The Writers' Room

Erik and Kyle return to their old pal Steven Moffat for a pair of stories smack in the middle of the muddy series 7B, "The Snowmen" the only mid-series Christmas special, and "The Bells of Saint John" which officially introduced Clara Oswald Prime. Do these stories work? Do we like them? Why is Clara the best and people need to accept it?

Every once in a while Erik and Kyle have to talk about exceedingly boring episodes of Doctor Who. That time is now as our heroes look at the two scripts credited solely to Stephen Thompson, aka the guy who wrote stuff for Steven Moffat when he was too busy. Those episodes are "The Curse of the Black Spot" and "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS," two episodes that legally exist.

Like it or not, it's impossible to talk about the Steven Moffat years without discussing the single most ubiquitous other writer of the era, Moffat's longtime collaborator and co-creator of Sherlock, Mark Gatiss. In the first of many episodes about Gatiss' Who output, Kyle and Erik discuss "Victory of the Daleks" and "Night Terrors," one of which might even be better than you think.

It's finally time to say goodbye to the Ponds...mostly. Despite a few straggler episodes we have yet to discuss, this month's podcast is all about the farewell story for Amy and Rory, "The Angels Take Manhattan." How does Steven Moffat bid his era's first companions adieu? Are we happy with it? Why are the Angels in it? Did River Song really write a whole book about herself? Weird.

This month, Kyle and Erik have good news and bad news. The bad news is we have to talk about "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" and "The Power of Three." The good news is we won't have to talk about a Chris Chibnall script for like five more years. Anyway, these two episodes certainly aren't the worst things ever, and in many ways they set the stage for what Chibnall would do during his time as showrunner, for good or ill. One thing we can say for these stories is that they're imperfect, to put it mildly.

Hi folks, just a quick update. Kyle who lives in LA has thankfully not had to evacuate due to the fires still raging and have ruined people's lives. But, because it was a fluid situation, it meant we weren't able to record when we had planned. So this month's episode will be a few days late. In the meantime, we're donating our entire Patreon for the month to the LA Food Bank and we encourage anyone who can to do the same. lafoodbank.org/fire

The year that was 2024 has wound down and instead of wallowing in misery, Kyle and Erik are talking about some Doctor Who Christmas episodes! Specifically the first two penned by showrunner Steven Moffat. Those are, of course, "A Christmas Carol" from 2010 and "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" from 2011. It's very much a story of greatness and lameness in equal measure. One is one of Moffat's best ever scripts, and one...isn't. Also! We're launching a Discord in 2025! Listen to the episode to find out how you can join the community.

This month, Kyle and Erik get into the beginning of the end of the Amy and Rory years and the end of the beginning (kind of) of the _____ Oswald years. That's right, it's the scary, surprising, and super good "Asylum of the Daleks," possibly the best Moffat episode we've talked about in months.

What a weird pair of episodes to talk about together, eh? To wrap up (most of) our discussion of series 6, we're delving into "The Girl Who Waited" by Tom McRae and "The Wedding of River Song" by none other than Steven Q. Moffat. On to series 7, eh?!

Comedy is a subjective thing. Some things you once found funny might not hold up a decade later, especially if the person who wrote them turned out to be a bigot and the primary guest star proving himself to be a twat. Anyway, unrelated, this month we're talking about The Lodger and Closing Time, both written by Gareth Roberts with special guest star James Corden.

We reach the midpoint of Series 6, with the very weird pair of highly plot-relevant episodes, "A Good Man Goes to War" and "Let's Kill Hitler," both by Steven Moffat. What works, what doesn't, what is pure mess and what is great characterization? River Song, Melody Pond, Mels, and Lorna Bucket...what names! Don't Colonel Runaway too soon.

This month, Kyle and Erik get contentious surrounding the Matthew Graham two-parter "The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People," which introduced the concept of Gangers into the series six silliness. One of your intrepid hosts thinks it's a very bad story and the other thinks it's pretty okay. Arguments aplenty!

This month, Kyle and Erik discuss the two episodes written by acclaimed novelist/author/showrunner Neil Gaiman. Arguably the biggest guest writer ever to write for the series, Gaiman's stories---"The Doctor's Wife" from series 6 and "Nightmare in Silver" from series 7---have an interesting history, and a diametrically opposed fan reaction at the time. But are either warranted? Have they aged like wine or milk?

Can Steven Moffat follow up a tremendous two-part finale, and a brilliant Christmas special, with a satisfying premiere? If you ask Kyle and Erik...sort of? It's time for Series 6, and that's a whole thing.

