The Biggest Problem With Revival Era and Audio Doctor Who

Here's the transcript of my video regarding what I believe to be the biggest problem with Revival Era and audio Doctor Who.

First of all, I’d like to apologise for the length of this video as, although to articulate the problem is rather short a proposition, I also wish to add my reasons for why I think the problem exists and give evidence.

In my end of 2025 wrap up video I criticised modern era Doctor Who given the appalling drop in ratings for the TV show and the latest output from the production company that produces audio Who, Big Finish.  There are many reasons behind the decline of the Revival Era and audio Doctor Who but, for this video, I’m going to concentrate on what I believe is the biggest problem for both the TV show and the audio dramas – the dominance of one person over the output.

Classic Era Doctor Who was a collaborative effort which meant there may have been some inconsistency during the run but there was always an influx of new ideas and different perspectives.  Even during the most regimented eras of Classic Who there was a separate producer and script editor to guide the show’s direction with a team of different writers actually writing the scripts.  Occasionally, the script editor or producer might write a full script themselves but usually the intervention was re-writes to give a consistent character for the lead characters and, perhaps, commissioning particular story ideas to fit a season’s theme if the op-spec pile didn’t have a relevant script.  The Revival Era, however, has gone in a very different direction.

During Russell T Davies’ first stint as the newly titled ‘showrunner’ not only wrote 29 episodes himself and co-wrote 2 of the 60 episodes produced but was also undertaking the guiding of the show’s development that under the Classic Era would have been undertaken by the producer/script editor team.  Now, while this may have led to a slightly more consistent character development, it also meant that Davies has unprecedented say over what was or was not included in the show.  For most of that first RTD era, only things that Davies liked from the Classic Era got included.  He liked the Autons so they were included.  He seemed to have a thing against the Time Lords so he had them destroyed in a Time War with the Daleks prior to the first episode.  He liked Sarah Jane Smith and K9 so they appeared.  He had no option to exclude the Daleks or Cybermen so they appeared (too much in the case of the Daleks) but, otherwise, references to the Classic Era were very thin on the ground.  The Master was only reintroduced because the fans wanted it and, of course, only Davies was allowed to be the writer to handle writing for that character.  The Time Lords only came back in his final two-part Christmas special and, again, it was only Davies who was allowed to handle that story.  That final story also had an extremely long, self-indulgent, self-congratulatory sequence in which we see all the important recurring characters introduced throughout the previous four seasons and four specials.

During the Moffat era as showrunner, the situation is just as bad although for the first three seasons and the 50^th anniversary specials, Moffat’s plan for the series was not just to have a story arc across a single season but to have an entire Doctor’s era become one full story arc.  With an ambition like that, a more hands on approach was needed and Moffat was more open to linking the Revival Era and the Classic Era which was a major step forward.  However, such an ambitious project came at a cost.  Not only were the story arcs becoming too convoluted for occasional viewers but it could be very wearing for even the most avid fans.  For the second half of his tenure as showrunner, the episode count was reduced by one per season but he was still writing or co-writing a significant proportion of the episodes each season and yet, the final three seasons of the Moffat era were extremely disjointed with almost three different characterisations of The Doctor on show.  The lead character has always been multi-faceted but there was always a gradual change, not the sudden change from one season to another.

Moffat wrote 42 episodes and co-wrote 6 episodes of the 83 episodes across his tenure along with the duties undertaken by the Classic Era type team.

During the third showrunner Chris Chibnall’s tenure, the episode count dropped again to 10 episodes a season, however, the COVID lockdown further reduced the episode count to a mere 6 episodes for his final season.  The reduction in episode count was not the problem for this particular era though; the problem was Chibnall’s total disregard for Classic Era continuity.  While the series was hardly consistent across the years, there were bits of Doctor Who canon that were quite consistent and that was that Hartnell’s incarnation was the first and Time Lord society was remarkably consistent given the number of people involved in writing the show over the years.  Chibnall always made a point of saying that he was a fan of the Classic Era but he seemed to have absolutely no respect for what had gone before.  With no one to restrain him, Chibnall destroyed over 50 years of history and storytelling.  He wrote 18 episodes and co-wrote 6 episodes of a mere 31 episodes across his tenure.  Ratings dropped and the quality plummeted.  One can only wonder what would have happened if Chibnall had written less and had some constraint on his power.  However, the Chibnall era would be a high-water mark compared to the second Russell T Davies tenure.

