Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
Wow! 2025 has come to an end! How time flies! 😀 There were plenty of things I wanted to achieve this year, although I don’t think I’ve had enough time to do everything. Hopefully when we get to the New Year, I’ll be able to catch up on the things I didn’t achieve in 2025.
Though saying that, it’s likely I’ll still be behind on some things in 2026. 😀 2025 has been a very significant year for me. Whilst I can’t say I’ve achieved everything I wanted to do, I’m glad to say I’ve been able to celebrate ‘BRADLEY’S BASEMENT’S 10TH ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!!!!!
Yes! 10 years ago, back at the end of September 2015, I began ‘Bradley’s Basement’. Here I am all these years later! 🙂 I’ve shared more content in terms of reviews, stories and other items than I would’ve anticipated. 🙂 10 years of my blog is a massive achievement for me!
The way I’ve celebrated my blog’s 10th anniversary hasn’t exactly gone to what I had in mind back at the beginning of the year. I did consider doing a series of reviews in September based on a variety of TV shows and films that I’ve grown to love over the years.
I also considered doing my own 10th anniversary special ‘The Day of Tim Bradley’, but there wasn’t enough time for either. 😀 Surprisingly, my 10th anniversary celebrations on ‘Bradley’s Basement’ turned out to be quite subtle and unexpected than I would’ve realised.
As well as this year being my blog’s 10th anniversary, there were other landmark anniversaries that were happening in 2025. This included the 50th anniversary of ‘Fawlty Towers’, the 40th anniversary of ‘Back to the Future’, and the 60th anniversary of ‘Thunderbirds’.
There was also the 80th anniversary of ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ (the book series anyway) as well as the 80th anniversary of V.E. Day, which was amazing to discover. More anniversaries happened in 2025 compared to me celebrating ‘Bradley’s Basement’s 10th year.
Throughout the year, I consciously made the effort to find ways to celebrate ‘Bradley’s Basement’s 10th anniversary by doing reviews on certain films and TV shows that also celebrated landmark years, including the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV show’s 20th anniversary.
Again, it’s fair to say I didn’t celebrate everything that I’ve shared on my blog for its 10th year, but hopefully, I’ve done as much as I can. I’m looking forward to new challenges concerning my blog’s future when I find myself going forth into the New Year and beyond.
With that said, there have been many highlights that I’ve enjoyed in 2025. As usual with these yearly reports, I share brief summaries of every month that highlight what I did throughout the year. Some things in 2025 have been very good. Other things, not so much.
For me, 2025 has been arguably better than 2024. Knowing this year was my blog’s 10th anniversary, I wanted to make sure things were happier and fruitful compared to last year. I’d like to think I’ve achieved that on some level. 🙂 Let’s check out what 2025 was like for me.
JANUARY
2025 began with me sharing a brand-new wallpaper for my blog’s 10th anniversary in my ‘Happy New Year’ blog post. No doubt, I’ll be a sharing a brand-new wallpaper for the start of 2026, but it was nice to put together the 2025 wallpaper containing many happy memories of my blog. 🙂 It’s a pity I won’t be using that wallpaper again, but it was nice to have it for this year.
In January, I finished my ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review season from 2024 to 2025 with an updated review on the Big Finish audio adventure ‘The Five Companions’, starring Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, William Russell as Ian, Peter Purves as Steven, Jean Marsh as Sara Kingdom and Anneke Wills as Polly. I did plan to do the next ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review season sooner than later, but that wasn’t the case. 😀
I shared a quick review on ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’, the sequel/prequel to the 2019 film ‘The Lion King’. I saw the film on New Year’s Eve in December 2024, but shared it in January 2025. Later in the year, my parents and I saw ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ a second time at the cinema in February. We later purchased the film on DVD, which I’m happy about.
One of my Christmas presents from 2024 was ‘Knuckles’, a spin-off series from the ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ films, on DVD. Whilst I wouldn’t regard ‘Knuckles’ very highly as a ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ spin-off series, I’m pleased I got to see the series on DVD in January, and I’m pleased I celebrated ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ via that for my blog’s 10th anniversary.
I attended eight conventions this year! 😮 The first convention was the first ‘Happy Who Year’ event at the Epsom Playhouse theatre in Epsom where I got to see many ‘Doctor Who’ stars, including my favourites like Sarah Sutton, Peter Davison and Janet Fielding (Tegan). I’m glad I got to see Sarah, Peter, Janet and other guests quite early in 2025 for a convention.
In the last week of January, I shared my updated Blu-ray reviews on Season 15 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series, starring Tom Baker. This included reviews on the stories ‘Horror of Fang Rock’, ‘The Invisible Enemy’, ‘Image of the Fendahl’, ‘The Sun Makers’, ‘Underworld’ and ‘The Invasion of Time’. I also updated my ‘Invasion of Time’ review with Timelord007. 🙂
FEBRUARY
To add to my updated Blu-ray reviews on Season 15 of classic ‘Doctor Who’, I shared a brand-new review on the Target novelization of ‘The Invasion of Time’ by Terrance Dicks in February. This was accompanied by the unabridged audiobook read by John Leeson, who plays K-9 in the series. It was nice to add the review to my updated review of the TV story that month.
Moving on from Season 15, I began updating my reviews on Season 20 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series with Peter Davison. In doing so, I shared blog posts containing videos about the chaotic bits of the DVD audio commentaries for ‘Arc of Infinity’, ‘Earthshock’ and ‘The TV Movie’ as well as the chaotic bits of ‘The Doctor Who Cookbook Revisited’. It was fun to share those videos featuring highlights of the DVD extras.
One of the Christmas presents I gave to my parents in December 2024 was the BBC crime-drama TV series ‘Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators’. I gave them the first four seasons as well as the 2022 Christmas Special on DVD. I’m pleased they enjoyed the series very much. I shared my thoughts on the TV series as soon as we finished it in February. I’m currently looking forward to when we get to see Series 5 of the TV show next. 🙂
In February, my Mum and I went to see ‘Fawlty Towers – The Play’ at the Apollo Theatre in London. I’m glad we got to see the play before it finished its original run at the beginning of March. ‘Fawlty Towers – The Play’ was something worth seeing with the original theatre cast playing their characters, though I wouldn’t regard it highly compared to the TV show.
