#april eccleston

[ghstmsk]

week 1 of october, the size of the files makes it so theres no good way to align these without going out of chorno order woops.

#my art #@ #honey #april eccleston #chip #15 #curb #guerre #i didnt realize til i did curb that the first 5 days were all just redesigns

[khruschevshoe]

The fact that BBC class never got a season 2 is my Roman empire and always will be. With that ending? With April becoming shadowkin? With the fallout between Charlie and Matteusz and all of Charlie's guilt over using the Cabinet of Souls and losing everything left of his people? The sudden change in dynamic between Ms. Quill and Charlie/Quill saving Charlie's life? Ram's reaction to April becoming Shadowkin? Tanya and Ram dealing with the ramifications of telling Charlie to use the Cabinet of Souls? The fact that they STILL HAVEN'T PROPERLY DEALT WITH THE FALLOUT FROM WHEN THEY WERE TRAPPED WITH THE PRISONER AND THE TRUTH-GUILT ROCK? Feral. Absolutely FERAL, I am telling you. I'm never getting over this. It's been seven years and I am still NOT OVER IT

#bbc class #charlie smith #tanya adeola #ram singh #april maclean #charlie x matteusz #matteusz andrzejewski #andrea quill #ms quill #i am LOSING MY MIND #and I have been for YEARS #doctor who #also did not realize until just now that the show was created by Patrick Ness #as in chaos walking Patrick Ness #and a lot of things make a lot of sense #also this makes it so that 9 and 13 are the only doctors without spin-off material which saddens me a bit #i know that christopher eccleston is kind of done with it all #but jodie deserved to pop up in a spin-off #even matt smith got to show up on sja

[creativecuquilu]

APRIL FOOLS!

Here are a bunch of GTA loading screens of Doctors and sandwiches...but this time, I drew them myself.

Enjoy!

William Hartnell - Ham Foccacia

Peter Cushing - Cucumber

Patrick Troughton - Sardines

Jon Pertwee - Grilled Cheese

Tom Baker - Salami Baguette

Peter Davison - Salad

Colin Baker - Peanut Butter, Potato Chip and Letucce

Sylvester McCoy - Chicken

Paul McGann - Bacon and Marmalade

John Hurt - Tuna

Christopher Eccleston - Bacon, Letucce and Tomato

David Tennant - Peanut Butter and Jelly

David Morrissey - Leftover Christmas Turkey

Matt Smith - Pastrami

Peter Capaldi - English Breakfast Muffin

Jodie Whittaker - Fried Egg Bagel

Ncuti Gatwa - Meatball Sub

#april fools #doctor who #sandwiches #gta #grand theft auto #loading screen #joke art #wallpaper #william hartnell #patrick troughton #jon pertwee #tom baker #peter davison #colin baker #sylvester mccoy #paul mcgann #christopher eccleston #david tennant #matt smith #peter capaldi #jodie whittaker #ncuti gatwa #peter cushing #john hurt #david morrissey #ham #foccacia #cucumber #sardines #grilled cheese

[thebraxiatelcollection]

I realize I have a lot of catching up to do in terms of Liv Chenka/Helen and Tania Bell, because I haven't a clue who Tania Bell is in terms of timelines as I'm listening to the 9th Doctor: Flatpack.

I stopped listening during the Ravenous arc, perhaps I need to go back and try and pick these up again.

#april listens to big finish #i wasnt a big fan of the ravenous arc #also has christopher eccleston listened to the arc? with how liv and 9 are catching up? #have heard good things about stranded tho

[amphibious-thing]

When I first saw people saying that Lucius could have worked at a molly house pre-piracy I really loved the idea. However lots of people seem to be under the mistaken impression that molly houses were brothels. While there is evidence that there were prostitutes that had agreements with molly houses (and Lucius could have worked with a molly house in this capacity), molly houses were more akin to a gay bar than a brothel. So what sort of jobs might there have been at a molly house?

Bartender. While some molly houses seem to have been in public houses many were in private houses. Either way there tended to be plenty of alcohol and someone must have been responsible for serving it.

Musician. Molly houses would sometimes have live music.

In a large Room there we found one a fiddling, and eight more a dancing Country Dances, making vile Motions, and singing, Come let us —— finely.

(the trial of Thomas Wright, April 1726)

Rictor Norton suggests the censored word is “bugger”. (Mother Clap’s Molly House p61)

The chapel attendant. Molly houses usually had at least one room with a bed in it known as the marrying room or the chapel. Patrons could either close the door for privacy or keep it open if they wanted an audience. In cases where privacy was desired the attendant's job was to ensure that privacy.

Then they'd go by Couples, into a Room on the same Floor to be marry'd as they call'd it. The Door at that Room was kept by - Ecclestone to prevent any body from balking their Diversions.

(the trial of Margaret Clap, 11 July 1726)

Not directly related to molly houses but another job a molly in need of money could have done was “sodomiting Errands”. Which really just means carrying messages between mollies.

Margaret Holder: I believe the Prisoner is an honest Man; but the Prosecutor and Kitt Sandford too, use to come to my Cellar with such sort of People. Court: What sort of People? Holder: Why, to tell you the Truth, he's one of the Runners that carries Messages between Gentlemen in that way. Court: In what way? Holder: Why he's one of them as you call Molly Culls, he gets his Bread that way; to my certain Knowledge he has got many a Crown under some Gentlemen, for going of sodomiting Errands.