Despite having more money to spend for each episode due to the involvement of Disney, Davies changed the essential premise of the series from being a science-fiction show to a fantasy show and openly stated that a pro-trans Rights message was more important to him than the show.  Davies had more money, as much power as he had the first time round and even fewer constraints.  The episode count dropped to a mere 8 episodes per season and across the two seasons, three 60^th anniversary specials and two Christmas specials made for the main show, Davies wrote 14 episodes and co-wrote one episode of the 20 episodes so far.  The ratings for the RTD 2.0 era were the worst in the show’s 62-year history, dropping below the ratings for the McCoy era without the excuse of being scheduled against the juggernaut which is Coronation Street.

The earlier success of the Revival Era was not a measure of how effective the consolidation of power in a single person was but Classic Era fans wanting more of their favourite show, the appeal of better special effects on younger fans and the luxury of time to give polished performances that the Classic Era actors were not given. 

As the Revival Era progressed, the power given to the showrunner began to increase and solidify until the showrunner was writing most of the episodes and had virtually no restraint on what they could or could not do.  The death of the show was almost assured from the beginning of the revival in 2005.  It just took a little longer than anyone thought.

Now we move on to the problem at Big Finish which is essentially the same – a single individual having too much power although not in the same way as the TV series.

Big Finish was once an excellent producer of Doctor Who audio dramas, mixing Classic Era style with more modern storytelling.  The basic structure of Classic Era stories was of 4-episode stories with the occasional longer story and even fewer shorter length stories.  It was generally accepted that a 4-episode story was the ideal length by the time of Tom Baker’s era and so that was the most common length of story.  When Big Finish first started producing Doctor Who audio dramas, the 4-episode structure was the rule.

When Tom Baker was finally convinced to join the Big Finish family, that changed with the Fourth Doctor Adventures range being released as a load of 2-episode stories although some of those stories were actually 4-part stories split into two linked 2-part stories (I assume this was done to charge much more for the Tom Baker stories as each monthly CD cost £10.99 and the 4-episode, 2-disc releases for Davison, Colin Baker and McCoy were about £13.99 each).  At the time, creative director Nick Briggs stated that he preferred the 2-episode structure and it’s that fact you must keep in mind.

However, several seasons of adventures later, the Fourth Doctor Adventures range assumed the 4-episode structure to be more in keeping with the Fourth Doctor era.  A few years later, a decision was made to go to 3-disc boxsets for each of the incarnations of The Doctor and that’s where the problem became significant and intricately linked to Nick Briggs’ preference for the 2-episode structure.

Briggs may not have direct influence over the different ranges but, as creative director, he does wield a lot of power in the company.  It seems very convenient for Briggs that the move to 3-disc boxsets means more 2-episode stories, in fact, almost every Colin Baker boxset has been filled with three 2-part stories.  The maximum number of episodes usually contained on a single disc is two 25-minute episodes (although it is possible to have three similar length episodes per disc) so the mix of story lengths per boxset is rather limited.  Briggs has made a point of saying that Big Finish now produce more longer-form stories which is true but the prevalence of 2-episode stories is getting more the rule than the exception.

The number of discs for Davison, Colin Baker and McCoy has reduced by two from 8 to 6 a year but the price has increased while the number of discs for Tom Baker have remained constant at 9 discs per year.  Is it coincidence that Nick Briggs is a fan of the first four incarnations of The Doctor?  The change to boxset releases from the original arrangement of four 2-disc stories for Davison, Colin Baker and McCoy a year on a subscription for around £130 for 11 months of audio productions (they always released two stories in September) to around £350 per year so you can be assured of at least one new Doctor Who story each month, however, that isn’t even assured now as this January had no Doctor release.