I got to see the first ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’ film being shown at the cinema that year in February, which was ‘Captain America: Brave New World’. I did see the film twice at the cinema and enjoyed it thoroughly. I know it’s not regarded as one of the best films featured in the ‘MCU’, but I’m glad I saw it to see how Sam Wilson fared as the Cap. 🙂
I did my brand-new review on the novelization for the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson, featuring the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday, with the unabridged audiobook read by Angela Wynter, who plays Cherry Sunday. I originally planned to check out ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ novelization over Christmas last year. Sadly, there wasn’t time, but I’m pleased I reviewed it in February 2025.
This year, I sadly didn’t do any Disney+ Roundups like I’d done in previous years. I did see and do quick reviews on a few films that I saw on Disney+, including the 2003 film ‘Cheaper by the Dozen’, starring Steve Martin. The aim for me was to do more reviews on ‘Cheaper by the Dozen’ films via Disney+ afterwards. Sadly, that didn’t happen. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do it in 2026.
MARCH
In March, I finally shared the completed version of my picture Short Trip adventure ‘And There Were Seven’, featuring the Fifth, Tenth and Thirteenth Doctors as well as Nyssa, Tegan and Adric. I originally shared ‘And There Were Seven’ as my ‘Bradley’s Basement’s Advent Calendar in December 2023. It’s nice to have the story now complete on one page.
I was revisiting some ‘Harry Hill’s TV Burp’ DVDs in March. In doing so, I shared a blog post containing a video of Series 2, Episode 6 of ‘Harry Hill’s Alien Fun Capsule’ where Peter Davison and Liza Tarbuck (who’ve worked together in the Big Finish audio story ‘Plague of the Daleks’) were guests. 🙂 I revisited the episode whilst updating my review for ‘Terminus’. 🙂
I found time to catch-up on some ‘Doctor Who’ Target novelizations that I’d been meaning to read and review in 2024, including checking out and doing a brand-new review on the ‘Attack of the Cybermen’ book by Eric Saward, with the unabridged audiobook read by David Banks. I also checked out and reviewed the 1995 abridged audiobook of ‘Attack of the Cybermen’, read by Colin Baker.
In early 2025, I got to share the first half of my updated Blu-ray reviews of Season 20 in ‘Doctor Who’ with Peter Davison, and I did it weekly. In March, I shared my updated reviews on ‘Arc of Infinity’, ‘Snakedance’ and ‘Mawdryn Undead’. This included reviews on DVD/Blu-ray documentaries like ‘Anti-Matter from Amsterdam’, ‘Who Wants to Live Forever?’ and ‘Finding Mark Strickson’. I also shared my updated review on the ‘Snakedance’ Target novelization by Terrance Dicks, with the unabridged audiobook read by Geoffrey Beevers.
2025 was a year where I got to share more quick video reactions. Not just on the latest ‘Doctor Who’ TV series with Ncuti Gatwa, but also on the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series for stories in Season 20. I shared my quick reaction videos on ‘Arc of Infinity’ and ‘Snakedance’. I’m very pleased that I did those video reactions, especially since it prepared me with doing quick reaction videos to episodes of Series 15 of new ‘Doctor Who’ in 2025.
I reshared my in-depth review on the 1937 Disney film ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’. This was in preparation for the live-action 2025 remake called ‘Snow White’, staring Rachel Zegler. Whilst I know that film has received a lot of hate before and after it came out at cinemas and I know it doesn’t match to the original film, I still enjoyed seeing it a few times on the big screen.
The end of March was very exciting for me. I attended my second convention for 2025 – the ‘MegaCon Live Birmingham’ at the NEC in Birmingham – from Saturday 29th to Sunday 30th of March. I got to see ‘Doctor Who’ stars like Sarah Sutton, Paul McGann (the Eighth Doctor) and Sophia Myles (Madame de Pompadour from ‘The Girl in the Fireplace’) that weekend. It was a blissful two days for me, since I enjoyed seeing Sarah Sutton that weekend, including having chats and photos with her.
APRIL
At the start of April, I shared my April Fools video, which was a ‘Basement Special Announcement with special guest star Sarah Sutton’. Sarah and I recorded the audio for this video at ‘MegaCon Live Birmingham’. I’m very pleased we got to do the April Fools sketch together, especially since I planned to do it at ‘Happy Who Year’ back in January, but wasn’t able to. I’m glad I put together the video in time before April the 1st came along. 🙂
Sadly, this year, we lost Val Kilmer, who played Batman in the 1995 film ‘Batman Forever’ as well as appearing in the ‘Top Gun’ movies with Tom Cruise. It was a shock, as I enjoyed seeing him in the movies he was in. I paid tribute to him on my blog in April as well as paid tribute to him in two of my ‘Doctor Who’ reaction videos for Series 15 featuring a ‘Batman Forever’ clip.
We also lost Jean Marsh, who played Sara Kingdom in the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series and the Big Finish audios. Of course, Jean Marsh is well-known for many roles in TV and film as well as co-creating ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’ (which she appeared in) and ‘The House of Elliot’. Sadly, I didn’t get to meet Jean Marsh in real life, but I’ve very happy memories of her.
This year, we had the casting announcement for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’, the upcoming ‘MCU’ film to be shown in December 2026. I shared my thoughts on the announcement for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ as well as the upcoming films ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’, ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ and ‘Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse’. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing these Marvel superhero film soon in 2026 and 2027 before we know it. 🙂
Early in April, and one week after attending ‘MegaCon Live Birmingham’ in March, I attended the one-day event ‘Capitol Cutaway’ in Hammersmith in London. Whilst not as flexible as ‘MegaCon Live Birmingham’, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Sarah Sutton and Peter Davison together again at another convention as well as ‘Doctor Who’ stars like Peter Purves, Katy Manning (Jo Grant) and Jo Martin (the Fugitive Doctor). I had two exciting ‘Doctor Who’ weekends one after the other!
