Big Ideas

Listen, download, subscribe

Apple Podcasts

Doctor Who at 60 — still as attractive as ever

Doctor Who has acted as a mirror to more than six decades of social, technological and cultural change. It's been able to evolve and adapt more radically than any other fiction. Why we are so addicted to fiction, and why does this wonderful wandering time traveller mean so much to so many. This talk was provided by the York Festival of Ideas. The Festival is led by the University of York, UK. Original broadcast on July 21, 2025. Speaker John HiggsAuthor of Exterminate/Regenerate: The Story of Doctor Who (Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2025)

• 

  Childless on purpose — the fertility crisis and the big decision

• 

  Surfer Tim Baker and doctor Peter Goldsworthy on living well with cancer

• 

  Understand your microbiome

• 

  The role of spirituality and religion in mental health care

• 

  A song for every feeling? Pub Choir's Astrid Jorgensen with Natasha Mitche…

• 

  Victoria's new treaty with First Peoples — a turning point for Australia?

• 

  Pay attention — writer Emily Maguire finds promiscuous curiosity and cultu…

• 

  Can science keep dementia at bay and keep your brain sharper − for longer?

• 

  Acclaimed author Christos Tsiolkas on fence-sitting in a time of fracture

• 

  The stories we tell about cricket — with Paul Giles and Gideon Haigh

• 

  Musician Holly Rankin on why young Australians feel that politics isn't de…

• 

  What are universities for today? The usefulness of "useless" knowledge

• 

  Jane Caro — why Australia is failing our school system

• 

  Coming Out and Inviting In — with Zoe Terakes, Nina Oyama, Mon Schafter, A…

• 

  Searching for convivencia — philosopher AC Grayling makes peace in the cul…