A Very Exciting Catch-Up Post

I thought it’d be nice to do a quick post about what’s been going on this year. And since I have this website it seems sensible that I try to remember to update it. But, yes, 2025! A year that is…the not the best year I’ve ever experienced, but I am determined to keep this post positive, so here are some things that I’ve done this year I’m a little bit proud of and/or delighted by:

At the end of last year, after just over seven years of podcasting, Paul Cornell and I completed Hammer House of Podcast, where we discussed every Hammer horror film in release order. So, rather than go “Oh thank God it’s over” and never speak to each other again, (a reasonable outcome, I feel, given Paul remains appallingly wrong about Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed) we decided another seven years of podcasting would be a splendid idea.

And so, in January, we started a new podcast: Telefantasy Time Jump, where we discuss one British telefantasy television show each episode, starting in 1953 and continuing through to the present day. And, for lovely patrons of the podcast, there’s a second episode every month where we discuss a telefantasy show from some other part of the world (so much great stuff, but it was a particular delight to watch the very first Dutch sci-fi show. Was it dubbed or subtitled? No. Do either of us speak Dutch? No. Did we enjoy it? Yes!)

For convenience we’re using the same Patreon and RSS feed as we did for Hammer House of Podcast, but with shiny new graphics. But HHoP is all still there! So if you join the Telefantasy Time Jump Patreon, you also get access to seven years of HHoP bonus episodes.

While HHoP has finished, Paul and I haven’t quite stopped discussing Hammer films yet. We were invited to contribute a commentary to the Hammer restoration of The Man in Black (1950), a very fun thriller featuring Sid James in a straight role. And it was immensely satisfying to see a trio of excellent female characters leading the story. I was also especially delighted by – and this sounds silly, but I really do mean it – some lovely work by the costume designer in characterisation via dressing gown.

And these restoration releases are, frankly, incredible. The picture quality is stunning, the extras extensive, and the packaging gorgeous. I picked up The Curse of Frankenstein a few weeks ago, and was giddy at how much care and love had been put into their boxset of one of my most beloved films.

Also thrilled to have had not one, but two short stories published this year! Stars and Sabers is a new publishing company headed by the magnificent author and editor Jendia Gammon. They’ve already released a plethora of excellent works, and I’ve been lucky enough to be part of both their inaugural anthology, Of Shadows, Stars, and Sabers, (where I indulge in some fine Scottish folklore fantasy…and a lighthouse. I do love lighthouses) and their first fantasy anthology, Of Enchantment, Enigma, and the Infinite (where my contribution is a tale about a wizard who just wants a nice, modest tower to settle down in).

There are so many great authors in these books, and such a breadth of stories, they’re enormously exciting to read. And just look at those covers! Beautiful.

A new season of Doctor Who meant a new season of the Verity! podcast. And so after our hiatus we returned once more with nine shiny episodes of discussion, flail, and critique of Ncuti Gatwa’s final series.

And, ah, we were a question on The Chase! An actual real question on an actual television quiz! And a quiz hosted by Bradley Walsh at that. The contestant answered correctly, though I suspect that was less to do with our massive fame as a podcast and more to do with the “time-travelling TV show” bit. I can’t remember the date of broadcast – September 28th, maybe? – but we were on ITV for two, perhaps even three, seconds.

And I had a wee interview in Sci-fi Pulse a few weeks back, about Doctor Who, and Big Finish, and how great things were in the fandom in The Good Old Days. (I fear I may be aging ever so slightly.)

At the moment I’m continuing work on a non-fiction book about politics in Doctor Who, and that should be out next year. It’s been both terribly exciting and an epic amount of work. But if you’ve always thought there just isn’t enough Doctor Who non-fiction about giant brains, smug AIs, and that black fungus growing in Reactor No. 4 in Chernobyl nuclear power plant, then this is the book for you.

And I hope to write a few more posts here before the end of the year. Ah, optimism.

In conclusion, here’s a wee pic of my perfect boy, Hector: