The Doctor Who Show

In today’s episode we look at the 1997 BBC Past Doctor Adventure, Illegal Alien.

This story began life as an unproduced television script intended for Season 27.

Britain is at war. Night after night the Luftwaffe are bombing London. A serial killer dubbed the Limehouse Lurker is stalking the rubble-strewn streets. But a deadlier threat falls from the sky in the shape of a sinister silver sphere...

Cody McBride, ex-pat American private eye, sees the sphere crash-land and split open — and glimpses something emerging from within. The military dismiss his account of events. The Doctor and Ace are the only ones who believe him. Before long they find themselves on a trail that leads to hidden Nazi operatives... and some very old enemies.

Before that, we kick things off with the usual mix of news and short topics. Then, after the Illegal Alien chat, we open the mailbag for a ton of feedback from our listeners on a number of topics.

Enjoy, dear listener.

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This episode offers a 30-minute full synopsis of the 1997 BBC Books Doctor Who novel, Illegal Alien.

Since the book is now nearly 30 years old, we know many listeners may not have read it recently — or perhaps ever.

If you don’t want to feel left out of our Illegal Alien discussion on Sunday’s monthly show, this episode is the perfect way to refresh your memory or get up to speed beforehand.

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Join Dave from the Doctor Who Show, Rob and Mark from 42 to Doomsday, and Richard from Spacefall: A Blakes 7 Podcast, after knocking back a few gin and tonics at Dave’s place and watching Paradise Towers.

The story sees the Seventh Doctor and Melanie Bush arrive in search of a swimming pool at the supposedly luxurious 22nd-century high-rise known as Paradise Towers.

Instead, they find a crumbling, graffiti-covered concrete jungle divided between rule-obsessed Caretakers, colour-coded girl gangs called the Kangs, and elderly “rezzies” with some rather alarming dietary habits.

So pour yourself a G&T and join us as we take the lift up to the pool in the sky and get to grips with one of the Seventh Doctor era’s most idiosyncratic tales.

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Which Doctor Who stories dig deepest into faith, gods, belief, and the divine?

From the black-and-white classics to the modern era, we’ve ranked our favourite episodes that wrestle with religion and unpack where each one takes the topic.

Got twenty minutes? Come with us.

And while you’re here... what would make your list? Drop us a line and tell us why.

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Bluesky: @thedwshow.net
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This month on the podcast, we saddle up and head for Mercy, Nevada, where the Doctor encounters a gunslinger, a disgraced alien doctor, a town full of terrified humans, and one hell of a moral dilemma.

We’re talking A Town Called Mercy - the 2012 Eleventh Doctor story that asks some pretty uncomfortable questions about mercy, vengeance, guilt and whether the Doctor gets to decide who deserves to live.

Before that, there’s the usual assortment of news and short topics, and afterwards we dig into the mailbag for a heap of listener feedback.

So grab your hat, keep an eye out for cyborgs, and ponder what YOU would do with an alien war criminal.

Enjoy, dear listener.

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Bluesky: @thedwshow.net
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There are some TV shows that are perfectly suited to Alternate Galaxies. And then there’s The X-Files, a show that Rob has loved since it first hit Australian television in 1994, watched from beginning to end multiple times, and spent his university years discussing with strangers on the early Internet. The problem? It’s over 200 episodes long, and Dave had somehow managed to go through the entire 1990s, the 2000s, the 2010s and most of the 2020s without watching it.

So, we needed a plan.

That plan has been to throw Dave into the deep end - but only six episodes deep to start with. Rob has picked six stories from the first four seasons that don't require you to know the show's mythology, while trying to give Dave a proper taste of the enormous tonal range of The X-Files. There are monsters, Satanists, serial killers, psychic phenomena and alien abductions, but also some extremely funny episodes where the show gleefully takes the piss out of itself. Dave then immediately broke the rules by watching a seventh episode, because apparently six episodes of homework wasn't enough.

