Season 10: Carnival of Monsters

In this episode of Doctor Who Fifty Years Ago, the podcast reviews Carnival of Monsters in the context of 1972, and Robert Holmes' view on history, bureaucracy, society and entertainment in his carny story.

Season 10: The Three Doctors

 The podcast returns to start looking at Season 10's stories, with plenty to discuss on the differences on the show and in the world in 1972 and 2022. We begin with the first multi-Doctor story, so here's multiple people to review and analyse it!

A Character Analysis Podcast on "The Master"

A special edition of the Doctor Who Fifty Years Ago podcast in which Ben, Luke and Nick commit an in-depth analysis into the long-term villain of the show, "The Master".

Episode 25: Inferno Episode 7: Endings and Beginnings

A Doctor Who series and a government ends, and a new government begins in the 1970s which brought in an element of internationalism. In 2020, there might be an end of an age with isolationist nationalistic agendas cropping up. We can but analyse what Doctor Who and the world was in 1970, compare it to what it is in 2020, and murmur disapprovingly.

Episode 24: Inferno Episode 6: The Flame of Hope versus the Wind of Injustice

There’s a tiny glimmer of goodness in the face of inevitable destruction in this episode of Doctor Who Fifty Years Ago. There’s also a fight against this goodness which threatens the safety of everyone we like. I cannot shove my tongue further inside my cheek even if I wanted to. Something something apocalypse now.

Episode 23: Inferno Episode 5: The Eruption Division

The morals are wobbly and grey, as is the concept of soldiers, heroes and bureaucrats. We recognise when the rules can be broken, deify those who do and vilify those who don't, a humanisation of soldiers. The environment also gets a mention as it threatens to consume us all, very quickly in the story, very slowly in reality.

Episode 22: Inferno Episode 4: Violence and Interrogation

We interrogate an episode in which the Doctor is interrogated to tell anything except the truth and the concept of the parallel universe gets another turn. There's also deep discussion about how violent acts and regimes are portrayed, and a subverted view of bureaucracy.