Reality Bomb

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from Doctor Who, it’s that education matters. Access to a quality education makes a difference in every aspect of someone’s life. It can be the determining factor between despair and hope, poverty and stability, even death and life.

Doctor Who fans can help change this. This October, representatives from your favourite Doctor Who podcasts and some very special guests are coming together to record podcast commentaries for the stories of Season 26: the final season of the Classic Series of Doctor Who. That’s 14 episodes of classic Who, with more than 50 podcasters, authors and fans participating. Anyone who donates $10 or more to the The Malala Fund or any of our recommended organizations can have access to them. (more…)

On the seventy-second edition of Reality Bomb, we remember to Doctor Who writer, script editor, author and legend Terrance Dicks with a special tribute from Martin Belam, Nick Abadzis, Lisa Gledhill, Jon Arnold, Jason A. Miller and Bill Evenson. YouTuber, fan and Doctor Who Magazine Time Team member Claudia Boleyn uncouples Utopia from the series 3 finale and brings it to the Gallery of the Underrated. And the craze sweeping the fandom is back as Is This Rumour Hot or Not? returns with emeritus producer Alex Kennard and Kim Rogers. All this plus a poem in honour of Terrance Dicks by Chris Fosten, and we blow wide the conspiracy behind what’s going on with Doctor Who in Cardiff.

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We were all saddened today at the news of the passing of Doctor Who writer, script editor and novelist Terrance Dicks. Terrance Dicks was a monumental talent, who helped define the Doctor Who we know and love today. We will be paying tribute to Terrance in an upcoming episode of Reality Bomb.

But in the meantime, we wanted to share with you a tribute we did to Terrance from five years ago. Back in 2014, we offered a comedy sketch in episode 010 which riffed on the idea of Terrance performing his best-loved convention anecdotes in a stadium rock concert. Here’s that sketch (which features Jeff Elston as the announcer).

We will miss those wonderful anecdotes and stories in future. Farewell, Terrance.

On the seventy-first edition of Reality Bomb, we’ve given over the entire episode to a special report on convention safety. We’re doing a 90-minute deep dive on the topic on harassment at conventions and what convention organizers need to do to make cons safer.

We talk to outside resources and experts as well as people in fandom and survivors including Christine Chapman of Uplift, an organization which has a special outreach program that creates codes of conduct for conventions and trains volunteer staff. We talk to Trickssi of the Cosplayer Survivor Support Network, an organization supporting survivors of abuse at cons. And we talk to Doctor Who fans Sage Young and Felicity Kuzinitz about their perspective within Doctor Who fandom about con safety. We also talk to regular contributor Heather Berberet, who offers her insight as a psychologist on the issues of harassment. Finally, we offer the stories of survivors of harassment at conventions.

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Reality Bomb, the world’s most dangerous Doctor Who podcast, is returning to New York on Saturday, October 12 at 3 pm for its fourth live show in the Big Apple! (Does anyone still call New York the “Big Apple”? Well, we are!)

We’ll be at back at the Stone Creek Bar and Lounge. As ever, we’ll have special guests, quizzes, music, comedy and a whole lot more!

Details are on our Facebook event page. Mark your calendars now!

On the seventieth edition of Reality Bomb, Graeme Burk brings back emeritus producer Alex Kennard (and drafts Lori Steuart) for another segment of “Is This Rumour Hot or Not?” as they judge the latest rumours (or not) from the Doctor Who set. Neil Perryman brings the “love it or hate it” Sylvester McCoy story Ghost Light to the Gallery of the Underrated. And Joy Piedmont talks to Monica Duarte, Jim Sangster and Derek Compare about Doctor Who collecting in all its various forms. Plus listeners letters, and the protest about Ianto at BBC Wales goes into its tenth year!

On the sixty-ninth edition of Reality Bomb, Graeme Burk speaks to The Guardian’s Martin Belam and Bustle’s film editor Sage Young about Chris Chibnall’s avoidance of publicity and whether or not Doctor Who needs hype (and if so how much) to survive in the modern media landscape. Joy Piedmont brings together Tai Gooden and Kat Climpson to talk about what other monsters from the Russell T Davies era (and more) could come back following the Judoon. And Pauline Serizel of the French YouTube channel Pepperpot Team discusses getting meta, fandom as heroes and a monster (literally) designed by an 10-year-old as Love & Monsters comes to the Gallery of the Underrated. Plus: we find inspiration in a t-shirt.

On the sixty-eighth edition of Reality Bomb, we have a special episode featuring two documentaries in honour of Graeme being a fan of Doctor Who for 35 years last month. First we re-present our documentary from episode 012 where Graeme celebrates his 30th year of being a fan and talks to several people about the ways Doctor Who fandom changed in the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s. We follow that up with a brand-new documentary where Graeme and some friends (and a special guest) discuss the developments in Doctor Who fandom over the past five years.

This is a special edition of Reality Bomb remembering a special person: Paul Condon, who died late last week. Paul was brilliant, funny, thoughtful, mischievous and kind. He was a much-loved Doctor Who fan and we’re paying tribute to him by presenting two interviews he did: the first (from episode 048) was recorded the day after Jodie Whittaker was cast as Paul explained who Jodie Whittaker was and what to watch of her work. The second is a Gallery of the Underrated from episode 047 as Paul explains why he thinks Delta and the Bannermen should get more love — and offers a mind-blowing interpretation of what actually happened in that story.

Paul Condon was the best of Doctor Who fandom. And he will be missed.

On the sixty-seventh edition of Reality Bomb, Graeme Burk asks the question “Why do conventions fail?” and Ly Cao, Jeff Elston and Jim Sangster discuss the logistical, economic and general reasons that have caused many cons lately to cancel at the last minute. Also a new book, Bookwyrm: An Unauthorised & Unconventional Guide to the Doctor Who Novels Volume 1 looks back on the Doctor Who New Adventures novels of the 1990s and its authors Robert Smith? and Anthony Wilson are here to talk about the days, long ago in an English winter, when Doctor Who was only to be found in prose. And Concorde crash lands in Jurassic England and author Jenny Colgan is on the spot talking about Time-Flight in the Gallery of the Underrated. All this plus Listeners Letters with Joy Piedmont, and the latest superhero sequel featuring an all-too familiar villain.

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