Doctor Who series 15 (or 40 depending on how you count): Episode 6, The Interstellar Song Contest, by Juno Dawson.
I have mixed feelings about combining TV programmes with real-life events. It was done with ‘Doctor Who’ in one of the Olympics years in the David Tennant tenure and even touched on ‘The Weakest Link’ in another episode. Without the time travel element, any other show would quickly become outdated.
Here we have a future update of the Eurovision Contest in the far future. I suppose we should be grateful that it wasn’t a football match. Beware spoilers, especially as I spot a very old companion.
The last link to get Belinda to the right place on Earth is placed, and the Interstellar Song Contest is about to be hijacked. It certainly raises the roof and the audience into a vacuum. With a dress rehearsal being shown, no one outside Harmony Space Station knows what is going on. It also looks like a 3 trillion genocide is about to be committed by a Hellion terrorist using the Contest signal to send a delta wave to fry their brains. I should point out this terrorist gives his reasons, and although you won’t like what he is about to do, his race deserves compensation.
The Doctor and Belinda have also been split up and each thinking the other dead or frozen. Well, for a while. Oddly, the main plot is actually very lightweight and easily handled by having the right people for the Doctor to call on with the right expertise, it’s what surrounds the story that makes it the lead in for the main event. Oh, don’t make this Doctor angry.
How much can I say about that without giving away spoilers? If you’ve been watching ‘Doctor Who’ from way back, you’re going to recognise one significant face, and she hasn’t aged. The more significant return is a different Gallifreyan. All the comments I made back a few episodes were accurate, but I’m guessing as a writer and a precog. So why should I not get it right? I got both of them right. Don’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it yet.
‘Doctor Who Unleashed’ goes through the various guests. Seeing Rylan Clark in the TARDIS shows the effect any fan would have with a visit there. Wait until his face drops when he’s going to be in cryonic suspension for the rest of his life. Oh, you got a lot more detail about a particular villainous Time Lady and a not-so-villainous one who has to come back again.
Despite my apprehension over Eurovision and wondering how those who like both are going to resist Unleashed tonight, the extra sub-plots in this episode are building up for the next two episodes. It will be interesting to see how word of mouth affects the viewing figures.
GF Willmetts
17 May 2025
