‘Doctor Who’ Season 2: “The Interstellar Song Contest” Review

This review was made possible by Popped receiving an advanced screener of the sixth episode of Doctor Who Season 2, titled “The Interstellar Song Contest.”

Following the thematic and literal depth of The Well and the narrative innovation of The Story & the Engine, Doctor Who Season 2 shifts gears with The Interstellar Song Contest. What begins as a seemingly light-hearted detour, a galactic song competition inspired by Eurovision, soon unfolds into a poignant exploration of cultural erasure and resistance. This episode masterfully balances the show’s signature whimsy with a compelling political allegory, all while delving deeper into the evolving complexities of the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa).

Ncuti Gatwa Takes His Performance As The Doctor To The Next Level Again

Ncuti Gatwa’s portrayal of the Doctor continues to reveal a more complex and darker side of the Time Lord. Following the unsettling confrontation with Conrad (Jonah Hauer-King) in the TARDIS during Lucky Day, where the Doctor delivers a chilling monologue, asserting that Conrad will be forgotten by history, we witness a Doctor who is not just flamboyant and charming but also capable of intense ruthlessness

This darker portrayal is further emphasised in the second act of this episode, where the Doctor, believing Belinda (Varada Sethu) to have been killed in the arena attack, confronts Kit (Freddie Fox) with a level of aggression that borders on torture. He subjects Kit to immense pain, only stopping when Susan appears in his mind, urging restraint, in addition to the reveal of Belinda’s survival. These moments highlight a Doctor who is increasingly willing to cross moral lines, driven by grief and a desire for justice. Gatwa’s performance masterfully balances this dangerous edge with the Doctor’s more familiar, light-hearted persona. The contrast between his playful “babes” demeanour and the underlying fury adds depth to the character, making this incarnation one of the most nuanced to date. It’s a portrayal that continues to remind me of David Tennant’s closing time during his tenure as The Tenth Doctor, small fragments of Time Lord Victorious keep coming back, and I can’t help but think that if this streak continues, The Doctor could be putting himself at risk of danger in the finale.

The Hellions and Freddie Fox’s Standout Turn

At the heart of the chaos is Freddie Fox’s performance as Kit, a character whose pain simmers beneath a mask of charm and icy control. Fox plays Kit with an unnerving elegance — equal parts low-key cabaret host and war criminal — making him one of the most sympathetic antagonists of this Doctor Who era so far. His chemistry with Wynn (Iona Anderson), and particularly the quiet intimacy in their moments together, offers a surprising tenderness that deepens the tragedy of their mission. These aren’t moustache-twirling villains; they’re victims of history, broken by what was taken from them.

The Hellions themselves are a powerful creation, painted with the kind of nuance Doctor Who does best when it’s firing on all cylinders. Through Cora’s backstory — her horns cut off, her heritage hidden — we see a society that has been colonised, misrepresented, and commodified into near extinction. The show doesn’t just give us a villain with a motive, it gives us a people with a past — one exploited for profit and erased for convenience. The anger, the vengeance, the desperation: it all comes from somewhere real, and Doctor Who leans into that, refusing to flinch.

A Contest that Was Never Just About the Music

The idea of a song contest being hijacked for political gain might sound far-fetched — until you remember Eurovision has never just been about the songs. For all its sequins and key changes, Eurovision has long been a stage for messaging, protest, and national image-building. It’s a cultural battleground disguised as a talent show. This episode doesn’t shy away from that reality; it embraces it, using the glittery backdrop of the Interstellar Song Contest to tell a much darker, necessary story about control, colonisation, and resistance.

While the real-world politics of Eurovision often leave me conflicted — and, frankly, uncomfortable — this episode uses its allegory with precision. The contest becomes a stage not just for performance, but for reckoning. In the final act, Cora steps forward and reclaims the platform, singing a song once banned by those in power. “This is a song the corporation tried to hide,” she says, addressing three trillion viewers. “The song of my home planet, Hellia. To remind us of the world that we lost, to remember the civilisation the corporation destroyed — its beauty, its history, its soul.” At a time when voices are being silenced and heritage erased, there’s something quietly radical about a performance that dares to grieve aloud — and makes the whole galaxy listen.

That being said, there are so many fun elements throughout the episode which honour the cultural side of the contest. Of course, the one and only Rylan appears in the episode as himself, becoming a kind of Chekhov’s Gun for the episode’s resolution – and no hate to Rylan in any way, however, the ending solution this week, just like in The Story & The Engine felt too easy for me, it felt like a really silly Get Out of Jail card being used for the second time in the row, the build up throughout the episode is so strong that it feels incredibly deflated in comparison. We get a bit of Bucks Fizz on the soundtrack through that sequence, though, which was a pleasant surprise. The most exciting intertextual Eurovision reference lies with the ominous reveal of the destruction of Earth by none other than Graham Norton. He reveals the Earth “died many years ago” and the planet ended on May 24th, 2025, by disintegrating into rock, dust and ashes in a single second.

The Flood Gates Open… Enter Susan and The Rani!

One of the most thrilling surprises in The Interstellar Song Contest was the return of Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford), the Doctor’s granddaughter, appearing in a series of haunting visions. Her presence, dressed in white, standing in the TARDIS, and urging the Doctor to “go back” was deeply emotional. This marks the first time since The Five Doctors that Susan has appeared on-screen, and after the earlier misdirection with “Susan Triad,” it now feels more likely than ever that she is truly out there. Her final vision, stopping the Doctor from torturing Kit, was a powerful reminder of the Doctor’s moral compass and the familial bond that still lingers. I absolutely loved this inclusion and can’t wait to see what Russell T. Davies has planned next.

Having primed the Vindicator throughout the season, much to Mrs Flood’s (Anita Dobson) glee, after the revelation from Graham Norton’s hologram, The Doctor and Belinda rush to the TARDIS to return home as soon as they can, before a stunning red and yellow colour scheme in the TARDIS paired with Cloister Bells and screeching sirens reveal the sound of May 24, 2025. The episode soon ends, with the credits intact before a mid-credits scene reveals all we’ve been waiting for.

I write this at 08:14 AM, on Saturday morning, having had the final minutes of the episode redacted – what follows the explosive ending, I have waited so long to watch. I cannot express how exciting the bigeneration and reveal of The Rani is, and I am beyond thrilled to see what RTD cooks up over the next two weeks. Archie Panjabi and Anita Dobson have such a hilarious duo act resemblance, going full good cop, bad cop in the short time they have ahead of Wish World and The Reality War. Overall, this episode is 2 for 2 in terms of executing the return of a classic character, unbelievably excited.

‘Doctor Who’ Season 2: “The Interstellar Song Contest” — Final Thoughts

The Interstellar Song Contest stands out as a very layered episode for the season so far — a riotous blend of colour, music, and political allegory that doesn’t shy away from challenging questions about identity, loss, and who gets to tell history. While the resolution feels rushed and veers into overly convenient territory for a second week in a row, the emotional weight carried by Gatwa, Fox, and Anderson is more than enough to ground the narrative. Ncuti Gatwa’s increasingly complex portrayal of the Doctor gives the show a vital energy, and with the ominous final moments pointing to a catastrophic reckoning on Earth and the return of The Rani, Doctor Who is barrelling towards a finale that promises both spectacle and consequence. The floodgates are open, and whatever comes next might just change the show forever.

Doctor Who Season 2 Episode 7, “Wish World” premieres on Disney+ worldwide and on BBC iPlayer in the UK on May 24 at 12am PT / 3am ET / 8am GMT.