On the Time Lash

Send us Fan Mail Ben and Mark wrap up the Flux part of their GTF event series with a chat about "Survivors of the Flux" and "The Vanquishers".  While it may have its flaws, they find that it's a tour de force performance from Jodie Whittaker - all 3 of her.  Also: Mark recounts how he came to own one of JN-T's shirts. Ben finds a rare Douglas Adams book in a furniture...

Send us Fan Mail In Chapter 2 of our very special Flux season, Ben and Mark discuss "Once, Upon Time" and "Village of the Angels". Should Doctor Who always be playing it safe like in Angels? Or should it be aiming for the fences with a wild swing like Once? Also: What happens if a Weeping Angel is reflected in your stream? Mark's disastrous attempt at doing a Wordle live o...

Send us Fan Mail In the first of a six part On the Time Lash experiment, Ben and Mark take to YouTube and Facebook to discuss Flux and The Daleks' Masterplan. This is a slightly edited version of that YouTube recording. Chapter 1 covers The Halloween Apocalypse and War of the Sontarans. Under discussion: Why Doctor Who's COVID supervisors deserve a table at Comic Con, Chris Chibnall&apos...

Send us Fan Mail WARNING: Contains Scenes Of A Sexual Nature Ben and Mark are joined in their hotel room by Luke Molloy, formerly of the Lost on Gallifrey podcast to discuss 'Revolution of the Daleks' and 'Planet of the Daleks' on the eve of a fateful meeting with Glen McCoy. Under discussion: A gleeful skip across the minefield that is the subject of John Barrowman on social m...

Send us Fan Mail In part 2 of our festive special, Ben, Mark and JR Southall return to discuss fan controversy 1970s style, by way of Robert Holmes' The Deadly Assassin.  As a controversial moment in Doctor Who history, it's gone on to define how the show's mythology worked going forward.  Can the same be said for The Timeless Children? Time will tell, it usually does. Under discuss...

Send us Fan Mail In the first part of a 2-part festive special, Ben and Mark are joined by J.R Southall from the Strangers in Space podcast for a Christmas argument all about The Timeless Children. Under discussion: Doesn't the Timeless Children just return the character back to 1966? Where can kids catch up on the adventures of the George Gallacio Doctor? Will Doctor Who ever be a show with...

Send us Fan Mail Ben returns from Patagonia with news of Ryan Sinclair, and also to discuss Ascension of the Cybermen and Revenge of the Cybermen with Mark and a returning Dylan Rees from Doctor Who: Too Hot For TV .  In a sprawling discussion, they discuss Chris Chibnall's troubling obsession with throwing people from cliffs, pitch a Glitter Gun origin show to Disney+, defend the silly Cyber...

Send us Fan Mail Ben's stuck in Patagonia with Ryan Sinclair, so Mark's joined by Dylan Rees from Doctor Who: Too Hot For TV to discuss two stories that introduce Mary Shelley to the Cybermen - The Haunting of Villa Diodati and The Silver Turk. But instead, Dylan and Mark discuss Paul McGann's Big Finish output more generally. Under discussion: The relative merits of Marc Platt&apos...

Send us Fan Mail In a special Halloween spooktacular, Ben and Mark take a terrifying trip to Doctor Who's Most Haunted locations. Expect monkey possession, falling pottery, wildly rocking cribs, Ben's former career as a Plague Doctor, a bin liner full of haunted toys and John Barrowman's past life as an Eastern European clown. Show notes: Athelhampton Hall - Harrison Chase's Ho...

Send us Fan Mail  Ben and Mark sit down and talk about their feelings by way of Can You Hear Me? and The Awakening. Under discussion: What could the Doctor possibly say to Graham about cancer? The perils of using "opening up" as an excuse to cut mental health funding. What else Zellin can detach, and the totally tropical taste of a fruity Denis Lill performance.  Support the show Follow...

Send us Fan Mail Ben and Mark tackle the big environmental issues as they discuss Praxeus and Planet of Giants. Wouldn't Praxeus have been better if they'd kept the Autons in? What was it about the idea of Planet of Giants that made it a story worth returning to for season 2? ALSO: Why Adric should have got married. Ben's advice for getting rid of caterpillars and aphids. Tim Peake&...

Send us Fan Mail Ben and Mark let the listeners decide this episode's pairing with Fugitive of the Judoon, resulting in them having to chat about Meglos. Under discussion: Jason Bourne in Space, ITV Light Entertainment figures interacting, creepy cakemakers, and cacti. Also: Did JN-T require Jacqueline Hill's Hartnell wrangling skills? An unexpected Doctor but not the one you think, and...

