Back in the Whoniverse

Picture Spoilers Ahoy!



So we are now counting down to the conclusion of the 2011 season, which will apparently return in both the UK & US on the unusual date of 27 August, rather than 3 September which most had expected. A fair bit was out of the bag for the occasion of Comic-Con. As well as TWO trailers (oddly one for just "The God Complex" episode) there was a lovely cast promo, see below which teases us with a pyramid and Rory's pert bottom. It also marks the official unveiling of the Doctor's new overcoat, mostly brought in to keep Matt warm during winter filming.

The trailer also reveals some weird and wonderful things - with the one I've pictured last causing the most fan chatter. All of our regulars look to be given moments of greatness.

After all the recent acrimony over future production plans for 2012 and the 50th anniversary in 2013 seeming to be pared back and reports of fueds between Steven Moffat and new BBC One controller Danny Cohen, just as both of Moffat's fellow producers leave the show, I have trust in the show and suspect this will all blow over. Even cast concerns have allayed when considered alongside the new working pattern, though I was a bit alarmed to hear everyone was recently dragged back for a day's filming on "Let's Kill Hitler" despite having otherwise wrapped at the end of April. Karen Gillan confirmed at the weekend she will return for series 7, probably arriving late in 2012, despite TV and theatre commitments. Arthur Darvill has yet to voice a similar confirmation, but we may find out in September when this year's Christmas special is to be filmed. It seems unlikely to me that one would continue without their spouse on board, though Arthur is tied to playing Mephistopheles at London's Globe theatre into early October. We know of course already the Matt Smith has signed up to play the Doctor until at least the anniversary, something he always seems very keen on being a part of.

The trailer for the hotel-bound episode "The God Complex" is here

Retro Blast - May 1984

And so I thought I'd start up a new run of Retro Blasts, just when you were least expecting it. Hoping to make it a 13 week run until the end of July but that is merely an aspiration. I have pencilled in various time travels between 1968 and 2005.

This weekend we start with May 1984. Two months into the miners' strike I remember a fraught day at work on the 9th when a "Day of Action" by various unions had been called in support. I worked at Rosyth Dockyard then, though had only been there 6 months and was a wimpy 19 year old. Though I had been present at the outdoor vote to decided whether the entire workforce would go on strike in support, I'd voted against as I felt it was nothing to do with us and was not keen on the way the vote had been unusually staged so as to intimidate. So I went in on that day and had to run a gauntlet of spitting, swearing and being called a scab - luckily from inside a car on that day - and being scared to leave and suffer it again. I still think I was right - and in July 1986 I joined the local union commitee, staying involved until the mid 90s even after my move to London.

Anyway to fluffier things...

Causing two of the hit singles in this week's chart (see below) was the film "Footloose", starring Kevin Bacon. Playing contrary to his later film roles he was a pin-up dance star in this. The picture here should show why. I always saw it as the male answer to Flashdance the previous year.

It has since been made into a theatrical musical and a remake film is in the works.

On TV - US pace - this week saw the climax of the fourth season of "Dynasty". As with "Dallas" it was not the most memorable of climaxes, save for the departure of Pamela Sue Martin as Fallon. I remember the arrival of Diahann Carroll as 'black bitch' Dominique Devereux in the last two eps (later revealed as the half-sister of Blake Carrington, but generally wasted after an intial impact). Here is that arrival scene, with Joan Collins as Alexis.

Starting this week on UK TV was the second and final series of "The Young Ones". Opening episode on the 8th was "Bambi", where there was an infamous and star-studded send-up of "University Challenge". Motorhead performed "Ace of Spades" as the musical guests that week.

Who could have thunk that 25 years later a main star from "Dynasty" would beat a main star from "The Young Ones" in a kitchen based reality show?

In the UK singles chart Duran Duran were victors with "The Reflex" at no1.

At no3 though was Queen with one of their campest songs and a video that mixes ballet with Coronation Street ...

And here are those two tracks from "Footloose". First off, at no9 is Kenny Loggins with the title track...

... and at no18 is Deniece Williams with "Let's Hear it for the Boy". As with the above, this is the (rather bromancey) sequence from the film rather than the promo video.

Another song from the film, Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out For a Hero" eventually became a hit here in the summer of 1985 on the back of it's use as the theme of the US TV series "Cover Up"

In what was to be a summer of HiNRG hits, Hazell Dean cracks the top 40 at no40 with "Searchin' (I Gotta Find A Man)" - here seen a little later on "Top of The Pops" ..

