Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
It’s time for us to check out ‘The Crimson Horror’, which happens to be the second contribution made by Mark Gatiss in Series 7 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series (the first one being ‘Cold War’). In this ‘Doctor Who’ episode, Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Jenna Coleman as Clara visit Victorian London in the year 1893. There’s the return of the Paternoster Gang, including Neve McIntosh as Madame Vastra, Catrin Stewart as Jenny and Dan Starkey as Strax. Interestingly, the Paternoster Gang mostly appear in the first half of the episode, since the Eleventh Doctor and Clara don’t appear until the episode’s second half. 😐 An unnerving mystery takes place at a utopian community in Yorkshire called Sweetville, led by the late Dame Diana Rigg (well-known for playing Emma Peel in the 1960s TV show ‘The Avengers’) as Mrs. Gillyflower. There’s also Rachael Stirling (Diana Rigg’s real-life daughter) as Ada. Can our heroes solve the mystery as to what’s happening with ‘the crimson horror’? ‘The Crimson Horror’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer.
Please feel free to check out, read and comment on my current review for ‘The Crimson Horror’. I’ve also reviewed the Target novelization/audiobook ‘Doctor Who – The Crimson Horror’ by Mark Gatiss, read by Catrin Stewart with Dan Starkey as Strax.
Enjoy!
Bye for now!
Tim. 🙂
Bradley's Basement 
Hello again Tim,
A real oddity this one. I thought it one of the best in series 7B at the time. I like the comedy gothic tone and the characterisation of Mrs Gillyflower and Ada.
My favourite line:
The Doctor: Mrs. Gillyflower, you have no idea what you are dealing with. In the wrong hands that venom could wipe out all life on this planet.
Mrs. Gillyflower: Do you know what these are? The wrong hands!
Classic. I don’t think I’d like every episode to be like this. But in a group of stories with a couple of notable exceptions that really didn’t grip me. The Crimson Horror stood out.
Best wishes, Tony
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Hi Tony,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on ‘The Crimson Horror’. Yes, I enjoyed this episode when I saw it on TV back in 2013. I found it a fun instalment in Series 7B and enjoyed how the Paternoster Gang took the reins for the first half of the episode before the Eleventh Doctor and Clara arrived. I liked Jenny’s story when she visited Sweetville on her own before Madame Vastra and Strax joined her later on in the episode.
Incidentally, I saw Neve McIntosh (Madame Vastra) last night in the latest episode of ‘All Creatures Great and Small’. I enjoyed her in that. The late Dame Diana Rigg and her daughter Rachael Stirling are very good as Mrs. Gillyflower and Ada in ‘The Crimson Horror’. Thanks for sharing your favourite lines of exchange between the Eleventh Doctor and Mrs. Gillyflower in the episode. It was interesting to check out the Target novelization/audiobook by Mark Gatiss in 2021.
Many thanks for your comments.
Tim 🙂
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