Pull To Open: A Random Doctor Who Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

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Pull To Open: A Random Doctor Who Podcast

Pete Pachal and Chris Taylor

Tv & Film

Frequency: 1 episode/11d. Total Eps: 220

There are many Doctor Who podcasts. Only one dares review the entire show... in entirely random order! Join journalists Pete Pachal and Chris Taylor as they summarize stories in record time, play the Whomoji game, enter the History Corner, answer the Four Questions to Doomsday, and cower in fear before the almighty Randomizer. New episode every Saturday!

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Apple Podcasts

🇬🇧 Great Britain - tvReviews
11/08/2026
#78
🇬🇧 Great Britain - tvReviews
10/08/2026
#66
🇬🇧 Great Britain - tvReviews
24/07/2026
#74
🇬🇧 Great Britain - tvReviews
23/07/2026
#48

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Score global : 47%

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Repeater Capaldi (Confessing “Heaven Sent”)

Season 5 · Episode 35

Saturday, October 26, 2024 • Duration 01:44:13

If we didn’t know better, we’d say we’ve been waiting to talk about this Peter Capaldi episode for 7,000 years. Or is it two billion? Time seems to drag when you’re punching a wall made of random Doctor Who. Heaven Sent was an instant classic, but is this piece of clockwork perfection also the best story ever? We confess, we’re not sure. Good thing we’ve got Alisa Stern (aka Doctor Puppet) to help us grind its gears. If you’re listening, Gallifrey, the dangerous triple hybrid that will deconstruct your entire torture chamber… is us.

Thanks to Alisa Stern for joining! You can see her work at:

Give your own rating for Heaven Sent on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

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Subscribe to our newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠pulltoopen.net⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for extended notes on Heaven Sent.

Support the podcast by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠becoming a patron⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ of Pull To Open on Patreon.

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Timeline:

Intro 00:00:00
Previously 00:01:28
This Time There’s 3 of Us! 00:06:01
Whomoji Challenge 00:08:42
POLL To Open 00:15:43
TL;DW 00:23:36
Commentary: Heaven Sent 00:25:10
Four Questions to Doomsday 01:12:41
What If the Evil Plot Had Succeeded? 01:19:00
Where Is the Clara Splinter? 01:22:51
Final Judgment 01:30:08
Randomizer! 01:36:31

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Play ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pull To Open Bingo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (NEW upgraded card!)

Story Essentials

Series 9, Episode 11
Story number: 264, per the The Pull To Open Codex
Writer: Steven Moffat
Director: Rachel Talalay
Showrunner: Steven Moffat
Aired 28 November 2015

Pull To Open: Heaven Sent

Season 5
Episode 35

Hosts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pete Pachal⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Chris Taylor⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Music: Martin West/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Thinking Fish⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

©️AnyWho Media LLC 2024

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Better Call Thal (Refrigerating “Planet of the Daleks”)

Season 5 · Episode 34

Saturday, October 12, 2024 • Duration 01:32:17

Destination: not Skaro! “The Planet* of the Daleks” is Terry Nation’s anniversary rewrite of the classic Hartnell tale that kickstarted Doctor Who. It’s “The Daleks” in color, decades before the BBC colorized “The Daleks.” But did those weird blond Thal heroes really jive with Jo Grant and the whole groovy Pertwee era? And what’s up with the invisible heavy-breathers and squirting plants of Spiridon? Lay down on some IKEA furniture as we dust off purple fake furs from Burning Man and infiltrate the Dalek City!**

*Not actual planet of the Daleks

**Not actual city

Give your own rating for Planet of the Daleks on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

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Subscribe to our newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠pulltoopen.net⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for extended notes on Planet of the Daleks.

Support the podcast by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠becoming a patron⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ of Pull To Open on Patreon.

Please review Pull To Open on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Wait of the World (HOT TAKE: "The Legend of Ruby Sunday")

Season 5 · Episode 25

Friday, June 14, 2024 • Duration 46:13

It’s official: The One Who Waits has been waiting since 1913 (or 1975, depending on the dating protocol). Everything’s gone a bit pyramid-shaped in “The Legend of Ruby Sunday,” as RTD’s multiple twists kept us mostly distracted from the return of this classic villain. So what has he been up to for the last 7,000 years, and how exactly did he seduce the TARDIS into giving itself indigestion? Join us as we drop a few canon bombs, defuse others, and consider which other ‘Doctor Who’ gods might be in RTD’s Disney-money spreadsheet.