(trail of Thomas Gordon, 5 July 1732)

#our flag means death #lucius spriggs #historical fiction #mollies #keeping a brothel and keeping a molly house were more or less considered the same crime because both premises involved illicit sex #but molly houses were not in fact brothels #however in the 19th century there was at least one establishment that was both a molly house and a brothel #so there is nuance

[sometimes-love-is-enough]

IT'S APRIL 14TH. THERE GOES JANUS TO BE BURIED ALIVE.

thank you to @fangirlwriting-stories and @lifewithoutrainydays for betaing this monster and/or egging me on! My love for Greek theatre, Greek tragedies, absurdist theatre, terrible puns, and pointed character studies have all combined into this: the Antigone AU, 13k of dialogue, monologue, and Remus waxing less-than-poetic about whatever the hell he wants. Is it an AU? Is it canon? Is it plausible to perform onstage? We just don't know.

the prologue/semi-explanation for what I'm doing (in poem form, what??) can be found here: the task of the translation. If you're curious about all of the other translations of Antigone I referenced, links to them can be found under the cut!

Brief, simple overview of Antigone's scenes and structure: here, if you want to get an idea of what's going on but don't want to read the full play.

Antigonick by Anne Carson: plain-text pdf (contains the original 'task of the translator' as a prologue), illustrated pdf, readthrough ft Anne Carson (read in English, despite the Swedish intro. Definitely a strange production, and not for everyone)

Antigone trans. Don Taylor: pdf, stage production by National Theatre (starring Jodie Whittaker and Chris Eccleston. costs about $11 to rent, but well worth it), interviews with cast and clips from that show (Youtube, free)

Antigone trans. Paul Woodruff: pdf

#jantigone #sanders sides fanfiction #my writing #janus sanders #roman sanders #remus sanders #the others are there too but those three really are the main characters in this #antigonick

[yahoo201027]

April 27: Happy 61st Birthday to Welsh Screenwriter and Producer Russell T. Davies, who was the Head Writer for Doctor Who for both the Eccleston and Tennant eras from 2005-2010 and currently again after Chibnall’s departure for the 60th Anniversary (second Tennant era) and currently under Ncuti Gatwa and also lend a hand in both spinoff series, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood.

#Doctor Who #Russell T Davies #Writer #Screenwriter #Showruner #Behind the Scenes #TV and Film #Fandom Birthday #April 27 Birthdays

[fanonical]

How did you discover Doctor Who? And who’s your favorite doctor? (I love 9🙈)

on saturday the 2nd of april 2005, when i was 7 years old, my parents were scrolling through the channels on the telly to see what was on. i remember my dad chuckling to himself and making a comment on how we should put “that” on to show the kids, and he was referring to what i now know and love as Doctor Who, a show both my parents watched and loved as kids (my mum often recalls hiding behind the sofa when the cybermen came on)

it was the original airing of the episode “The End of the World” — series 1 episode 2, as i’m sure you know; Christopher Eccleston’s second episode as The Doctor. the episode had started like fifteen minutes before we put it on but my parents were right; i fell in love immediately.

The Ninth Doctor is my favourite too. you know what they say; your first doctor is always your doctor. it isn’t true for everybody, but it is for me. i fell in love with the show over those next few weeks, i was even disgusted by him changing into David Tennant at the end! i had no idea about regeneration until the show explained it to us, so it was a total surprise. i got used to David Tennant very quickly and he was my second favourite for a very long time.

[hauntingcryptids]

