DOCTOR WHO: THE INTERSTELLAR SONG CONTEST (TV) (2025, UK, 47m, PG) ***
Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Adventure
dist. BBC One; pr co. Bad Wolf/BBC Wales; d. Ben A. Williams; w. Juno Dawson; exec pr. Russell T. Davies, Julie Gardner, Jane Tranter, Joel Collins, Phil Collinson; pr. Vicki Delow; ph. Dale Elena McCready (Colour | 2.00:1); m. Murray Gold; ed. Tim Hodges; ad. Hattie Gent.
cast: Ncuti Gatwa (The Doctor), Varada Sethu (Belinda Chandra), Julia Dray (Sabine), Rylan Clark (Himself), Imogen Kingsley-Smith (Runner), Kiruna Stamwell (Nina Maxwell), Iona Anderson (Wynn Aura-Kin), Anita Dobson (Mrs Flood), Charlie Condou (Gary Gabbastone), Kadiff Kirwan (Mike Gabbastone), Freddie Fox (Kid), Miriam-Teak Lee (Cora Saint Bavier), Akemnji Ndifornyen (Len Kazah), Christina Rotondo (Liz Lizardine), Graham Norton (Himself), Abdul Seesay (Jeddy Kine), Carole Ann Ford (Susan Foreman), Archie Panjabi (The Rani).
The Doctor’s quest to get Belinda back home to Earth leads to a space station hosting the famous song contest. But a harmless night of fun soon becomes a battle to survive. Tying in with the broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest, this episode could have gone down the overly camp route but ends up being an entertaining if tonally uneven and loosely written tale. Dawson attempts to tell a straightforward story of activists vs. the faceless corporation. Here Fox excels as the chief activist Kid bent on revenge for the plundering of his planet, playing the role perfectly straight. His interaction with Gatwa’s Doctor is spiky and driven by the Doctor’s rage at the seeming murder of 100,000 fans at the contest. However, there are frequent moments when lazy writing and plot contrivances deflate the tension. These include the Doctor’s increased reliance on his sonic screwdriver to resolve situations (something this era had refreshingly played down), some very loose playing with the laws of physics as the fans and the Doctor are sucked out into space, and the convenient skills of gay couple Condou and Kirwan that help resolve the story. Cameos by Rylan Clark and Graham Norton are fun and woven in well. There is also the appearance of the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan, played by original companion Carole Ann Ford, in a vision encouraging the Doctor to find her, and also to restrain his retaliatory instincts. What this cameo means for the season finale, we will no doubt discover very soon. Finally, the reveal of the real identity of Dobson’s Mrs. Flood in the closing credits as she bi-generates into Panjabi’s The Rani creates a satisfying but not surprising cliffhanger.
