Doctor Who: Watchers in the Fourth Dimension

Eldrad must live! On what is her 18th story with the Doctor, we wave goodbye to Sarah Jane Smith (for now at least). She’s had a bit of a torrid time during her tenure in the TARDIS, and The Hand of Fear is no exception, as she gets possessed by the evil Eldrad. This serial has everything – silicon despots, hospitals, nuclear horror, mind control (ah, that old chestnut!), and, of course, a scarf-t...

It’s time for our annual spooktacular Halloween Who-rror special! This year, we discuss two horror movies featuring the stars of Doctor Who, starting with Hammer Horror’s Dracula (also known as “The Horror of Dracula” - featuring Peter Cushing), followed by the Amicus anthology The Vault of Horror (featuring Tom Baker).   It’s a wild ride this episode, as we touch on topics as varied as Chap Hop (...

We’re finally getting started on the legendary Season 14, as we discuss the debut serial, The Masque of Mandragora. Will it live up to the expectations that the received wisdom of fandom has set for the season, or will the season opener prove to be a disappointment? As always, you’ll have to listen to find out!   Join us as we discuss whether this story would still work without Federico, what we w...

In our latest bonus episode, the Watchers crew commit the ultimate act of masochism in discussing Doctor Who and the Pescatons, the legendary audio adventure recorded the day after Elisabeth Sladen’s departure from the show was announced to the press and released in between Seasons 13 and 14.    Join us as we discuss this interesting little oddity from Doctor Who’s history, featuring both Tom Bake...

Over six months after recording our episode on The Seeds of Doom, Anthony, Julie, and Reilly make a return to talking about Doctor Who with our Season 13 retrospective!   Join us as we approach the season with our usual blend of qualitative and quantitative measures and questions from our friends on social media. Along the way, we touch upon the amazing (yes, hello Terror of the Zygons and The Bra...

In what is probably our saddest bonus episode yet, we say goodbye to our fallen comrade Don. Join us as the three of us give our own tributes to him and read some of the absolutely tremendous tributes that came in from our listeners. We also discuss the movie Phantom of the Paradise – a film that Don truly loved. He spent a significant amount of time trying (and failing) to find a connection to Do...

No attempt at a witty blurb for this one. It’s our last ever episode with Don, as we discuss The Seeds of Doom.   Recorded eight months before release, this one was put on hold when our friend and partner-in-crime Don unexpectedly passed away just five days after our recording session. The time is now right for its release. We think that it’s among our best episodes, and we hope you’ll enjoy liste...

We have a cunning plan! Back in December, Julie polled the three other Watchers on what British comedy she should give a try over the holiday period – the answer was unanimous: Blackadder. Fast forward a few months. We were on hiatus, following the loss of our co-host, Don. We started talking about making our comeback, and decided to do start with something to test out the new dynamic among the th...

After over seven months since it was originally recorded, we finally bring you our episode in which we discuss the canon-busting story that The Brain of Morbius! Recorded before our brother Don passed away, we truly believe that this is one of our best episodes to date, featuring some absolutely spectacular conversation, and really does mark a special way for us to come back from a long hiatus.  ...

It’s a special bonus episode, as we mark our return from a seven-month hiatus! Join us for the podcast version of our recent “state of the podcast” LIVE show, in which we discuss what we’ve all been up to during our hiatus (spoiler: fezzes are involved for one of us!) and what’s coming up for the show, before we open up for an “ask us anything” session with questions submitted by those who were wa...

Anthony makes a very brief statement with some extremely sad podcast news.

This episode, the Watchers have all been replaced by doppelgangers as we tackle The Android Invasion! With a script written by everyone’s favourite hack, Terry Nation, it’s a chance for everyone to play one of the most fun games around – Terry Nation Bingo! We also say goodbye to a much-loved character, as well as to another one that’s loved by everyone except Julie. You can’t win ‘em all!   Along...

This episode, we’re tackling a fan favourite. Coming in at the 7th best Doctor Who serial of all time in Doctor Who Magazine’s 2009 Mighty 200 Poll and at 8th in their 2013 50th Anniversary Poll, it’s safe to say that Pyramids of Mars has an excellent reputation… but will the Watchers agree?   Along the way, Anthony talks of childhood head-canon, Julie gets increasingly concerned with the number o...