Briggs also seems to be very hands-on with the ranges for the first four incarnations – writing a lot of scripts, directing many of the stories – and most of those ranges have era appropriate story lengths or conform to his preferred story length.  Recent First Doctor stories have been 6-episode stories, Third Doctor stories have in the main been either 6- or 7-episode stories, Second Doctor stories have been mainly 2-episode stories and Fourth Doctor stories have been a mix of 2-, 4- and 6-episode stories.

Briggs is also a virtue-signaller so the increase in identity politics across the whole Doctor Who audio range is assured so while he may not have direct control over the various ranges, as creative director and executive producer at Big Finish, he is in a position to veto scripts, choose writing staff and exert influence simply due to his position.  Who would miss the opportunity of ingratiating themselves with someone who can advance their career?  Mr Briggs likes 2-part stories so I’ll commission a load of them.  He may not even realise he’s creating that kind of working environment but he doesn’t listen to customers who are frustrated at the change in output.  What Briggs does do is what the showrunners and stars of the TV series have done for a number of years now – blame the fans for not liking what they are producing from increasingly agenda driven non-stories to short-form storytelling at the expense of era appropriate story lengths.

Briggs also has influence over the other projects at Big Finish.  For instance, Briggs was not only a writer for the Space:1999 series but, being in control of the range and not liking the aspect of the TV series in which the idea of the Moon’s journey being directed by some cosmic intelligence, he actively stopped anyone using that idea in their stories, despite reimagining two episodes from the first season that included that idea.  That range ended due to poor sales.  Perhaps if Briggs had taken notice of fans concern that the intellectual undercurrent in the series was being omitted, Big Finish might still be making money from Space:1999 fans who actually liked that aspect of the show.

So, that’s the problem with Revival Era and audio Doctor Who – both have a single person with too much power and influence over the output of their respective domains.

Looking Forward to 2026

Here's the transcript for my video in which I looked forward to 2026.

I’ve been watching some videos on other channels that have been making predictions of what they think is going to happen and I could do the same but I’m not going to.  My reasoning is that, in my private conversations, when I make a prediction, I’m usually right in general but not specifics.  For example, when the Tories took power in 2010, I said that there would be lots of protests and deprivation and I was right there were protests and deprivation rose; the only thing I was wrong about was the scale because I actually thought better of the British public and imagined many more protests and that those protests would be much larger that they actually were.  Despite my lack of faith in Humanity, I even thought that the deprivation would be less than what happened. 

So, I was right about the overall events but misjudged the scale because I put too much faith in the idea that people might be appalled enough to protest but blinded myself to the fact that the Great British public is basically apathetic and I fought my natural inclination to think the worst of people hard enough to think that no one would be as murderously sadistic as the Tories became.

Unfortunately, what I foresee for 2026 would make a Goth seem deliriously happy even at the more optimistic end of my predictions so I’m going to make light of the coming situation and say what I’d like to see happen.  A cosmic wish list of karmic rewards and retributions, if you will, which I will present in no particular order.

I think most people would agree that a total end to hostilities in Gaza would be a nice New Year present but that’s unlikely given that Benjamin Netanyahu is a Grade A psychopath, propped up by equally psychopathic, genocidal government ministers.  However, I do believe that some light can be found in this ongoing affront to Humanity.  It’s already well-known that Israel’s economy has taken a severe hit due to the genocide in Gaza, the Israeli military is struggling to find troops to fight the endless wars that Netanyahu insists on starting with all the neighbouring States and hundreds of Israelis have decided to flee the country because of the constant danger Netanyahu is putting them in.

Now, I have a solution that would help out Israel and rid the UK of the most rabid pro-Israel advocates at the same time.  Right, bear with me, what I’m suggesting is that the pro-Israel Jewish population should be allowed to show their commitment to the country they have so much affection for by being encouraged to bugger off to Israel thus removing the danger to the rest of the UK’s Jewish population from this country and replacing the Israelis who have fled Israel.  Fair exchange, no robbery.

