Doctor Who: Radio Free Skaro – Details, episodes & analysis

The Three Who Rule take on the big questions this week, including whether or not to call the Sea Devils "Homo Aqua," possible BBC broadcast plans for The War Between the Land and the Sea, the existence of 4K 35mm transfers of telecined old TV shows, and most importantly the spreading media virus known as the Spiral Staircase, which has driven Steven further around the bend than usual! Plus Tubi intrigue regarding the status of Classic Doctor Who, Doctor Who Magazine issuing massive pieces about Carole Ann Ford and Terry Nation, and most importantly, the first of our five-part re-evaluation of Torchwood: Children of Earth! 

Links:

• Support Radio Free Skaro on Patreon
• Mark Strickson announced as guest for Gallifrey One
• Creatures in TWBTLATS to be known as "Homo Aqua"
• UNIT quiz site reveals seven minutes of deleted scenes from Season 2
• Doctor Who Magazine #623
• Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition Doctor Who: Legends released
• Classic Doctor Who leaving US Tubi soon?
• Big Finish: Doctor Who: Anniversary – A 2005-2025 Doctors Collection available November 2025
• Pauline Collins 1940-2025

Review:

• Torchwood: Children of Earth – Day One
• Children of Earth scripts on BBC Writer's Room
• Radio Free Skaro Wednesday Cutaway – The Ballad of Jack and Ianto
• Radio Free Skaro presents Bridging the Rift

The moment has arrived! That is, an actual announcement of Doctor Who's future from the BBC (and not the outgoing Disney+) in the form of a last hurrah from Russell T Davies and Bad Wolf by way of a Christmas special in 2026, along with official confirmation of Turf and Surf hitting the iPlayer this Christmas and Disney+ in February. What does this portend for both the present and future of Doctor Who? The Three Who Rule put on their television detective hats and as usual solve nothing, as do many entertainment journalists including friend of the show Kyle Anderson, and lesser lights such as Variety, Deadline, and The Hollywood Reporter. Plus the usual Big Finish cover over-analysis, a smidgen of Can*Con, and the conclusion of our four-part Classic Series Commentary for "The Sun Makers"!

Links:

• Support Radio Free Skaro on Patreon
• BBC Confirms future of Doctor Who, splitting from Disney, and a new Christmas special in 2026
• The War Between the Land and the Sea' comes to BBC One and BBC iPlayer in December, Disney+ in 2026
• Deadline: Why Disney Ditched 'Doctor Who'
• Nerdist: Kyle Anderson's take on the separation of Disney and the BBC
• Variety: 'Doctor Who': Disney+ Exits Partnership With the BBC as 2026 Christmas Special Confirmed
• Deadline: Disney+ Officially Exiting 'Doctor Who' Partnership With BBC After Two Seasons
• Hollywood Reporter: Disney+ Ends 'Doctor Who' Partnership, BBC Commits to Continue Series
• Entertainment Weekly: Disney+ drops Doctor Who — here's what that means for the long-running show's future
• The Secrets Behind the SCARIEST Moments of Doctor Who – The Whoniverse Show
• Big Finish Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trips Opportunity 2025 winner announced
• Big Finish Doctor Who: Halloween – Sea Smoke and Other Stories released
• When the Stars Screamed: A Dalek Anthology Charity Book available
• As King of Kensington turns 50, it shows the challenge of keeping classic Canadian TV in circulation
• Nabil Shaban obituary by Toby Hadoke

Commentary:

• The Sun Makers Part Four

So you think Doctor Who is on pause until The War Between the Land and the Sea airs sometime next year, eh? Well, apparently you aren't aware of the big news this week, a new dolly-adjacent figurine of the iconic Monarch from Four to Doomsday! Plus we observe the 50th anniversary of the original broadcast of Terror of the Zygons by meandering into Steven's crippling studio footage addiction, a look at Youtube deep dives and the videotape-licious Chronicles of Narnia Blu-Ray, Jon Culshaw becoming the Twelfth Doctor for Big Finish, and the fourth and final part of our Jamie Magnus Stone Miniscope, with a look at The Power of the Doctor!

Links:

• Support Radio Free Skaro on Patreon
• New Doctor Who Figurine Collection releases include Monarch, The Flood, and Leandro
• Terror of the Zygons streamed on the 50th anniversary of its original broadcast
• Doctor Who: The regeneration scene and the 7 second hole
• Doctor Who Magazine Special 70: Gothic Horror, out now
• The BBC's Chronicles of Narnia released on Blu-ray on Nov 24 (UK)
• Big Finish introduces Jon Culshaw as the voice of the Twelfth Doctor
• Details of Big Finish: The Seventh Doctor Adventures: Wicked! released

Miniscope:

• Jamie Magnus Stone, Part 4
• The Power of the Doctor
• The Confused Adipose
• Radio Free Skaro #892
• Directing Doctor Who
• Clara and the TARDIS

It's the penultimate episode of Doctor Who Season 1 and the mysteries are piling up in UNIT HQ! Who or what is Susan Twist? What about the cloaked lady who may or may not be Ruby's mum? Why in the name of all the gods in the pantheon is Sutekh causing trouble and blinged out in Disney finery? The Three Who Rule don't have the answers but they do have baseless speculation and a bunch of irrelevant Classic Who references to tide us over until next week! Plus some book and comic and Big Finish stuff but let's be real…..SUTEKH'S BACK! 

