Doctor Who

[John Drake]

On 28/10/2025 at 23:40, M j M said:

I prefer it when Doctors are older, less manic and with an occasionally nasty and mysterious side to them. Gatwa and Matt Smith are towards the bottom of my ranked list because I just found them annoying and/or lacking in any substance. 

So I'd hope the BBC and RTD if he's still involved just go back a bit, strip away some of the silliness and stop getting so entangled in Who Lore and rewriting the canon (please no more incomprehensible things like bi-regeneration). It's possible to keep things interesting whilst keeping them relatively simple. 

Just goes to show we're all different.

Matt Smith was my favourite of all the new series Doctors. He had that ability to switch between youthful curiosity and excitement, to world weary, centuries old alien in a (double) heartbeat. The episode where he played the Doctor trying to blend into society as a human (The Lodger) is the perfect example for me. In fact, I think I'll dig that one out of the collection and watch it again tonight!

But, I really do love 'em all, from Hartnell to Gatwa. Every actor has brought something new to the part, and that's probably the secret of its long term success. If you're not keen on one version of the Doctor, hang around, there'll be another completely different one along shortly...

I agree it was an odd choice to kick off the Disney+ era with so much referencing back to the old shows, especially after deliberately relaunching it as 'Series 1' which, at the time, upset a lot of fans who (wrongly) assumed it meant it would have no connection at all to what's gone before. The only thing that was really missing from it was the Daleks. I may be alone here, but I'd be absolutely delighted if the 2026 Christmas special turned out to feature the surprise return of Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor, finally getting his chance to take on those legendary pepperpots!

[John Drake]

The Doctor Who spin-off, The War Between The Land And The Sea, will be on the Beeb in December. 

https://www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-features/the-war-between-the-land-and-the-sea-comes-to-bbc-one-and-bbc-iplayer-in-december

5 episodes. I wonder if they’ll put them all out across a single week as they once did with Torchwood? 

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

On 28/10/2025 at 23:40, M j M said:

I prefer it when Doctors are older, less manic and with an occasionally nasty and mysterious side to them. Gatwa and Matt Smith are towards the bottom of my ranked list because I just found them annoying and/or lacking in any substance. 

So I'd hope the BBC and RTD if he's still involved just go back a bit, strip away some of the silliness and stop getting so entangled in Who Lore and rewriting the canon (please no more incomprehensible things like bi-regeneration). It's possible to keep things interesting whilst keeping them relatively simple. 

I think if the Doctor was always portrayed by an old actor, it would turn the Doctor into a bit of a caricature of himself, so as far as I'm concerned its better the mix and match as far as the Doctors age is concerned. You could get a 55 year old actor to play the next Doctor, the same age as William Hartnell was, and he would probably look and behave like a far younger Doctor.

Wasn't it Patrick Troughton who first brought the "silliness" to the Doctor and Peter Davison was younger than Gatwa when he first played the role.

Anyway I'm not saying you're wrong, I appreciate your opinion, I'm just disagreeing with you

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

On 30/10/2025 at 17:40, John Drake said:

Just goes to show we're all different.

Matt Smith was my favourite of all the new series Doctors. He had that ability to switch between youthful curiosity and excitement, to world weary, centuries old alien in a (double) heartbeat. The episode where he played the Doctor trying to blend into society as a human (The Lodger) is the perfect example for me. In fact, I think I'll dig that one out of the collection and watch it again tonight!

But, I really do love 'em all, from Hartnell to Gatwa. Every actor has brought something new to the part, and that's probably the secret of its long term success. If you're not keen on one version of the Doctor, hang around, there'll be another completely different one along shortly...

I agree it was an odd choice to kick off the Disney+ era with so much referencing back to the old shows, especially after deliberately relaunching it as 'Series 1' which, at the time, upset a lot of fans who (wrongly) assumed it meant it would have no connection at all to what's gone before. The only thing that was really missing from it was the Daleks. I may be alone here, but I'd be absolutely delighted if the 2026 Christmas special turned out to feature the surprise return of Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor, finally getting his chance to take on those legendary pepperpots!

I loved Smith and agree that he brought all the qualities to the role that you mentioned( I hope you enjoyed The Lodger) but my favourite of the whole show was probably Capaldi and that's despite finding his Doctors personality grating in his first 4 or 5 episode.

It wouldn't surprise me if your 2026 Christmas special come true.

One thing I have been thinking about, the BBC are bound to want the next series to air in 2027, so filming will probably have to start next year, before the 2026 Xmas Special airs, so they are going to have to reveal the next Doctor, otherwise fans will see when filming starts out and about on the streets of South Wales.