All Works Masterlist

Ordered by fandom and then by character

Doctor Who

Eccleston!Doctor

Working On Requests 

Tennant!Doctor

Prank Wars - 17 August 2022

Smith!Doctor

So Where To First? - 2 January 2023

Ganger!Doctor

I’m Not Him - 4 January 2023

Second Best - 

Number One Priority - 

Capaldi!Doctor

Touched Starved - 5 January 2023

Speaking Up For Your Needs - 23 February 2023

The Professor Next Door - 

Whittaker!Doctor

First Proper Date - 28 October 2022

Impromptu Sleepover - 3 November 2022

Soaked Through To The Bone - 4 November 2022

Feeling Good - 15 November 2022

Runaway Makeout - 27 December 2022

Choosing You - 31 December 2022

New Dress - 17 January 2023

Keep It On - 14 October 2023

Wanted and Needed - 

Dhawan!Doctor

Baked Devotions

Baking Hijinks - 5 September 2022

Scheming Timers - 7 September 2022

Apology Desserts - 9 September 2022

The Master’s Plan - 17 November 2022

An Afternoon With Tea And Books - 20 July 2023

New Attire - 23 July 2023

Changes - 

Why Not Me? - 

Simm!Master

Borrowed Black Hoodie - 29 October 2022

Soft Spot In The Hearts Of A Murderer - 24 February 2023

Gomez!Master

Exception - 24 August 2022

Taste Testing - 25 August 2022

Sneaking In - 29 August 2022

Never Leave Me - 31 October 2022

Break In Blurb - 2 November 2022

Warm On A Cold Night - 5 November 2022

Jealousy Looks Good On You - 16 November 2022

Secret Date - 26 February 2023

MI6 Agent O

One Good Day - 8 January 2022

O, What A Beautiful Morning - 21 October 2022

Share Your Coat And Jumper - 22 October 2022

Work Hard, Play Hard - 28 February 2023

Dhawan!Master

Frogs and Snails - 8 January 2022

Cuddling Headcanons - 8 January 2022

Protectiveness Headcanons - 8 January 2022

Heartbeat Headache - 28 March 2022

Alone - 29 March 2022

Sneaking Around - 30 March 2022

My Baby Doll - 19 August 2022

Quarantine Breakdown - 20 August 2022

Comfort Cuddles - 21 August 2022

Anything - 22 August 2022

Best Laid Plans Of Monsters And Masters - 28 August 2022

You Don’t Mean It - 31 August 2022

Sneaking Around Part 2 - 4 September 2022

Quiet Morning After A Disturbed Date - 18 October 2022

Library Day - 19 October 2022

A Little Thought - 26 October 2022

You Are More Than Your Failings - 27 October 2022

Fall For Me - 28 October 2022

Beg For It - 30 October 2022

Get Some Rest, Love - 11 November 2022

Trust In Me - 12 November 2022

Kidnapping Dates - 18 November 2022

My Brave Little Human - 19 November 2022

And His Heart Grew Three Sizes That Day - 25 December 2022

Look To The Future Now - 25 December 2022

My Baby Doll Part 2 - 22 February 2023

Drumming Noise Inside My Head - 1 March 2023

Torturous Flirting - 2 March 2023

Lie Down With Me - 6 March 2023

Belle Of The Ball - 29 March 2023

Safety Over Teamwork - 22 July 2023

Tell Me That I Belong To You - 12 October 2023

Back In The Old Cemetary, I‘m Dying To See You, My Love -

Stay With Me - 

Please Don’t Leave Me - 

Collectible Remains - 

Something Happens And I’m Head Over Heels - 

As The World Falls Down - 

Tennant!Master 

Working On Requests

Whittaker!Master

Back Against The Wall - 18 August 2022

Secret Lover - 3 September 2022

Plus One - 1 November 2022

Attempted Backstabbing - 4 March 2023

First Kiss -

First Time  -

Why Not Me? - 

Martha Jones

Bedside Manner - 5 March 2023

Our Flag Means Death

Frenchie

Sunlight - 11 April 2022

Strings and Makeshift Patches - 19 April 2022

Kissing Frenchie’s Hands - 20 April 2022

Edward Teach x Reader x Stede Bonnet

Waking Up Beside The Two Of You - 8 January 2023

Stranger Things

Eddie Munson

Shower Detox - 6 June 2022

Aftercare, I Love You - 28 December 2022

Breakfast Not In Bed - 3 January 2023

The Band Ghost

Phantom

You've Got Good Dreams - 15 October 2023

X-Men

Peter Maximoff

Dark Side Of The Moon - 1 January 2023

#ghost’s posts #fanfiction #my writing #x reader #masterlist #doctor who x reader #the master x reader #the doctor x reader #dhawan!master x reader #whittaker!master x reader #gomez!master x reader #simm!master x reader #tennant!doctor x reader #whittaker!doctor x reader

[imadetheline]

staff should bring back the april fool's crab function, just for a day. in honor of christopher eccleston, if nothing else

#queen elizabeth #maddie rambles #my post #christopher eccleston #crab rave #time for crab #🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀

[baelishwife]

“An oral history of Queer as Folk, the groundbreaking gay series that changed British TV for good.”

By Jack King, 17 April 2024.

New article from the British GQ, celebrating the 25th anniversary of Queer as Folk. Aidan and the rest of the cast, as well as creator Russell T Davies, discuss making the show, and its legacy.

••••••

Some highlights from Aidan:

On being cast as Stuart: “I’d been working as an actor probably for about twelve years... I started trying to do it for a living straight out of school.

I did the play Mojo at the Royal Court… [later] I did the film of Mojo, and I played a different role in the film than in the play. I think Charles McDougall, who directed Queer as Folk, and Nicola Shindler had gone to a screening of Mojo. There’s a scene where I was walking down the street with a shirt open, in Soho in 1958, which sold them the idea… I [also] think Christopher Eccleston put me in the director’s mind for Queer as Folk.”

••••••

On playing a gay character as a straight man: “There’s a lot of assumption that someone is heterosexual, or that they’re not, you know what I mean. But it certainly wasn’t an issue for me. I don’t think sexual preference defines a person to me. I’m not afraid of it, or people, or what they’re into; I’m not afraid of anything, really. I grew up in the theatre. I was going to youth theatre when I was 13. I knew many gay men and women. This was part of my everyday working life.”

••••••

On working with Charlie Hunnam, who played Nathan: “I thought it was incredibly brave to take that on. I wasn’t really sure what his background was, or what kind of family he came from, or what kind of flack he might get. But to do what he did… Well, I don’t know, is there any difference from doing it when you’re 28? I suppose [there] is, in that you have a little bit more experience, and you know who you are.”

“[Charlie] was learning on the job. But I’d never be going out of my way to try and mentor somebody, you know, or tell them how to do things, or not.”

••••••

On the rimming scene in the first episode: “I mean, it was just a scene, you know. [Laughs.] We were careful about it. Nowadays they’d have intimacy coordinators, and all this kind of stuff… The important thing is to make a plan, to talk it through with everyone, to make sure what everyone’s comfortable with.”

••••••

On controversially depicting a relationship between a 15-year-old boy and a 29-year-old man: “I don’t remember much about the [reaction to it] at all. It wasn’t even something that I thought about too much. If it was now, they would have a fucking conniption — it wouldn’t even get made. I remember some people going on about it, but not too much. It was more just general outrage.”

••••••

On how Queer as Folk helped his career: “I've had a good, fulfilling, artistically satisfying career, and all the rest of it. But it's built on [Queer as Folk], I think.”

#aidan gillen #stuart alan jones #craig kelly #vince tyler #charlie hunnam #nathan maloney #queer as folk #queer as folk uk #QAF #QAF UK #russell t davies #gay #LGBT #GQ magazine #interview

[davidtennantontwitter]

#DavidTennant Daily Photo!

A photo of David (as well as Christopher Eccleston, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi) on the cover of #DoctorWho Magazine issue 524 which was published on Thursday 5th April 2018

#David Tennant #david tennant daily photo

[angelic37]

Christopher Eccleston spam → part 17/∞

Hillsborough. 1996

Remember the victims and the long-lasting consequences of the Hillsborough disaster that happened on 15 April 1989.

