One of the things people say (it's said a dozen times in the replies and quotes of this) is that when it was made the war wasn't over. But when it was *made* the Nazis were still winning. That's what makes it so magnificent.

Is it actually possible to deal with real life horrors in a tie-in novel? Or question what makes us human? We look at a book quite unlike anything else in Doctor Who…

Just finished Exterminate/Regenerate by @johnhiggs.bsky.social and it's an absolute must-read if you are a Doctor Who fan, of course, but also more broadly a fascinating history of the changing TV landscape and the BBC

POP FACT: Everyone who watched The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show died one week later, due to CBS accidentally booking John, Paul, George and Ringu

#TheTenx5 Day 14 AMERICAN WEDDING by FRANK OCEAN (2011) Something romantic for Valentine’s Day? Nah… here’s a Don Henley baiting mundane tragedy. As the tune Ocean lifts tells you, the protagonists might check out of the situation but they’ll never leave. www.youtube.com/watch?v=11qF...

#TheTenx5 Day 13 THE LOOK by METRONOMY (2011) The organ hook that constantly circles in on itself, the question of how your hometown always exerts a certain gravity. A question that needed up defining the decade for me. www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFrN...

buttondown.com/cooray_smith... Free for all for one week, if you read it and like it, why not sign up for regular emails? It's The Three Doctors, at Psychic Paper.

In which a Time Lord’s stamina is severely tested in all sorts of inventive ways.

#TheTenx5 Day 12 BEAT OF MY DRUM by NICOLA ROBERTS (2011) Small x xenomania: Nicola kicks off her solo career with the addictive, futurist genre mashing that made the best of Girls Aloud so compelling. www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_BG...

The notable former pupils section on Wikipedia is absolutely barren, used to have some guy who was an extra in Black Hawk Down. So it might even be me, and I’m pretty much a nobody. Mark Labbett off The Chase did some supply teaching there though.

#TheTenx5 Day 11 WE ALL GO BACK TO WHERE WE BELONG by R.E.M. (2011) One last turn and wave before they headed into the sunset. Leaning into the emotion of an ending was absolutely the right call. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpwd...

Which are the five McCoy stories you absolutely need in your life? No particular order. Go! Delta and the Bannermen Remembrance of the Daleks The Happiness Patrol The Greatest Show in the Galaxy Ghost Light

#TheTenx5 Day 10 THIS IS AMERICA by CHILDISH GAMBINO (2019) (11 pts) Audacious in how it uses musical genres as a storytelling tool, and unsettling in its confrontation of what seem to be permanently unresolved American issues. One of the decade’s great videos too. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYOj...

#TheTenx5 Day 9 VOSSI BOP by STORMZY (2019) How to seize your moment in style. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ClY...

#PeoplesPop25 THE FINAL FIFTY It's time to VOTE for your favourite finalists in the WORLD CUP OF 2025 Take your time, choose 12 tracks and rank them if you can, then fill in the results on this ballot - you have until first thing Tuesday! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

#TheTenx5 Day 8 SHE SAID by PLAN B (2010) One of the smartest albums and changes of direction of the decade: meta concept meets genuine songwriting chops. www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQjh...

#TheTenx5 Day 7 BURY A FRIEND by BILLIE EILISH (2019) What does the monster under the bed want? Gleefully none-more-goth horror pop, all the more terrifying for the hazy nightmare production. www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUHC...

#TheTenx5 Day 6 CALL ME MAYBE by CARLY RAE JEPSEN (2011) The thrill of putting yourself out there, with no time to even think of rejection. Probably the most uncomplicated pop joy of the decade. www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWNa...

👁️NEW EPISODE!👁️ Philip Purser-Hallard joins us to discuss his latest #DoctorWho Black Archive from @obversebooks.co.uk - The Ark. on.soundcloud.com/w0GSMXhcEeT3...

Day 5 of #TheTenx5 and seeing as it’s just down the road from here it’d be rude not to nominate… HOLLYWOOD by MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS (2010) A manically joyful paean to the skin deep only glamour of the US. ‘Actually my name’s Marina’ is utterly withering. www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1VT...

Day 4 of #TheTenx5 LOVE ME AGAIN by JOHN NEWMAN (2013) Urgent and thrilling, but what pushes it into the list is the genius Morse code bit leading into the chorus. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cfih...

#TheTenx5 Day 3 NA NA NA (NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA) - My Chemical Romance (2010) Gerard Way synthesises his careers with a record even more shamelessly comic book than The Black Parade, right down to speech bubble lyrics. Gloriously ludicrous from the title down. m.youtube.com/watch?v=egG7...

Because Control is 40. #WhenWasThings

It’s Day 2 of #TheTenx5 and let’s have my favourite new artist of the decade… COLD WAR by JANELLE MONAÉ (2010) Splitting the ArchAndroid era vote early, but I always preferred the emotional heft of this to Tightrope’s admittedly brilliant retro pyrotechnics. m.youtube.com/watch?v=lqmO...

