Hello everyone! 🙂

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

I’ve reviewed plenty of ‘Doctor Who’ stories both in TV terms and via audio, including the Big Finish audio stories. I’ve also had the chance to check out and share my thoughts on the productions made by the company BBV (short for Bill & Ben Video) from the 1990s. 🙂

Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that there were non-BBC productions made, featuring ‘Doctor Who’ actors and elements to keep the TV show alive in what was considered the Wilderness Years in the 1990s and early 2000s. Some of the productions have been fascinating.

I can’t claim to have reviewed every BBV production, even with the intention of sharing a review on a BBV production every year. But the ones I have shared my thoughts on have been significant, especially as I reflect on what ‘Doctor Who’s future ended up becoming.

My first review on a BBV production was in September 2016, where I shared my review on the audio drama ‘Wirrn: Race Memory’, starring Sarah Sutton and Keith Drinkel, coupled with my reviews on the ‘Myth Makers’ interviews with Sarah Sutton and Peter Grimwade. 🙂

It was one of the earliest reviews that I transferred from my Amazon.co.uk page and it’s the only one that I know of that features Sarah Sutton in it. I’m saddened Sarah Sutton didn’t do more BBV productions, especially in video form. That would’ve been nice to see.

In March 2018, I shared more reviews on BBV productions, including the 2001 spoof ‘Do You Have a Licence to Save This Planet?’, starring Sylvester McCoy, and the 1993 film ‘The Airzone Solution’, starring Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Peter Davison and Jon Pertwee.

On reflection, ‘Do You Have a Licence to Save This Planet?’ continues to be baffling as a ‘Doctor Who’ parody, whilst ‘The Airzone Solution’ is an enjoyable film featuring many ‘Doctor Who’ stars, yet is quite flawed in terms of how it executes its story and characters.

The BBV films provide opportunities to tell certain stories that aren’t set in the ‘Doctor Who’ universe and they allows the actors to play characters that aren’t necessarily the Doctors nor the companions. Not sure if that reflects how rated they are, regarding the production values.

In April 2020, I shared my Easter review season on ‘The Stranger’ series, including ‘Summoned By Shadows’, ‘More Than a Messiah’, ‘In Memory Alone’, ‘The Terror Game’, ‘The Last Mission’, ‘Breach of the Peace’ and ‘Eye of the Beholder’ with ‘Eye of the Storm’.

Ironically, I prepared my 2020 Easter review season in the summer of 2019. I had no idea that a year later, I’d be sharing my reviews on ‘The Stranger’ series during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020. That sort of thing however wouldn’t prevent me in sharing the reviews.

On reflection, ‘The Stranger’ series is a mixed bag. It starts well with being a semi-‘Doctor Who’-like series starring Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant as the main leads before it moves away from that when David Troughton and John Wadmore’s characters became involved.

In May 2020, I received a nice birthday present in the post from Stephen, my best mate from school, which happened to be ‘The Zero Imperative’, the first episode of the ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ series, starring Caroline John as Liz Shaw. I shared my review in June 2020. 🙂

In April 2021, I shared my review on the second ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ episode ‘The Devil of Winterborne’. In June 2021, I shared my review on the third episode ‘Unnatural Selection’. And in May 2022, I shared my review on the fourth episode called ‘Ghost of Winterborne’.

I would like to do more reviews on BBV productions in future. I have the novelization of ‘The Airzone Solution’ to check out and review, and there are ‘The Professor and Ace’ audios, starring Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred, to check out. Here’s to the future! 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