#christopher eccleston #cecclestonedit #hillsborough #trevor hicks #christopher eccleston spam #by angelic37

[mossflower]

I posted 10,330 times in 2022

That's 5,563 more posts than 2021!

422 posts created (4%)

9,908 posts reblogged (96%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@lilydvoratrelundar

@seveneyesoup

@atomicduckies

@thirteenmyspacegirl

@theydoctor

I tagged 2,120 of my posts in 2022

#toh spoilers - 312 posts

#dw spoilers - 209 posts

#toh - 152 posts

#the owl house - 113 posts

#doctor who - 84 posts

#dw - 62 posts

#uk politics - 36 posts

#13s era - 35 posts

#morganposting - 34 posts

#tlt - 31 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#i don’t think i’ve quite emphasised enough that i’m literally obsessed with halley. she’s literally my wife i love her more than anything

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

i can’t put it into words but. you kill your brother and then you spend the rest of your life trying to resurrect him. but you fail, and all you really end up doing is killing him over and over again.

5,757 notes - Posted September 4, 2022

#4

hollow mind literally went “belos murdered his brother and created a clone, only to kill the clone and create another when they inevitably rebelled against him, and he’s been doing this for centuries. he’s been consuming palisman (which have souls btw) to keep his curse manageable and the voices of these palismen haunt his inner self. also he’s destroyed entire cities, experimented on people leaving them braindead, and he’s planning on committing genocide in a few weeks” and we’re expected to believe that this is a show for kids

6,754 notes - Posted April 23, 2022

#3

7,502 notes - Posted October 23, 2022

#2

someone is fighting tooth and nail to keep christopher eccleston away from social media rn

24,260 notes - Posted September 8, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

how am i supposed to use any other social media site. which other site has a userbase so commited to the bit that a nonexistent movie can trend at no1

75,662 notes - Posted November 20, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#year in review #false #well.

[amphibious-thing]

Margaret Clap, known as Mother Clap, ran one of the most popular molly houses in London during the 1720′s. Her molly house was located on Field-Lane in Holbourn “next to the Bunch of Grapes”.

For the "Conveniency of her Customers,” recalls Thomas Newton “she had provided Beds in every Room in her House. She usually had 30 or 40 of such Persons there every Night, but more especially on a Sunday.”

Samuel Stevens deposed:

Mrs. Clap's House was notorious for being a Molly-House. - In order to detect some that frequented it, I have been there several Times, and seen 20 or 30 of 'em together, making Love, as they call'd it, in a very indecent Manner. Then they used to go out by Pairs, into another Room, and at their return, they would tell what they had been doing together, which they call'd marrying.

(Trial of Gabriel Lawrence, 20 April, 1726)

Stevens recalls that one Sunday night:

I found near Men Fifty there, making Love to one another as they call'd it. Sometimes they'd sit in one anothers Laps, use their Hands indecently Dance and make Curtsies and mimick the Language of Women - O Sir! - Pray Sir! - Dear Sir! Lord how can ye serve me so! - Ah ye little dear Toad! Then they'd go by Couples, into a Room on the same Floor to be marry'd as they call'd it. The Door at that Room was kept by - Ecclestone to prevent any body from balking their Diversions.

Stevens recalls that men would “brag in plain Terms” and “talk'd all manner of the and most vile Obscenity” in Margaret Clap’s presence “and she appear'd wonderfully pleas'd with it.” (Trial of Margaret Clap, 11 July, 1726)

Margaret Clap would take in mollies as lodgers. Newton testified that William Griffin (who was convicted of sodomy) and Thomas Phillips (who absconded) “were Lodgers for near 2 Years at Clap's House.” (Trial of William Griffin, 20 April, 1726)

Margaret Clap’s molly house was raided by police on a Sunday night in February 1726 (New Style). Police took Clap along with her patrons and staff to Newgate prison to await trial. However most of the patrons were eventually set free due to lack of evidence, as it was not illegal to simply be in a molly house. (Mother Clap's Molly House by Rictor Norton, p54)

Thomas Newton went to post bail for Clap, but was approached by police offerers Williams and Willis who told him that they believed he could give them information “which I promis'd to do, and I went next Day, and gave Information accordingly.” (Trial of Gabriel Lawrence, 20 April, 1726) It seems Newton was offered immunity if he gave information about other mollies. Newton not only testified against Gabriel Lawrence and William Griffin who he had sex with at Clap’s house, but also Thomas Wright who owned his own molly house. Newton also collaborated with police to entrap William Brown on Sodomites Walk.

Gabriel Lawrence was found guilty of “committing with Thomas Newton, aged 30 Years, the heinous and detestable Sin of Sodomy” and sentenced to death.  (Trial of Gabriel Lawrence, 20 April, 1726)

William Griffin was found guilty of “Committing Sodomy with Thomas Newton, May 10” and sentenced to death. (Trial of William Griffin, 20 April, 1726)

Thomas Wright was found guilty of “committing Buggery with Thomas Newton. Jan 10 1724-5” and sentenced to death. (Trial of Thomas Wright, 20 April, 1726)

William Brown was found guilty of “a Misdemeanour, in assaulting Thomas Newton, with an Intent to commit Sodomy with him” and sentenced “to stand in the Pillory in Moorfields, pay 10 Marks, and suffer a Year's Imprisonment.” (Trial of William Brown, 11 July, 1726)

Ecclestone, who manned the door of the marrying room, died in Newgate awaiting trial. (Trial of Gabriel Lawrence, 20 April, 1726)

Margaret Clap was found guilty of “keeping a House in which she procur'd and encourag'd Persons to commit Sodomy” and sentenced “to stand in the Pillory in Smith field, pay a Fine of 20 Marks, and suffer two Years Imprisonment.” (Trial of Margaret Clap, 11 July, 1726) 

#queer history #mollies #molly house #margaret clap #thomas newton #ecclestone #william griffin #thomas phillips #gabriel lawrence #thomas wright #william brown

[yeonchi]

Doctor Who 10 for 10 Part 2/10: Series 2

The 2005 revival of Doctor Who was a hit around the world, countering past criticisms and mockery of the series in the past that seemingly impeded the prospect of its return. However, with the departure of Christopher Eccleston announced just under two weeks into the premiere of the series, the production crew had to cast a new actor for the Doctor that would hopefully live up to the standard that Eccleston had achieved. Fortunately, though, they did manage to find one in David Tennant, a life-long fan of the series who had played characters in Big Finish audios and had a cameo role in the 40th Anniversary webcast Scream of the Shalka, which was originally intended to be the official continuation of the series until the RTD revival was announced.

