode 1 so...

Hurtling back in time to November 1988, our 23rd episode sees us tackle the controversial 25th anniversary story Silver Nemesis and ask ourselves whether the poor reputation of the story is fair. Along the way we ask A LOT of questions such as: Why is Ace so scared after a picnic? Who planted the gas canisters? Who lit all the candles in the crypt? Why does anyone ever trust the Cybermen? Did the...

In our 22nd episode we review the 1979 sequel to Genesis of the Daleks with a new Romana, a new Davros and, of course, the Movellans! Oh how much do we love the Movellans?! Honestly 'Movellan love-fest' would probably be a more appropriate title for this episode. What else do we learn from this instalment? That, some quizzes are a bit shit. That Andy doesn't know who directed The Brain of Morbius!...

In our first episode of this new decade (gosh!)Alex and Andy adventurously start to explore the world of missing Doctor Who, beginning with the 1965 Hartnell historical The Myth Makers. Along the way they consider tragicomedy, Shakespearean overtones, Vicki's exit, artifice, horse fetlocks, and why Bill Hartnell was in such a bad mood throughout! And - newsflash - they actually work the latter out...

In our twentieth episode Alex and Andy are side-by-side again in NZ due to circumstances that neither would have wished for. Thanks to everyone who sent messages of love and support after hearing about Alex's car accident. She is now well on the road to recovery. Towards the end of my time there Al decided she was well enough to record an episode, so here it is. Our focus du jour is Vengeance on V...