Absence makes the heart grow fonder…unless you’re Davros, in which case it makes the heart go into a low-power stasis, while the mind seethes with rage to be enacted decades or centuries later. (Oh well, to each their own.)

With equal parts psychopathy and sarcasm, we drill into Season 17 with Terry Nation’s final story contribution to Doctor Who, and the full-time arrival of Lalla Ward as Romana. Julie joins us in studio again as we all enjoy the beginning of one of Tom Baker’s finest Doctor-companion (but don’t dare call her a ‘companion’) eras.

Douglas Adams is in as script editor, and his fingerprints seem to appear all over the adventure both in dialogue exchange and the occasional ‘easter egg’. We remark on the interesting role of the Movellans as not-adversary but not-ally, as well as the multi-leveled aspect of relative timelines for the Doctor, Davros, and us as the viewer. There’s a huge amount of respect for Ward’s capacity to maintain the strength, wit, and presence of the established Romana character while still making the portrayal uniquely hers. (And yes, we do admit that a break from K-9 is actually rather nice at this point…hear us out.)

NEWS:

• Remembering writer Pip Baker (1928 – 2020)
• A new DW short story by Steven Moffat is released…
• …But Moffat says his time with Doctor Who is now over
• Neil Gaiman writes a video diary entry for Rory Williams
• Two Peters, Two Davids: Happy Birthday this week to four Doctors
• Live-tweet of The Stolen Earth & Journey’s End with RTD and Graeme Harper on Sunday, 19 April #SubwaveNetwork
• Tennant and Tate to reunite for a “Lauren Cooper” home-schooling sketch