The news of Tennant’s casting was announced on 15 April 2005, following the announcement of Eccleston’s departure two weeks before. This made a significant impact on production as RTD wanted to keep the regeneration secret until transmission and it also affected negotiations with Tennant and his agent. Luckily, negotiations went through smoothly and Tennant’s half of the regeneration scene in the finale was filmed soon after.

The rest is history. Let’s begin the retrospective for Series 2.

1. A new Christmas tradition

Even before Series 1 premiered in March 2005, the BBC had so much confidence in the success of Doctor Who that Jane Tranter, the drama controller at the BBC, commissioned not only a new series for 2006, but an hour-long Christmas Special for December 2005. The yearly Christmas Special (New Year’s/Festive Special during the Chibnall era) would go on to become a tradition for Doctor Who, just as Christmas specials in general became traditions in UK television.

With David Tennant debuting as the Tenth Doctor at the end of The Parting of the Ways, the then-upcoming Christmas Special, titled The Christmas Invasion, would provide an ample opportunity to introduce the new Doctor before he and Rose continued their adventures from the first episode of Series 2 nearly four months later.

For most of the episode, the Doctor is out of action while recovering from his regeneration, which allows an opportunity to explore post-regeneration domestics with Rose, Mickey and Jackie. In the end, the Doctor comes in to save the day (as always) and the ensuing scenes establish his character as someone who will let an enemy go after they cross him, but then give no second chances if they attack him after that. Arguably, this trait is something that would be common to all Doctors, even the Thirteenth Doctor, though if you compare the end of this Christmas Special and some episodes of the Jodie Whittaker era (particularly Arachnids in the UK and War of the Sontarans), you can see how Chris Chibnall completely missed the point of the character trait he clearly ripped off from the Tenth Doctor.

The special also featured an original song, Song for Ten, performed by Tim Phillips. Although an extended version was released, it was rearranged and rerecorded by Neil Hannon, however Tim Phillips did perform it for the Doctor Who Proms concert in 2008, even if it sounded like he was drunk while doing so.

In addition to the Christmas Special, Doctor Who decided to contribute something to the BBC’s Children In Need telethon every year starting from 2005. The contribution mostly included a preview of that year’s Christmas Special or an original short bridging the events between it and the last episode. From 2019-2021, there was no original contribution from Doctor Who for Children in Need (although their segments were featured), but in 2022, the contribution was the reveal of Series 14 companion Ruby Sunday, played by Millie Gibson.

Because The Christmas Invasion was filmed alongside Series 2, subsequent Christmas Specials would be counted among the next series’ episodes in home media releases, barring the specials that featured the regeneration of the Doctor. While I was okay with this episode arrangement during the RTD era, in the Moffat era I thought that the specials should be counted amongst those for the previous series. This would become the case for the New Year’s Specials in the Chibnall era.

Also, fun fact - Christopher Eccleston was credited as “Doctor Who” during Series 1, but David Tennant requested that he be credited as “the Doctor”, and thus all future Doctors from then on were credited as such, just as Peter Davison was back in the classic series.

2. Return of an old companion

Sarah Jane Smith, played by Elisabeth Sladen, was a companion of the Third and Fourth Doctors from 1973 to 1976, later reprising her role in 1981 for the K9 and Company pilot, A Girl’s Best Friend, 1983 for the 20th Anniversary Special, The Five Doctors, and 1993 for the 30th anniversary Children in Need special, Dimensions in Time.

Sarah Jane was such an iconic companion that RTD wanted to spotlight her in the hope of shedding a light on what happens (and what happened) to those who travel with the Doctor. The production approached Sladen in early 2005 and she accepted the offer to return after fears that she was only being invited back for a throwaway cameo. Sarah Jane made her return in Series 2’s third episode, School Reunion. Although initially not planned on returning, K9 was added to the story (along with Mickey Smith) on the request of the production team; K9 was destroyed at the end of the episode, but the Doctor rebuilt him and left him with Sarah Jane.

During the episode, we got to see the dynamic between Rose and Sarah Jane as there is a scene where they discuss their time as companions of the Doctor. The effects of the Doctor leaving Sarah Jane are also explored, providing some foreshadowing for Rose’s situation in the series finale. Of course, this wouldn’t be Sarah Jane’s only involvement in the Doctor Who revival.

3. Genesis of the spinoffs

Doctor Who was starting to peak in popularity at the start of Series 2 thanks to what had come before. In 2005 and 2006, the BBC asked RTD to develop two spin-offs of Doctor Who; a mature series directed to an adult audience, which would be known as Torchwood; and a children’s drama, which would be known as The Sarah Jane Adventures.

The title Torchwood, an anagram of “Doctor Who”, was used as a codename during production of Series 1 to disguise footage from the series prior to broadcast. RTD even sprinkled mentions of it in Series 1 and 2 in the hopes that he could use it should a spinoff be commissioned. Luckily, it was and the finale of Series 2 would feature the Torchwood Institute in earnest in preparation for the spinoff.