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

On 30/10/2025 at 20:59, John Drake said:

The Doctor Who spin-off, The War Between The Land And The Sea, will be on the Beeb in December. 

https://www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-features/the-war-between-the-land-and-the-sea-comes-to-bbc-one-and-bbc-iplayer-in-december

5 episodes. I wonder if they’ll put them all out across a single week as they once did with Torchwood? 

I hope it doesn't happen but it wouldn't surprise me if the Beeb drop all the episodes on i player at the same time.

[M j M]

38 minutes ago, Sidi Fidi Gold said:

I think if the Doctor was always portrayed by an old actor, it would turn the Doctor into a bit of a caricature of himself, so as far as I'm concerned its better the mix and match as far as the Doctors age is concerned. You could get a 55 year old actor to play the next Doctor, the same age as William Hartnell was, and he would probably look and behave like a far younger Doctor.

Wasn't it Patrick Troughton who first brought the "silliness" to the Doctor and Peter Davison was younger than Gatwa when he first played the role.

I suppose I mean a bit of gravitas rather than age as such. 

As for Troughton I don't rank him particularly highly either! My favourites are probably Baker, Davison, McCoy, Eccleston and Capaldi. 

[John Drake]

On 02/11/2025 at 19:50, Sidi Fidi Gold said:

I loved Smith and agree that he brought all the qualities to the role that you mentioned( I hope you enjoyed The Lodger) but my favourite of the whole show was probably Capaldi and that's despite finding his Doctors personality grating in his first 4 or 5 episode.

Capaldi got the arc that Colin Baker wanted all those years ago. Start out grumpy and then mellow over time. Sadly for Colin, he was stopped in his tracks by that arch-villain Michael Grade. It's been great to see him get the opportunity to develop the Sixth Doctor's character further in the Big Finish audios.

[John Drake]

On 02/11/2025 at 20:21, M j M said:

I suppose I mean a bit of gravitas rather than age as such. 

As for Troughton I don't rank him particularly highly either! My favourites are probably Baker, Davison, McCoy, Eccleston and Capaldi. 

Patrick Troughton paved the way for all the others. He was the first actor to have to completely reinvent the role after Hartnell. If he'd failed, the show would have failed with him.

I think he suffers in modern day comparisons because most of his best episodes are missing from the archives, so it is harder now to appreciate all the different aspects he brought to the character.

For me, his performance up against Jon Pertwee in The Three Doctors is one of my favourites from the entire show. I think you can see a lot of his influence on later Doctors such as McCoy and Smith in just this short clip alone.

 

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

"Its smaller on the outside" Victorian Clara enters the Tardis for the first time.

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

https://x.com/DoctorWhoPN/status/1988204309247635545/photo/1

[John Drake]

On 30/10/2025 at 20:59, John Drake said:

The Doctor Who spin-off, The War Between The Land And The Sea, will be on the Beeb in December. 

https://www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-features/the-war-between-the-land-and-the-sea-comes-to-bbc-one-and-bbc-iplayer-in-december

5 episodes. I wonder if they’ll put them all out across a single week as they once did with Torchwood? 

It starts 7th December on BBC One.

https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/the-war-between-the-land-and-the-sea-launches-double-bill-on-bbc-iplayer

Plenty of people already slagging it off on social media before its even been aired. Thank gawd Doctor Who originally started before the existence of the internet. It wouldn't have lasted a month.

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

8 minutes ago, John Drake said:

It starts 7th December on BBC One.

https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/the-war-between-the-land-and-the-sea-launches-double-bill-on-bbc-iplayer

Plenty of people already slagging it off on social media before its even been aired. Thank gawd Doctor Who originally started before the existence of the internet. It wouldn't have lasted a month.

Also a re-edited version of The Sea Devils airing the same day,

[John Drake]

7 hours ago, Sidi Fidi Gold said:

Also a re-edited version of The Sea Devils airing the same day,

Plenty of people busy moaning about that n’all.

[Spidey]

I’d be quite happy if all the old stories were edited from episodes to one story. I’d probably revisit them more often

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

 

A briefing from Kate Stewart, The War Between the Land and the Sea.

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

The Ninth Doctor explains to Rose what it feels like to be The Doctor.

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

The Eleventh Doctors speech from The Rings of Akhaten.

The girl singing is Emilia Jones, she's the daughter of Welsh singer Aled Jones, she's becoming a bit of a star, she recently had a lead role in American drama, Task, which was on Sky recently.

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

Since its Doctor Who Day, here's the first trailer for Day of the Doctor, the 50th anniversary episode, which aired 10 years ago today.

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

Here's the 2nd trailer for Day of The Doctor.

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

Here's the 3rd and final trailer for Day of the Doctor.

[Futtocks]

 

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

The Power of Three, The Doctor and Amy share a private moment.