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Doctor Who: Podshock (commonly referred to as Podshock, but officially titled Outpost Gallifrey Presents . . . Doctor Who: Podshock) is a weekly podcast about the British science fiction series Doctor Who. It is notable for its consistently high placement on iTunes and Podcast Alley popularity charts, where it has only been eclipsed amongst other Doctor Who programs by the official podcasts produced by the BBC. It is also significant for being the first podcast to be officially attached to the world's largest Doctor Who online community, Outpost Gallifrey. Further, it was the first Doctor Who podcast to feature both British and American hosts, along with regular contributors from other parts of the English-speaking world.

The podcast is produced by the fan group, the Gallifreyan Embassy, originally based in Long Island, New York.

History

Podshock has its origins in Long Island, New York. The first meeting was held in a Holiday Inn in Rockford Centre on or about 18 June 1985. It was one of many local clubs being formed around the US during the early 1980's heyday of the PBS broadcast of so-called "classic" Doctor Who. Principally, the group existed to mobilize support for PBS pledge drives, but it also formed a support network for those wishing to attend conventions, watch the programme in a social environment, and to generally help promote the programme in their area. One of the membership benefits was a printed newsletter, which, over time, was supplanted by a website. When the new series of Doctor Who began in 2005, the Gallifreyan Embassy decided on a new means by which to deliver their content. On August 9, 2005, the first episode of the club's then-new podcast was released. The name they chose for this new audio publication— "Podshock"—was a reference both to podcasting and to the 1982 Doctor Who serial, Earthshock. Since January 21 2007 the podcast has been affiliated with the Doctor Who fan website, Outpost Gallifrey. It was after this alliance that the name of the podcast was changed to include a reference to Outpost Gallifrey. It is currently the only podcast officially associated with the popular Doctor Who website.

Hosts

The show has three main hosts: Ken Deep, Louis Trapani (both from the United States) and James Naughton (from the United Kingdom). It also has several correspondents from around the world who regularly contribute to the show:

• Chris Rattray from Australia
• Mike Doran from Canada
• Russel Hale from Canada
• Colin Bordley from the United Kingdom
• Taras Hnatyshyn from the United States

Format

Podshock usually runs for 80-110 minutes, and discusses all things related to Doctor Who, including the television series (both old and new), audio plays by Big Finish, books, merchandise, spinoff series such as Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures and other material. The show starts off with a sound clip from either the old or new Doctor Who seasons, and is then followed by a news section which presents Doctor Who-related news from the previous week. The features segment usually follows the news; this is generally comprised of discussion and reviews of various Doctor-Who related topics. Time permitting, feedback from listeners is also included.

The show occasionally features interviews with people involved in making Doctor Who, and past guests have included the actors Colin Baker, Deborah Watling and Eugene Washington, music composers Murray Gold and Mark Ayres and writers John Peel, Steven Moffat and Paul Cornell. Interviews from archive sources, mostly with people who were involved in the original series of Doctor Who, also feature from time to time; these have included John Pertwee, Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, John Nathan-Turner and Peter Davison.

Since September 2005 the show has been produced in two formats: an enhanced version, encoded in AAC, and an MP3 version. Both have the same audio content, but the enhanced version also includes embedded chapter markers, images and hyperlinks.

Reception

Podshock is, according to iTunes, the most popular Doctor Who podcast after the BBC's commentaries for the series. It regularly reaches a top 10 ranking in the TV and Film section of Podcast Alley, based on listener votes.

A review in a 2007 issue of SciFi Now gave the show four out of five stars, describing it as "seriously meaty" analysis of Doctor Who and "the perfect accompaniment to the television series", while at the same time noting that the presenters were "massive Dr. Who afficianados" whose personalities were obscured behind a "voiceover is slow, dull and very hard work."

References

1. http://gallifreyanembassy.org/portal/article.php?story=20050713035419514
2. http://gallifreyanembassy.org/portal/article.php?story=22yearsago
3. http://gallifreyone.com/podcast.php Outpost Gallifrey announces the rebranding of Podshock.
4. http://podcastalley.com/top_podcasts.php?num=10&genre=11&year=2007&month=2 Podcast Alley's Top 10 in TV and Film for February 2007
5. "Round Up - Podcasts". SciFi Now (1): 69. 2007. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)

External links

• The home page of the Gallifreyan Embassy.
• Doctor Who: Podshock on Outpost Gallifrey
• The home page of James Naughton.
• The home page of Ken Deep
• Art Trap productions

• Articles with topics of unclear notability from April 2007
• Audio podcasts
• Doctor Who fandom
• Movies and Television podcasts