You may ask where are the displaced UK Jews going to live and I’m glad you asked.  Here’s the good bit – the people who have fled Israel will have left their homes empty and the incoming UK Jews will now be officially Israeli Jews and we all know that Israeli Jews have no problem illegally occupying other people’s land so they can move into the empty homes.

The now newly settled former UK Jews being officially Israeli will then be liable for the mandatory military service that all but the Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Men have to undertake.  At the moment, Haredi men are under threat of having their exempt status removed due to the lack of soldiers willing to return to active combat so this new influx of pro-Israel UK Jews with fire in their bellies because they love the country so much can replace the lost soldiers and the Haredi men can remain exempt from military service.

There are just two more things that need to happen to complete this picture.  Israel’s economy is under threat because a lot of companies are pulling out of Israel and relocating somewhere safer but there are Israeli companies operating in the UK such as Elbit Systems.  The way to help Israel’s economy is to encourage the Israeli-owned companies operating in the UK to relocate to Israel which will bolster the Israeli economy and protect companies like Elbit Systems from the vile terrorists who have sprayed paint on their things and tried to close down their operations.  No Israeli-owned targets means no more need for all the clampdown on the OAP terrorists of Palestine Action.  Simples.

The final thing that needs to be addressed are the non-Jewish, pro-Israel lobbyists and the pro-Israel Members of Parliament.  I’m sure that Israel would welcome them with open arms for all their help in preventing Israel from being held to account for its genocidal acts, war crimes and crimes against Humanity so they should be encouraged to relocate to Israel so they can also become liable for mandatory military service and can fight to protect the country they have given so much for.  This helps Israel build up their military forces and removes Israeli influence from the UK’s political system.  Win-win.

How are we going to pay for all this relocating of individuals and companies?  Another question that I’m glad you asked.  It wouldn’t be right for the UK government to have to pay the cost of relocating so many people so the assets of the individuals being relocated would need to be liquidated and seized to pay for the relocation which I’m sure they’d be only too happy to do because they aren’t happy here in the UK and love Israel so much.  Non-Zionist Jews can then live in relative safety due to the fact that the pro-Israel troublemakers have left the UK.  I say relative safety because we’ve still got the Far-Right nutters left here but it’s a start on making it safer for them.

That’s the major issue sorted so let’s get onto something just as important but smaller in scale.  The political system in the UK needs fixing and we need to do a little groundwork.  First of all, I’d like to go to a gathering of the Your Party setup team and metaphorically bash their heads together until they get their act together.  I also think that there should be a Left-wing organising committee to coordinate working together and that’s something that could be started in 2026.

I’d like to see people who attack people with mental ill-health force fed large amounts of illegal drugs until they have a psychotic break and end up getting sectioned and treated like shit, just as they do to us.

I’d like to see every MP who voted for the austerity measures that killed so many people during the last Tory administration (regardless of what political party they belonged to) brought to justice and, perhaps, remove a limb or two from the architects of the austerity programme and benefit cuts.

I’d like to see someone have the balls to arrest Tony Blair for his war crimes in Iraq and see him in chains in The Hague along with all the Members of Parliament who have provided political cover for Israel and made the UK complicit in the genocide in Gaza.

I think the UK should be harder on immigrants - not on refugees, asylum seekers or the “illegal” migrants coming here in small boats – but on the migrants who came here (and their families) and now viciously attack people who come here trying to improve their lives or escape dangerous situations in their homeland.  The descendants of those migrants who made a good life and plenty of money out of the UK and now wish to pull up the ladder behind them should be “sent back where they came from” at their own expense, the remainder of their assets should be liquidated and seized with the money being used to build proper accommodation for refugees, asylum seekers, etc. Did I mention that Nigel Farage has German forebears?  And if Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch can’t find somewhere to live in their forebear’s country of origin, I’m sure Braverman can arrange accommodation in Rwanda.  She seems to know a guy there.

