The Interstellar Song Contest

"I will stand and watch you freeze to death."

Writer: Juno Dawson

Format: TV

Broadcast: 17 May 2025

Series: 15.06

Featuring: Fifteenth Doctor, Belinda

Synopsis

The Doctor's quest to get Belinda back home to Earth leads to a space station hosting the famous song contest. But a harmless night of fun soon becomes a battle to survive.

Verdict

The Interstellar Song Contest was another great episode to continue the brand new series of Doctor Who! The story quality for this 2025 run has been so consistently high and what a way to set up what is bound to be a bumper finale. So much happened here and it's difficult not to start at the end, but I'll resist the urge. On Eurovision night, I think having a Doctor Who equivalent episode is a nice touch and I'm glad that not too much focus was put on the songs. The ridiculousness of Rylan being in cryogenic suspension is hilarious as the host and it's nice for Graham Norton to also appear as the museum interaction hologram. We didn't need much more of a link to Eurovision than that. I thought the special effects were incredible and whilst it would have been good to see or namedrop some more familiar species and planets, Cora claiming to originally being from Trion was a nice touch. I can't imagine Turlough would enjoy something like the titular contest though! That was a fun thought. I thought Kid made for a good villain and Belinda's initial comment of his name being for a baby goat made me laugh. I knew right away too that Wynn would be up to no good. She just had that look, even if she was a little cautious about what they were doing. I thought the political notes in the story were impactful and especially the rhetoric on the colonisation of Hellia for Poppy Honey flavouring. Belinda couldn't believe their people had lost everything for something mundane like flavouring, and I thought she had another stellar episode. It will be a travesty if we only have two more on screen adventures with her! She is an incredible companion and it was nice to show her being a little more vulnerable here. She was one of the few to survive not being ejected into space once Kid set his second phase in action, and immediately she figured she was stuck. She had no idea where she was and now she was completely alone with no way out. Even the TARDIS was gone. This felt like a stark reminder that even though we're now headed into the finale, she's very much a newbie. It will make sense that she stays home after the events of the finale as that's been the aim from the start, but I am very much not ready to say goodbye. I thought the throwback to The Parting of the Ways with Kid planning to use a delta wave to kill over three trillion viewers of the Interstellar Song Contest was excellent and just downright evil. His motive regarding the Corporation was strong if not a little misguided and it was something that angered the Doctor to an extent I would argue we have never seen before. His punishment of Kid was brutal and specifically out of character for the Fifteenth Doctor. It was as dark as we've ever seen him and I'm not entirely sure it was justified. It was a little uncomfortable but thankfully him seeing Belinda brought him back to normality. I will accept that he's clearly going through some trauma also and the images in his mind of Susan pleading him were sensational! I was so happy to see Carole Ann Ford on my screen and inside the TARDIS no less! She HAS to feature in the finale, right? After her being used as a red herring in The Legend of Ruby Sunday, I will be both grateful and gutted if the Doctor doesn't actually reunite with her for these scenes. Mike and Gary were really fun characters and their efforts in reviving all 100,000 spectators were impressive! They were just really likeable guys and that was nice to see. The Doctor being camp in blasting back to the arena via a confetti canon was good fun too. Only in this incarnation! I feel like we might not have seen the last of Kid as he mentioned seeing the Doctor again when sent to the justice section, and that continued mention of ice frozen in his heart is something I think we will certainly come back to. Now, onto the cliffhanger finish and it even happened mid-end credits which was a fun twist! But there really always is a twist at the end. The truth about Mrs Flood is finally revealed and with all the speculation that has come with her, it wasn't much of a surprise that she was revealed to be the Rani. But that didn't make it any less exciting! I'm less fussed on another bigeneration, but I can see immediately that the casting of Archie Panjabi is a stellar choice! She looks and owns the part already, although I'm not sure about Mrs Flood being so inferior to her considering she's an earlier incarnation? There's plenty of time to explain all this though and I can't wait to see what the Rani has in store for the Doctor. It's an incredible way to set up the finale! Overall, a strong episode again to continue an excellent series.

Rating: 8/10