First broadcast 17 May 2025.

The TARDIS makes its latest stop at the annual Interstellar Song Contest, a multi-planet concert event broadcast to an audience of three trillion.

Yes, it is a “Space Eurovision” episode, something so aligned with producer Russell T Davies’ idea of Doctor Who that I am astonished it has taken 20 years for it to arrive. Indeed, this episode is perhaps the most in keeping with Davies’ original run of the mid-2000s that he had produced since his return. The subject matter is an automatic guarantee that the episode will be divisive, since it comes pre-packaged with remarkable amounts of glamour, shiny things, gay appeal, and pop music.

Of course this is Doctor Who, so it’s perhaps not surprising that the episode comes with shocking mass carnage, literally trillions of lives at stake, and more than one unexpected surprises. This is absolutely one of those episodes where viewing it without being spoiled for those surprises will become progressively difficult on an hour-by-hour basis. I am publishing this less than a day after its worldwide premiere and I am likely already too late. Anything I have to say about those moments are clearly part of the set-up for next week’s two-part season (series?) finale, so I’ll discuss it then. Everything here is, basic premise aside, spoiler free.

It is a very good episode for Varada Sethu and her character Belinda Chandra. Doctor Who being so truncated these days, with just eight episodes a season, makes it very hard for the supporting characters to make an impact. This episode, sixth out of those eight, really does spend the time to articulate how Belinda has shifted from reluctant passenger to active friend and travelling companion. It is very well played by Sethu, and is probably my favourite element.

I was also remarkably struck by how the episode pivots spontaneously from camp silliness to shocking horror in the space of one epic-scale visual effects shot. The episode subsequently walks the horror back, because it kind of has to – this is family television, but in the moment it remains superb. It also provokes another excursion into the Doctor’s more homicidal side. This is a first for Ncuti Gatwa take on the Doctor, and it feels distinct from his predecessors in just how those darker elements come to the fore. The Doctor is always a bit scary when he is angry: in this incarnation there is a bleakly wry self-awareness of that rage that actually feels quite disturbing. Shakespeare’s “I can smile, and murder while I smile” did come to mind at one point.

The episode as a whole is perhaps a little simplistic, as it needs to find a bit of room for the aforementioned surprises. If one thinks back to 2007 episode “Utopia”, one can get a fairly accurate sense of what I mean. That episodes needed to reserve a fair amount of play to setting up its season finale, and the same rule applies here. It is reasonably effective, and has a particular sense of political comment given Israel’s current assault on Gaza and participation in Eurovision, but honestly it is still vague enough to work as popular entertainment at the same time. Given that, and the presence of a lovely gay couple among the guest stars (Charlie Condou and Kadiff Kirwan) the tiresome accusations of “woke” are going to be raised. Just ruffle the cranky little tykes’ hair and let them move on.

The guest cast are solid, including the aforementioned Condou and Kirwan, as well as Kiruna Stamell and the Olivier-winning Miriam-Teak Lee. Even when I have criticisms of this era of Doctor Who, it has generally been aceing the casting.

“The Interstellar Song Contest” is silly, regularly fun, but perhaps a step down from this season at its height. I suspect over time it will become better known for what follows it than what it does itself. Still, writer Juno Dawson and director Ben A. Williams should be very happy with how it went.