The 456 said they’d drop round this evening, so while we wait, we chat with @johnnyspandrell.bsky.social and @melvinpena.bsky.social about villains, childlessness, and whether Torchwood really is appropriate viewing for adults. #DoctorWho #Torchwood 500yeardiary.com/s4/e2

After 44 years, the 456 are coming back, but before they get here there’s a fair amount of setting up to do. First, remind us how scary and weird children are; second, introduce us to a troupe of amazing new actors; and third, blow up the entire show. #DoctorWho #Torchwood 500yeardiary.com/s4/e1

Quick! Get them out before someone wants to colourise them! #doctorwho #thenightmarebegins #devilsplanet

#luckyday closing scene. Unfortunate placement of Conrad’s left hand. #cantunsee

How much of a break does #doctorwho need? None? A year? Five years? Ten years?

Is the 1960s range of #doctorwho books had continued, what 3 titles would have been next? Dalek Invasion, Marco Polo and The Rescue maybe?

Any synesthete #doctorwho fans out there? I’m wondering whether certain stories have associated colours. Eg, is Blink red, Ark in Space blue. That sort of thing. #synaesthesia

It's time to say goodbye to another Doctor, and to another era, with no real idea of what's coming next. Just like life, really. #DoctorWho thesecondgreatandbountifulhumanempire.com/20

UNIT Tower has loads of advanced technology, enough to make a zero room and fight a reality war. But it doesn’t have a door stop, so Anita has to hold that door open all episode. #doctorwho

How did Belinda escape getting a UNIT job offer from Kate? Everyone else seems to get one.

Mavity lives. #doctorwho

Everyone’s being very careful to not call her the Doctor. #hmmm

Really, “Doctor Who and the Deadly Wish” shouldn’t have been mocked up like a Harry Potter novel. It should have been a New Adventures novel, because that’s what #WishWorld most resembles. Conrad could have held it in that fan shame way, one hand covering the logo.

Perhaps the point is, if you gave a #doctorwho fan (which RTD is) the power to create their own fictional world (which he has), they will eventually create a piece of glorious fanwank like #wishworld.

I’m looking forward to the Tales of the Tardis re-edit of Time and the Rani. That’s how it works, right? #forthekids

I mean, just its premise of a spider god being driven by an engine powered by stories is 100% proof #doctorwho.

#thestory&theengine needed a 2nd viewing for me to make sense of it, but it was really lovely. I could (and will) quibble about some of the directing & writing choices. But I most enjoy RTD2 when it’s doing genuinely new things, and this felt unique. That’s a hard thing to achieve after 60+ years.

#luckyday 2nd watch. So the Dr knows little Conrad, because he met grown-up him before meeting MissBelindaChandra? What’s he up to then?

Enjoyed #luckyday which was another reminder of how talented Millie Gibson is and gave Kate Stewart much needed character development. Is it weird that in each of Pete McTighe’s stories the villain is a radicalised young person? (Praxeus is a bit more complicated than that, but still broadly true)

I’m here being a grinch about Doctor Who and The Well. But don’t worry - the FTE mob make up for it by being as erudite and charming as always. So jump in!

We’re 3 eps in to Doctor Who 2025 and so far (for me) it’s kept up the “good but not great” quality of 2024. Watching it, I keep thinking, “is this going to convince a hard-nosed Disney exec to commission another series?” I sense the Second Great Hiatus about to descend.

Ian Marter’s bio: 👏🏼 He was a teacher & a milkman, *among other things*. Forget the mysterious other things, he wants you to know he delivered milk. He liked swimming in the sea. Nowhere else, mind! Just “the sea”. Best of all, he enjoyed writing. He shared that on the cover of *a book he wrote*.