Also this week was the death of Diana Dors, the debut of "Surprise, Surprise" on ITV and the Queen officially opened the Thames Barrier.

http://www.chartstats.com/chart.php?date=07%2F05%2F1984

Great Royal Wedding Compliation - "Happy Heart"

I am neither royalist or republican particularly, but did watch most of last Friday's hitching of William & Kate on telly, even if I lost interest in the overly religious bits. The piece below was used by the BBC at the close of their main coverage just before 4pm, thus missing that stylish Palace exit by Aston Martin (pictured above). Very well put together and unstuffy overview, especially in the use of movement.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11767495

Happy Easter 2011!

OK, so maybe I was supposed to say it yesterday, but only just found this pic ;)

Still had no choccy eggs myself this year (not even a creme egg), though that may just tempt me

Doctor Who does Comic Relief!

As was doubly confirmed this week, both by an official BBC news release and the above next DWM cover (out 10 March), there will be a six-minute special "Doctor Who" sketch for this year's Comic Relief which appears to feature two Amy Ponds. That should be part of the main TV show on Friday, 18th March. Though the main show has done several contributions to Children In Need over the years, most notably "Time Crash" in 2007 and the Eastenders crossover "Dimensions In Time" in 1993, I don't think anything has been done for Comic Relief. There was a Ronnie Corbett-as-a Slitheen skit last time with the "Sarah Jane Adventures" gang though. The canonicity of all of these will be hotly debated.

In what seems to be a general trend for this biennual charity, much of the activity happens in the runup, working as a slow-burn PR strategy. This year we also have the cast of the Inbetweeners travelling to Britain's rudest sounding places, a celebrity Kazoo orchestra for Radio 3, comedian flavour crisp contest (losers get body waxed), presenters/DJs from all the BBC radio stations attempting stand-up slots, and the traditional Comic Relief single, this time by boyband The Wanted (below). And much more as they say!

http://www.comicrelief.com/

Bye Bye Bruv

Brian wins Ultimate Big Brother

Thankfully it wasn't Nikki and it wasn't even close! As predicted all along Brian Dowling repeated his victory of nine years ago in the very final hour of "Big Brother" last night. It was the cherry on the top of almost a whole night of BB programming on Channel 4.

There are strong rumours that Richard Desmond will bring it to his newly acquired Channel Five, but it may be a very different beast.

Concocted especially for the occasion is this special housemate-strewn version of "Time to Say Goodbye", though it's often hard to make out who you're seeing, thanks to the often bizarre make-up. Took me a while to realise it was BB11 winner Josie doing the miming to the female vocal.

Big Brother's Obituary Tape (a slightly more tedious concoction)

Bye Bye Babs

The 10th of September 2010 marked the end for two popular TV institutions of recent years. Here's the first goodbye.

Following on from the previous evening's explosive inferno at her beloved Queen Vic, Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor) departed tearfully from Walford after 16 years. I must admit I'm sad to see her go as well and was disappointed by the Thursday episode which felt rushed in the usual 30 minute slot. No-one died and the only injured characters (Phil, Stacey, Ryan and Syed) were either back to normal or unseen on Friday. Only baby Lily appears to have been hospitalised and only overnight at that. Phil is looking like a pudgy red troll, but he was before the fire.

One thing I did like though was that this forms a triumvirate of event episodes with Archie's murder last Christmas Day, the live anniversary episode in February and then this week we have Stacey confessing the murder to Peggy and revealing to Ryan that he's Lily's father (it was in February we viewers learnt this but both were assumed to be down to Bradley, whose demise was also that night).

Meanwhile, next week the Peggy-shaped hole is being filled by these two. Personally I have my misgivings about bringing Kat and Alfie back, especially as they hail from an era when I wasn't really watching, and this very silly promo doesn't help.

Thoughts on the "Doctor Who" 2011 series split ..

Steven Moffat chose his spot at the Edinburgh International Television Festival yesterday to reveal that the 13 episodes of the 2011 series will be broadcast in two blocks, one from Easter and another from September. The Moff also tells us these shall consecutively be known as series six and seven (which is likely to prove as contentious as his initial claim that the 2010 series was to be known as series one). Just to confuse matters further series six will be seven episodes while series seven will be six episodes.

