Whovians is an Australian comedy panel chat show hosted by Rove McManus, which screens on ABC. Rove engages with a team of four celebrity "Whovians", that is fans of science fiction television series Doctor Who, to analyse, critique and unravel the mysteries of the program.[1] The first episode screened on 16 April 2017 on ABC TV Plus as a companion piece to the first episode of the tenth series of Doctor Who after it aired on ABC.[2] The second season began 8 October 2018 on ABC TV Plus as a companion piece to the first episode of the eleventh series.
| Whovians | |
|---|---|
| Directed by |
|
| Presented by | Rove McManus |
| Starring | |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 32 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC TV Plus |
| Release | 16 April 2017 – March 5, 2024 |
The show regularly features fans such as Tegan Higginbotham, Adam Richard, Steven "Bajo" O'Donnell and Justin Hamilton. Guest fans have included Geraldine Quinn, Jordan Raskopoulos, Stephen Conroy, Alice Fraser, Petra Elliott, Rhianna Patrick, Yassmin Abdel-Magied, Tasma Walton, Paul Verhoeven, Bridie Connell, Celia Pacquola, Dave Callan, Cal Wilson and Stewart "Stav" Davidson.
Regular segments
editEach season includes a number of regular opinion pieces, comedy segments and video packages. These have included:
- He Who Knows Who News - presented by Justin Hamilton (season 1)
- Thirteenth Doctor Auditions by ABC Celebrities (season 1)
- The Vault (season 1)
- The Moment (seasons 2 & 3)
- This Week In Who-story (season 3)
- WHOse Show (season 3)
- Rove talks candidly to Doctor Who characters (season 3)
Episode list
edit| Series | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| 1 | 13 | 16 April 2017 | 27 December 2017 | |
| 2 | 10 | 8 October 2018 | 10 December 2018 | |
| 3 | 9 | 9 January 2020 | 5 March 2020 | |
Episodes
editSeason 1 (2017)
edit- Note: Italicized names are guests to the panel.
| No. overall | No. in season | Doctor Who episode | Panel | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "The Pilot" | Tegan Higginbotham, Adam Richard, Steven O'Donnell, Geraldine Quinn | 16 April 2017 |
| 2 | 2 | "Smile" | Tegan Higginbotham, Adam Richard, Steven O'Donnell, Jordan Raskopoulos | 23 April 2017 |
| 3 | 3 | "Thin Ice" | Adam Richard, Geraldine Quinn, Cal Wilson, Stephen Conroy, Sarah Dollard | 30 April 2017 |
| 4 | 4 | "Knock Knock" | Tegan Higginbotham, Adam Richard, Steven O'Donnell, Alice Fraser, David Suchet | 7 May 2017 |
| 5 | 5 | "Oxygen" | Tegan Higginbotham, Adam Richard, Steven O'Donnell, Petra Elliott, George Christensen | 14 May 2017 |
| 6 | 6 | "Extremis" | Adam Richard, Steven O'Donnell, Yassmin Abdel-Magied, Rhianna Patrick, Daniel Nettheim | 21 May 2017 |
| 7 | 7 | "The Pyramid at the End of the World" | Tegan Higginbotham, Adam Richard, Tasma Walton, Paul Voerhovan, Steven Moffat | 28 May 2017 |
| 8 | 8 | "The Lie of the Land" | Tegan Higginbotham, Adam Richard, Jordan Raskopoulos, Bridie Connell, Pearl Mackie | 4 June 2017 |
| 9 | 9 | "Empress of Mars" | Adam Richard, Steven O'Donnell, Celia Pacquola, Dave Callan, Mark Gatiss | 11 June 2017 |
| 10 | 10 | "The Eaters of Light" | Tegan Higginbotham, Adam Richard, Cal Wilson, Stav Davidson, Hayley Nebauer | 18 June 2017 |
| 11 | 11 | "World Enough and Time" | Tegan Higginbotham, Adam Richard, Steven O'Donnell, Bridie Connell | 25 June 2017 |
| 12 | 12 | "The Doctor Falls" | Tegan Higginbotham, Adam Richard, Steven O'Donnell, Jordan Raskopoulos, Alexandra Tynan, Steven Moffat | 2 July 2017 |
| 13 | 13 | "Twice Upon a Time" | Tegan Higginbotham, Adam Richard, Steven O'Donnell, Cal Wilson, Steven Moffat | 27 December 2017 |
Season 2 (2018)
edit| No. overall | No. in season | Doctor Who episode | Panel | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 1 | "The Woman Who Fell to Earth" | Adam Richard, Tegan Higginbotham, Cal Wilson, Bridie Connell | 8 October 2018 |
| 15 | 2 | "The Ghost Monument" | Adam Richard, Tegan Higginbotham, Steven O'Donnell, Tessa Waters | 15 October 2018 |