I shared my updated Blu-ray review on ‘Terminus’ in the first half of updated Blu-ray reviews for Season 20 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. I also shared my reviews on the DVD/Blu-ray documentaries ‘Breaking Point’ and ‘Finding Sarah Sutton’, and I shared my quick reactions videos on ‘Terminus’. Revisiting ‘Terminus’ on Blu-ray and updating my review on the story was very special for me, considering it’s Nyssa’s swansong on TV.
Of course, this year, we had Series 15 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series shown from April to May 2025 and it turned out to be Ncuti Gatwa’s second and final season as the Fifteenth Doctor. In April, I shared my quick reaction videos on the first three episodes of Series 15 of ‘Doctor Who’, including ‘The Robot Revolution’, ‘Lux’ and ‘The Well’. I enjoyed doing my quick reaction videos on those episodes, even if the episodes were mixed bags.
In the run-up to Easter, I shared a couple of ‘Doctor Who’ adverts featuring Sarah Sutton that were shown for USA TV in the 1980s, including for WNYC TV31 and WCET 48. It was nice to see those videos and share them on ‘Bradley’s Basement’, especially as they make me reflect on the times I’ve seen Sarah at conventions and how very lucky I am. 🙂
For Easter 2025, my Easter review season focused on the audio stories in the ‘Tales From The TARDIS, Volume One’ audio collection. This included the abridged audiobook readings of Target novelizations for ‘The Curse of Peladon’, ‘Kinda’ and ‘Attack of the Cybermen’ as well as the audiobook readings for short stories, including ‘Moon Graffiti’, ‘Wish You Were Here’, ‘Vigil’, ‘Freedom’, ‘Model Train Set’, ‘Glass’, ‘Degrees of Truth’, ‘Stop the Pigeon’ and ‘Old Flames’. Some of these stories I’ve shared reviews on in the previous Easter review season where I shared my ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review season for Easter.
I shared my Good Friday blog post that Easter about fish and chips as well as shared my Easter Sunday blog post that April. I also shared my in-depth review on the Disney film ‘Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo’, which focused a lot on Easter and I’m pleased I’ve been able to revisit the film after doing a quick review of it as part of a Disney+ Roundup review.
On Disney+, I checked out and enjoyed the animated series ‘Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’. My parents and I saw this series from February to April and we managed to finish seeing the series in time for Easter. ‘Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man’ was a fascinating take on an alternative ‘MCU’-style of Spider-Man, and I’m looking forward to when Season 2 comes along.
MAY
May was another exciting month for me on ‘Bradley’s Basement’. I continued with sharing more quick video reactions on the episodes of Series 15 of ‘Doctor Who’, including ‘Lucky Day’, ‘The Story & The Engine’, ‘The Interstellar Song Contest’ and ‘Wish World’ (Part One of the two-part season finale). I also shared some YouTube shorts containing my quick video reactions on Series 15 of ‘Doctor Who’, including from ‘The Robot Revolution’, ‘The Well’ and ‘Lucky Day’. It was the first time that I did YouTube shorts and I shared three! 😀
On Early May Bank Holiday Monday, my Mayday blog post contained the first of my updated reviews on the ‘Beast Wars: Transformers’ TV series. For the four Mondays in May, I shared my reviews on the first four ‘Beast Wars’ stories, including ‘Beast Wars’, ‘The Web’, ‘Equal Measures’ and ‘Chain of Command’. I continued with sharing my updated ‘Beast Wars’ reviews for the rest of the year. I’m glad I did that and I’m hoping I’ll get to continue updating more ‘Beast Wars’ reviews in the New Year.
I celebrated my birthday in May. I did so with sharing my signed birthday photos from Sarah Sutton, which my Dad purchased for me via Sarah Sutton’s website. It was nice to have the two signed photos from Sarah for my birthday, including one specifically for my birthday as well as one to celebrate the 80th anniversary of V.E. Day, since my birthday is on that same day. 😀 It was a ‘double whammy’ for me, as Sarah would later tell me in Bury in June. 😀
My birthday movie at the cinema this year was the ‘MCU’ film ‘Thunderbolts*’, also called ‘The New Avengers’. I greatly enjoyed that film and saw it twice at the cinema. It helped me with recalling certain characters who’ve been in previous ‘MCU’ films and shows like ‘Black Widow’, ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’, ‘Hawkeye’ and ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’. Hopefully, seeing the film has prepared me for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ next year. 🙂
One of my birthday presents was the DVD release of ‘The War Games in Colour’, which I saw the previous year for Christmas in December. It was good to see ‘The War Games in Colour’ on DVD and I’m pleased I saw the original 10-part black-and-white version of the TV story in the 4-disc DVD set afterwards. I prefer the original 10-part black-and-white version of the story over the 96-minute colourised edit, as there’s more story to tell in that. Plus, the storytelling and character development is very compelling in the original TV story.
This year, I got to celebrate ‘Back to the Future’s 40th anniversary in more ways than one. The first item of celebration for me was checking out the first ‘Back to the Future’ movie novelization by George Gipe, based on the first ‘Back to the Future’ film. It was good to check out the first ‘Back to the Future’ movie novelization, especially as I initially purchased the book back in 2020 and it took me about five years later to finally check it out.
My parents and I had a trip to the ODEON Cinema in Cardiff on Saturday the 24th of May, where we saw ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’, the eighth film in the series and the follow-up to ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One’, which my parents and I saw in July 2023. I’m pleased we saw ‘The Final Reckoning’ at the cinema, especially as it turned out to be a great conclusion to the two-part story about the malicious Entity. My Mum and I got to see ‘The Final Reckoning’ at least three times at the cinema this year.
At the end of May, my best friend Stephen and I attended ‘Collectormania Milton Keynes’ on Saturday the 31st of May, where I got to see Millie Gibson (Ruby Sunday in ‘Doctor Who’) for a second time at a convention, following ‘London Comic Con Winter’ back in November 2024. I had a lovely time seeing Millie that Saturday as well as seeing guests like Colin Baker (the Sixth Doctor), Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi from ‘Star Trek’) and Susan Twist (Susan Triad). After attending ‘Collectormania Milton Keynes’, my best friend and I saw the two-part finale of Series 15 of ‘Doctor Who’ – ‘Wish World’/’The Reality War’ – at Cineworld in Milton Keynes!
