Rogue Trooper, Ofcom, and Doctor Who Series 15
A weekly round-up of classic TV musings, podcast updates, matters arising, and silliness.
Hello, and welcome to another edition of Kasterborous. This thrice-weekly newsletter/blog features a mix of retro culture stuff that I find interesting, or as I call it:
Retro Culture Stuff That I Find Interesting.
Because I couldn’t find a decent acronym for that, I settled on Kasterborous.
What is this all about?
For those of you who have followed me for a while, you probably know all of this. For everyone else: Kasterborous started as a cult TV site with me writing and an illustrator (Anthony Dry) designing/doing art way back in 2004. Seeing Doctor Who was being revived, we quickly pivoted to being 100% devoted to that show, and later when Mr Dry departed, I launched some other sites, a cult TV site and a British comedy site.
Eventually, just the podcast remained, but more recently, we’ve added this newsletter.
What you have in your hands, right now, is a phone. But on that phone, you can receive messages from people like me, who think you find their opinions interesting.
You did subscribe, after all.
This means that I can beam stuff right into your device, stuff like revisiting old reviews of Doctor Who episodes, Monty Python spinoffs you might have missed, general new and previously unused material, and weekly updates like this one.
Today, you’re getting:
A look at some recent Kasterborous podcasts (yes, we have one of those)
A look at the Rogue Trooper movie
Some thoughts Ofcom censorship
Vain attempts at humour
So…
Kasterborous and Doctor Who Series 15
I’ll start with this, as it’s what most of you are here for.
We kicked off the podKast (!) in 2007, and hit the ground running with weekly episodes in 2011, when James McLean came on board. Currently, we’re at episode 479, but the dating system is way out, appropriately enough.
Throughout Series 15 of Doctor Who (the most recent run, which has generated some negative press), we welcomed a series of guests. Most of these appear in the latest edition, a special “round off” of contemporary Doctor Who for the foreseeable future.
Since about 2015, we ran with Doctor Who and other topics, but since 2023 we’ve brought everything into a single podcast strand. The podcast goes out weekly, and is available early, ad-free, and with extra material to Patrons. You can support us at www.patreon.com/kasterborous.
Matt Berry in Rogue Trooper
Duncan Jones - he of the illustrious parentage - is aiming to return to critical acclaim with Rogue Trooper.
It’s an adaptation of the 2000AD comic strip which will star Aneurin Barnard (best known to me as Karen Gillan’s co-lead in We’ll Take Manhattan, in which he played David Bailey, she Jean Shrimpton) and, features a cast including Sean Bean, Hayley Atwell, Reece Shearsmith, Diane Morgan, and, rather wonderfully, Matt Berry.
Or as you may hear that Matttt Berreeeyy…
Jones has written and directed and produced the movie, which seems to be a CG-animated affair. Some images from the production have been released, which demonstrate the facial cameras used on Matt Berry and Jermaine Clement (who play looters Mr Brass and Mr Bland).
The plot of the movie is as follows:
Rogue Trooper tells the story of 19, a ‘Genetic Infantryman', who finds himself the sole-survivor of an invasion force. Desperate to track down the traitor who sold him and his comrades out, the super soldier is accompanied by three killed-in-action squad mates, whose personalities have been stored in his gun, helmet and backpack.
Moon was one of the best movies of the 2010s, so I’m hoping Rogue Trooper (originally created by Dave Gibbons and Gerry Finlay-Day) - a far more interesting proposition than endless DC and Marvel movies - can make a decent impact.
Keep an eye on the Rogue Trooper website for release details.
Ofcom censorship
Should viewers be able to decide what they watch, even if the broadcast features outdated terms, some of which may now be considered offensive.
Well, yes, I think they should. Recently, this has become increasingly contentious, with Ofcom - the UK’s “independent” body for regulating media communications - accused of imposing censorship.
Smaller channels showing archive TV shows like RewindTV and Talking Pictures TV have found themselves having to make changes to old shows, and it doesn’t always work out well.
RewindTV, meanwhile, has told the Telegraph that:
“Many broadcasters live in permanent fear of falling foul of Ofcom guidelines – small companies could fold if they’re hit with a fine and so, inevitably, they are forced to take a ‘safety-first’ approach when it comes to censorship.”
There has long been a rumour of a blacklist of words being in operation.
Ofcom denies this, stating:
“Ofcom is not a censor. Freedom of expression is at the heart of our broadcasting rules – and these rules do not prevent the broadcast of content that may be offensive or controversial to some audiences.
“Each broadcaster has editorial freedom to decide the type of programmes or films it airs.”
Look, it’s very simple. If you want to watch something, watch it, and either enjoy it or dislike it. If the broadcast offends your sensibilities, switch it off.
Put it this way: There’s plenty on TV in 2025 that offends the hell out of me.
Thanks for reading
Finally, I’ll finish with some unused dialogue from a thing I wrote…
Over the years, he had managed to curate what I could only describe as a camp gait; so no one was surprised a few years later when he opened a campsite.
I’ll be back with the Saturday tea-time edition, so make sure you’re sat in front of the telly, phone in hand, and I’ll drop into your inbox just after the evening news.