Pull To Open

Apr 12 2025 179 ep. 86 mins 60

Pull To Open Podcast artwork

There are many Doctor Who podcasts. Only one dares review the entire show... in entirely random order! Join journalists Pete Pachal and Chris Taylor as they summarize stories in record time, play the Whomoji game, enter the History Corner, answer the Four Questions to Doomsday, and cower in fear before the almighty Randomizer. New episode every Saturday!

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Day of the Nurse (HOT TAKE: "The Robot Revolution")

Apr 12 2025 46 mins

It's the future, and your star registry gift just triggered a robotic uprising. Welcome to Doctor Who: The Robot Revolution, where RTD goes hard on visuals, soft on substance, and maybe too far on consent. The Pull To Open crew picks apart everything from glitchy AI metaphors to Belinda Chandra’s underbaked debut — and Pete almost expected a Robots of Death sequel. But hey, at

Invade for TV (Discharging “Aliens of London and World War Three”)

Apr 05 2025 98 mins

Say it with us now: it’s not just Slitheen fart jokes. Aliens of London/World War Three is the Ecclestone-Piper powerhouse that firmly established how NuWho would grow beyond the old-school kind of Earth invasion. It would be smart, twisty, full of “real” fake media and political references. It would stuff the Prime Minister in a closet. And it would put the Doctor in new kin

The Reich Stuff (Vivisecting “The Sontaran Experiment”)

Mar 29 2025 91 mins

Sontar-what now? An odd little two-parter squished between two titanic Tom Baker classics, The Sontaran Experiment manages to downgrade its clone army villain — with a flimsy mask that makes him look more like a bald white dude amid a bunch of South African “colonials”, plus evil experiments that … don’t seem very science-y? We had fun concocting this episode in our cave,

The Companion Falls (Impacting “Earthshock”)

Mar 15 2025 98 mins

Adric’s fate, an unexpected "asteroid," and the triumphant return of the Cybermen—Earthshock is the definitive Doctor Who game-changer. From its big-budget action sequences to its brutal emotional gut punches, this Davison classic gave us one of the show’s most shocking cliffhangers and its most heart-wrenching companion exit. But does all the spectacle hold up, or

Breaking Dad (Reliving “Father’s Day”)

Mar 01 2025 93 mins

When Doctor Who returned in 2005, timey-wimey twists like Rose saving her dad in Father’s Day had rarely been seen on screen. But one entire Moffat era later, audiences are more sophisticated. So how does this small-scale Tyler tale land 20 years later? Do we still fear the Reapers? Grab your chunky carphone and make it to the church on time as we go all Back to the Future in 198

Electric Screams (Shipwrecking “Horror of Fang Rock”)

Feb 15 2025 96 mins

Just this once, Leela … everybody dies! Horror of Fang Rock may be a kind of bottle episode (well, a tall bottle with a big electric light on top), but no Doctor Who story has a higher percentage of guest cast killed. And with this bunch of refugees from an Agatha Christie play, who wouldn’t be rooting for a Rutan to off ’em? Join us as we peer into an atmospheric fog of 1970

Slave New World (Liberating “Planet of the Ood”)

Feb 01 2025 79 mins

How do the Ood serve Doctor Who? Are they more interesting as harbingers of doom, pawns of the literal devil, or rabid victims of capitalist greed? Planet of the Ood takes the latter approach, and the result is a tale so dark even Donna Noble can’t lighten it up. Still, she (and we) can at least get on the Doctor’s case for his heavy-handed analogies. So sit back and take a sho

Mazed and Confused (Mythologizing “The Horns of Nimon”)

Jan 18 2025 84 mins

Time waits for Nimon! Well, time waits for someone to appreciate The Horns of Nimon — the unintended finale to one of the greatest seasons of Doctor Who. With its drunk ballet bulls and a villain on a strict scenery diet, this could be a comedy classic. Or a triumph for Romana and her superior sonic. But is it? Dare to enter the labyrinth with us as we dust off our Greek myths an

Lord & Lady (Burglarizing “Planet of the Dead”)

Jan 04 2025 89 mins

A London bus, a mysterious wormhole, and a desert planet teeming with metal stingrays — Planet of the Dead boasts a hearty list of tasty Doctor Who plot ingredients even before you mix in a flirty almost-companion. David Tennant’s Doctor teams up with the aristocratic jewel thief Lady Christina de Souza in this slick, blockbuster-style Easter special. But beneath the high-speed

A Star Is Born (HOT TAKE: “Joy to the World”)

Dec 25 2024 40 mins

Good God, what is happening in Joy to the World, possibly the most time-wimey Doctor Who Christmas special to date. We’d expect nothing less from Steven Moffat, who stuffs a dinosaur, a bootstrap paradox, and a multi-Doctor story all into a holiday meal that’s anything but a turkey. You might want to dress yourself in several layers just to keep up pace with this one, but be su