JUNE
In June, I continued sharing my updated ‘Beast Wars: Transformers’ reviews on the five Season 1 episodes ‘Power Surge’, ‘Fallen Comrades’, ‘Double Jeopardy’, ‘The Probe’ and ‘Gorilla Warfare’. I also shared my quick video reaction on ‘The Reality War’ (Part Two of the two-part season finale of Series 15 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series). It turned out to be the longest reaction video I’d ever done and is quite possibly my favourite of the lot.
I created a video out from my quick video reaction on ‘The Reality War’ which contains a comedic summary by me on ‘Time and the Rani’. I also shared a quick overview of my thoughts on Series 15 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series as well as my reaction to Ncuti Gatwa leaving ‘Doctor Who’ and Billie Piper coming in as…the Sixteenth Doctor? Perhaps. Honestly, that ending to ‘The Reality War’ was so shocking when I saw it for the first time. 😀 I also shared a few more YouTube shorts based on three quick reaction videos for Series 15 of ‘Doctor Who’, including ‘The Interstellar Contest’, ‘Wish World’ and ‘The Reality War’.
I shared an unboxing video where I opened a ‘Doctor Who’ Mini Mystery Bag, which I purchased at ‘Collectormania Milton Keynes’ at the end of May. The bag contained the Eaglemoss figurine of Michael Gough as the Toymaker along with a magazine, and a box containing 100 ‘Doctor Who’ postcards, mostly from the Matt Smith/Eleventh Doctor era. It was the first time I shared an unboxing video on my blog via YouTube. 🙂 It was great fun to do!
It was in June where I continued sharing my updated Blu-ray reviews on the rest of the stories in Season 20 starring Peter Davison. This included ‘Enlightenment’, ‘The King’s Demons’ and ‘The Five Doctors’. I also shared reviews on the DVD/Blu-ray special feature ‘Winner Takes All’ for ‘Enlightenment’, ‘Messages From Space’ for ‘Logopolis’, and ‘Look Who’s Driving’ and ‘Let’s Go Dutch‘, which are on Disc 8 of the Season 20 Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’. I also shared my brand-new review on ‘The King’s Demons’ Target novelization by Terence Dudley, with the unabridged audiobook read by Mark Strickson.
I shared more quick video reactions on Season 20 of ‘Doctor Who’, including three for ‘Enlightenment’ and two for ‘The Five Doctors’. I recorded some of these quick video reactions during my viewing of Series 15 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. Some viewers on YouTube liked my “Excellent!” Cybermen video for ‘The Five Doctors’, which is terrific! 🙂
To celebrate Millie Gibson’s birthday, I shared my thoughts on the teaser trailer for the upcoming film ‘Shrek 5’, as I know ‘Shrek 2’ is one of her favourite films. At the time of sharing my thoughts, ‘Shrek 5’ was meant to be released in December 2026. Since then, it’s been rescheduled to June 2027. Despite this setback, I’m looking forward to seeing the movie.
I delved into some more classic ‘Doctor Who’ Target novelizations for the rest of the year, which included my brand-new review on the Target novelization ‘Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks’ by Terrance Dicks, with the unabridged audiobook read by Mark Gatiss. I’m pleased I checked out the ‘Planet of the Daleks’ Target novelization/audiobook, having previously checked out the the ‘Frontier In Space’ Target novelization/audiobook by Malcolm Hulke in June 2017, although that one is called ‘Doctor Who and the Space War’.
At the end of June, I got to see my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ stars Sarah Sutton, Peter Davison and Janet Fielding again at ‘Bury Comic Con’. It was an amazing day, albeit very hot. 😀 As well as seeing Sarah, Peter and Janet for autographs and photos, I got to do a quick conversation with Sarah Sutton at ‘Bury Comic Con’. I’m glad I was able to do that interview with Sarah, especially since there a lot of people attending the comic con that day.
JULY
July was a little less active compared to May and June, but I still enjoyed sharing stuff on my blog in that month. This included doing a video based on my reaction to Omega’s return in the two-part ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘Wish World’/’The Reality War’. On reflection, it’s amazing it wasn’t just me who felt that Omega’s return in that story was disappointing.
I continued to share more updated ‘Beast Wars’ reviews on episodes such as ‘A Better Mousetrap’, ‘Victory’, ‘Dark Designs’ and ‘Double Dinobot’. I also checked out and reviewed the 1995 abridged audiobook of ‘Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks’, read by Jon Pertwee. This concluded my look into the ‘Dalek War’ saga of ‘Doctor Who’, as I’ve checked out both TV stories and the novelizations and audiobooks accompanying them.
Whilst I didn’t do conventions in July, I did get to see some movies that month! This included ‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’, the seventh instalment of the ‘Jurassic Park’/’Jurassic World’ film series. Whilst I enjoyed the film, I don’t think it was as good as the previous films and I found it an unnecessary instalment. I also saw the latest film version of ‘Superman’ directed by James Gunn. Whilst many people seem to like the film, I personally didn’t, as I felt it deviated from what I consider to be a good Superman story, and it didn’t match to the character I’d seen in previous versions of Superman like the Christopher Reeve films and the ‘Lois & Clark’ TV series.
Sadly, we lost Julian McMahon, who I enjoyed seeing in the 2005 and 2007 ‘Fantastic Four’ films where he played the villainous Victor Von Doom a.k.a. Doctor Doom. I paid tribute to him in a blog post where I reshared my in-depth reviews on the ‘Fantastic Four’ films. As well as my in-depth reviews on the 2005 ‘Fantastic Four’ film and ‘Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer’, I also reshared my in-depth reviews on the unreleased 1994 film ‘The Fantastic Four’ and the 2015 ‘Fantastic Four’ film. This was all in the build-up to the release of the ‘MCU’s first film featuring the Fantastic Four called ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’, which I saw twice at the cinema and greatly enjoyed.
I finished my look into ‘Sony’s Spider-Man Universe’ film series by checking out and doing a quick review on the sixth and final film called ‘Kraven the Hunter’, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson. It was a fascinating experience to check out that film and I enjoyed it more than I expected. I rewatched the previous five ‘SSU’ films ‘Venom’, ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’, ‘Morbius’, ‘Madame Web’ and ‘Venom: The Last Dance’ before seeing ‘Kraven the Hunter’ on DVD, which I had for my birthday this year. I also did a quick video reaction to the moment where the Rhino did a very unusual scream in the film. It was nice to do a non-‘Doctor Who’ quick video reaction for a change.