At first my feeling was dismay, but, certainly for next year, it makes sense. Not only do we have a particularly late Easter but it was officially announced the same weekend that a second series of "Sherlock" will be broadcast in Autumn 2011 and this will ease Moffat's shared commitments and deadlines. I suspect the proximity of these announcements is not a coincidence. I don't know what the future holds for "Merlin" if it goes to a fourth series - I presume they won't be ready to go out in spring or summer 2011 instead - more likely they will spill into January/February 2012.

So anyway, I worked out this will be the "Doctor Who" schedule for next year:

"Series Six" - 7 episodes starting 23 April (Easter Saturday) until 4 June

"Series Seven" - 6 episodes starting 4 September until 9 October

then the Christmas special in December.

I would fancy that this will still not satisfy the 'winter fetishists', especially if it's being broadcast before 7pm as it regularly was this year. If "Strictly Come Dancing" hasn't committed suicide this year, then series seven of "Doctor Who" will be the warm-up so 7pm starts would seem unlikely.

NB: photo courtesy of Richard Bacon on Twitter - he was the designated interviewer at the event.

Doctor Who at the Proms this weekend

Just a little reminder that this year's "Doctor Who" prom is only hours away. It will be recorded for BBC Three & red button screenings later in the year but you can listen live on BBC Radio Three tonight from 7.30 until 9.45. Matt Smith (plus Karen and Arthur) will be there with the orchestra. It will be on iPlayer for 7 days afterwards too.

A marvellous online programme for the concert is here

May I also take this opportunity to plug the new "Doctor Who Magazine", which I picked up in Tesco this morning. Fab interviews with one current (Rory) and one past (Adric) male companion, one off silly comic strip, feature on "The War Machines", plus reviews and some news of forthcoming audios, DVDs and the upcoming series. Very much worth £4.20 of your earth money.

Matt Smith & Orbital at Glastonbury 2010

A lovely surprise at Cube Henge yesterday was Matt Smith appearing with Orbital as they performed their version of the "Doctor Who" theme tune.

Magic moment!

Armed Forces Day 2010

Find out more about Armed Forces Day

If you love a man (or woman) in a uniform and want to show your support ... or just get up close then there's plenty of opportunity coming right up.

The second Armed Forces Day happens on 26th of June this year. For 2010 the celebrations centre on Cardiff on the day, but events are planned around the country honouring serving personnel and veterans alike.

The Scottish events calender is launched next week, with the first major diary date being the Stirling Military Show on the 19th. If you want something two weekends running you can! Most of the big cities (Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen, Edinburgh) hold their event on the 26th.

I'm thinking of checking out Stirling and Edinburgh and will bring my camera, hoping for summer weather ...

Who I'm voting for tomorrow ...

I was going to do a longer, more considered post on the UK General Election tomorrow, as I think it's going to be a fairly key one, almost certainly marking the end of 13 years of fairly unfettered Labour power.

However, a quick splash of wine onto my MacBook last weekend means I must rush my contribution to the debate.

I doubt this will really sway anyone's views, and I doubt my decision is going to be a huge surprise, so I'll begin by saying who I'm not going for.

I did a recent 'who you should vote for' survey and it marked me as a natural Green supporter (somewhat more accurate than the Telegraph's VoteMatch which declared I was SNP!) - indeed, I have gone for Green as my second vote in the Holyrood Elections, and will probably do again next year. However, in a UK election still fought on First Past the Post and where there appears to be no less than three different Green Parties standing it's a no-no. Especially as no Green candidate has bothered to stand in my constituency.

UKIP and BNP - largely English predilections - I imagine they only stand outside England to make up numbers of some sort. Scotland particularly is much more comfortable with , if not actively pro-Europe and pro-immigration, so those two are on a hiding to nothing here. Again though, none standing in my seat.

The Conservatives are also in an odd place in Scotland, mainly because of the factors I outlined above which also play well with natural Tory voters but show why they only have one seat to defend up here and aren't certain of even keeping that. No Cameronian swing has been detected here. In the 2006 by-election here in Dunfermline & West Fife, the newly crowned Conservative leader visiting didn't stop their candidate losing her deposit. So a Tory vote is a pretty wasted one here, not that I was ever likely to be tempted.