I want to see Rachel Reeves sent on a remedial maths course in 2026.

I want to see MPs who actually have some knowledge or experience put in charge of the government department that matches that knowledge.  I know, it’s a radical idea but it would be nice to see someone attempt it.

Now those things would give me some pleasure (as much as I can feel pleasure) but they aren’t things for me personally so I’m going to end with what I want for myself in the coming year.

I entered a competition in Doctor Who Magazine and the prize is a load of Blu-Ray boxsets and CD boxsets.  I really want to win that competition because I need the replacement cases.

I’d really like everyone who watches my videos to share the link to each video to at least one other person so I know I’m not doing this for nothing and I might get a few more views and subscribers.

I want the DWP to leave me and all the members of the disabled community the fuck alone because our lives are miserable enough without them persecuting us.

I’d like someone to help me with my attempts to create a new political ideology and help develop policies based on that new ideology.

And, finally, I just want a country I can be proud to live in because it sure isn’t that at the moment.

Valen’s Wrap Up of 2025

Here's the transcript of my wrap up of 2025 video.

The following video is my own look at the things that caught my attention during 2025.  I’ll probably miss out some stuff that you think is important so feel free to add them to the comments below this video.  This video is also going to include some humorous commentary/bad language and are my opinions and fall under free speech while the UK still has it. 

Now the housekeeping is out of the way, let’s take a look at the past 12 months.

UK Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spent the last year scuppering all attempts at a lasting peace between Israel and Gaza which is understandable given that being PM of Israel is his second job and second jobs never get a politician’s full attention.  His proxy, Prime Muppet Mr Keir Starmer, on the other hand, has put his full attention and efforts into enriching himself by sucking up to all his donors and anyone with real power who gives him a little scratch behind the ear.

Brexit has proven to be the best decision for the UK with rising food prices, shortages in shops, growing xenophobia on the streets and, most importantly, sky-high interest rates and stagnant growth but we have got Union flags and St. George’s flags springing up across England put up by those patriotic Far-Right individuals who have great pride in British values and St George, the patron Saint of England who was born in Turkey in the 3^rd Century AD and whose mother was believed to come from Syria-Palaestina.

Prime Muppet Mr Keir Starmer went off-script when he tried to look strong in front of UK PM Benjamin Netanyahu and pretend that the UK was holding Israel to account for its genocide in Gaza by waiting for several countries to join half the countries of the world in recognising the State of Palestine.  How big of Starmer to recognise a State that the UK and the UN broke up to give European Jews a place to flee persecution in Europe and has been in existence since at least the 3^rd Century AD.

Prime Muppet Mr Keir Starmer has spent the last year pissing away the chance to deliver on the one-word manifesto of “change” with the massive landslide victory he was gifted by the gullible UK electorate in 2024 when even the most loyal Tory voter said “fuck it, the Tories are fucking useless”.  It takes a genius level of intellect to squander such an amount of goodwill and trust to become the most hated PM in British history but I don’t suppose that really applies to someone who’s merely a proxy for the real leader of the UK.

It hasn’t been an entirely bad year for Prime Muppet Mr Keir Starmer though as he was given two awards in 2025.  The prestigious Best Performer in a Multiple Anal Fisting scene was presented to Starmer when video surfaced of Starmer being controlled like a puppet by Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump, Lord Ali, Morgan McSweeney, Tony Blair, all his donors and his wife all at the same time.  Starmer was offered a job in the adult film industry training up-and-coming gay porn stars how to achieve a similar feat.  The other award was the Guinness Record for Multiple Anal Fisting.  The representative from the Guinness Book of Records stated that “this is a record that I doubt will be broken for decades”.  Tragedy struck, however, when a member of the Press got to close to Starmer, tripped and fell into his TARDIS-like rectum.  The man could be heard screaming until the echoes of his cries dissipated but there is still no sign of him.