I checked out another ‘Doctor Who’ Target novelization and it was ‘Warriors of the Deep’ by Terrance Dicks, with the unabridged audiobook read by Janet Fielding. I purchased the unabridged audiobook on a 4-disc CD set at the ‘Bury Comic Con’ back in June. Hopefully, I’ll get my ‘Warriors of the Deep’ audiobook 4-disc CD set signed by Janet at the next convention – ‘Happy Who Year’ in Andover, January 2026. I gave Wolfie of the Divergent Wordsmiths a cameo in my brand-review for the ‘Warriors of the Deep’ Target novelization/audiobook where he shared his thoughts on ‘Warriors’ as a Target novelization. I also checked out and reviewed the 1995 abridged audiobook of ‘Warriors of the Deep’, read by Peter Davison.
This year, I caught up on one of the Disney+ shows I’d been meaning to revisit and saw Season 2 of the ‘Monsters Inc.’ series ‘Monsters at Work’. I rewatched all 10 episodes of Season 1 before I saw the 10 episodes of Season 2. I know I missed out on seeing Season 2 in 2024, but I’m glad I’ve caught up on the series and did a quick review on Season 2. I wouldn’t say Season 2 is better than Season 1, but it’s enjoyable enough. I also did a quick video reaction on one of the moments in the final episode of Season 2 of ‘Monsters at Work’. It was the second of two non-‘Doctor Who’ video reaction that I’d done in 2025. I know two’s not a lot, but I’m glad I did them.
Towards the end of July, on Wednesday the 30th, my parents and I saw a theatre production of ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’, the sequel to Jane Austen‘s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by P.D. James. My parents and I enjoyed seeing ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’ at the New Theatre in Cardiff. For my parents, they enjoyed the theatre production more than the 2013 BBC TV adaptation of the story. I’ll have to do a review on the 2013 BBC TV adaptation to clarify whether I feel the theatre production is better or not. Both are enjoyable in my mind, and it was nice to see Paul Jerricho (who played the Castellan in the ‘Doctor Who’ stories ‘Arc of Infinity’ and ‘The Five Doctors’ as well as guest starred in the episode ‘Lucky Day’ recently) appear in the theatre production of ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’, as he played a variety of roles in that. 😀
AUGUST
The start of August was very exciting for me! From Friday the 1st to Sunday the 3rd, I spent a weekend in London with my best friend from school, Stephen. On Friday, we saw ‘Fawlty Towers – The Play’ at the Apollo Theatre, which was my second experience of the theatre production and it featured a new cast this time round. On Saturday, we went to Madame Tussauds and enjoyed the sights of London on the London Eye. Saturday evening was especially exciting for me and Stephen, as we went to see ‘Back to the Future – The Musical’ at the Adelphi Theatre for the first time. We enjoyed the ‘Back to the Future’ musical immensely!
I shared more updated ‘Beast Wars’ reviews in August, including on the stories ‘The Spark’, ‘The Trigger’, ‘Spider’s Game’ and ‘Call of the Wild’. Throughout 2025, I shared my latest full-length ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘Neptune Connect’ featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy battling against the Cybermen. It took me a while to fully upload the story on my blog, as I shared a preview of it in February and shared the story episodically in April, June and August. I’m happy I managed to finish sharing ‘Neptune Connect’ in August.
This year was the 30th anniversary of the 1995 film ‘Sense and Sensibility’, directed by Ang Lee (who later directed the 2003 film ‘Hulk’) and starring Emma Thompson (who wrote the film’s screenplay), Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman and Greg Wise. To celebrate the occasion, my parents and I saw a re-release of ‘Sense and Sensibility’ at the cinema and greatly enjoyed it. Incidentally, in the cinema introduction featuring Emma Thompson and Greg Wise before the film started, I had no idea that they had a relationship when they met on the set of ‘Sense and Sensibility’. They later married in 2003. How surreal is that? 😀
On Disney+, I saw the 1940 Disney film ‘Pinocchio’. Since I reviewed the 2022 live-action remake of ‘Pinocchio’, directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks, it was only fair for me to share my thoughts on the original 1940 film and share my appreciation of it from seeing the film as a kid in the 1990s. 🙂 I also shared my review on ‘The Strange Case of the End of Civilisation as We Know It’, starring John Cleese of ‘Fawlty Towers’ fame and Arthur Lowe of ‘Dad’s Army’, which I’ve seen on YouTube. I was introduced the film by my best friend Stephen back in May. The film also features Connie Booth from ‘Fawlty Towers’ and it’s an enjoyable spoof of Sherlock Holmes living in 1975.
This year, I’ve been revisiting the BBC crime-drama TV series ‘Campion’, starring Peter Davison. In doing so, I checked out the interview ‘Peter Davison Remembers…Campion’, which can be checked out on BBC iPlayer if you happen to be in the UK. It’s been nice to revisit ‘Campion’ and even though I’ve not done any in-depth reviews on the stories featured in the TV series yet, it’s always a pleasure to come back to these shows featuring your favourite ‘Doctor Who’ stars playing different roles.
I got to see two films featuring Tom Cruise on DVD in August and they were non-‘Mission: Impossible’ films this time round. 😀 The films were the 2003 film ‘The Last Samurai’ and the 2001 film ‘Vanilla Sky’. Both films are very different. I enjoyed ‘The Last Samurai’ more than ‘Vanilla Sky’, especially as ‘The Last Samurai’ is more in the period sense as well as action-packed. ‘Vanilla Sky’ is a very complex film and even though I found some of the concepts featured in the film very interesting, I wouldn’t say it was a very satisfying experience.
