DOCTOR WHO, 15.6 – ‘The Interstellar Song Contest’

It’s surprising this episode wasn’t written by Russell T. Davies himself, as it’s exactly the sort of silliness one expected of his first year running the show. I’m not a fan of Doctor Who episodes that take modern British pop culture and extrapolate a version of that for the distant future, mostly because it’s often played for cheap laughs, feels too parochial for the references to work internationally, and the parody dates badly. Remember the Anne Robinson robot from The Weakest Link scene, or the Big Brother Diary Room chair moment with Christopher Eccleston? Yeesh.

Therefore, the idea of a whole episode built around a futuristic space version of The Eurovision Song Contest filled me with dread. But, surprisingly, “The Interstellar Song Contest” overcame many of the major pitfalls. Maybe it’s because that particular corner of pop culture isn’t as “local” to the UK and Ireland (although it did feature real-life presenter Rylan Clark and Graham Norton), or that the general idea of a galactic talent show is broad enough to work besides itself. Or maybe it’s because RTD didn’t actually write this one, it was the work of transgender Young Adult author Juno Dawson, who tempered the silliness when necessary and created plausible technobabble to get the story out of its tight corners.

The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Belinda (Varada Sethu) are still flying around Time and Space with their gizmo, in an effort to get Bel home, which is a pursuit I wish we had more clarity about. What’s The Doctor trying to do exactly? Why isn’t Bel more upset by the situation? I was surprised to realise they didn’t even know the Earth’s been destroyed until this episode, as what else did they think was going on? Have we been ahead of them the whole time?

This was also the first episode where it occurred to me that exchanging Ruby Sunday for Belinda Chandra hasn’t been worth it, so far, as Bel’s been given little to no personal backstory. And beyond her introduction as a no-nonsense nurse (skills that aren’t used much), considering we’re nearly at the finale we barely know her compared to how Ruby felt by episode six.

Anyway, they arrive during the 803rd Interstellar Song Contest, being held on an enormous space station called the Harmony Arena. Popular TV host Rylan has been cryogenically unfrozen after 900 years for the auspicious occasion, and the early signs are worrying that this episode’s going to be camp nonsense —which I know many will enjoy, but isn’t often to my taste. Luckily, Rylan proves himself a decent enough actor and elicits a few chuckles throughout the hour, and the budget is now sufficient to do justice to the sense of scale and wonder this event needs. It would have looked terrible 10–15 years ago, but in 2025 the show can land a few cinematic sequences that truly sell what’s happening. Can you imagine this episode during the Classic Who days, when “The Greatest Show in the Galaxy” was the benchmark?

Things then got more interesting when it becomes clear we’re effectively getting Sudden Death (1995) in the Whoniverse, only with The Doctor as Jean-Claude Van Damme and singing replacing ice hockey. A group of revolutionaries, oppressed horned aliens known as Helia, led by Kid (Freddie Fox), take over the TV broadcast and start to play the dress rehearsal to the trillions of people watching, as they enact vengeance on the occasion because it’s sponsored by a company that destroyed their homeworld and turned their kind into pariahs. There’s actually a surprisingly shocking moment when their plan seems to run like clockwork, and they eject thousands of audience members (including The Doctor and his TARDIS) out into space, seemingly freezing and suffocating them in minutes. Of course, it turns out it’s not as terrible as it looked on the face of it, as everyone can be revived, but for a few moments I was caught off-guard. Shots of thousands of folk being dragged up into the heavens looked great and really sold the shock and horror of what was happening.

The downside of this episode is how the frantic pace worked nicely at times, but ultimately gave things as a shallow and rushed feel. A lot of big ideas aren’t given enough time and care to play out, so several good ideas or changes in motivation don’t quite land. The Doctor even abandons his “never be cruel” principle, which should be a big deal and rather frightening to see (especially from the smiley Fifteenth incarnation), but it’s just glossed over because it’s so hastily done.

One of the singers, Cora Saint Bavier (Miriam-Teak Lee), is also revealed to have a connection to the terrorists, which could have been seeded nicely and gradually revealed as a cool development later in the story, but it seems like there’s no time so Lee’s performance makes it obvious Cora is secretly a Helia within seconds.