MORE SUTEKH: Listen to our podcast on Pyramids of Mars

Subscribe to our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube Channel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and become a True Companion of the podcast to get new episodes before everyone else!

Support the podcast by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠becoming a patron⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ of Pull To Open on Patreon.

Please review Pull To Open on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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Death Becomes Him (Exalting "Dalek")

Season 3 · Episode 34

Saturday, November 5, 2022 • Duration 02:13:07

The simple, straightforward title of Dalek belies so much: This story doesn’t just re-introduce the Daleks for a new generation of Doctor Who viewers — it makes them interesting, upgraded, and scary in ways they always deserved to be but never quite achieved in the classic series. Stellar performances from the cast — including an arguably best-of-his-run showstopper from Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor overcome by his hatred for these machine-creatures — certainly hep to make Dalek both an unexpected epic as well as the beginning of an incredible run in the back half of Series 1 of NuWho. I think maybe we liked it? Here’s what it feels like to experience Dalek, almost two decades after it fell through time…

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Instagram: @pulltoopen63
Twitter: @pulltoopen63
YouTube: youtube.com/pulltoopen

Story Essentials

Series 1, Episode 6
Story number: 164, per the The Pull To Open Codex
Production Code: 1.6
Writer: Robert Shearman
Showrunner: Russell T Davies

Abyss of the Spider Woman (Chasing “The Runaway Bride”)

Season 3 · Episode 33

Saturday, October 29, 2022 • Duration 01:52:20

When companions go, sometimes it’s sad (brave heart, Tegan), sometimes it’s bittersweet (London, 1965!), and sometimes it’s a nonevent (Dodo who?). But the heartbreaking departure of Rose in Doomsday is on another level altogether, and it simply requires repercussions. Those shockwaves are front and center in The Runaway Bride, yet somehow the story ends up being one of the most fun in the entire series. That’s thanks in no small part to the brilliant comedic banter between David Tennant and Catherine Tate — a pairing that works so well that the duo will return as series leads full time in 2023. Seeing the genesis of that relationship makes a rewatch of Bride feel like Christmas morning all over again, and you also get some great stocking stuffers: a visually breathtaking giant spider lady and some never-before-seen TARDIS maneuvering. Set coordinates for December 25, 2006, and pass the eggnog.

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Instagram: @pulltoopen63
Twitter: @pulltoopen63
YouTube: youtube.com/pulltoopen

Story Essentials:

2006 Christmas Special
Story number: 181, per the The Pull To Open Codex

Mile-High Flub (Piloting “Time-Flight,” with guest Christopher Burgess)

Season 3 · Episode 32

Saturday, October 22, 2022 • Duration 02:11:54

When you hear “a Doctor Who story set in the Jurassic period,” the picture you conjure in your head probably looks quite a bit different from Time-Flight. That’s not necessarily a strike against it: The finale of Season 19 is notorious for being light on budget, so it’s probably a blessing that they didn’t even try to show a single allosaurus stomping around the barren plains of prehistoric London. Instead we get the Xeraphin, a telepathic race of morally conflicted humanoids that are almost interesting — at least until the Master uses them as the winner-take-all prize in his technobabble rap battle with the Doctor. Plus: A time-travel mystery! Cringey disguises! Not one, but TWO Concordes! That more than makes up for some absent dinosaurs, doesn’t it? Doesn’t it?

Special guest Christopher Burgess (@dubbayoo) from Radio Free Skaro joins!