Send us Fan Mail Ben and Mark discuss the Doctor Who sub-genre of the Hipster Historical by way of 'Nikola Tesla's Night Of Terror' and 'The Visitation'. How well do both stories succeed in informing and entertaining audiences about less famous historical celebrities? Ben finds a kinship with Richard Mace, Mark attempts to pin the blame on someone other than Eric Saward, a...

Send us Fan Mail Ben and Mark are joined by the internet's foremost 'Orphan 55' expert Pete Lambert of the Trap One podcast to discuss all-inclusive holidays, Greta Thunberg, spunk gags, and much, much more in Ed Hime's difficult second episode.  In the second half, they pair the mysterious planet of Orphan 55 with Robert Holmes' 'The Mysterious Planet'. As the L...

Send us Fan Mail In many ways, it's all been building to this. The 12th series of On the Time Lash opens with Mark finally coming face to fist with Eric Saward and Ben getting to call people SPIES. In a packed show, Ben and Mark discuss Ben's stag, the DWAS Capitol event, Spyfall, and Frontier in Space. Not to mention bollock monsters, holding a pillow over an elderly screenwriter, and t...

Send us Fan Mail After an unintentionally long gap, Ben and Mark are back to discuss two types of Whittaker Dalek stories. Jodie Whittaker's first festive special 'Resolution' and David Whittaker's 'The Evil of the Daleks'. While building up their own hangovers, the Lash Lads tackle the first ever Doctor Who New Year's Day special, and ponder how the energy chang...

Send us Fan Mail Ben and Mark bring Series 11 to a close with two tales of spiritual saps being taken for a ride by old enemies of the Doctor. In The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos, Graham and Ryan get a satisfying ending even if no one else does. Whilst in The Keeper of Traken, Adric and Nyssa actually seem to like each other. What kind of evil energy is Peter Davison bringing in a few episodes&apos...

Send us Fan Mail Ben and Mark can find nothing with the emotional complexity to compare with It Takes You Away and so pair it with another story featuring a frog on a chair, Four to Doomsday. Comparing Jodie Whittaker with Peter Davison sparks some interesting discussions about the regard which each of their eras are held. Is the frog on the chair the most Doctor Who moment in post-2005 Doctor Who...

Send us Fan Mail In a very special seasonal episode, Ben and Mark welcome writer and director Joy Wilkinson to the podcast to discuss writing The Witchfinders, the mechanics of the S11 writer's room, British history and folklore as well as her own love of The Daemons.  What other stories from S11 did Joy want to write? Was the Doctor's gender the impetus or a happy accident? What the hel...

Send us Fan Mail Ben and Mark are joined by Steven from New to Who to discuss the BBC's perceived political bias through the prism of 'Kerblam!' and 'The Sunmakers'. Isn't the system  actually  the problem? Is it enough in 2018 to just make a Doctor Who story about Space Amazon or do you actually have to have something to say? Is it a by-product of a more centrist app...

Send us Fan Mail Religious tensions, post-colonialism, court intrigue,  unimaginable slaughter. It should be a right bloody laugh as Ben and Mark discuss 2018's 'Demons of the Punjab' and 1966's 'The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve'.  Ben and Mark have nothing but praise for Vinay Patel's powerful portrayal of a historical moment that is woefully untaught i...

Send us Fan Mail After some hot off the presses RTD reactions, Ben and Mark are joined by Pting expert Millie McKenzie to discuss 'The Tsuranga Conundrum' and 'Nightmare of Eden'. Is 'The Tsuranga Conundrum' really as bad as everyone says it is? The discussion touches on Chekhov's abdominal pain, Chris Chibnall's limitations as a writer, the tonal inconsiste...

Send us Fan Mail In a creepy crawlie special, Ben and Mark discuss two giant insect stories by way of 'Arachnids in the UK' and 'The Web Planet'.  Is 'Arachnids in the UK' even a pun? And is 'The Web Planet' actually just Doctor Who at it's most cynical? Under discussion: 'The Green Death' for the Trump administration, the environmental impact...

Send us Fan Mail Ben and Mark tackle quite the tonal tightrope as they discuss 2019's 'Rosa' and 1965's 'The Romans'.  Dodging both white liberal hand wringing and patronising audiences of colour, Ben and Mark attempt to discuss the importance and freshness of 'Doctor Who' confronting racism head on.  As they discuss the relevant Reithian values of both stor...

Send us Fan Mail In a very special bonus episode Ben and Mark try to unpack all the news from a packed and slightly chaotic week in Doctor Who. They've become everything they said they'd never be... Under discussion: San Diego Comic Con, Series 13, potential replacements for both Chris Chibnall and Jodie Whittaker as well as pointless, uninformed speculation about the future of Doctor Wh...