Doctor Who: The PodKast with a K

This week, Christian Cawley and James McLean prepare for the journey they’ve avoided for over 500 episodes: the 14-part epic, The Trial of a Time Lord. As the longest single serial since The Daleks' Master Plan, it was intended to save the show, but instead, it became a fascinating, frustrating mirror of Doctor Who’s real-world struggle for survival in 1986.No shownotes as such this week, but look out for discussion of: The binge-culture disconnect: We discuss the "memory of disappointment" surrounding the 14-week structure. Does a story this long work better in the era of streaming, or was the "trial" format fundamentally flawed from the start? The unlikable hero: James revisits his "pre-teen" struggle with Colin Baker’s Doctor. We look at the "clownish" costume, the bullish personality, and whether a simple wardrobe change could have saved his legacy (probably, yes). Interruptions in the matrix: Why the constant cutaways to the courtroom dampen the stakes of stories like Mindwarp and The Mysterious Planet.