Our selections take us from the early monster-of-the-week classic Squeeze, through the Satanic weirdness of Die Hand Die Verletzt, the melancholy brilliance of Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose, the genuinely harrowing Oubliette, the gloriously bonkers Jose Chung's From Outer Space and finally the dark serial-killer story Paper Hearts.

We'll keep Dave's rougue choice a secret for now.

Did you watch the X-Files back in the day? Have you watched it since? What do you think of Rob's episode choices? Which ones would you have given Dave?

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Listener Brandon Moore set us a challenge this month: What are the greatest single episodes of Doctor Who that are part of larger, multi-part stories?

From the classics to Nu Who, we’ve picked our favourites and taken a look at what makes these individual episodes stand out.

If you’ve got 20m to spare, we’d love you to tune in.

What would make your list? Why not write in and let us know?

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Bluesky: @thedwshow.net
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In today’s episode we look at The Paradise of Death – the five-part BBC Radio 5 Doctor Who audio drama starring Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor, originally broadcast weekly from 27 August to 24 September 1993.

Before that, we kick things off with the usual mix of news and short topics. Then, after the audio drama chat, we open the mailbag for a ton of feedback from our listeners on a number of topics.

Enjoy, dear listener.

Contact us:

Bluesky: @thedwshow.net
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Listener Frankie Naughton set us a challenge this month - who are the greatest directors from the classic era of Doctor Who?

From the atmospheric to the ambitious, the stylish to the inventive, we’ve picked our favourites and taken a look at what made their work stand out.

If you’ve got 20m to spare, we’d love you to tune in.

Who would make your list? Why not write in and let us know?

Contact us:

Bluesky: @thedwshow.net
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Don’t Read the Comments is an irregular podcast on our feed where we ignore the show’s title and actually read online comments relating to something going on in the world of Doctor Who.

Today, Rob is reading comments from the Gallifrey subreddit relating to the latest rumours about the future of Doctor Who. Specifically, reports that American production company Electric Entertainment is interested in taking over the show, with David Tennant reportedly wanted back in the role of the Doctor.

Electric Entertainment boss Dean Devlin has since confirmed the company is interested in Doctor Who, while denying that any negotiations with the BBC have taken place.

So what does the Gallifrey sub make of the prospect of Tennant returning to Doctor Who for a third bite at the Time Lord cherry? Rob finds out.

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Join Dave from the Doctor Who Show, Rob and Mark from 42 to Doomsday, and Richard from Spacefall: A Blakes 7 Podcast, after knocking back a few gin and tonics at Dave’s place and watching The Hand of Fear.

The story sees the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker, and Sarah Jane Smith, played by Elisabeth Sladen, investigating the discovery of a mysterious fossilised hand following a quarry explosion. Before long, Sarah is possessed by an alien consciousness, while the Doctor is left trying to work out exactly what has fallen to Earth and what it wants.

Originally broadcast in four weekly parts from 2 to 23 October 1976, The Hand of Fear is probably most notable for marking Elisabeth Sladen’s final regular appearance as Sarah Jane Smith and the last story in which the Doctor and Sarah travel together in the TARDIS.

So pour yourself a G&T and join us as we get to grips with one of the Fourth Doctor era's most memorable departures.

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In today’s episode we look at The Tomb of the Cybermen - the first serial of the fifth season of Doctor Who, originally broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 2 to 23 September 1967.

Before that, we kick things off with the usual mix of news and short topics. Then, after the TV episodes chat, we open the mailbag for a ton of feedback from our listeners on a number of topics.

Enjoy, dear listener.

Contact us:

Bluesky: @thedwshow.net
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As we sit here today, we know Doctor Who is going to tender at some stage - probably later this year. We also know BBC Studios will be throwing its hat into the ring when it does.

Basically, 'stuff' is happening and, eventually, a new Doctor is going to be cast.

So in the spirit of our specials 14 for 14 (August 8, 2021) and 21 Replacements For 12 (February 1, 2017), we're here to kick around our picks for the 16th Doctor.

