''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. It was nominated for the " Best Fancast" at the

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier ...

s in 2014 and 2018. The ''Verity!'' contributors are all ''Doctor Who'' fans and live in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and Australia. The show has been described as "intelligently fannish" and referenced as a recommended podcast.

History

''Verity!'' first aired January 2013. 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. 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. The format of having only women on the podcast made it stand out among the many other ''Doctor Who''-related podcasts. The podcast's name is a homage to Verity Lambert, the first producer of ''Doctor Who''.

Content

''Verity!'' shows consist of a discussion of various topics touching on and about ''Doctor Who ''among the cast members. 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. The other episodes are shorter, about twenty to forty minutes and can be on any topic the women choose. Erika Ensign and Stanish participate in most episodes: Stanish is the moderator and Ensign does the technical work. The other four cast members rotate, except for large celebratory episodes where all six come together for the show. 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 Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, ...

call. ''Verity!'' is not scripted, except for some contributors, like Ensign and Stanish, who use occasional notes in order to stay on topic. Overall, the show is not heavily edited and is meant to sound like a natural conversational flow. In a January 2023 episode, the podcasters announced a hiatus, with an intention to return in some format later in 2023, VerityPodcast2023

Cast members

* Erika Ensign (

Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anch ...

) – Former producer of the ''Apex Magazine Podcast'', current co-producer of the ''Uncanny Magazine Podcast'', and technical editor of ''Verity!'' * Katrina (Kat) Griffiths (Edmonton, Alberta) – fan and writer. * Liz (L.M.) Myles (

Kirkcudbrightshire Kirkcudbrightshire ( ), or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Kirkcudbrightshire was an administrative coun ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

) – contributor to ''Chicks Dig Time Lords,'' co-editor of ''Chicks Unravel Time'' and co-editor of ''Companion Piece ''(2015). * Tansy Rayner Roberts (

Hobart, Tasmania Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/ Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-smal ...

) – author of the ''Creature Court'' series and

winner. * Deborah (Deb) Stanish (

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

) – co-editor of ''Whedonistas'' (2011) and co-editor of ''Chicks Unravel Time'' who moderates the panel discussion on Verity! *

Lynne M. Thomas Lynne M. Thomas is an American librarian, podcaster and award-winning editor. She has won ten Hugo Awards for editing and podcasting in the science fiction genre. She is perhaps best known as the co-publisher and co-editor-in-chief of the Hugo ...

(

Urbana, Illinois Urbana ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. As of the 2010 United States Census, Urbana is the 38th-most populous municipality in Illinois. It ...

) – a co-editor of ''Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It (2010)'', ''Whedonistas (2011)'', and ''Chicks Dig Comics (2012)'', and a contributor to ''Chicks Unravel Time''. She is also the former editor-in-chief of ''

Apex Magazine ''Apex Magazine'', also previously known as ''Apex Digest'', is an American horror and science fiction magazine. This subscription webzine, ''Apex Magazine'', contains short fiction, reviews, and interviews. It has been nominated for several awar ...

'', moderator of '' SF Squeecast'', and current co-publisher and co-editor-in-chief of ''

Uncanny Magazine ''Uncanny Magazine'' is an American science fiction and fantasy online magazine, edited and published by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, based in Urbana, Illinois. Its mascot is a space unicorn. The editors-in-chief, who originally ed ...

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Verity! Audio podcasts Science fiction podcasts Feminist podcasts Works about Doctor Who Doctor Who fandom Film and television podcasts 2013 podcast debuts