Rachel Reeves failed to produce the growth she kept saying was her primary objective when she took the role of Chancellor but was so confident in her fiscal rules that she doubled down on everything the Tories did during their disastrous time in office rather than do something that might work.  Despite the Cabinet reshuffle earlier this year, Rachel from Accounts kept her job as Chancellor even though it’s clearly well beyond her ability but Starmer kept her around so he can use her as the patsy she was always intended to be.

The Liebore regime suffered a toothless backbench revolt over the cuts to disability benefits and the changes to Personal Independence Payments eligibility criteria with several formally loyal backbenchers taking a stand to demand a rethink on the policy proposed by Dr Death tribute act Liz Kendall.  Starmer pretended to panic for a while and the rebellion was crushed gaining nothing but verbal assurances that a rethink would be done and changes implemented and the legislation was passed completely unchanged.  Of course, verbal assurances from a serial liar like Starmer mean nothing and, soon after his Cabinet reshuffle, rumblings of disability benefit cuts and PIP eligibility criteria changes started up again.  Reshuffles are always a good way to avoid keeping assurances made to quell a rebellion that would have damaged the regime in the eyes of the electorate.

Starmer and Reeves were accused of misleading Parliament over country’s finances prior to the Budget in November, an accusation that both refuted at the time but was slightly undercut by photos of both of them crossing their fingers as they spoke.

UK Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his proxy Prime Muppet Mr Keir Starmer to crush any dissent on his genocidal acts in Gaza by misusing anti-terror legislation to proscribe non-violent direct action group Palestine Action as a terrorist group against the advice of the UK’s intelligence services.  Elbit Systems, an Israeli arms manufacturer, targeted by Palestine Action was thus allowed to continue to supply arms to Israel, a State facing a plausible case of genocide, war crimes and crimes against Humanity at the International Court of Justice in such a massive act of hypocrisy that it threatens to tear a hole in the fabric of the Universe.

Tony Blair crawled out of the tomb he shares with Peter ‘I’m great pals with Jeffrey Epstein’ Mandelson to push the Digital ID policy he wants to profit from and Prime Muppet Mr Keir Starmer was all too happy to oblige although Starmer assured the gullible electorate that the Digital ID would be voluntary but would be needed if you wanted to work in the UK which hardly makes it voluntary.  Starmer stated that the UK would not become a “papers please” country although those of us paying attention remarked as one that, of course the UK wouldn’t become a “papers please” country, with the increase in authoritarianism and police powers, they wouldn’t bother saying “please” at all. 

Reform UK Party Ltd leader Nigel Farage and Richard Tice both came out attacking people with mental health problems saying that mental health conditions are being over diagnosed.  Quite a statement from two men who obviously suffer severe mental illnesses that are currently professionally undiagnosed but obvious to anyone with even a cursory knowledge of mental illness.

The new political vehicle for Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, Your Party, suffered a number a false starts and growing pains that have rendered it almost completely useless as a political movement, leaving those who showed interest in joining Your Party with few options – stick it out and hope they get their act together, stay politically homeless or join The Green Party in frustration.

While The Greens are building momentum under their new leader Zack Polanski who is basically bulletproof when it comes to accusations of anti-Semitism being Jewish himself, Reform Party UK Ltd are riding high in the polls and have been shown as being in a position to gain a lot of Parliamentary seats at the next General Election if the trend continues.

Zack Polanski appears to be a real anti-Establishment politician and has said that he’d be willing to work with other Left-wing groups, a claim slightly undercut by an old Tweet stating that he couldn’t support Jeremy Corbyn as he was pro-European and Jewish.  Is Polanski merely another Establishment lackey brought in to undermine a Left-wing surge?

