Doctor Who: The Interstellar Song Contest Review - 5 Ups & 4 Downs

9. UP - A Glamorous Production

This was an episode that stood to benefit from the Disney budget immensely, and I have to say, credit where it’s due, the effects and costumes looked fantastic. The Harmony Arena is an atmospheric and fully-realised backdrop for the story and, in an era that has often been a little stingy in terms of actual aliens, it was oddly nostalgic to see a Star-Wars-style menagerie of weird bug-eyed monsters for this episode.

Tonally, this one felt very RTD1. In particular, it gave me Ninth Doctor vibes (a little bit of The End of the World, a little bit of Bad Wolf). It’s very rare that I get Eccleston-era feelings from this show anymore, and it was most welcome indeed.

The decision to riff on Eurovision for every possible ounce of campiness is a match made in heaven for this era of the show, too. You can tell Ncuti is in his element here, and the script itself is dripping with love for Eurovision, but in that quintessentially British, semi-ironic, it’s-trash-but-we-still-love-it sort of way. To try and play this episode straight would have been a mistake, you’ve got to lean right into that cringe – case in point: cryo-frozen Rylan Clark and hologram Graham Norton, both of which I enjoyed immensely, even if the latter being the one to reveal the tragic fate of Planet Earth slightly undercut the moment.

Lastly, I’d like to thank production for relegating all the original songs they created, with the exception of Cora’s pivotal musical number, to the background. Of course, given the theme, we needed original songs, but being self indulgent in this regard absolutely could have derailed the runtime of the episode.

I, for one, am both delighted and surprised at the level of restraint employed here by not making us listen to Dugga Doo in full.