I also understand why the show had to remove the live audience from proceedings, logistically, but it feels like the story missed a trick in not having the contest play out live as The Doctor and Bel scrambled around in the background trying to eliminate a threat the show and the public are facing but unaware of, maybe with occasional assistance from Rylan backstage. It would have also meant more alien performances, of which we only see a few, and only Cora’s final moment singing her song in the aftermath lands with any impact. 

Outside of the episode’s own concerns, we had some unexpectedly big and bold moves regarding Series 14 and 15’s ongoing mysteries. The strangest was The Doctor suddenly having visions of Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford), his granddaughter from the beginnings of the show, who debuted in the first episode back in 1963, “An Unearthly Child”. Susan’s place on the show since it was revived has often been discussed, as the actress hasn’t made even a cameo (not even during the 50th or 60th specials) until now, and the debate about whether or not Susan is literally The Doctor’s flesh-and-blood is ongoing. Fans have anticipated the show fully explaining this area of the show’s mythology for many years, and it seems we may finally get some answers soon. It doesn’t make much sense why The Doctor randomly got these visions of her, yet anyway, but let’s see where it leads.

And in the mid-credits denouement, Mrs Flood (Anita Dobson), who appeared as an audience member, was revived along with the other people sent hurtling into space, only to reveal she’s a Time Lady, specifically The Rani, before “bi-generating” into The Rani (Archie Panjabi). This whole element has me highly concerned. It now makes sense that Mrs Flood knew what a TARDIS is, and one could argue she’s been following The Doctor around posing as various people for… reasons… but why’s she been breaking the fourth wall? And why call herself “Mrs Flood”? I suspect when she was introduced last year RTD didn’t know she’s The Rani, so he’s just gone with a popular theory online, even if a few things don’t add up.

Regardless, it was disappointing to see the “bi-generation” occur again. I don’t like the idea because it’s narratively healthier to have one actor take over from another, not suddenly become their co-star. And even if you accept it, this seemed to be one-in-a-million chance event that only The Doctor— as the ‘Timeless Child’ progenitor of the Time Lords — could accomplish. But now The Rani can do it too? And we suddenly have Anita Dobson playing second fiddle to Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife)?

The casting of Panjabi is excellent, so I can’t wait to see what she does with the part, but having two Rani seems like a mistake. And if this is now the established way all future “regenerations” work, it’s still a bad idea. When Ncuti Gatwa leaves the show, I want the Fifteenth Doctor to have a fantastic and emotional death scene, not simply “birth” his replacement for a few moments of banter, before each going their separate ways. Effectively, it makes The Doctor’s incarnations immortal and, frankly, rabbit-like in their amazing capacity to multiple in number. Give it a few billion years and the galaxy will be full of Doctors, so what chance do the Daleks have?

Overall, “The Interstellar Song Contest” was surprisingly good because it didn’t treat its ideas like lazy excuses to be camp and silly at the destriment of everything else, it introduced real stakes into the action, and the villain was a good character with a sympathetic background and interesting motivations. Freddie Fox played the part of Kid well, and I wouldn’t mind seeing him again. It’s just a shame Belinda continues to be underwritten and so frequently separated from The Doctor, this time spending more time with fellow survivors Cora and Len (Akemnji Ndifornyen), but I still feel like Ruby Sunday was intended to be the companion when Series 15 was being setup. It just seems pointless to have dropped her for Belinda, considering how little the show seems interested in developing the new companion. It’s like bringing Freema Agyeman in when you have Billie Piper there and happy to continue, what’s the point?

The mythology stuff with The Rani and Susan does have me worried, frankly, as the character could just be a “Missy” with another face in terms of how they’re portrayed and used in the show. And I hate the bi-generation concept, did I mention? It bodes poorly for the future of the show, as the death of a Doctor and their almost symbolic revival as “someone else” is a cornerstone of what’s made the show so great and self-refreshing for decades. And it’s often a way for young children to contend with death for the very first time. I crave true endings for characters, not loopholes to let them continue on and just squirt out a successor every time they’re fatally wounded. Oh well, maybe two Rani will be better than one.

UK | 2025 | 47 MINUTES | 16:9 HD | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

writer: Juno Dawson.
director: Ben A. Williams.
starring: Ncuti Gatwa, Varada Sethu, Freddie Fox, Iona Anderson, Charlie Condour, Rylan Clark, Anita Dobson, Julie Dray, Kadiff Kirwan, Miriam-Teak Lee, Akemnji Ndifornyen, Graham Norton, Christina Rotondo & Archie Panjabi.