Doctor Who: Toby Hadoke’s Time Travels

It's the flexible format innit? That's why we love Doctor Who. Except of course, we then get really annoyed when the format is flexed and it ceases to be the show we loved. Or does it? It's a show that thrives on change with a fandom that resists change. A paradox? Of course. One that's fun to explore? Hope so. Something had to be released on Doctor Who Podcast Day, didn't it? So here it is. Not t...

Double acts galore - Doctor and Doctor, Benton and Doctor, Brig and Ollis, Gel Guard 1 and Gel Guard 2. We finally get to meet Omega face to... erm, mask. But what a mask. It's not all celebratory here, some aspects of the story haven't aged brilliantly, but we do conjure a door through which Siobhan and Toby can pass in order to compare notes and see if they like the same things about this landma...

Jelly, Magic, Explosions - that's everyone's kind of party, surely? Or, how Toby learned to stop worrying and love The Three Doctors. But will your host choose the same thing as podcaster, writer, performer and all round Doctor Who legend Siobhan Gallichan to will they have a difference of opinion about this story's assets? Please support these podcasts on Patreon, where you will get advance relea...

So we are approaching the 60th anniversary aren't we? Well then, let's have an anniversary type story now so it doesn't get swallowed up in the actual celebrations. So what better than an anniversary story that wasn't really broadcast at anniversary time? And arguably isn't even an anniversary story really, if you look at when it was on? The Three Doctors was repeated as part of the Five Faces of...

Well things end with a bang - and a melt and a burn - as the story makes the most of its setting and throws in a bit of Reithian educational content (albeit jazzed up with some alien interference that would not sit comfortably in the history books). There's not much about the making of a television series in this podcast (or indeed about The Making of a Television Series) but there's plenty to tal...

"Now is the time to say goodbye. Now is the time to yield a sigh. Till we meet again... in the TV movie and the New Series." Your host Toby Hadoke can't tell you how upsetting a certain event in this episode was - oh, actually, he can tell you, and he does so at length. Will the sonic screwdriver's demise resonate (like concrete?) with special guest Richard James or will he and Toby argue like the...

The Doctor is annoyed with Richard Mace, the android is zapping people, and the Teileptil shows his (scarred) face. But will actor and writer Richard James and host Toby Hadoke agree on what is best about this episode, or is someone going to get ratty? Please support these podcasts on Patreon, where you will get advance releases, exclusive content (including a patron only podcast - Far Too Much in...

Well, it's back to Season 19, which seems to be the Davison season that attracts the most people who record their contribution to this podcast as soon as they choose their story. This time it's Space Precinct actor Richard James who selects his favourite things from a story that has it all - the future, the past, and a present in the form of Fred Elliott from Coronation Street.   Please support th...

"Aye though we hunted high and low, and hunted everywhere..." It's a pretty grim conclusion to this lighthouse saga, but there is still plenty opt enjoy. Will guest Martin Geraghty and host Toby Hadoke, who have been pretty much on the same wavelength, match again this time around, or will they be as different as Leela's eyes are by the story's conclusion? 

Ooh host Toby Hadoke has really enjoyed this one. The bodies start piling up and the story gets a bit like The Thing (having already got a bit like The Fog) and the characters are all getting their moments to shine. And surely, surely, there's only one choice for the best thing in this episode? It's one of the best examples of its kind....

Things are getting foggier outside the lighthouse, and inside its getting busier and testier and, in places, funnier. Tom Baker is at the height of his powers, even if he hates the director and is being mean to his co-star, whilst the writer could do this programme brilliantly in his sleep and the director is a veteran sci-fi wrangler. Add to that a pitch perfect guest cast and a superb setting an...

It's oil verses electricity, man verses beast, Tom Baker verses the director. Quite a few battlegrounds then, yet each provokes great creativity using the simplest of ingredients - an isolated setting, a small cast, an angry leading man. And yet this one never lets up - not a line is wasted, and there is plenty for our guest, illustrator Martin Geraghty, to draw our attention to. Hopefully the com...