Back to ‘Doctor Who’, I got to review another Target novelization/audiobook in August. It was the Sixth Doctor’s turn again, as I checked out the Target novelization of ‘Vengeance on Varos’ by Philip Martin, with the unabridged audiobook read by Martin Jarvis. I listened to the audiobook on Audible whilst reading the Target novelization. I also checked out and reviewed the 1997 abridged audiobook of ‘Vengeance on Varos’, read by Colin Baker. I’m pleased I read the Target novelization and heard the audiobooks of ‘Vengeance on Varos’ in 2025, especially as this was before Nabil Shaban, who played Sil in the TV story, sadly passed away this year.
On Bank Holiday Monday in August, I saw the 1986 film ‘Clockwise’, starring John Cleese via Amazon Prime Video. I enjoyed seeing the film as well as cooking a lasagne for my parents and me on Bank Holiday Monday. ‘Clockwise’ is a film I’ve been meaning to properly see for a long time. I’m glad I saw it this year, especially in terms of comparing the character that John Cleese played in ‘Clockwise’ to Basil Fawlty in ‘Fawlty Towers’. It’s also amazing to spot familiar faces in ‘Clockwise’, both from ‘Fawlty Towers’ and other productions. And it’s incredible to think Verity Lambert, ‘Doctor Who’s first TV producer, was an executive producer on the film. 😀
SEPTEMBER
In September, I dedicated a whole month to celebrate my blog’s 10th anniversary in style. For the first 29 days of September, I shared BB@10 Reflection blog posts containing my thoughts on how I feel the past 10 years of ‘Bradley’s Basement’ have been and what the various achievements I’ve made are. This includes sharing my reflections on ‘Doctor Who’ items like ‘The Fifth Doctor by Tim Bradley’ series, my ‘Doctor Who’ timelines, my convention experiences, ‘The Nyssa Challenge’, BBV and ‘Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary.
I also shared reflections on how I’ve shared my thoughts on various TV shows, movies, superhero franchises and sci-fi franchises over the years. This includes ‘Fawlty Towers’, ‘Spider-Man’, ‘Transformers’, ‘Back to the Future’, ‘Dad’s Army’, ‘Star Trek’, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ‘Star Wars’, ‘Thunderbirds’, ‘All Creatures Great and Small’, ‘The Brittas Empire’, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and the X-Men. I also shared my reflections on Day Trips and Holidays, Jane Austen, the novelizations I’ve reviewed, my YouTube channel, Christmas, Easter, my sister Bethan’s Birthday, my April Fools items, my Mayday blog posts and my Yearly Reports from 2015 to 2024.
Throughout September, I shared a variety of films and theatre productions, which I later shared as reviews on the 30th of September and the 1st of October as part of my blog’s 10th anniversary celebrations. The first film I saw in September was the 2000 film ‘Thomas and the Magic Railroad’. This was partly to celebrate Thomas the Tank Engine’s 80th anniversary in ‘The Railway Series’ books by Rev. W. Awdry. It was nice to see the film again and do a quick review on it. Hopefully, I can find time to do an in-depth review on the film sometime in the future.
My Mum and I went to London to see ‘Back to the Future – The Musical’ at the Adelphi Theatre in London, which I saw a second time this year. I also purchased the ‘Back to the Future – The Musical’ CD Album, which I shared a review on later that month. I’m pleased I’ve seen ‘Back to the Future – The Musical’ twice at the Adelphi Theatre in London. I don’t know if I’ll be seeing it again sometime soon in the future. I hope ‘Back to the Future – The Musical’ will come to Cardiff someday, especially as the musical production is about to go on a tour in the UK soon.
My parents and I enjoyed a little holiday in Bath in September. Whilst enjoying our holiday, we went to see a theatre production of ‘Emma’ by Jane Austen at the Theatre Royal in Bath. It wasn’t planned, but I’m glad we went to see ‘Emma’ at the theatre to celebrate Jane Austen’s 250th anniversary. We got good seats in the Theatre Royal to see the production. Hopefully, in the New Year, my parents and I will get to see another theatre production at the Theatre Royal in Bath should we go on holiday in Bath again in 2026. I know ‘Fawlty Towers – The Play’ will be touring in early July in the New Year. 😀
At the cinema, my parents and I went to see the third ‘Downton Abbey’ film ‘Downton Abbey – The Grand Finale’. We enjoyed the film so much that we saw it again in October. 😀 It seems that ‘Downton Abbey – The Grand Finale’ is the final chapter in the ‘Downton Abbey’ series. At least for now. Who knows what will happen in the future? Maybe we’ll get a prequel ‘Downton Abbey’ series at some point. Maybe a Series 7. Not sure yet. Whatever happens, I’m sure I’ll be revisiting ‘Downton Abbey’ at some point in the future.
There were some limited releases I enjoyed at the cinema in September! This included the cinematic release of the two ‘Thunderbirds’ episodes ‘Trapped In The Sky’ and ‘Terror In New York’ City’, which I enjoyed watching to celebrate the 60th anniversary of ‘Thunderbirds’. I also enjoyed seeing the original ‘Spider-Man’ film trilogy with Tobey Maguire at the cinema in September, especially as the second film ‘Spider-Man 2’ was re-released in its 2.1 extended edition on the big screen for the first time. Since the original ‘Spider-Man’ film trilogy with Tobey Maguire is my favourite era of ‘Spider-Man’ in terms of movies, how I could resist going to see all three movies again at the cinema for the last weekend in September?
Sadly, this year, we lost Peter David, an author well-known for writing many comic book superhero stories in books and comics as well as being the author of many ‘Star Trek’ novels. For me, he novelized the original ‘Spider-Man’ film trilogy with Tobey Maguire as well as the first ‘Fantastic Four’ film from 2005 and ‘Batman Forever’. I paid tribute to Peter David by checking out and reviewing the movie novelization of ‘Iron Man’, the first film of the ‘MCU’. I’m very pleased I checked out the first ‘Iron Man’ movie novelization to commemorate Peter David, and it was fascinating to revisit the first ‘MCU’ film in book form. Whether I’ll check out the movie novelizations for ‘The Incredible Hulk’ and ‘Iron Man 2’ films is yet to be determined.