We’re off to the edges of the known universe in a quest for a new power source, as we discuss Planet of Evil! And, oh dear! Season 13 started SO WELL last episode, and (spoilers) goes downhill SO quickly this time around. Le sigh. At least the music’s on point this time around…   Along the way, Julie declares a strong dislike for all men whose names start with the letter “s”; Don explains why if h...

Ho! Ho! Ho! It’s that special time of the year where we bring you the present of our annual holiday bonus episode! This year, Julie twisted everyone else’s arm into a romantic drama featuring such Doctor Who alumni as Caitlin Blackwood, Sylvester McCoy, and (of course) Frazer Hines! That’s right, we’re discussing a small-budget Christmas film called Lost at Christmas.   Along the way, Anthony find...

We kick Season 13 off with Terror of the Zygons, and we’re off to the Scottish Highlands, where the Brigadier wears a kilt, Benton returns, the Doctor wears a Glengarry, Sarah has stuff to do, and Harry gets shot… wait, did Julie write this one!? Maybe not, but this one seems right up her alley! Join us we discuss what is undoubtedly an extremely strong start to the season!   Along the way, Don ma...

Another season down, and so it’s time for us to look back on the entirety of Season 12 in our now-customary end-of-season retrospective! Once again, we examine the season through our usual blend of awards, a recap of our scores and metrics, and questions from some of our friends from social media.   Along the way, Reilly and Julie clash over whether or not the Scientific Reform Society make for go...

Anthony and Julie are joined by friend-of-the-podcast R. Alan Siler for this season’s side-step into the realms of audio. This time around, we have chosen to do something a little different – rather than focus on an original audio story, we discuss Return of the Cybermen, which is based on an earlier script for Revenge, and was released as part of Big Finish’s Lost Stories range.   Along the way,...

Just like that, we’ve reached the end of Tom Baker’s first season with Revenge of the Cybermen. And oh boy, is this one a doozy. Could this possibly be the worst Cybermen story to date? Well, obviously, you’ll have to listen to this podcast episode to find out what we think in Shoulder Rub of Death!   Along the way, Anthony fights the urge to nitpick every single element of the story, Don expresse...

Watchers in the FEAR Dimension returns for a second year, as we bring you our bonus Halloween special, in which we discuss two Doctor Who-related horror films. This year, we talk about Hammer Horror’s Scars of Dracula (featuring Patrick Troughton) and the Carry On franchise’s Carry On Screaming (featuring Jon Pertwee). Join us as we discuss the serious and the silly in these two films, from vomiti...

And so we get to another truly legendary story of the Tom Baker-era – Genesis of the Daleks. Will the Watchers love this as much as fandom-as-a-whole does, or will the giant clam prove to be just too much? Will the Davros/Nyder pairing be as I C O N I C as expected? And will Julie ever get over the new Production Team’s aversion to women and, as a result, how this serial becomes Sausage Fest of th...

It’s time for a surprise bonus episode drop! The entire gang is getting together to discuss the recent animation of Season 5’s The Abominable Snowmen. So many questions – have Big Finish Creative finally fixed the problem of super long arms? Will the Archer-style animation work with the Yeti? And will animation turn a tedious, padded story into anything other than a tedious, padded story?   Along...

We’re heading down to a deserted far future Earth, where a baked potato is evaluating a small group of humans for… well… apparently, an invasion… but it seems to be more for plain old sadism. Maybe. Anyway, in this episode we’re discussing The Sontaran Experiment!   Along the way, Reilly once again gets disgusted by the tongue movements of a Sontaran, Anthony asks how these humans totally missed N...

The Fourth Doctor era begins properly as we head off into the far future for The Ark in Space! It’s the first story Produced by the legendary Phillip Hinchcliffe, meaning that the iconic Hinchcliffe/Holmes production team is now fully in place, and they're taking us to a space station in the far future where the future of humanity is at stake – what could possibly go wrong? Aside from the somewhat...

It’s that point of our journey where we finally have reached the legendary Tom Baker, as we kick-off his era with Robot! But will his debut live up to expectations? We also say a final “goodbye” to Producer Barry Letts and his love of bad CSO, and former Script Editor Terrance Dicks signs-off with the script. Listen in as we re-tread some of the UNIT-era tropes to welcome our new Doctor!   Along t...