Doctor Who TV Movie: Dated, X-Files Ripoff, or Better Than That?

Doctor Who TV Movie

Back in 1996, the Doctor Who TV Movie struck TV screens on both sides of the Atlantic. At home it was a hit; in the USA, it was ignored.

Now, 15 years later, we ask: has the Paul McGann-starring TV Movie dated badly?

This week’s podcast features Christian Cawley, James McLean and Brian A Terranova discussing this in depth, while also taking a look at original design for Nephew in Neil Gaiman’s The Doctor’s Wife, and just what Danny Cohen thought he was playing at with his recent discussion about Doctor Who at the Church and Media conference.

Here are a few quotes. On the matter of the Doctor Who TV Movie:

“It did feel as though there were bits of The X Files in there but that the script and the tone of the show hadn’t actually caught up with where The X Files was at that time.”

There is plenty to say on this, despite the episode being so old, and the era it represented failing to materialise. Christian and Brian are both massive fans of Paul McGann’s performance in the Doctor Who TV Movie, making this a particularly interesting chat for them.

On the original design for Nephew:

“The Nephew design is pretty stunning… they were having their lives augmented by House… it’s understandable that the Ood might not have that, and I think that design would have much more suited the story.”

The recent statements by BBC One Controller Danny Cohen concerning Doctor Who Series 7:

“I think the whole…caboodle needs to be more responsive to the situation. Knocking it aside and saying “you’ve got to have faith” doesn’t help the issue… I don’t think using Twitter helps.”

Don’t worry. We know that what you really want to do is listen to our thoughts on the 1996 Doctor Who TV Movie starring Paul McGann, Eric Roberts, Yee Jee Tso, Daphne Ashbrook, and Sylvester McCoy, Hit play above to get started.

As always, you can subscribe via Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

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