Truly the culmination of the most ambitious series of Doctor Who yet, Kyle and Erik look at Steven Moffat's tremendous two-part finale, "The Pandorica Opens" and "The Big Bang." Might it be his crowing achievement, even with so many other episodes to love?

This here is the good stuff! This month Kyle and Erik discuss two series five episodes written by guest writers. "Amy's Choice" by Simon Nye and "Vincent and the Doctor" by Richard Curtis. An actual Oscar nominee writing for Doctor Who! Can you even believe it?!

This month, Erik and Kyle go deep underground, some might even call it Hades itself, to discuss "The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood," the two-part series five story from future showrunner Chris Chibnall. It brings back the Silurians and gives us a remix of Third Doctor story elements before falling on its face trying to do something interesting but failing miserably.

Happy New Year! This month, Erik and Kyle embark on the first of what they're calling "Getting Whithoused," which is looking at the stories written by Toby Whithouse in the Steven Moffat era. Up first, "The Vampires of Venice" from series 5 and "The God Complex" from series 6.

Hello and happy December, friends. This month, Erik and Kyle are taking a trip to the crash of the Byzantium to discuss what is certainly in the running for best Smith-era Steven Moffat script, "The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone." The Weeping Angels, River Song, the Crack, it's all here! And no beating around the bush, we pretty much love it.

This month, Erik and Kyle continue the Moffat Years train with his second episode, and indeed the second Eleventh Doctor and Amy episode, "The Beast Below," an episode---to quote Kyle---with a better story than plot.

After a few months of falderal and fiddle-dee-dee, it is finally time for Erik and Kyle to begin the proper journey into the Steven Moffat showrunner era. And boy howdy what a big one to start with. "The Eleveth Hour" may be Moffat's masterpiece, and a taste of things to come. We are EXCITED.

Let's try this again! This month, Kyle and Erik say farewell (for now) to showrunner Russell T Davies. What did he bring to Doctor Who, what is his legacy? It's a lot, that's the short answer. 

This month we begin a new season! The Moffat Years! As a prelude, we discuss Steven Moffat's scripts during the Russell T Davies years, specifically this time "The Girl in the Fireplace" and "Blink." Nothing too major here or anything. Timey Wimey begins here!

Well, friends, sometimes you lose episodes to tech crashes. It finally happened to us. So, you aren't getting a final discussion about the Russell T Davies (1) era of Doctor Who, you instead get us doing our top 11 RTD scripts. So, a draft rather than a discush. It happens. Enjoy!

It's here. It's finally here. Kyle and Erik's discussion of the RTD tenure (first one) comes to an end with sigh "The End of Time." Both parts. They're doing it. Here we go.

And so begins the gap year specials in earnest. Kyle and Erik are very nearly at the end of the Tennant and RTD (1) years. This month, it's "Planet of the Dead" and "The Waters of Mars." One of these won a Hugo for being one of the best pieces of sci-fi of the modern age. The other, did not. Care to guess which one's which?

We are indeed approaching the end of some journey! Kyle and Erik take a look at the Series 4 finale two-parter "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End," in which Russell T Davies tried to bring back nearly everyone from his entire era, plus Davros. Lot going on, shame about the bad stuff.

This month is a big one, folks! We're in the home stretch of the RTD1 era, talking about two of the writers' best episodes. "Midnight," series 4's companion-lite episode, and "Turn Left," the Doctor-lite episode that aired the following week. Both showcase Davies' trademark cynicism and have their own kinds of terrors. Neither are feel-good, but we sure like 'em!

Folks! It's a b-b-b-b-b-b-BONUS-s-s-s-s-s-s episode! To celebrate 10 years, Erik and Kyle are giving you, the free listener, access to our Patreon bonus mailbag episode. Listeners wrote in questions about our opinions, hopes, hypothetical ideas, and more all pertaining to our favorite show, Doctor Who. Please enjoy! If you'd like to join our Patreon and get more episodes like this, head to patreon.com/thewritersroom and pledge $1 or $3 to get all the goodies.

Can you believe it, folks? This episode marks the 10th anniversary of Doctor Who: The Writers Room. What a long strange trip as has been for Kyle and Erik. So many episodes, so many laughs, so many writers covered. And to commemorate 10 years, the fellas are...talking about bad Doctor Who. That's right, the two episodes written by accomplished playwright Stephen Greenhorn, "The Lazarus Experiment" and "The Doctor's Daughter." They really ought to have planned this better. Oh well.

