This Saturday (16th January 2021), Doctor Who fans collectively have the chance to rewatch Robots of Sherwood, the third Peter Capaldi episode in his first series. Following Clara’s wish to see if Robin Hood is real, the Doctor sets the TARDIS to take them to Sherwood Forest. But he’s shocked to find out that Robin Hood might be more real than he thought…
The Doctor Who watchalongs have been a great way for fans to get together over the last year. Organised by Doctor Who Magazine‘s Emily Cook, they covered many different episodes of the modern era, while other eager fans decided to do similar watchalongs for the classic era.
With the new UK lockdown and tougher restrictions this time around, Emily is back with the popular watchalongs, scheduled right up until the end of February – it seems likely that every Saturday at 7pm (GMT), we’ll be getting some chances to rewatch stories from 2005-17
What was also excellent over the last set of watchalongs was the extra material that came out, my favourite being Farewell Sarah Jane Smith, a final tribute and goodbye to Elisabeth Sladen which came out alongside The Stolen Earth/ Journey’s End watchalong. Whether there will be any extra material released this time around is unknown, but given how much effort Emily put into it last time, with no budget either, I should think there might be.
It was also nice to see Doctor Who contributors who had never had a Twitter account or had left the platform coming back and interacting with the other viewers. The Dalek watchalong heralded some nice facts from author Robert Shearman and then-showrunner Russell T Davies. And I’m looking forward to this new batch as they are taking place on a Saturday at a time I can do! I had to miss out on a number of them last time around as I work in a supermarket, so it’ll be nice to interact with many other fans.
On its original release, many fans didn’t like Robot of Sherwood. But it’s a fun little throwaway tale, the sort we normally get in the early days of a new Doctor’s era. The guest cast are great too: Ben Miller and Tom Riley make an excellent hero and villain duo as the Sheriff of Nottingham and Robin Hood respectively, and the robots look excellent.
To take part in the watchalong, either find the episode on BBC iPlayer or use a copy of the DVD/Blu-ray, and log onto or join Twitter, using the hashtag #OutlawsAndLegends to join in and chat Doctor Who with many other fans. Everyone is happy to talk, and I’m hoping we get some of the cast and crew involved for this one too. I’m looking forward to seeing it again!