#TheTenx5 Day 1 TONIGHT by SAINT ETIENNE (2012) A band who’ve always had one foot on the stage and one foot in the audience with a single about how and why your favourite artists can still thrill you like almost nothing else. Really, it’s their mission statement. m.youtube.com/watch?v=UEWE...

Thought #TheTenX5 would be easier than other decades because parenthood and finances meant I couldn’t be as engaged as in previous decades. *Of course* that’s not the case, as always it’s like trying to stuff oceans into pint glasses.

🥳 It’s the start of a new series of We’re All Stories in the End. Join myself and Liam to discuss the novelization of 1989’s Battlefield… podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/d...

Can the ability of the novel to get inside people’s heads offset Doctor Who’s perennial issue with dealing with real life traumas? We’re about to find out…

For Jim Moir/Vic Reeves' birthday, a reminder it's thirty years this year since this advert.

one of the best things ever

This is incredible: uncut, unseen dailies from from The Doctor Falls "Be Kind" speech. I can't even with the talent of everyone here. Talalay, Moffat, Simm, Gomez, and dear sweet cheesy dumplings Peter fucking Capaldi. Seeing the his close-up of the unedited speech. DAMN. youtu.be/9-ysp77GKN0?...

We had a ton of fun with Terrance’s delightfully bitchy adaption of his own story…

buttondown.com/cooray_smith... For paid subscribers, but there's always the option to join them in the City of Morphoton: Who really created Doctor Who anyway?

Busting Balls Episode 111 is LIVE! @jonarnold.bsky.social @brasilianfury.bsky.social + I give all 20 Premier League teams their mid-term grades, live-react a WILD AFCON Final & more! #Soundlcoud soundcloud.com/busting-ball... #Spotify open.spotify.com/show/0Yz2r4p... #soccer #football #futbol

buttondown.com/cooray_smith... For paid subscribers, but why not join them and find out why I think The Space Museum is good, actually?

For paid subscribers, but you can always become one; on the timely incompetence of The Dominators. buttondown.com/cooray_smith...

That reminds me: It's Tom Baker's birthday in two days so no need to panic if you see his name trending on Tuesday. That was a public service announcement for geeks everywhere.

I’m trying out Substack. Bear with me. A few more #sneakpeeks of My Beloved Other included - see link! #book #comics #graphicnovels #antiracism open.substack.com/pub/nickabad...

ALERT! Very exciting event coming up on 7th of March. Myself, @0hmyst4rs.bsky.social, & @manningofficial.bsky.social will be taking over the @vauxhalltavern.bsky.social to present an afternoon of chat and entertainment celebrating the women of #DoctorWho. With guests from across time and space! 1/2

Helllo Everyone! This week @dwcoverstory.bsky.social, @jonarnold.bsky.social & @docoho44.bsky.social join me for a filthy fun commentary of the Five Doctors. #DoctorWho

I gotta know you're meant to be the POLL I NEED - It's Day 7 of THE WORLD CUP OF 2025 #PeoplesPop25 You have votes in each of 6 matches and a BONUS VOTE - docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

And invests no money in content or creators or any infrastructure of programme making, does no training, cannot support collaborative projects efficiently, and has an opaque payment system that mitigates against what the public would understand as “making television”.

It was 30 years ago today that BBC Two transmitted the opening episode of Our Friends in the North - one of the greatest television dramas the BBC has ever made. For the anniversary, I've been down to Caversham to take a look through the show's files and explore some of the tales they tell...

The BBC's videotape digitization process remains unrivaled

Lots of drama queen moves in this season of #TheTraitors - you can see people going for their memorable moment. Bound to happen when people have seen enough to know how to work the show’s format.

We’ll be accompanying the amnesiac Doctor all the way through on his century long sojourn on Earth, beginning with a literal scorched earth policy for the EDAs.

In which Ben Aaronovitch casually strolls in and does Iain Banks better than Banks himself could.

Listened to most of 'Bowie Day' (11 Jan 2016) yesterday and it *really does* have the feel of a turning point. Amazing bit where Lauren read out a listener's text that was *literally* "my youth is dead, the golden days are over, where will the new voices come from?" (she politely disagreed fwiw)

The Busting Balls Podcast starts 2026 with a Podblast, as @jonarnold.bsky.social + I talk the firings of Enzo Maresca, Ruben Amorim + Wilfried Nancy, + more! @brasilianfury.bsky.social #Soundlcoud soundcloud.com/busting-ball... #Spotify open.spotify.com/show/0Yz2r4p... #soccer #football #futbol

This 49ers team is ridiculous. Footballing Terminators, it doesn’t matter which parts drop off they just keep on going.