The main character of Torchwood was Captain Jack Harkness, who had been left behind on Satellite Five following his death and resurrection in The Parting of the Ways. He would attempt to make his way from 200,100 to the 21st century using his vortex manipulator, but he missed and ended up in 1869 where his vortex manipulator burned out. Eventually in 1899, he would be found by Torchwood agents and brought to their branch in Cardiff, where he began working for them until he could find the Doctor again. Following the events of the Series 2 finale, the Cardiff branch, also known as Torchwood Three became the only surviving branch of the Torchwood Institute.

The first series of Torchwood premiered on 22 October 2006, with a second series following a year after the finale on 16 April 2008. A third series, featuring a single five-part story, was broadcast from 6 to 10 July 2009. The fourth series, Miracle Day, premiered in July 2011. In 2015, Big Finish would begin featuring Torchwood in a new monthly series of audio dramas while also releasing new audio dramas continuing the story after Miracle Day.

The Sarah Jane Adventures featured, obviously, Sarah Jane Smith, continuing her story following her appearance in School Reunion. It took place concurrently with the main Doctor Who series, which allowed for Sarah Jane, her son Luke Smith, and K9 to appear in the Series 4 finale of Doctor Who, which took place between the first and second series of SJA. The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors also appeared in two stories while the Brigadier and Jo Grant (now Jo Jones) made guest appearances as well.

The pilot episode of SJA, Invasion of the Bane, was broadcast on 1 January 2007 (alongside the finale of Torchwood Series 1). The series began in earnest later that year on 24 September and new series would be produced every year until Elisabeth Sladen’s death on 19 April 2011, forcing production on the fifth series to be abandoned as the series itself was cancelled.

Before SJA though, there was also Totally Doctor Who, a magazine-style show similar to Blue Peter that was more like a junior version of Doctor Who Confidential. Episodes premiered on the Thursday or Friday prior to a new episode, reviewing the previous episode while previewing the upcoming episode as well. The second series also debuted an animated serial, The Infinite Quest. As a result, there was no episode covering the final episode of each series. Only two series of Totally Doctor Who were produced as CBBC wanted to focus their funding on The Sarah Jane Adventures from 2008 onwards.

The BBC also took advantage of interactive and online mediums to release content. Relevant to Series 2, short minute-long preludes known as Tardisodes were released for phones through the internet, meaning that they could also be watched on computers. The Tardisodes were never released on home media so there are no standard-quality versions of them anywhere and future prequel shorts would be released online while also being made available on home media.

Attack of the Graske, an interactive movie game, premiered on BBC Red Button and was also made available on the Series 2 DVD and online as a Flash game.

Unfortunately, spinoffs, prequels and behind-the-scenes content began waning during the Moffat era. Aside from the ending of Torchwood and SJA, Doctor Who Confidential was cancelled at the end of Series 6 and behind-the-scenes content became shorter and scarcer even with series like Doctor Who Extra, Inside Look, Closer Look, The Fan Show and Access All Areas. A spinoff Class premiered in 2016, but it never got past one series. Luckily, with the RTD2 era and the worldwide move to Disney+, Doctor Who Confidential is rumoured to return as Doctor Who Unleashed and spinoff series involving Cybermen, Daleks, Sontarans, Weeping Angels and Sea Devils are reportedly in the works, but time will only tell.

4. Double-banking

Over the years, it has become clear that filming 13 episodes and a Christmas Special over nine months would be a daunting task, hence why episode numbers were gradually cut over the years during the Moffat and Chibnall eras. As stated in the previous instalment, Series 1’s filming, especially the first block, was a nightmare because the crew were inexperienced and as such, production went over schedule.

Although there was no double-banking planned, The Long Game was forced to enter production during the filming of The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances (or maybe it was the other way around considering the order of the blocks). Filming for The Long Game was entirely done in studio and “third leads” in the form of Adam Mitchell and Jack Harkness were introduced, which narrowly allowed all three episodes to be completed in time.

During Series 2, RTD devised the concept of a Doctor-lite episode, that is an episode without the Doctor or his companion, at least for most of the episode (Father’s Day in Series 1 could be considered one as well). This was a necessity when the Christmas Specials were commissioned, meaning that double-banking was the only practical way to film 14 episodes in 9 months considering what it takes to film an episode of Doctor Who.

Love & Monsters is the episode that resulted from this concept in Series 2. It was originally planned to be filmed alongside Fear Her, but delays in The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit meant that it would be filmed alongside those episodes instead. This episode is apparently notorious among fans for being bad, at least towards the end.

The monster in this episode, the Abzorbaloff (played by Peter Kay), was created by then-nine-year-old William Grantham as part of a Blue Peter “design-a-monster competition”. Grantham would go on to start the Channel Pup YouTube channel and also aside from insulting Bowlestrek and NoelZone (at one point), would go on to talk about this experience and judge another design competition for a monster to be featured in a Doctor Who: Lockdown! minisode released in 2021 to tie in with the tweetalong for Love & Monsters.

5. The New Earth saga

I didn’t talk about Cassandra and the Face of Boe aside from an honourable mention in the last instalment, so I’ll talk about them here now.

The first three series had an episode near the start that covered the New Earth saga; Series 1 had The End of the World, Series 2 had the aptly named New Earth and Series 3 had Gridlock.

In the year 5,000,000,000, Cassandra sabotaged Platform One so that it would be destroyed along with the Earth when the sun expanded, but the Ninth Doctor thwarted her plans and when Cassandra tried to escape, he teleported her back to Platform One and let her skin dry out without her surgeons to moisturise her.

