The doctor's next mission: save the BBC (from the Torymen)

I said that Doctor Who justifies the licence fee (if you're not from the UK: the licence fee costs £142 and covers all BBC TV and radio (ad-free) and pays for the transmission network for all TV and radio, whatever network - bargain).

It's great. Unfortunately, the Conservative party utterly hate the BBC and public service broadcasting, and have done a deal with Rupert Murdoch's publishing and broadcasting empire: support the Tories in the upcoming election and we'll reduce the BBC to a pathetic shadow of its former self.

Russell T Davies (of Who mastery) defends the BBC passionately, here.

"To them it's a tax and they want to get rid of it."

"They'll freeze the licence fee and persuade Daily Mail readers it's the right thing to do by saying they're getting rid of all those digital channels they don't watch, that's the language they'll use."

"I think politicians only experience broadcasting through their own prism, through the Today programme and through the interviews they do. They don't sit down and watch Coronation Street or EastEnders."

"I'll come back and fight them at the barricades. I feel a bit like Alan Bennett, who said his favourite things about Britain were the BBC and the NHS."

If you vote Tory: no more Doctor Who (or semi-objective news, current affairs, documentaries, non-toy advertising children's television etc. etc. etc.). Just Fox, stamping on your face for ever.

TV on the radio

I bought a TV licence for the first time, a few days ago. I'm a big fan - £142 to cover many channels, more radio stations than one could ever listen to, and the transmission network for all the other stations. Most wonderfully, BBC services are wonderfully ad-free. Compared to the cost of Sky (for which you need a TV licence too), it's an utter bargain. 

So why do I feel slightly annoyed? Because since setting up the telly, I've only listened to Radios 3 and 4, and Nancy Elizabeth's Wrought Iron, which is hypnotic, late-night loveliness. 

Torchwould or Torchwouldn't?

This probably won't mean much to you if you're outside the UK or not a nerd, but did any of you follow the special Torchwood shows last week? Apart from the actual content, I loved the media blitz of having them on every night for a whole week, as well as the rather good special episodes on Radio 4.

I confess to hating the previous series' of Torchwood - badly acted, poorly scripted, designed to shock what few remaining old gits are out there. Most viewers are no doubt fine with Welsh people, gay people and gay Welsh people and the actual plots came a distinct second best. It all felt very insubstantial.

None of this was the case with these specials. Though at times it felt like a Doctor Who series without the Doctor (it's a spin-off from that show), and the themes of homosexuality and family were central to the plot, what we got was an unsettling, highly-politicised drama (one government minister proposes sourcing the children demanded from aliens from poor schools: 'what are the league tables for?' - unsettlingly, she ends up in charge at the end, and not all the endings are happy or neat). I know that 'governing classes divorced from normal life' isn't exactly news, but it was done very well. Peter Capaldi ran the gamut from evil (to everybody else) to victim (of the PM) very convincingly, and it was an especial pleasure to see him play a civil servant different to his previous version, the foul-mouthed Malcolm in The Thick of It and In The Loop. He certainly blew whoever plays Captain Jack off the screen by not devoting every facial muscle to whatever emotion was required at any particular moment.

Apart from the plots, which did have the occasional hole, the whole thing was a model of the kind of event TV which still has the power to hook us (I'm also staying up four nights a week to watch The Wire on BBC2). This is, of course, partly the product of constant cross-media promotion and the freedom the BBC has. ITV's advertisers wouldn't have been happy with a lot of the content, and that channel's revenues wouldn't stretch to the expense anyway.

Finally, it's always good to see that the BBC isn't completely metropolitan. It is trying to move departments to Manchester, though this is more for public consumption than creativity: lots of presenters will no doubt be commuting from London. Meanwhile, BBC Wales/Cymru saved Doctor Who in spectacular fashion despite the lack of an obvious Welsh link. Unless 'Doctor Who?' was the standard response to his original name. 'Hi. I'm Dr. Meredydd ap Gwalchgwyn and I'll get rid of those Daleks for you'. And let's not forget the other, rather brilliant, Who spinoff, The Sarah Jane Mysteries.

The licence fee is £142.50, covering all BBC TV, radio and internet, plus the broadcasting network. Even if you hate half the output, that's astonishingly good value - and no advertising. By comparison, I spend a lot more than that on my mobile phone contract.