This article contains spoilers for the bizarre twist ending to The Legend of Hell House (1973). If you have not yet seen the film and wish to remain unspoiled, please watch it before reading further. What is the first thing you think of when you hear the name Doctor Who? […]
Outside the Blue Box
Outside the Blue Box: Tip Toe (2026)
The following article contains spoilers for Tip Toe. You’re not wrong, I chose an interesting time to write an article about Russell T Davies. The man who, in 2005, brought Doctor Who back to life might have turned out to be, in 2025, the man who killed it off again. […]
Outside the Blue Box: Mark Sheppard in Supernatural (2009-17)
Don’t you just love it when we get a TV crossover? The Jetsons meet The Flintstones, The Simpsons meets Family Guy, Friends meets ER! As Whovians, it’s incredibly rare that we’re treated to such an event, given the Whoniverse is so gigantically huge already, looping in other TV shows feels […]
Outside the Blue Box: Truckload (2025)
Whenever I’ve done an article for Outside The Blue Box, it tends to be a project where its creator uses Doctor Who to raise their profile. Sallie Aprahamian directed some ambitious episodes of Doctor Who after cutting her teeth on Wolfblood, Jamie Childs cast his partner Jenna Coleman in his […]
Outside the Blue Box: Three Kinds of Heat (1987)
The first thing to note about Three Kinds of Heat, a fairly typical, bargain basement piece of 80s B movie filmmaking from the Cannon Group, is that it’s a film with three kinds of connections to Doctor Who. The first, least obvious connection, is the actor Trevor Martin, who was known for playing […]
Outside the Blue Box: Dream Demon (1988)
My original plans to cover Dream Demon (1988) for “Outside the Blue Box” were made in the hope that it would coincide nicely with The War Between the Land and the Sea, which – at the time – was the only piece of Whoniverse media with a confirmed release date […]
Outside the Blue Box: Doran’s Box (Play for Today, 1976)
When Channel 5 brought back the legendary anthology drama strand Play for Today in 2025, the anticipation was tempered by a fear that it couldn’t live up to the original run’s standards. “Standards”, though, meant different things for different people. Some were concerned a modern Play for Today couldn’t match […]
Outside the Blue Box: The Divine Comedy (1989- )
The process of producing a television show as complex as Doctor Who is no mean feat. Once the scripts are written, the locations scouted, the sets built and the tea bags purchased, the actors begin their job of bringing the stories to life. Another aspect of production, arguably one of […]
Outside the Blue Box: Antigone (National Theatre Live, 2012)
When asked about the possibility of a multi-Doctor story, Jodie Whittaker has always expressed a desire to see her Thirteenth Doctor team up with the Ninth, as played by Christopher Eccleston. For his part, Eccleston has said that “The father of us all is William Hartnell, but the greatest Doctor […]
Outside the Blue Box: Crooked House (2008)
Twenty years ago, viewers tuned in to watch the very first televised episode of Doctor Who penned by Mark Gatiss – a writer and actor who was, at the time (and to some, perhaps still), best known for his work on the macabre cult comedy series The League of Gentlemen. […]