Thursday 25 February 2010

Wow! SFX exclusive animated "Doctor Who" cover



Dunno if it'll work here (I don't know how it works anyway), but SFX's next issue (out 10 March) has this whizzo animated cover featuring the Doctor, Amy and some Weeping Angels in the woods.


More here:

http://www.sfx.co.uk/page/sfx?entry=major_sfx_doctor_who_exclusive

Sunday 21 February 2010

Sunday Joint - 21 February 2010 - ADULTS ONLY




Paint Crew - Mario & Heath

New Doctor Who 2010 series trailer



An unusual strategy for this specially shot trailer (which will be upgraded to 3D for cinemas) which disappointed those of us looking for further preview clips from the actual episodes. Basically it's a moving version of the vortex image released last week.

What it does reveal for the first time is Amy's Scottish accent and a confirmed start date of Easter 2010, which is surely Saturday 3 April.

Sorry for the 24 hour delay.

Saturday 20 February 2010

Meat to Please You - Harris - ADULTS ONLY!




http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/8b075f9354b56f5c078d77f35d87bab8/

Who Killed Archie? Eastenders Live & Aftermath

There may be some of you who haven't got around to the reveal so don't scroll any further than these shots of Bradley falling to his death from the roof of the Queen Vic (well you must have known he was going) ...

And so in the very last scene, after the whole square, including all the other prime suspects, has witnessed Bradley's end we find out it was ... Stacey.

In hindsight it all makes so much sense, even though Stacey wasn't pushed as a suspect very much to the audience, despite having plenty motive. In the end too, she has only told Max, which makes for a fascinating prospect of both of them attempting to let dead Bradley take the rap, now that he is beyond needing protection.

(Much kudos to Lacey Turner who had been losing her voice from a throat infection yesterday, but had it for when it was needed. Ironic for the actress that so really needed to be able to voice the confesssion).

It was an ambitious episode that also had the completely shocking extra reveal that Ronnie too had been raped by Archie, her own father. And Charlie Clements on his last day at work had live physical stunt work to do (albeit with the help of a stuntman).

It's going to be fascinating watching the six weeks of episodes shot between yesterday's and today's when all the actors playing the other suspects are still unawares and working on scripts that don't make them any wiser, though it has been admitted that there will be new scenes (presumably with Stacey and Max) slotted into them. Apparently it is revealed to the characters at the end of March, but presumably not the police? Maybe the ramifications of this plot have some link to Kat and Alfie coming back?

There were some fluffs in the episode - who would have thought Scott Maslen was one of the few actors who'd done a live episode before, as he mangled his early lines a fair bit, though it added realism to a fictional panic. Samantha Womack also confessed later she'd made Ronnie into an inadvertent shoplifter.

My main gripe, if any, with it was the apparent absence of lots of characters, despite the actors actually being there. Perhaps I should have another look at it, but I'm sure it wasn't just because they didn't have speaking parts. Some were perhaps only there for the wrap party which we witnessed on the follow-up BBC Three show.

The BBC Three 'aftermath' show was completely surreal, from being hosted by Archie's real-life son (the non-saviour of 6Music, George Lamb), to watching the rest of the actors gripped and gobsmacked themselves by the live reveal, cast and crew mixing in the R&R set with real alcohol and an super-swift interview with hapless Charlie Clements as he wobbled to his feet still dripping fake blood everywhere.

It's really unique TV itself - catch it here until 9.29pm on Friday 26th:


Lastly, here's some photos from the preparations this week for the live episode. A couple of them deserve subtitle competitions!

Friday 19 February 2010

Happy Birthday Eastenders! MEGA-POST


Today is the silver anniversary of the BBC's premier soap, Eastenders, marked at 8pm tonight
with it's first ever live episode which will tell us who was Archie Mitchell's Christmas Day killer as well as probably kill off a more beloved character, in a not entirely unrelated development.

At last I've managed to gather together these shots created for the occasion. Above is a photoshopped tableau of various icons from across those 25 years. Notably, nine are still currently on the show (and though one is departing, another is returning).

The 'family' portraits below are very good, though not without the shadow of Photoshop here and there for unavoidable actor absences. Even in last night's bumper hour long episode which saw the simultaneous second weddings of both Ricky and Bianca and Bradley and Stacey, they were missing four of the cast. But it was so packed you really have to study these to see who didn't appear in the episode (young children exempted it was Mo, Jay, Tanya and Adam) so that was a great effort - they even had three of the four E20 stars, while only one is included below.