Links:

• Support Radio Free Skaro on Patreon
• Magna Carta Day
• Review: Doctor Who S1E07 "The Legend of Ruby Sunday"
• Reminder: A new Tales of the TARDIS episode airing on BBC Four on June 20
• Doctor Who: Print The Legend now available
• BBC Books to publish four Target Doctor Who novels featuring the Fifteenth Doctor
• Doctor Who: The Official Guide coming August 15
• Doctor Who: Annual 2025 coming September 5
• Doctor Who: Fifteen Doctors 15 Stories coming September 19
• Cutaway Comics Paradise Towers: Volume 1: Paradise Found graphic novel due Oct 30
• Cutaway Comics Lytton: Volume 1 graphic novel due Oct 30
• Big Finish: Doctor Who – Conspiracy of Raven due July 2024
• Big Finish: The Worlds of Doctor Who – Susan's War: Family Ties due August 2024
• Next Time: "Empire of Death", Saturday, June 22 at 640pm on BBC One

The penultimate episode of Series 6 featured the return of one of the great Doctor-companion teams that never happened. Matt Smith and James Corden, so perfectly matched in 2010's "The Lodger", reunited to amuse and delight in Gareth Roberts's wonderful follow-up "Closing Time", a story about which the Three Who Rule were unanimous in their opinion. The Cybermen also returned and were promptly dispensed with, but who cares about them, really? Also discussed in this podcast: the inevitable rapid-fire stats, new toys, favourite Doctors, rampant pluggery and more. Radio Free Skaro, here to help!

Check out the show notes at http://www.radiofreeskaro.com

A minotaur, a question of fear and faith, and a turning point for the Doctor and his companions...not to mention a surreal hotel from Hell! The God Complex went under the RFS microscope this week, with a smattering of opinion both favourable and somewhat less so. Add a giant brick wall o' stats, a Sarah Jane launch date, some new guests for Gallifrey 2012, and an interview with "The Girl Who Waited" scribe Tom MacRae, and you've got yourself an audio file of approximately an hour in length!

Check out the show notes at http://www.radiofreeskaro.com

The Girl Who Waited was, to varying degrees, praised by the Three Who Rule as one of the best episodes (if not THE best, according to Warren) of this season, with acclaim for the direction, the visuals, the timey-wimey-ness, and most of all for Karen Gillan's double performance as herself and...herself.

But wait! Torchwood: Miracle Day also wrapped up its 10 episode run with rockginas, immortals, f-bombs, and Oswald Danes doing what he does best: making the blood of civilized folk curdle.

Add a dollop of stats, DVD news and Matt Smith being a stylin' mofo, and you've got yourself, well, a podcast!

Next week.....Night Terrors! Or, more accurately, The God Complex!

Check out the show notes at http://www.radiofreeskaro.com

Fear Her, one of the lesser appreciated stories in the Doctor Who oeuvre, isn’t a story that the Three Who Rule reasoned (or hoped) would ever be brought up again in Doctor Who, but all three of your intrepid hosts got a distinct Chloe Webber/scribble monster/suburban England vibe from Mark Gatiss’s Night Terrors. That isn’t to say that they didn’t enjoy it, though. Also up for discussion was Episode 9 of Torchwood: Miracle Day, The Gathering, as that series hurdles, or stumbles, to its conclusion next week. All this and the usual dash and sprinkle of news, including the talk of the upcoming UNIT Box Set and some bona fide monumental viewing figures for SPACE in Canada.

Check out the show notes at http://www.radiofreeskaro.com

Doctor Who is back! After what seemed equally both a long summer and a short summer, Doctor Who has returned to our screens with Let's Kill Hitler -- and of course the Three Who Rule were all over the episode to deliver their review. But wait, there's more! Torchwood is still making its way toward the end of Miracle Day, so of course the lads throw in their two cents about End of the Road. What do they think about these new offerings from the Whoniverse? Lastly, along with the usual news and stats, we also speak with Doctor Who Brand Manager Edward Russell about his upcoming Walk for Lis!

Check out the show notes at http://www.radiofreeskaro.com

It was quite a week in the many worlds of Doctor Who, headlined by a phenomenal Torchwood episode, the press screening for the return of Doctor Who in Let’s Kill Hitler, and a monumental Hugo Award win for the editors and publishers of one of our favourite books, Chicks Dig Time Lords. And on top of all that, it is precisely six months until Gallifrey One’s Network 23, so we have a feature chat with Gallifrey One Program Director Shaun Lyon. Full speed ahead!

Check out the show notes at http://www.radiofreeskaro.com