We hope you like it.

Who would YOU cast as the 16th Doctor? Why not get in touch and let us know?

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Bluesky: @thedwshow.net
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Listener Kosta from Philadelphia USA set us a challenge this month – what are our top Doctor Who "comfort" stories?

If you’ve got 20m to spare, we’d love you to tune in.

What would your picks be? Why not write in and let us know?

Contact us:

Bluesky: @thedwshow.net
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Email: hello@theDWshow.net
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Don’t Read the Comments is an irregular podcast on our feed where we ignore the show’s title and actually read online comments relating to something going on in the world of Doctor Who.

Today, I'm reading comments from the Gallifrey subreddit relating to the very sad passing of Justin Richards, the prolific British author and editor whose dozens of Doctor Who novels, audio dramas, and reference books made him one of the franchise’s most influential writers outside of television.

Justin passed away with early-onset fronto-temporal dementia on June 28, 2026. He was 64.

Contact us:

Bluesky: @thedwshow.net
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Back in March 2023 we discussed the Jodie Whittaker era of Doctor Who by selecting some episodes to revisit for the first time since broadcast.

That concept proved so popular - it's legitimately one of our most downloaded episodes ever - we're doing the same tonight for the Ncuti Gatwa era.

A year after the dust settled on Season 2 of Ncuti's era - and now, as we know, the RTD2 era as a whole - we watch some episodes and talk about two seasons of the show that have divided fandom ever since they first dropped, and probably always will.

What do we make of the stories on re-watch and, in turn, the Gatwa era in general?

Tune in, find out.

After the chat we also have a TON of listener feedback. Folks, it's been... a month.

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Bluesky: @thedwshow.net
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In our May episode we were discussing the possibility of the 2026 Doctor Who Christmas Special being cancelled. Madness, people said, it can't be cancelled. That's crazy!

1.5 weeks later, on June 10, it was confirmed that the BBC had cancelled the special and Russell T Davies had announced his exit as showrunner and, by association, Bad Wolf as its production company. A lot happened that week, dear listener, as you may remember.

Tonight, what began as the news segment for the June episode takes on a life of its own. Rather than put out a 2-hour-plus episode of the show, with a 40-minute-plus news segment, we've taken that news segment and our short topics and created this episode from it.

Tomorrow, we will drop the Ultimate Ncuti Gatwa Cold Take discussion that was intended as the main topic of the episode, along with a month's worth of listener feedback.

So you're still getting over 2 hours of Doctor Who Show this weekend - just broken up into two pieces over two days. Let us know what you think of this experiment - and the shows!

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Bluesky: @thedwshow.net
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Back in the ninth installment of Gin & TARDIS, the boys looked at a random assortment of orphaned Patrick Troughton episodes. That went down so well with listeners that tonight, Dave from the Doctor Who Show, Mark & Rob from 42 to Doomsday, and Richard from Spacefall: A Blakes 7 Podcast, are watching a grab bag of four unrelated William Hartnell episodes from the ‘Lost in Time’ DVD release. The episodes:

The Crusade - Episode 3
Galaxy 4 - Episode 3
The Daleks Master Plan - Episode 10
The Celestial Toymaker - Episode 4

And yes, there’s a musical number at the end 😉

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Bluesky: @thedwshow.net
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Listener Adrian Sturrock has set us a challenge this month – what are the top Doctor Who Biographies and Autobiographies?

If you’ve got 20m to spare, we’d love you to tune in.

What would your picks be? Why not write in and let us know?

Contact us:

Bluesky: @thedwshow.net
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This episode of Alternate Galaxies takes an impromptu, totally unplanned detour into the new Masters of the Universe film after the guys realised they'd both caught the film not long after opening day and it made for a perfect podcast topic.

Join them as they look at one of the most discussed genre films of recent times.

Contact the guys:

Bluesky: @thedwshow.net
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Email: hello@theDWshow.net
Substack: thedwshow.substack.com
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