On the world stage, the Far-Right is on the rise with Trump in the US, Benjamin Netanyahu and his Far-Right coalition partners in Israel, the pandering to the Far Right led by Prime Muppet Mr Keir Starmer and the rise of Reform in the UK as well as an increase in Far-Right parties across the globe.  International law has been shown to be worthless as Israel has been allowed to continually break it and States selling arms, supporting and facilitating Israel’s genocide view international law as optional if it’s in Israeli interests.  Given Israel’s impunity in the face of international law and its influence over other supposedly sovereign States, conspiracy theorists have changed the wording of one of the most prevailing theories from “Jews control everything” to “Israel controls everything”.

Senior Israeli figures have come out saying that there’s no such place as Palestine and no such people as Palestinians.  Funny, I thought someone mentioned that Palestine has existed since around the 3^rd Century AD starting out as Syria Palaestina, a Roman province formed after the Jewish-Roman wars and the Jewish defeat.

In entertainment, Hollywood is undergoing a massive upheaval with large established film studios being subject to takeovers by smaller studios and streaming services.  The excuse being used is that people have become more used to watching movies at home following the COVID pandemic and, as a result, ticket sales have not returned to their pre-pandemic levels.  Cute that they ignore the fact that people aren’t going to the cinema anymore because they’re producing crap movies, unwanted remakes and treat their audience like shit when they complain about the crap they’re served.

Doctor Who finally died this year with Ncuti Gatwa era achieving the worst ratings ever in the 62-year history of the show and Disney pulling the plug on the partnership with the BBC that enabled the series to continue in 2023.  The ratings fell due to a combination of poor writing, poor characterisation, the pushing of identity politics in the writing at the expense of actual storytelling and the move by showrunner Russell T Davies away from science-fiction towards fantasy.  It didn’t help that Ncuti Gatwa told fans who didn’t like the direction the show was going in to ‘go and touch grass’.  They did and didn’t come back.  The lesson they haven’t learned is – if you treat your loyal fan base like shit, they’ll walk and you’ll most likely never get them back.  The real fans always have 26 years of Classic Who to watch and re-watch.

In another Doctor Who-related story, audio drama producer Big Finish has managed to anger some fans by filling their stories with the same kind of identity politics as the series.  Diversity is fine but, when a character who is a minor character dies in the story, do we really need to be told that he’s got a husband?  Does a person’s sexuality really matter to the story if it’s not the focus of some aspect of the story?  Are Big Finish saying that a gay person’s death is a bigger tragedy to their partner than if the person happened to be straight?

Big Finish have also pissed of some fans by moving to producing download-only releases which wouldn’t be such a problem if some of the affected releases weren’t continuations of series previously released on CD or tie-ins to CD releases.  Rather than accepting criticism about the download-only releases, Big Finish have ignored or swatted away the criticism.  This is also the attitude of Creative Director and voice of the Daleks Nicholas Briggs when Big Finish was criticised for the move towards lots of two-part stories.  In Vortex, the Big Finish magazine, Briggs stated that “it’s clear you and I will have to agree to disagree. There are now more long-form stories being released by Big Finish than ever before. I understand you have something against two-part stories because that duration wasn’t common or typical during the run of the classic series, but I judge stories on the basis of what they’re about and how effectively they unfold, not solely on how long they are. I think the two-part format works really well, particularly on audio. Also, some of our two-parters, especially the Second Doctor episodes, actually form part of a longer story. So, for example, although The Potential Daleks features three two-parters, in many ways it’s actually a six-parter. I would urge you not to focus on judging stories in this way as it’s clearly spoiling your enjoyment, and we have no plans to change policy”.  So, as with any criticism, it’s the fan or audience who’s the problem, not the people making the decisions.

I’ll cover the problems with Doctor Who since the end of the Classic Era and Big Finish in a later video.

As for my personal year – I had my hernia surgery, suffered more memory and cognitive problems, went through the migration process from Employment and Support Allowance to Universal Credit which was as painful and unnecessary as you’d expect, I got an ear infection a couple of days before Christmas after having to wear my MP3 player on a solo shopping trip and came down with a cold on Christmas Day that still hasn’t shifted.  And the less said about this year’s Christmas shopping, the better, but I’ll do a video about it if anyone asks for it.