Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

We’re starting on what is arguably labelled the Clara Season – the second half of Series 7 in the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. This is where Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor gets to meet his new companion – Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald. Jenna Coleman previously played Oswin Oswald in ‘Asylum of the Daleks’. However, it turns out Matt Smith’s Doctor doesn’t get to meet Clara quite yet in this 2012 Christmas Special. This is ‘The Snowmen’ by Steven Moffat. I’m certain that the special was inspired by ‘The Snowman’ – both the book and TV special – by Raymond Briggs. 😀 The special takes place in London in the year 1892. It also features the return of the Paternoster Gang, including Neve McIntosh as Madame Vastra, Catrin Stewart as Jenny Flint and Dan Starkey as Strax, who previously appeared in the Series 6 episode ‘A Good Man Goes to War’. There’s special guest star Richard E. Grant (who played one of the Doctors in ‘The Curse of Fatal Death’ and the Doctor in ‘Scream of the Shalka’) as Dr. Simeon. And there’s Ian McKellen (who played Gandalf in ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ film trilogies and Magneto in the ‘X-Men’ films) as the voice of the Great Intelligence. ‘The Snowmen’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →