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“Doctor Who does Eurovision in space.” It’s an irresistible premise, but one fraught with peril. The world’s biggest, campest song contest has a very specific tone and, on a practical level, is an enormous undertaking that would be hard to convincingly replicate even on a Disney-enhanced budget. There’s also the very real possibility that the episode may not air on BBC 1 in the UK at all, if the FA Cup final overruns…
Then there’s the music. Murray Gold is a frequently wonderful composer, but coming up with not just one, but a whole bunch of original songs is a huge ask. It could all have gone so very wrong.
Happily, ‘The Interstellar Song Contest’ is a blast and mostly navigates these pitfalls with ease. From a script by bestselling novelist Juno Dawson, it tells a thoroughly entertaining story while also setting the stage for a thrilling season finale.
Spoilers for ‘The Interstellar Song Contest’
The TARDIS lands on Harmony Arena just as host Rylan (the UK TV mainstay, whose whole vibe is delightful to UK viewers and likely baffling to everyone else) is being defrosted from cryogenic suspension. As the Doctor and Belinda are settling in to enjoy the show, however, the villainous Kid (Freddie Fox) and Wynn (Iona Anderson) switch off the air shield, sending the audience hurtling into space.
The sight of all those bodies being swept up into oblivion is a bracingly bleak image – a terrifying mass slaughter that the show quickly backs away from by revealing that, for now, they’re simply frozen. That gives the Doctor the chance to try and put things right. Meanwhile, Belinda gets to know singer Cora Saint Bavier (Miriam-Teak Lee), who is hiding a dark secret.
For all the technical complexities of the episode, that’s a fairly straightforward plot: Kid causes a disaster and the Doctor puts it right, just in time for the show to go on. Along the way he meets Mike (Kadiff Kirwan) and Gary Gabbastone (Charlie Condou), a charming pair of Eurovision super fans who provide a necessary dose of warmth and humor as the Doctor, convinced that Belinda is one of Kid’s victims, loses all of his.
Every now and again Doctor Who likes to remind you that its title character isn’t just your loveable best space mate. He’s an ancient being who can overthrow governments in a single night and who has recently acquired a fairly strong track record in god-killing. The Doctor is dangerous. In ‘The Interstellar Song Contest’ this is manifested in his response to Kid, who he first threatens and then tortures.
It’s surprising behavior, but not inconsistent with how the character has been portrayed before, notably in episodes like ‘Dalek.’ Even so, something about this scene doesn’t sit quite right with me.
“You’ve put ice in my heart, darling,” the Doctor warns Kid, but given that he knows there’s still a chance to save everyone (and because the audience already knows that Belinda is alive and well) this turn to physical violence doesn’t feel entirely earned. Yeah, it’s satisfying to occasionally see the Doctor punch back, and Ncuti Gatwa plays it well, but it has to feel like a last resort. Here, for me, it doesn’t.
“Find me…”
The rest of the episode, however, is a lot of fun. The script is witty, the secondary characters are likeable, and the musical numbers are surprisingly restrained. Rather than stopping the episode every few minutes for a song, we get a few brief snatches at the start, just enough to give us a decent sense of the competition, but then the music is held back until a genuinely affecting final performance of Cora’s song, which underlines one of the darker themes of the episode. While the survivors are returned unharmed and are able to sit back and enjoy their night, Cora’s world is still burning. That’s an intriguingly subversive note to end the story on.
But ‘The Interstellar Song Contest’ is unlikely to be remembered primarily for its main plot. Instead, it’s a couple of key scenes that will be the most replayed here. Like ‘Utopia’ from way back in 2007, this is quickly revealed to be the stealth first part of what is now a season finale trilogy.
The sudden appearance of Carole Ann Ford as Susan is a genuine surprise, smashing into the Doctor’s dreams as he floats unconscious through space. There have been rumblings that she might show up somewhere in the Gatwa era ever since the Doctor started mentioning his granddaughter back in ‘The Devil’s Chord,’ but last year’s season finale seemed to put a cap on that – or so we thought.
With William Russell (who appeared in Jodie Whittaker’s final episode, ‘The Power of the Doctor’) having passed away, Ford is the final living member of the original TARDIS crew. For long-term fans seeing her on screen again packs an undeniable emotional wallop.
Then, there’s the final reveal: Mrs Flood unveiled at last. That Anita Dobson has been playing a version of The Rani has been one of the most popular fan theories over the last few weeks, but her bigeneration into a new incarnation played by Archie Panjabi is an intriguing wrinkle.
The Rani has always been a divisive character. She was introduced at the tail end of the classic show and only featured in two serials on TV, one of which is often listed as a contender for the worst Doctor Who story of all time. Over the years, when fans have joked about crap villains to bring back, her name has often come up.
This scene doesn’t suggest we’re about to see a total reinvention of the character – Dobson suddenly takes on a new subservient role while Panjabi adopts a steelier performance, clearly riffing on original Rani actor Kate O’Mara – but there’s potential here. The Rani isn’t an agent of chaos like the Master, she’s always been described as a ruthless, amoral scientist. That never tracked with Dobson’s performance, but makes more sense now.
Whatever happens next, we’re in the endgame of the season. The TARDIS has been compromised – and the Doctor is the last of the Time Lords no more…
Doctor Who: ‘The Interstellar Song Contest’ is out now on Disney Plus and BBC iPlayer.
For more great new TV, check out our guide to the best new shows coming your way in 2025.