Today apparently also marks the official handover of the show from producer Diedrick Santer to Bryan Kirkwood after 3 and a bit years. I have to say his stint in charge has been a golden era of the show and he'll be going out on a high. The recent revelation that mid-noughties alpha couple Alfie and Kat are returning in the autumn is young Kirkwood's first major act, and one that I'm not hugely enthusiastic about. Have to say I had one of my biggest EE divorces for around six years between the mass import of the Slaters in September 2000 and (ironically) the introduction of Sean Slater in August 2006. Odd that the latter is a bookie's favourite for Archie's murder as I type, even though he left the show in January 2009.

Anyway, under Santer we have had the introduction of Roxy & Ronnie Mitchell (as well the now deceased Archie and Danielle), the Masoods, Christian Clarke, Heather and Shirley not forgetting the hugely successful re-introduction of Ricky and Bianca, and assorted brood. Plus storylines like Max and Stacey's slow burning affair, the Tony/Whitney paedophile affair, Christian and Syed's gay affair, Stephen shooting Jane and Denise's murderous husbands (no3 has recently murdered no1 but not been found out yet) just for starters. Two of their braver decisions of 2009 were ones which went down badly with much of the audience, namely Danielle's death, just after telling Ronnie she was her daughter and the reveal that teenage Darren was the father of Heather's baby George Michael. Anyway I realise I may be in the minority in loving those twists, but people seem to feel cheated because they didn't follow the predictable soap rules. I can't deny there have been mistakes though - the umpteenth return of Nick Cotton at Christmas 2008 which was largely cancelled out by a rather too convenient explosion last June is my pick, closely followed by the umpteenth return of Sam Mitchell, for no really good reason last autumn. But Santer kicked the 2-D gangster tendency into touch, for which we must be eternally grateful.

As an aide-memoire you can place the Santer era as the first post-Pauline period, as his first produced show went out in January 2007, just after her demise. And we have tonight's demise to bookend that, though I'd wager he really stopped producing just before Christmas when last night's episode concluded filming.

The Jackson/Butcher/Malloy collective


The Beales (and 'Uncle' Christian)

The Mitchells (and lil' orphan Jay)

Slaters Diminished

The Johnsons (and Patrick Trueman)

Clan Branning

The Masoods

...and assorted singletons.

Anyhow, I mentioned that there were some missing faces from the family albums. There are two omissions I must make amends for, as both are making up the Albert Square totty quotient at present.



The first is Liam Bergin playing Danny, another long-lost Mitchell who first appeared at his father's funeral and will return to a snowy Albert Square in 3 weeks. Rumours are already rife he will eventually hook up with Stacey, following tonight's events.



And then we have Sam Attwater as E20 hunk, Leon Small who is soon to attach himself through fatherhood to another of the big Walford families, the Beales. Some might remember he turned up as the teenage stripper at Bianca's hen party last week (actually a hugely unlikely and possibly illegal bit of plot when you put any thought to it).





Oh and lastly, here's a little bit on the making of the special Eastenders25 BBC One ident (included) , where Albert Square is magically and literally turned round.

Wednesday 17 February 2010

Glee on E4: "Mash-Up" preview



I know the last one I posted evaporated from view rather quickly after broadcast but I couldn't resist this clip of Puck blossoming with "Sweet Caroline" (also on the first soundtrack album released here last Monday). Neil Diamond himself tweeted his approval after it was shown in the US last October.

Also worth a look for these reversified scenarios too:






See on E4 next Monday 22nd at 9pm or the following Sunday afternoon on Channel 4.

http://www.e4.com/glee/

Doctor Who 2010 - the countdown begins!



There's a new promo pic been released and much buzz around what other stuff is going to be zapped at us in the next 6 weeks (Matt Smith already confirmed as being a guest on Jonathan Ross' Friday night TV show and rumours of another cinema ad).

Broadcast date still being scrapped about in fandom but it's not going to be before March 27th because of the Six Nations, and my money is still on Easter Saturday again (3 April).

EDIT: And lo it appears as the cover for DWM 419 (out 4 March).

Sunday 14 February 2010

Sunday Joint - 14 February 2010 - ADULTS ONLY




Mike Roberts exacts a price for his first aid skills from errant cyclist Zack Randall.

Photos from Falkland

This is on approach to the town centre of Falkland from the south. Managed to catch the afternoon sun on this one

The snowdrop festival was what drew me there, but they weren't in the abundant flourish I'd been expecting, so this is the best photo I have of them.

A woodland path on the Falkland estate

A period garden feature on the Falkland estate

Detail of the Falkland Palace exterior

I think this is the spire of the town hall

Some details of the Bruce fountain in the middle of the town

The local map and guide

Some ivy covered house

Inside the Stag Inn.

Signposting the Stag Inn

Statue of long dead local noble

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