SNP - suffering the 'incumbent' curse in Scotland after 3 years of minority administration in which they've actually managed to make their central independence aspiration less popular and squeezed lately by a surge to the Lib Dems which has transferred north of the border, I do see a vote for SNP as particularly irrelevant in a UK election - your MP of any colour is meant to be your local champion and I don't see why SNP and Welsh-only bedfellows can ignore that and pretend they're more local than anyone else (they're just centralised in different places). Plus, surely, the SNP really shouldn't be wasting its time and money on a Westminster Parliament they don't believe in - at least Sinn Fein don't bother turning up!

Labour - I think 2001 was the last time I could have brought myself to vote Labour. The Iraq issue made it out of the question in 2005. I had hopes that the removal of Tony Blair with someone with less style and more substance (and someone who immediately removed the 'New' suffix from all Labour logos) was worth a try. By ducking a General Election he'd have won in autumn 2007, Gordon Brown let the Tories creep up the polls and has frankly stumbled in ways he really should know better on from the 10p tax row to bigging up Simon Cowell and his works (that really worked didn't it). So if Brown can't even be trusted to keep the Tories out, but also praises their supporters and largely follows their political instincts, it's not going to be Gordon. Sorry.

Now here, at least I can claim here that I haven't suddenly warmed to the Liberal Democrats because of the 'Cleggmania' following the first of the three debates, and which has only slightly abated since. In fact, he's no Charles Kennedy and their policies have, if anything, drifted away from me slightly - in fact one policy actually targets my job rather specifically!

The real reason for my voting Lib Dem tomorrow is to bring about a hung parliament and (I hope) subsequent voting reform, ideally to a PR system. Really I'm with the 'hung parliament' party I suppose, as I think that progressive change and co-operation are best borne from that in the short to medium term, with another General Election under PR in the longer term.

Anyway, said my bit now - feel free to get back to the porn...

Doctor Who - 2010 series launch catch-up

So, I have been neglecting you peeps lately (explanations will follow for those not following me on Facebook or Twitter) but I really can't neglect this one any further as it nears 48 hours after the official launch of the new series of Doctor Who, and enters the fevered final fortnight before UK broadcast on Easter Saturday.

Anyway, all that I can see so far looks very good and almost all the critique of the first episode, which was revealed at the launch in Cardiff, seems of the same opinion. It's the beginning of the hard sell now - many of us will be sick of the sight of the promotion by the time "The Eleventh Hour" goes out.

Above I've put the 30 second trailer version of the whole season preview which was also presented to the invited audience on Thursday night so we get a Cyberman but no Roman centurions, Van Gogh, Churchill, James Corden or Bill Nighy for instance. Apparently though, they were denied the episode edit with the new title sequence which they'll get to see at the same time as the rest of us. Us plebs have also been granted a short and intriguing clip from that first episode in which the Doctor meets Amy for the first time in 1996 (my guess based on arithmetic and a suspected in-joke).



(The clip comes from the BBC News channel so excuse the ticker-tape)

Was going to post some pics of Matt and Karen at the Thursday night launch, but Matt was not at his most photogenic let's say (a fact not missed by the tabs I think) probably because he'd probably been up filming since 6 in the morning so I'm giving them a miss. The last day of filming is actually today, with a wrap party near the studios tonight. The team are back in early July to film the Chrismas 2010 special and the 2011 series - both confirmed by Steven Moffat at the event.

And here's "The Moff' interviewed on Friday morning's BBC Breakfast. He's not as gregarious as RTD but in many ways comes across the better for it.



Anyway, that's yer lot from me about it for the moment. Matt is on the Jonathan Ross TV show on Friday 26th, so I may be back on topic after that ...

Radio Times Covers Party 2010

I always love the RT Covers party and yesterday's was no exception. This time they've even put together a lovely video:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid63469997001?bctid=63671225001

Aidan and Lenora have also noted they've missed getting a cover, but did get an invite. Everyone appears to have noticed David Tennant has had a few (covers).

Vote for the Orange/BAFTA Rising Star Award 2010

This year's nominees were announced today by last year's winner, Noel Clarke. He's also keen to know how you're voting - tweet him @NoelClarke.

Not that I'm favouring anyone in particular, oh no ...

