Verity! is a weekly podcast about the television show, Doctor Who as seen through the eyes of a rotating cast of six women. Verity! has a female-centered format and is a feminist podcast.[1] It was nominated for the "Best Fancast" at the Hugo Awards in 2014 and 2018.[2] The Verity! contributors are all Doctor Who fans and live in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. The show has been described as "intelligently fannish"[3] and referenced as a recommended podcast.[4]
Verity! | |
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Presentation | |
Hosted by | Erika Ensign, Katrina Griffiths, L.M. Myles, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Deborah Stanish, Lynne M. Thomas |
Genre | Entertainment |
Language | English |
Length | Every other show is an hour long. The "Extras" are between 20 and 40 minutes. Apart from when they aren't. |
Production | |
Audio format | MP3 |
Publication | |
Original release | January 1, 2013 |
Verity! first aired January 2013.[5] Deborah Stanish, the moderator of the podcast, met most of the other participants at conventions or other Doctor Who events or by working with them on non-fiction, Doctor Who-related books.[1] Stanish wanted to hear the female and minority voices of Doctor Who fans and decided to start a podcast where several women could lend their view to the show and issues surrounding it.[1] The format of having only women on the podcast made it stand out among the many other Doctor Who-related podcasts.[6]
The podcast's name is a homage to Verity Lambert, the first producer of Doctor Who.[7][8]
Verity! shows consist of a discussion of various topics touching on and about Doctor Who among the cast members.[9] There is a "proper" episode every other week that is about an hour long and is based on a theme that the podcasters follow all year.[6] The other episodes are shorter, about twenty to forty minutes and can be on any topic the women choose.[6] Erika Ensign and Stanish participate in most episodes: Stanish is the moderator and Ensign does the technical work.[1] The other four cast members rotate, except for large celebratory episodes where all six come together for the show.[1] Each contributor to Verity! lives in a different part of the world, so they record in their own locations and are connected via a Skype call.[10]
Verity! is not scripted, except for some contributors, like Ensign and Stanish, who use occasional notes in order to stay on topic.[6] Overall, the show is not heavily edited and is meant to sound like a natural conversational flow.[6]
In a January 2023 episode, the podcasters announced a hiatus. The podcast returned in November 2023, with all of the original cast discussing the three Doctor Who specials featuring David Tennant, and the Doctor Who Christmas special in December, in a series of winter podcast episodes.