| 16 | 3 | "Rosa" | Adam Richard, Tegan Higginbotham, Steven O'Donnell, Rhianna Patrick | 22 October 2018 |
| 17 | 4 | "Arachnids in the UK" | Adam Richard, Tegan Higginbotham, Cal Wilson, Dave Callan | 29 October 2018 |
| 18 | 5 | "The Tsuranga Conundrum" | Adam Richard, Tegan Higginbotham, Steven O'Donnell, Jordan Raskopoulos | 5 November 2018 |
| 19 | 6 | "Demons of the Punjab" | Adam Richard, Tegan Higginbotham, Steven O'Donnell, Michelle Brasier | 12 November 2018 |
| 20 | 7 | "Kerblam!" | Adam Richard, Tegan Higginbotham, Steven O'Donnell, Bridie Connell, Jason Haigh-Ellery | 19 November 2018 |
| 21 | 8 | "The Witchfinders" | Adam Richard, Celia Pacquola, Tegan Higginbotham, Steven O'Donnell | 26 November 2018 |
| 22 | 9 | "It Takes You Away" | Adam Richard, Cal Wilson, Tegan Higginbotham, Jordan Raskopoulos, Steven O'Donnell | 3 December 2018 |
| 23 | 10 | "The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos" | Adam Richard, Tegan Higginbotham, Steven O'Donnell, Bridie Connell, Tim Shaw | 10 December 2018 |
Season 3 (2020)
editOn December 17, 2019, ABC Comedy announced that Whovians would be back following part two of the New Years Special.[3]
| No. overall | No. in season | Doctor Who episode | Panel | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 | 1 | "Spyfall" | Tegan Higginbotham, Steven O'Donnell, Justin Hamilton, Bridie Connell | 9 January 2020 |
| 25 | 2 | "Orphan 55" | Tegan Higginbotham, Steven O'Donnell, Justin Hamilton, Cal Wilson | 16 January 2020 |
| 26 | 3 | "Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror" | Tegan Higginbotham, Steven O'Donnell, Michelle Brasier, Georgie Carroll | 23 January 2020 |
| 27 | 4 | "Fugitive of the Judoon" | Tegan Higginbotham, Steven O'Donnell, Dylan Lewis, Greta Lee Jackson | 30 January 2020 |
| 28 | 5 | "Praxeus" | Tegan Higginbotham, Justin Hamilton, Merrick Watts, Tasma Walton | 6 February 2020 |
| 29 | 6 | "Can You Hear Me?" | Tegan Higginbotham, Steven O'Donnell, Justin Hamilton, Bridie Connell | 13 February 2020 |
| 30 | 7 | "The Haunting of Villa Diodati" | Tegan Higginbotham, Steven O'Donnell, Angharad "Rad" Yeo, Dave Callan | 20 February 2020 |
| 31 | 8 | "Ascension of the Cybermen" | Tegan Higginbotham, Steven O'Donnell, Jordan Raskopoulos, Dylan Lewis | 27 February 2020 |
| 32 | 9 | "The Timeless Children" | Tegan Higginbotham, Steven O'Donnell, Andrew Hansen, Luke McGregor, Angharad "Rad" Yeo | 5 March 2020 |
2021
editOn December 30, 2020, Rove McManus hinted on Twitter that Whovians would be returning for a fourth season in 2021.[4]
However Whovians didn't return to ABC TV due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Instead the Newcastle Local Group from the Doctor Who Club of Australia organised a panel from the Whovians team running on Zoom to discuss each episode of Doctor Who: Flux which aired on ABC TV in late 2021.[5]
Reception
editThe Sydney Morning Herald said that "Rove McManus' dissection [of each episode of Dr Who] afterwards is a fun and factoid-filled debrief."[6]
References
edit- ^ "Whovians: April 23". tvtonight.com.au. 19 April 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
- ^ Saw, Amelia (23 March 2017). "Rove McManus "geeks out" on new TV show dedicated to Whovians". news.com.au. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
- ^ COMEDY, ABC (16 December 2019). "We can confirm times for the return of #WhoviansAU *deep breath* Join us at 8:55pm on Thursday 9 January because ep 2 of #DoctorWho drops on iview Monday 6 January at approx. 7.00am (AEDT) and airs at 8pm on Thursday 9 January on @ABCTV *gasping*pic.twitter.com/zZyXupKxBs". @ABC_COMEDY. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
- ^ "Twitter". Retrieved 14 January 2021.
- ^ "Whovians returns (Sort of) – Doctor Who Club of Australia". 31 October 2021.
- ^ McManus, Bridget (7 May 2017). "Sunday TV picks". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 July 2017.