The second part of a chat with Professor Tom Attah about race and representation in Doctor Who. Amiable, well-informed, and interesting is what is being aimed for. A good faith conversation which hopefully isn't afraid to explore some of the complexities of the issue without being didactic and without the participants taking themselves too seriously. 

Omnibus time again, this time with poor old The Power of Kroll, a rather unloved entry into the Tom Baker canon, and indeed the Robert Holmes one. There's thunder (and that's not just the expression on Philip Madoc's face), lightning, and not a lot that's very frightening but it does have a superb cast on paper and a big giant squid. Worship at the alter of Kroll, or else host Toby Hadoke and gues...

So it's goodbye to Victoria, but not before there's a loop-de-loop and a screaming fit, and time for quite a long supper and a protracted farewell. Oh it's a uniquely paced story is Fury from the Deep. Will Jess choose the same things as your host? Can he possibly win? Or has this whole thing been rigged from the start?

So it's adios Oak and sayonara Quill - but hello helicopter - as the story picks up a pace (and the music too) as it bubbles to its climax. Have Megan and Robson got a dirty secret? Was this story as good as legend occasionally says it was? And what else will turn up during this podcast if we wish it into existence? Jess Jurkovic has another favourite thing to choose and hist Toby Hadoke will prob...

Maggie's beneath the sea, van Lutyens is going down the impeller, and Victoria has gone under ... things need to look up! So the Doctor is grateful for the arrival of Megan Jones from Gavin and Stacy, but what has put a smile on Jess Jurkovic's face this week? Your host Toby Hadoke dives in - let's see what he's in a froth about. 

A very short episode of Doctor Who doesn't get very short shrift because it's got a lot of things in it that are loved by your host, Toby Hadoke. So, you know, we don't want it to get in the sea... like some poor sod has to at the end of this spooky instalment. It's a haunting moment with some eerie music, which is surely right up the street of special guest Jess Jurkovic, THE expert on Dudley Sim...

"It is down there ... in the darkness... waiting." And while it waits, host Toby Hadoke has to guess what brilliant musician and You Tube maestro Jess Jurkovic likes about this missing Troughton classic, long held up as one of the scariest Doctor Who stories of all time. We're watching the reconstruction, but things really (and literally) start moving when Mr Oak and Mr Quill let themselves into M...

This is a very special story for your host Toby Hadoke so he is delighted the marvellous musician Jess Jurkovic (for goodness' sake follow him on Twitter and go to his You Tube) has chosen it, the first HT&P to come from Troughton's Season 5. Adventure is only a heartbeat away...     Please support these podcasts on Patreon, where you will get advance releases, exclusive content (including a patro...

The ever-delightful Jenny@bluebox99 has chosen an epic and important story. Think back to when Russell T Davies had brought back Doctor Who and everything was talking about it, we had a new Doctor to get excited about, and we only had a few clues about what was to come. Seems like yesterday. Oh time, you don't half move in mysterious ways. 

A (hopefully) nuanced and insightful conversation about race and representation in Doctor Who, with special guest contributor Professor Tom Attah. A change from the usual monologue, for obvious reasons, but something that looks to provide observation and context regarding an occasionally vexatious subject. Tom's good fun though, so it's not heavy or didactic, but an open chat that tackles various...

It's the end of an era, as tall lightbulb Jon Pertwee glitters for the last time. Your host is all discombobulated by an unexpected move from illustrious guest Annie Wallace last time, so his choice of favourite thing will be slightly compromised in this edition - and will likely have a knock on effect for the final result. Which, considering what happened to the running time of this story is stra...

The penultimate on Pertwee episode in a story that has - appropriately - been born anew in the eye ion your host Toby Hadoke thanks to this cleansing rewatch and the positive counsel of Hollyoaks star Annie Wallace. So brush away those cobwebs and enjoy...   Please support these podcasts on Patreon, where you will get advance releases, exclusive content (including a patron only podcast - Far Too M...

Well now, this is where the story presents some of its most interesting material, but also where the production starts to go a bit wayward. So there's much to admire but a fair amount to lament - but as you know, host Toby Hadoke and special guest Annie Wallace (star of Hollyoaks)  are here to accentuate the positive so let's see if they can see the (blue) light.   Please support these podcasts on...