On the 30th of September, I celebrated ‘Bradley’s Basement’s 10th anniversary with a traditional anniversary blog post announcing the occasion as well as sharing my reviews on the various film and TV productions I’d seen in September. I shared a few new ‘Doctor Who’ timelines for characters like Morbius, Rassilon and Jenny. I also shared a special preview for the next story in ‘The Fifth Doctor by Tim Bradley’ series called ‘Swing Time’, which I’m hoping to share in its entirety in 2026. I also shared some special artwork provided by my best mate Stephen on my ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘Neptune Connect’.
OCTOBER
I skipped September when sharing my updated ‘Beast Wars’ reviews. I resumed sharing some more in October on the episodes ‘Dark Voyage’, ‘Possession’, ‘The Low Road’ and ‘Law of the Jungle’. I also shared my updated reviews on Season 25 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series on Blu-ray with Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred. This included the four stories ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’, ‘The Happiness Patrol’, ‘Silver Nemesis’ and ‘The Greatest Show in the Galaxy’.
In sharing my updated reviews on Season 25 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series, I also shared video reactions on each of the four stories, including my reaction to Allison beating up a Dalek in ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’, Cuddles’ reaction to Fifi in ‘The Happiness Patrol’ and my reaction to the skinheads in ‘Silver Nemesis’. I also shared my quick video reactions on ‘The Greatest Show in the Galaxy’, including Peggy Mount’s appearance in the story and a making a comparison between the TV story and the Target novelization by Stephen Wyatt.
I did a review on the DVD special feature ‘Girls! Girls! Girls! – The Eighties’ featuring Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding and Sophie Aldred, which was originally released on the ‘Paradise Towers’ DVD and is now available on Disc 3 of the Season 25 Blu-ray box set containing the original three-part TV version of ‘The Happiness Patrol’. I added my review on ‘Girls! Girls! Girls! – The Eighties’ to my ‘Bradley’s Basement’ page for ‘The Happiness Patrol’. I did another in-depth review on another ‘Doctor Who’ Target novelization/audiobook, which was on ‘The Greatest Show in the Galaxy’ by Stephen Wyatt, with the unabridged audiobook read by Sophie Aldred. Again, I listened to the audiobook on Audible whilst reading the Target novelization.
October was a very exciting month for me, as I attended two conventions in that month. The first convention was ‘MegaCon Live Farnborough’ where I saw Sarah Sutton again along with Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Paul McGann. I saw them for one out of the two days that weekend, but I greatly enjoyed the event, and it was lovely to see Sarah again before the end of 2025. My parents also came along to enjoy the convention and see Sarah and Peter. At the event, I conducted an interview with Sarah Sutton about ‘The Keeper of Traken’ after missing out on seeing her at the ‘Projections in Time’ event about ‘The Keeper of Traken’ in Hammersmith, London back in August.
The second convention I attended in October was the ‘Film & Comic Con Cardiff’ where I saw Millie Gibson for the second time this year and for the third time at a convention. It was great to see Millie again. I’m pleased she recognises me when I see her at conventions and I’m honoured that she expected to see me at the Cardiff comic con in October. I enjoyed having a chat with Millie, having photos with her and I enjoyed her panel talk where I got to ask her a question. It was also nice to see Catrin Stewart who plays Jenny Flint in the TV series and the Big Finish audios, having met her once at a comic con in Birmingham back in November 2011. She recognised me when I saw her after all these years. It was great having a chat with Catrin.
Sadly, we lost Dame Patricia Routledge, well-known for playing Hyacinth Bucket in ‘Keeping Up Appearances’ as well as Hetty Wainthropp in ‘Hetty Wainthropp Investigates’. I paid tribute to Patricia Routledge by doing quick reviews on two ‘Remembers…’ interviews featuring her sharing her memories of being in ‘Keeping Up Appearances’ and ‘Hetty Wainthropp Investigates’, which I enjoyed watching via BBC iPlayer.
I shared a compilation video containing all my quick video reactions to Series 14 of ‘Doctor Who’ with Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson from 2024. This was shared before I saw Millie Gibson at ‘Film & Comic Con Cardiff’ and in preparation for me to do my in-depth reviews on Series 14 when the time comes in 2026. I also shared a video sharing my thoughts on the journey of Richard E. Grant’s appearances in the Ncuti Gatwa era of ‘Doctor Who’, based on my video reactions for ‘Rogue’, ‘The Story & The Engine’ and ‘Wish World’/’The Reality War’. I also shared a few some more YouTube shorts based on two quick reaction videos for Series 15 of ‘Doctor Who’, including ‘Lucky Day’ and ‘The Reality War’.
In terms of comedy, I shared my updated reviews on the episodes featured in the ‘Dad’s Army: The Missing Episodes’ DVD, including ‘The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Walker’, ‘A Stripe For Frazer’, ‘Under Fire’, ‘Room at the Bottom’ and ‘The Cornish Floral Dance’. I also shared a brand-new review on the ‘Christmas with the Stars’ mini-episode ‘Poles Apart’. I also did a quick review on the TV broadcast of ‘Fawlty Towers – The Play’, which I’d seen twice in London back in February and August. It was nice to see ‘Fawlty Towers – The Play’ on TV when I did and I’m pleased my Dad got to see it at long last.
At the end of October, I shared my quick review on the Disney film ‘The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad’, which contains the two stories ‘The Wind in the Willows’ and ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’. ‘The Wind in the Willows’ has a Christmas feel to it whilst ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ has a Halloween theme to it. I don’t usually do Halloween reviews on my blog, but since I did my quick review on ‘The Dog Who Saved Halloween’ last year, I settled on sharing ‘The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad’ as my Halloween review for this year.
NOVEMBER
In October, the news came that ‘Doctor Who’ would be returning for a Christmas Special in December 2026. However, I shared my reaction to the news in a blog post in November. This blog post contained a YouTube video where I had my cuddly toy dogs Snuggles, Fuggles and Buggles as well as Donald, Buggles’ pet duck, taking part in the reaction to the news. It was a fun video to do, and it was a way to find new skills on how to edit videos with pictures and such. As for the news itself, I’m looking forward to when ‘Doctor Who’ makes it comeback in December 2026. Hopefully, it’ll be worthwhile.
