Listen to RadioTimes.com’s Doctor Who podcast – is canon actually real?
Jodie Whittaker episode The Timeless Children made some controversial changes to Doctor Who lore - but Doctor Who's continuity has always been a little shaky
It's fair to say that the "rules" and "lore" of Doctor Who can be pretty controversial topics for fans, with fairly large changes in series 12 finale The Timeless Children inspiring some viewers to pretty heated debate about what could and couldn't be altered.
Generally, these discussions end up being about what episodes have established before as "canon" - but what is canon, really? Who decides which throwaway references in episodes become crucial parts of continuity, and which are ignored entirely?
In this week's Doctor Who podcast, we delve into the hotly contested world of Doctor Who canon, from the new revelations of the Timeless Children all the way back to the Doctor's "first" regeneration, the Brain of Morbius and Paul McGann's half-human side.
Plus, we try and resolve a few Doctor Who plot holes ourselves, starting with the Mystery of the Missing Heart and Susan Foreman's astonishing level of influence within Time Lord culture.
Want more? You can vote for your favourite modern Doctor Who series here, or check out last week's podcast on Doctor Who spin-offs.
Doctor Who returns to BBC One in late 2020/early 2021
Authors
Huw Fullerton is a Commissioning Editor for Radio Times magazine, covering Entertainment, Comedy and Specialist Drama.