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Instagram: @pulltoopen63
Twitter: @pulltoopen63
YouTube: youtube.com/pulltoopen

Story Essentials

Season 19, Serial 7
Story number: 122, per the

Bad Weed (Drenching “Fury From the Deep”)

Season 3 · Episode 31

Saturday, October 8, 2022 • Duration 01:52:38

Is there any Doctor Who format as reliable as the base under siege? You can see why: All you need is one set, an excuse to keep the TARDIS out of reach, and one illogically obstinate person in charge, and you’re about 90% there. The key ingredient, of course, is a convincing and creepy monster, and though mutant seaweed might not be your first choice to fill that role, it’s what Fury From the Deep has to work with. Nonetheless, even in animation, “the weed” produces more scares than any hostile plantlife has a right to, so we don’t blame Victoria for giving her lungs a workout in this one. Just please don’t blame us for wanting to break the tension by snickering at all the references to “weed.”

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Instagram: @pulltoopen63
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YouTube: youtube.com/pulltoopen

Story Essentials:

Season 5, Serial 6
Story number: 41, per the The Pull To Open Codex
Production Code: RR
Writer: Victor Pemberton
Producer: Peter Bryant
Aired 16 March - 20 April 1968

That Witch You Seek (Exposing “The Witchfinders”)

Season 3 · Episode 30

Saturday, October 1, 2022 • Duration 01:43:35

Jodie Whittaker’s first season as the Doctor took the show in a new direction, but The Witchfinders is almost a return to a very old format: the pure historical. True, this outing to the witch-obsessed England of the 17th century doesn’t quite qualify — what with alien mud creatures reanimating left and right in the final act — but the most interesting thing about this story is certainly the dramatization of the horrific witch trials of the era. An excellent guest cast helps, made all the more entertaining when Alan Cumming arrives playing King James I. Could someone chop down that Morax tree over there? It’s blocking our view of all this fabulous history.

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Instagram: @pulltoopen63
Twitter: @pulltoopen63
YouTube: youtube.com/pulltoopen

Story Essentials:

Series 11, Episode 8
Story number: 286, per the The Pull To Open Codex
Production Code: 1DW 11.08
Writers: Joy Wilkinson
Showrunner: Chris Chibnall
Aired 25 November 2018

Past Sins (Witnessing “Rosa”)

Season 3 · Episode 29

Saturday, September 24, 2022 • Duration 01:58:26

Often Doctor Who travels to the past to showcase historical events, but it rarely shows what life in those eras was like for the less privileged. Rosa is a jarring exception to the rule, with its lens pointed directly at the racist past of the American South. While there is an antagonist from the future present, the real evil force here is state-sanctioned segregation. And the hero who must confront it isn’t the title character we tune in to see from week to week, but Rosa Parks, the black woman who changed history by refusing to give up her seat on a bus. The drama that results is undeniable, but does that make it a classic?

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Instagram: @pulltoopen63
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YouTube: youtube.com/pulltoopen

Story Essentials

Series 11, Episode 3
Story number: 281, per the The Pull To Open Codex
Production Code: 1DW 11.03
Writers: Malorie Blackman, Chris Chibnall
Showrunner: Chris Chibnall
Aired 21 October 2018

Gold Turkey (Transmuting “Revenge of the Cybermen”)

Season 3 · Episode 28

Saturday, September 17, 2022 • Duration 02:07:00

If you lack emotions, can you seek revenge? It’s the burden of Doctor Who fans to ponder questions like this, since Revenge of the Cybermen attributes emotion to the show’s notoriously unfeeling monsters right there in the title. More likely, we suspect some future historian did their best to characterize the Cybermen’s incursion on Nerva Beacon in the 29th century with some fanciful language to give the whole episode some gravitas. Heaven knows the story could use it — unless you’re talking about the single biggest plot hole in Doctor Who history, one so massive it threatens to overshadow Tom Baker’s performance, the unique musical score and everything else good about this story. Absent a beacon to highlight them, the galaxy turns to a lonely podcast broadcasting into the depths of space…

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TikTok! @pulltoopen
Instagram: @pulltoopen63
Twitter: @pulltoopen63
YouTube: youtube.com/pulltoopen

Story Essentials

Season 12, Serial 5
Story number: 78, per the The Pull To Open Codex
Production Code: 4D
Writers: Gerry Davis (and Robert Holmes)
Producer: Philip Hinchcliffe
Aired 19 April - 10 May 1975

Pull To Open: A Random Doctor Who Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

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Pull To Open: A Random Doctor Who Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Other99+

Twitter10

Spotify6

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other99+

Twitter10

Spotify6