Her brain survived, however, and 23 years later, she was hiding in the basement of a hospital on New Earth with her force-cloned assistant, Chip. She used a psychograft to transfer her consciousness into Rose’s body in an attempt to discover the secret of the Sisters of Plenitude and blackmail them. When that failed, she released all the patients the Sisters were experimenting on and attempted to cause a pandemic, however through Cassandra switching bodies multiple times and showing remorse for the patients’ suffering, the Doctor managed to cure the patients, helping create a new subspecies of humans to populate New Earth. Following this, Cassandra possessed Chip to return Rose to the Doctor and decided that it was time to let herself die with Chip, but not before the Doctor took Cassandra to her past and allowed her to tell her past self that she was beautiful.

Although they merely passed each other on Platform One, the Doctor met the Face of Boe again in the hospital, where he was dying of old age. When the crisis in the hospital was over, the Doctor saw the Face of Boe, who told him that they would meet again and that he would tell him his last words then before teleporting away. I’ll leave the rest for the Series 3 retrospective in the next instalment.

A factoid regarding Cassandra - RTD told Doctor Who Magazine that if her actor, Zoë Wanamaker, had not been available for New Earth, then the villain would have been Cassandra’s sister, Roseanne.

6. Mickey, the tin dog

Series 2 saw some more character development for Mickey, particularly in regards to his relationship with Rose. In Series 1, Mickey was a bit of a coward and the Doctor didn’t respect him, even going so far as to call him “Ricky”. However, during the encounter with the Slitheen, Mickey showed the Doctor that he wasn’t entirely the coward he thought he was and they began to have a mutual respect for each other.

Following his regeneration, the Doctor was on more friendlier terms with Mickey. After meeting Sarah Jane and K9, Mickey realised that being the “technical support” for the Doctor and Rose, he was essentially the K9 of their relationship - the “tin dog”. This would lead him to join the Doctor and Rose, deciding that he didn’t want to be the “tin dog” anymore.

After falling into a parallel universe (that would later be known as Pete’s World), Mickey met his parallel counterpart, Ricky, who was braver than he was when he first met the Doctor. He also met his blind grandmother, Rita-Anne, who died in his home universe when she tripped over a tear in her stair carpet that Mickey had been meaning to get fixed. During an encounter with the Cybus Cybermen in which Ricky was killed, he gained the courage to stand up and defeat the Cybermen in his place. These factors were what led Ricky to remain in the parallel universe, along with him realising that Rose preferred being with the Doctor more than him.

Continuing into future series territory, Mickey came back to the Doctor’s universe twice, once while following the Cybermen and once during the War in the Medusa Cascade. Following the latter, Mickey took the opportunity to move back to his home universe, seeing as Rita-Anne passed away after spending her last years living in a mansion, presumably Pete and Jackie Tyler’s mansion, and Rose had another version of the Doctor, meaning that there wasn’t anything left for him on that world. From this we can see how Mickey has grown through hardship to become who he was in the end.

Noel Clarke has acknowledged that he made Mickey slapstick because he assumed that Doctor Who had a younger audience. This was apparently criticised by fans and Clarke decided to tone the comedic elements down for Series 2. In an interview with Tony Hadoke for his Big Finish podcast in 2014, Russell T Davies said that Clarke overthought this and that he was doing exactly what was written in the scripts.

7. A classic villain redesign

Speaking of Cybermen (from the previous topic), Series 2 saw the return of the iconic metal men in a new design that would be iconic to the revived series until Series 7 Part 2 in 2013. Although the head of a Cyberman was shown in Henry van Statten’s underground museum in Dalek, it wouldn’t be until Rise of the Cybermen and The Age of Steel that the Cybermen were fully reintroduced. Since the history of the Cybermen was complicated due to various origins and backstories (which would later be explained by parallel evolution in Series 10), RTD decided to use a parallel universe as their origin.

The Cybusmen, as they would come to be known, are bulkier and more monotone because they were made to be more robotic compared to the classic series. They also used technical terms and the catchphrase “Delete” which had not been used previously in the classic series.

Since the design of the Cybusmen was also used in Series 5 and 6, Neil Gaiman theorised that they “cross-pollinated” with the Mondasian/Telosian Cybermen, eventually resulting in the new unified design that made its debut in Nightmare in Silver.

8. The parallel universe factor

The aforementioned Cybermen two-parter wasn’t the first story to feature parallel universes as the Third Doctor serial Inferno did so back in 1970. The Tenth Doctor claimed that travelling between parallel universes was possible thanks to the Time Lords, I have to press X to doubt seeing as we had very few parallel universe stories in the past. The revived series is the first time where a parallel universe plays a big part in the ongoing series’ story arc.

In Pete’s World (where Rose’s father, Pete Tyler, hadn’t been killed when she was a baby), John Lumic had the Cybermen developed through Cybus Industries as a means of making humanity immortal while he was suffering from a terminal illness himself. The entire project contravened the Genevan Bio-Convention so the experiments had to be carried out in secret with people whose disappearances wouldn’t be noticed. That world was mostly controlled by Cybus Industries, with the company owning many other companies (including Pete Tyler’s health drink company, Vitex) and controlling the media.

The majority of people wore EarPods made by Cybus, allowing Lumic to control people and retrieve information from their brains while also allowing people to communicate and enjoy media, similar to what smartphones are used for nowadays (back in 2006, mobile phones, game consoles and music players were separate things). The EarPods also played a part in “the ultimate upgrade”, commanding people all over London to head to the Cyber-factory in Battersea for cyber-conversion. Yeah, I suppose that’s a way to prevent freedom protests, by directly controlling people’s minds.