(text HOULT to 82058 or go to http://bafta.orange.co.uk/)

Wrap for Ten (and other "Doctor Who" stuff)

The real-time final seal was set on the end of David Tennant's reign as the 10th Doctor sometime this morning, as the Cardiff wrap party for the story forming the last two 2009 specials staggered to a close (I imagine). The finale has taken two months of filming and with the specials also marking Russell T Davies' last work on the parent show, it appears to have been a big do, and the likes of DWM editor Tom Spilsbury, composer Murray Gold and ITV-exiled writer Chris Chibnall confirming their attendance via Twitter. No doubt everyone who'd help make the whole franchise such a success over the last 5 years had an invite (maybe even Eccles turned up? - if so, I want a polaroid/twitpic of him, David and Matt as a new 'three doctors' - can Ben Cook be relied upon?)




Coincidentally the DWM stable also released their latest special last week, as well as revealing the cover for the forthcoming regular issue (out on Thursday 28th). With £6.99 of your new pence I bought the former while on my hols, and am proud to report I've read all 148 pages. The special, pictured above, picks out 200 'golden moments, one from each transmitted story up to Easter 2009. Though actually that's not true - even totting up the TV canon as a neat 200 tally is open to question, as everyone freely admits. Also some 20 stories (not completely guessable BTW) are granted the honour of more than one golden moment. I'm not too sure this concept comes off in the end, as we have writers obliged to sift for the 'gold' of "Time Flight" and "Fear Her" while the likes of "Web of Fear" and "Human Nature"/"Family of Blood" are restricted to one mere moment each. To complicate matters further, this exercise was already carried out by DWM in the 90s, so I think there may have been pressure to avoid the moments previously picked from the classic series' run. Some of the obvious choices remain though - the 'have I the right?' speech from "Genesis of the Daleks" for example - and many of the moments are cliffhangers or epic climaxes. But there's definitely a tendency throughout to go for unexpected quiet, even unspoken moments ("Planet of Giants"), and a few which occasionally seem contrary for the sake of it - look at those chosen for "Twin Dilemma" and "Attack of the Cybermen".



In anticipation of a wet/indoors holiday week last week, I'd also bought a discounted season one DVD of "Torchwood" (£18 in Dunfermline Asda) and then "The War Machines" (£8 in Oban WHSmith). For whatever reason, probably the same reason I didn't properly post here during the week, I never got past episode one of the Hartnell serial or a few of the "Torchwood" extras! Oh well, I'm sure summer will have more rainy days ...



Finally, a pic posted by the aforementioned Benjamin Cook marking one of his finale interviews from the "Doctor Who" set last week. It's a cute shot in many ways, and sort of signifies the peaceful co-existance of the programme's past heritage (Cribbins having starred in one of the 1960s movies as well as Wilf Mott) and its present and future (Cook is the star reporter on Doctor Who Magazine but is too young to remember the 'classic' run!)

Charlie Brooker's Newswipe - How NOT to report a tragedy

Charlie Brooker's first "Newswipe" programme on BBC4 last night was a little disappointing initially, as it rambled around its target from supposed point of complete ignorance.

However, this section is classic Charlie at his vitriolic best, even if the psychiatrist at the end gets the (depressing) punchlines.

Warning - this deals with reporting of the recent school shooting in Germany.

F1 Totty - Jake Humphrey

Okay he's not a driver, he's a presenter, and one not long out of the CBBC cupboard (even though he's, unbelievably, 30) but Jake is to be the BBC's face of F1 when it returns to Auntie's grip at 5am GMT on Saturday with a Pavlovian burst of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain".

There have apparently been a few voices of indignation at the BBC's choice, but I'd say it was fairly obvious this was to draw in the younger demographic.

Have to say though, even Jake won't get me watching what I personally find one of the most boring sports.

NI shootings - Steve Bell today

Radio Times Comic Relief Cover Bonanza

"Radio Times" has went a bit mad for next week's "Comic Relief", with no less than 21 covers. I've included a few of the more interesting ones above. Bet my Dad will end up getting me the one with Carol Vorderman on it though ...

Interestingly, "Media Guardian" reports:

"Next week's issue of the Radio Times, which comes out today, will hit newsstands with 21 covers promoting Red Nose Day, tailored for different parts of the UK.

James Nesbitt, Ronan Keating and Graham Norton covers will be available in Northern Ireland, while Scottish newsstands will receive a selection of star covers including James McAvoy and David Tennant. In the north-west of England readers will be treated to covers featuring Lenny Henry and Gary Barlow."