Mostly Harmless Cutaway

I am a relative newcomer to the Mostly Harmless Cutaway podcast, my first encounter with the show was listening to the coverage of the Gallifrey 22 convention in Los Angeles, which features a host of podcasting talent recorded (sometimes stealthily) in a very entertaining way.

The show originally started out as The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Whoverse, and gradually evolved into the show you can hear today.

Eric is your host, along with co-host Josh, and a cast of entertaining guests including Sean from the TARDIS Tavern & the Doctor Who Book Club podcasts, Cat from the Sci-Fi Partyline podcast and Julian from the 2am Show Podcast (he also supplies the fantastic cover art for the show).

For me, what makes a good podcast is the chemistry between the participants, and this show doesn't disappoint. There is a lot of humour in this podcast, Eric has a smooth presenting style, peppered with witty jokes and Josh is always ready with a great one liner, which often leads to spontaneous bouts of giggling.

The show looks at Nu Who, and there are reviews of the latest episodes, part of the appeal is that the discussions remind me of the conversations I have with my fellow Doctor Who fans when we meet up at our local pub.

One of my favourite parts of the show is listening to Cat as she discovers the classic series, maybe I'm turning into a sad old man, but there is a nostalgic joy to be had from hearing someone seeing these fantastic (and sometimes not so fantastic) shows that you watched as a child for the first time.

Another fun aspect of the show is when they provide a commentary for classic series stories, so far we have had The Trial Of A Timelord, The TV Movie and the first three stories from the Key To Time series (there is a running joke that The Androids Of Tara hasn't been released yet, after almost a year at the time of writing since the commentary for the previous story was released!).

One other thing that marks this show out from the select number of Who related podcasts that I subscribe to is the listener feedback section, complete with one of the most amazing fanfares (!) which makes me laugh every time I hear it. There are some interesting points from my fellow listeners (yes I'm looking at YOU Erika Ensign aka @_HollyGoDarkly_) and it gives the show a real sense of community.

If you haven't realised by now I really love this podcast, and if you like Doctor Who and want to try something new, what are you waiting for.... give it a try here.

So, closing out this blog post, this is Mark, and remember, even if you if you think you will never get to hear the MHC commentary for The Androids Of Tara, DON'T PANIC!