Given the events of the last few years, I feel like Pete’s World satirically foreshadows the “New World Order” thing that some people have been talking about, only it’s not “you will own nothing and be happy”, it’s more “you will feel nothing and be identical”. On top of Cybus Industries and EarPods, there are also army blockades and nightly curfews for the lower-class, rich people using zeppelins in the 21st century, Great Britain is a “People’s Republic”, the countries of South America are combined into a state and there’s a “United States of Mexico”. How very World Economic Forum of you. Anyway, if you want to hear the opposite of this you’ll have to wait for the next instalment.

Anyway, a little factoid regarding Pete - apparently, Simon Pegg was cast to play him, but since he was unavailable when Father’s Day was going to be filmed, the role went to Shaun Dingwall. Pegg would go on to play the Editor in The Long Game.

9. The Cult of Skaro

Each series finale in the RTD era has featured a villain who escaped from the Time War. Series 1 had the Dalek Emperor and with Series 2 comes the Cult of Skaro.

The Cult of Skaro was an elite group of four Daleks who were above and beyond the Emperor himself and designed to think as the enemy thinks and imagine new ways of survival. They were even given names, which was unique for Daleks. The Cult of Skaro formed another mini-arc that would culminate in the Series 4 finale.

During the Time War, the Cult of Skaro escaped into the Void in a Void Ship with the Genesis Ark, which contained millions of Daleks captured by the Time Lords. The Void Ship caused cracks in the universe (opened even further by Torchwood’s meddling), which caused the TARDIS to end up in Pete’s World and later, allowed the Cybermen from that world to imprint themselves into the Doctor’s universe (as ghosts) before invading it in earnest. This would also allow people to jump between universes, but at the cost of ripping holes in the universe.

In Army of Ghosts and Doomsday, the Cult of Skaro revealed themselves and also discovered the existence of the Cybermen, which led to a war between them in an act of pest control. During the conflict, the Genesis Ark was opened and the millions of Daleks captured began swarming out, exterminating Cybermen, humans and the like. The Cult of Skaro managed to escape with an Emergency Temporal Shift when the Doctor sent the Cybermen and Daleks into the Void.

This story marked the first time the Daleks and Cybermen were shown together on-screen, in conflict no less. Although the Daleks and Cybermen would be shown together under lesser capacities in a few later episodes, the next episode where they would be seen together with roles of significance would be The Power of the Doctor. Apparently this idea was floated about in December 1967 when the BBC approached Terry Nation about it, but Nation vetoed the idea.

10. The Rose left on the beach

Too soon, I know. It’s never too soon when it comes to Doctor Who, apparently.

Although it was reported in March 2006 that David Tennant and Billie Piper had signed on for Series 3, it would later be reported that Piper would be leaving the series, at first midway through Series 2, then later at the end. This was a decision that Piper had made a year prior, but remained secret until it was reported. In 2021, Piper would later explain that the fame of playing Rose made her “really uncomfortable”, plus she wanted to do different things and didn’t like the responsibility of being a role model (which is more than can be said for some Kamen Rider actors).

In-series, the departure of Rose was because travelling through the Void caused her to be covered in background radiation, or “Void stuff”. The Doctor’s plan was to open the Void using Torchwood’s equipment and suck the “Void stuff” back in, the Cybermen and Daleks along with it. However, since anyone covered in the “Void stuff” would be sucked in as well, the only option was for Rose to go to Pete’s World with Jackie, Mickey and Pete while the Doctor used the magnaclamps to hold on.

Rose was sent to Pete’s World, but she immediately went back, not willing to leave the Doctor. She helped the Doctor execute his plan, but when they opened the Void, Rose couldn’t hold on (when the lever on her side was about to fail) and was about to be sucked in as well until Pete saved her, after initially refusing to do so out of concern that more damage would be done to his universe. For this scene, there was some debate over who would rescue Rose; RTD and Julie Gardner wanted Pete, while Noel Clarke and Phil Collinson wanted Mickey. Ultimately, the former was chosen to show that he had accepted Rose as a surrogate daughter.

Following these events, the Doctor managed to find a remnant breach and caused a supernova (according to his words) to contact Rose. Rose found the Doctor projecting himself at a place that translated to Bad Wolf Bay and they said goodbye, though the Doctor was never able to say his last words to her before the breach fully closed.

Rose was officially declared dead as a result of the conflict at Canary Wharf. Jack Harkness would learn of this and bring it up to the Doctor when they next met, only for the Doctor to correct him.

Although RTD told the press that Rose was gone for good, he apparently told Piper, “See you in two years.” Piper would later reprise her role in Series 4 before returning again in 2013 for The Day of the Doctor. A spinoff for Rose titled Rose Tyler: Earth Defence was commissioned by the BBC, but RTD cancelled it because he thought it would have lessened the impact of Doomsday. However, Piper would be featured in the Big Finish audio series The Dimension Cannon, which details Rose’s adventures in other universes before meeting the Doctor again in Series 4. Producer David Richardson told RTD that he wanted to bring the cancelled spinoff to life through audio, but during the development stage, RTD suggested the current idea instead and they went with that.

Series 2 saw Doctor Who being elevated to the level of an idol drama as audiences were treated to the developing relationship between the Doctor and Rose before circumstances tore them apart. Despite this, the series still maintained its science-fiction roots while calling back to the classic series and continuing to innovate itself for the modern era. With the previous series sticking to settings based on Earth or just near it, this series began exploring planets outside of Earth, showing just how the series had evolved since its revival.

At the same time, Series 2 also provided the starting foundation for the two spinoffs complementing Doctor Who and elevated David Tennant’s popularity to the point that he is basically the revived series equivalent of Tom Baker. After the difficulties that plagued Series 1, Series 2 showed that the series had found its footing and could continue evolving by leaps and bounds.

Stay tuned for Part 3 where I give my 10 takes on Series 3.

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