For the 57th episode of THE LIST MAKERS, we discuss our top classic seasons of Doctor Who. Incredible that it took us 57 episodes to reach this point but hey, better late than never! Frankly we've been having too much fun along the way to get to some of these more 'low hanging fruit' topics but, thanks to a listener suggestion for the Hat of Rassilon, we're finally doing it!

What would your picks be? Why not write in and let us know?

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Hi everyone – Dave here!

Many of us know a LOT about how TV was made during the classic era of Who, but I realised I don’t know much AT ALL about how modern Who (and TV generally) is made!

So, I invited friend of the podcast – and an Emmy winning producer – Dylan Rees on the show to discuss these matters! It’s a little more in depth than our usual style, but I hope you’ll find this one-off chat interesting!

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David Fisher was a writer who made a distinct mark on Doctor Who during the late 1970s and early 1980s, contributing a run of stories for the Tom Baker era that blended gothic atmosphere, humour, and great characters.

His scripts include The Stones of Blood, The Androids of Tara, The Creature from the Pit, and The Leisure Hive. Four very different adventures that together showcase just how adaptable his writing was within the series.

Fisher also played a role in the origins of one of Doctor Who’s most beloved classics, although personal circumstances prevented him from completing his script. His story, The Gamble With Time formed the backbone of what became City of Death, later finished by Douglas Adams and Graham Williams under the pseudonym “David Agnew.”

Tonight, we look at David Fisher, the stories he delivered across several seasons, and what makes each stand out. We explore his style, strengths, and quirks that define his work and why his episodes remain fondly remembered decades later.

Before then, all the usual news and short topics you’ve come to expect and, after the David Fisher segment, we have listener feedback and what we’ve been watching this past month. A jam-packed episode! Tune in!

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Join Dave from the Doctor Who Show, Rob from 42 to Doomsday, and Richard from Spacefall: A Blakes 7 Podcast, after knocking back a few gin and tonics at Dave’s place and watching Day of the Daleks.

Day of the Daleks is the first serial of the ninth season of Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 1 to 22 January 1972. It was the first of four Third Doctor serials to feature the Daleks, which returned to the series for the first time since The Evil of the Daleks (1967).

The Doctor and UNIT investigate the attempted assassination of British diplomat Sir Reginald Styles, whose attacker apparently disappeared into thin air.

And yes, there’s a musical number at the end 😉

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For the 56th episode of THE LIST MAKERS, we discuss which (living) Doctor Who people we'd most like to see on a convention panel. Will this be particularly challenging for Rob, given his total disinterest in such events? Where will Dave take his list? Between them, can they come up with the ultimate convention guest list?

What would your picks be? Why not write in and let us know?

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With the wait between THE REALITY WAR and the 2026 DOCTOR WHO CHRISTMAS SPECIAL lasting longer that the 1985 hiatus did (1 year 6 months and 24 days versus 1 year, 5 months, and 24 days), the only logical thing to do was make a pop record. Friend of the show (and sometime co-host) Mike Solko really shouldn't have put this idea in my head. Enjoy - Rob

DOCTOR IN RECESS

(Intro) Eighteen months is too long to wait, BBC please, don’t aggravate.

(Verse 1) The TARDIS doors are shuttered, The filming lights are dim, We’re left with endless theories, And one half-regenerated him.

They promised worlds of wonder, And merch from here to Mars, But when the numbers wobbled, They crash-landed the TARDIS hard.

(Chorus) Doctor in recess, Let’s all answer this time stress, Doctor in recess, Our fandom’s under real duress!

(Verse 2) There’s Daleks feeling restless, The Cybermen look bored, The Weeping Angels whisper, “You can blink if we’re ignored!”

The Master’s doing TikToks, The Ood are serving tea, And somewhere in Cardiff, Time stands still on the BBC.

(Bridge) Bring him back now, we’ll take no less, The fandom’s losing its consciousness, The universe is stuck once more, And waiting till ‘26 is such a chore.

(Verse 3) We’ve learned to love each Doctor, Each face that comes and goes, From Eccleston to Gatwa, And whoever the next one shows.

The monsters are all waiting, The Daleks need their cue, Without a weekly scream to stream, What’s a poor fan meant to do?

(Final Chorus) Doctor in recess, Let’s all answer this time stress, Doctor in recess, Our fandom’s under real duress! Doctor in recess... The long wait’s causing time distress!

The Doctor Who partnership between Disney and the BBC has officially ended, with Disney stepping away from the co-production deal after two seasons. Although Disney will still air the upcoming spin-off The War Between the Land and the Sea, the BBC has affirmed that Doctor Who will continue “with or without Disney,” and has confirmed a Christmas special penned by Russell T Davies for 25 December 2026.

Rob has thoughts.

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There's a LOT to get through this month - from missing episodes on the verge of being found, to Bad Wolf being quite annoyed at a high-profile Doctor Who writer saying what everyone else was thinking... and that's just the news, folks.

After some short topics, we get to the meat of this episode - a deep dive into the Missing Adventure, Cold Fusion, the twenty-ninth novel in that series. It was written by Lance Parkin and was the only multi-Doctor story involving televised Doctors ever told by Virgin Books, pairing the 5th Doctor of Season 19 with the 7th Doctor from near the end of the Virgin New Adventures line.

If you're unfamiliar with the story but want to make sense of our review, we dropped a 10-minute synopsis of the novel on our podcast feed yesterday. Look it up!

To close, we open the mailbag for a ton of feedback from our listeners on a number of topics related to past podcasts and Doctor Who in general.

Enjoy, dear listener.

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