Don’t Read the Comments is an irregular podcast on our feed where we ignore the show’s title and actually read online comments relating to something going on in the world of Doctor Who.

Today, I'm reading comments from the Gallifrey subreddit relating to the very sad passing of Justin Richards, the prolific British author and editor whose dozens of Doctor Who novels, audio dramas, and reference books made him one of the franchise’s most influential writers outside of television.

Justin passed away with early-onset fronto-temporal dementia on June 28, 2026. He was 64.

Contact us:

Bluesky: @thedwshow.net X / Twitter: @theDWshow Email: hello@theDWshow.net Substack: thedwshow.substack.com Facebook: facebook.com/theDWshow

Listener Kosta from Philadelphia USA set us a challenge this month – what are our top Doctor Who "comfort" stories?

If you’ve got 20m to spare, we’d love you to tune in.

What would your picks be? Why not write in and let us know?

Contact us:

Bluesky: @thedwshow.net X / Twitter: @theDWshow Email: hello@theDWshow.net Substack: thedwshow.substack.com Facebook: facebook.com/theDWshow

As we sit here today, we know Doctor Who is going to tender at some stage - probably later this year. We also know BBC Studios will be throwing its hat into the ring when it does.

Basically, 'stuff' is happening and, eventually, a new Doctor is going to be cast.

So in the spirit of our specials 14 for 14 (August 8, 2021) and 21 Replacements For 12 (February 1, 2017), we're here to kick around our picks for the 16th Doctor.

We hope you like it.

Who would YOU cast as the 16th Doctor? Why not get in touch and let us know?

Contact us:

Bluesky: @thedwshow.net X / Twitter: @theDWshow Email: hello@theDWshow.net Substack: thedwshow.substack.com Facebook: facebook.com/theDWshow

In today’s episode we look at The Tomb of the Cybermen - the first serial of the fifth season of Doctor Who, originally broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 2 to 23 September 1967.

Before that, we kick things off with the usual mix of news and short topics. Then, after the TV episodes chat, we open the mailbag for a ton of feedback from our listeners on a number of topics.

Enjoy, dear listener.

Contact us:

Bluesky: @thedwshow.net X / Twitter: @theDWshow Email: hello@theDWshow.net Substack: thedwshow.substack.com Facebook: facebook.com/theDWshow

Back in March 2023 we discussed the Jodie Whittaker era of Doctor Who by selecting some episodes to revisit for the first time since broadcast.

That concept proved so popular - it's legitimately one of our most downloaded episodes ever - we're doing the same tonight for the Ncuti Gatwa era.

A year after the dust settled on Season 2 of Ncuti's era - and now, as we know, the RTD2 era as a whole - we watch some episodes and talk about two seasons of the show that have divided fandom ever since they first dropped, and probably always will.

What do we make of the stories on re-watch and, in turn, the Gatwa era in general?

Tune in, find out.

After the chat we also have a TON of listener feedback. Folks, it's been... a month.

Contact us:

Bluesky: @thedwshow.net X / Twitter: @theDWshow Email: hello@theDWshow.net Substack: thedwshow.substack.com Facebook: facebook.com/theDWshow

In our May episode we were discussing the possibility of the 2026 Doctor Who Christmas Special being cancelled. Madness, people said, it can't be cancelled. That's crazy!

1.5 weeks later, on June 10, it was confirmed that the BBC had cancelled the special and Russell T Davies had announced his exit as showrunner and, by association, Bad Wolf as its production company. A lot happened that week, dear listener, as you may remember.

Tonight, what began as the news segment for the June episode takes on a life of its own. Rather than put out a 2-hour-plus episode of the show, with a 40-minute-plus news segment, we've taken that news segment and our short topics and created this episode from it.

Tomorrow, we will drop the Ultimate Ncuti Gatwa Cold Take discussion that was intended as the main topic of the episode, along with a month's worth of listener feedback.

So you're still getting over 2 hours of Doctor Who Show this weekend - just broken up into two pieces over two days. Let us know what you think of this experiment - and the shows!

Contact us:

Bluesky: @thedwshow.net X / Twitter: @theDWshow Email: hello@theDWshow.net Substack: thedwshow.substack.com Facebook: facebook.com/theDWshow

Back in the ninth installment of Gin & TARDIS, the boys looked at a random assortment of orphaned Patrick Troughton episodes. That went down so well with listeners that tonight, Dave from the Doctor Who Show, Mark & Rob from 42 to Doomsday, and Richard from Spacefall: A Blakes 7 Podcast, are watching a grab bag of four unrelated William Hartnell episodes from the ‘Lost in Time’ DVD release. The episodes:

The Crusade - Episode 3 Galaxy 4 - Episode 3 The Daleks Master Plan - Episode 10 The Celestial Toymaker - Episode 4

And yes, there’s a musical number at the end 😉

Contact us:

Bluesky: @thedwshow.net X / Twitter: @theDWshow Email: hello@theDWshow.net Substack: thedwshow.substack.com Facebook: facebook.com/theDWshow

Listener Adrian Sturrock has set us a challenge this month – what are the top Doctor Who Biographies and Autobiographies?

If you’ve got 20m to spare, we’d love you to tune in.

What would your picks be? Why not write in and let us know?

Contact us:

Bluesky: @thedwshow.net X / Twitter: @theDWshow Email: hello@theDWshow.net Substack: thedwshow.substack.com Facebook: facebook.com/theDWshow