Hello and happy holidays, friends! As Erik and Kyle wrap up their TENTH YEAR of podcasting, they look at David Tennant's last two proper Christmas specials. It's "Voyage of the Damned" from 2007 and "The Next Doctor" from 2008. Both of them written by Russell T Davies, our old pal. Enjoy, be safe, and help us celebrate our 10th anniversary by sending questions for a Q&A episode to erikandkyle@gmail.com.

Who had Kyle and Erik liking the season four Sontaran two-parter in their betting pool? Well surprises are part of life for Doctor Who fans. Yes, friends, our heroes beam about "The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky," so strap in. Oh, but Americans don't say "clever," so there's that.

Our journey into the Donna Noble era of Doctor Who gets cooking with her first two proper trips in the TARDIS. First we have a favorite, "The Fires of Pompeii," written by James Moran, and then we have "Planet of the Ood" written by Keith Temple. Moral decisions and fixed points in time! Fun, fun, fun.

Hello, Donna! Yes, this month we're discussing the first two episodes featuring Donna Noble, "The Runaway Bride" and "Partners in Crime." How does Russell T Davies turn a one-off comedy guest star into the most beloved companion in the entire modern series? It's quite the feat!

Faith and begorah! We're back with a new episode. Thank you all for your patience. Finally, we can discuss the two episodes that finish off Doctor Who series 3, "The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords," which weeeeeeee have thoughts about, let's say that. Next up: Donna!

Hello everyone. So sorry for the extreme delay in release. We've had what can only be described as a truly hellish month of July. Erik has all the details for you in this episode, which, until we are actually able to record our proper Series 3 finale discussion, will be a previous Patreon exclusive episode where your two intrepid hosts debate the most important writers in classic Doctor Who. More to come soon, and thanks for your patience.

This month, in order to delay having to talk about a very bad two-parter, Kyle and Erik talk about "Utopia," an episode hailed by many as a modern masterpiece. But, 15 years later, does it still have that kind of impact? YANA! CHANTHO! JACK! MAAAAATHAAAAAAA!

This month, we continue our series 3 talk by looking at Helen Raynor's oft-derided two-parter, "Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks," which has some interesting elements. But enough? We'll see.

And here we are at Series 3 already! The "Oh hey, the Tenth Doctor isn't very nice" train continues with two early stories with new companion Martha Jones. We have "Smith and Jones" and "Gridlock," both from showrunner Russell T Davies.

Happy New Year, dear listener! As Kyle and Erik begin their 10th year of podcasting together, they finish (pretty much) Series 2 of updated Doctor Who. It's the almost universally beloved "Army of Ghosts/Doomsday," which has a lot more to it than meets the eye. Ghosts, for one thing. Join our Patreon for bonus episodes, including our breakdown of Flux! Go to patreon.com/thewritersroom today.

Erik and Kyle round out their first calendar year covering the Russell T Davies era by talking about Series 2's big classic villain return: "Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel." This story had a lot of heavy lifting to do, but does it succeed? Let's find out!

Erik and Kyle descend down into the cosmically and existentially horrific masterpiece that is "The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit," as written by Matt Jones. Is this the best story we've looked at yet? Is it the scariest? Find out! Join our Patreon for bonus episodes every month. http://patreon.com/thewritersroom. 

This month, with some actual news about Russell T Davies, Erik and Kyle discuss two of his scripts from series 2. First up is Tooth and Claw, the one with Queen Victoria and the werewolves. Second is Love & Monsters, the one nobody likes but that is actually pretty good.

This month, Kyle and Erik dive headlong into Doctor Who series two with a look at two episodes written by showrunners of other shows. "School Reunion" written by Toby Whithouse (Being Human) is a fan-favorite, giving the new series its first real taste of the classic with the return of Sarah Jane Smith. "Fear Her" written by Matthew Graham (Life on Mars) is the oft-derided also-ran of series two, which might well be better than its reputation.

And so it begins! Erik and Kyle have wrapped up Series 1 of updated Doctor Who, and now they commence the saga of the Tenth Doctor. Where to start? Why with "The Christmas Invasion" and "New Earth," of course! But it's not all just fun and games. Already they can sense the darkness inherent to Doctor number 10...and Kyle's kind of not into it.

Way too fast. We're already bidding a very fond farewell to the Christopher Eccleston year of Doctor Who by discussing his swansong, "Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways." It may be his last onscreen hurrah but it was only RTD's opening salvo. How'd he do for his first season as showrunner?

It's the penultimate month in our look at Series 1 of rebooted Doctor Who, and we have two stories showrunner Russell T Davies wrote to fill time, but, one of them at least, has transcending its limitations to become something of a classic. And the other one is "The Long Game."