November was the last month for me to share updated reviews on the ‘Beast Wars: Transformers’ TV series in 2025. This included my updated reviews on the last two Season 1 stories ‘Before the Storm’ and ‘Other Voices’ as well as my updated reviews on the first two Season 2 stories ‘Aftermath’ and ‘Coming of the Fuzors’. I’m looking forward to sharing more updated reviews on the ‘Beast Wars’ TV series in 2026. Hopefully, I’ll have shared the rest of my updated Season 2 reviews and all of my updated Season 3 reviews by Early Bank Holiday Monday in May next year.
I shared more tributes to people we sadly lost in 2025. This included Christopher H. Bidmead, Nabil Shaban and Prunella Scales. Chris Bidmead was the script editor of ‘Doctor Who’ for Tom Baker’s seventh and final season (Season 18) from 1980 to 1981 as well as wrote the TV stories ‘Logopolis’, ‘Castrovalva’ and ‘Frontios’. Nabil Shaban played Sil in two ‘Doctor Who’ stories on TV, including ‘Vengeance on Varos’ and the ‘Mindwarp’ segment of ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’. Prunella Scales played Sybil Fawlty in ‘Fawlty Towers’. I also paid tribute to Prunella Scales by sharing my thoughts on the Tesco Adverts that she appeared in.
From September to October 2025, I saw Series 6 of the new ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ TV series on Channel 5. I greatly enjoyed seeing the season. I shared my thoughts on Series 6 in November. I don’t know how long the new ‘All Creatures’ series will last for, but I’m looking forward to when it comes back in the New Year with Series 7. I also saw ‘The Forsytes’, the latest TV adaptation of ‘The Forsyte Saga’ by John Galsworthy, on Channel 5. I checked out the series from October to November 2025. It was great to see Millie Gibson from ‘Doctor Who’ in the series, having met her three times at conventions. I’m looking forward to when Series 2 of ‘The Forsytes’ comes out on TV sometime in 2026.
This month was another opportunity to celebrate the 40th anniversary of ‘Back to the Future’. This was done by checking out the 40th anniversary release of the first ‘Back to the Future’ movie at the cinema, which I greatly enjoyed. I also checked out and did an in-depth review on the movie novelization of ‘Back to the Future, Part II’ by Craig Shaw Gardner. I wasn’t expecting to check out another ‘Back to the Future’ movie novelization so soon, but I’m glad I was able to check out the ‘Part II’ novelization, especially to celebrate 40 years of ‘Back to the Future’.
For my Dad’s birthday, I got for him a 2-disc DVD set of the 1945 film ‘State Fair’. I’m pleased I got the film for my Dad on his birthday, especially as it’s his and one of my favourite Rodgers and Hammerstein musical films. I don’t often have the opportunity to share my thoughts on one of these R&H musical films. Hopefully, in future, I can find time to do a film review season on the R&H musical films, whenever that may be. And in case you’re wondering, my birthday gift to Mum was the London trip we did to see ‘Fawlty Towers – The Play’ in London in February. Her birthday is in March, but she considered that as her main birthday present from me. 🙂
In November, my Mum and I got to see the ‘Mission: Impossible’ films directed by Christopher McQuarrie at the cinema in Cineworld in Cardiff. Originally, we planned on to just see the fifth film ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’ and the sixth film ‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’. But we enjoyed the ‘M:I’ films at the cinema so much that we decided to see the remaining two films ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One’ and ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’ too. It’s quite ironic, considering we’d seen the first seven ‘M:I’ films before seeing ‘The Final Reckoning’ in May, and months later in November, my Mum and I got to see all four of the Christopher McQuarrie-directed ‘M:I’ films at the cinema with Tom Cruise and enjoyed them thoroughly. Four nights of ‘M:I’ films one after the other. What could be better? 😀
I shared my thoughts on some videos I enjoyed on YouTube in November. This included the unofficial ‘Doctor Who’ Children in Need mini-episode ‘Tiny Time Lord Trouble’, featuring Sophie Aldred as Ace teaming up with Pudsey Bear as the Doctor. It was a delightful mini-episode and I’m very pleased I saw it and got to share my thoughts on it before the official BBC Children in Need celebrations. We also had the release of the first teaser trailer for ‘Toy Story 5’, which will be released sometime in 2026. I’m looking forward to seeing that film in the New Year and I got to share my thoughts from watching the teaser trailer on my blog.
In November, I was in a ‘Dad’s Army’ mood. 😀 I shared my thoughts on a ‘Dad’s Army’ sketch that was shown as part of the VE Day 80th anniversary celebrations back in May. It has Jim Howick as Captain Mainwaring, Nigel Havers as Sergeant Wilson, Kevin Eldon who reprises his role of Lance Corporal Jones from the 2019 live-action remakes of the ‘Dad’s Army’ Series 2 lost episodes, Daniel Mays who reprises his role of Private Walker from the 2016 ‘Dad’s Army’ film, Iain Glen as Private Frazer, David Bradley as Private Godfrey and Dylan Llewellyn as Private Pike. I also shared my reviews on the audio adaptations of the ‘Dad’s Army’ episodes ‘When You’ve Got to Go’, ‘My Brother and I’ and ‘Never Too Old’ from the ‘Dad’s Army: The Radio Show’ audio release by Big Finish, starring Jack Lane and David Benson.
I attended my eighth and final convention of 2025 in November, and this was in time to celebrate 62 years of ‘Doctor Who’. I attended the ‘London Comic Con Winter’ event for just Saturday the 15th of the two-day weekend in November. I greatly enjoyed the comic con and saw several ‘Doctor Who’ stars, including David Tennant (the Tenth and Fourteenth Doctors) for the second time at a convention and Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald) for the first time at a convention. It was great to see David again and although my encounter with Jenna was brief and not as fruitful compared to Sarah Sutton and Millie Gibson, I still found it rewarding that I got to meet Jenna in person, having enjoyed her as Clara Oswald in ‘Doctor Who’.
In terms of my ‘Doctor Who’ 62nd anniversary celebrations on ‘Bradley’s Basement’, I shared brand-new reviews on some of the Big Finish audios featuring Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor and Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor. This included ‘Vampire Weekend’ and ‘The Return of the Doctor’ with Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill as well as ‘Snare’ and ‘The Last Days of the Powell Estate’ with Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper. I also shared a compilation video containing all my quick video reactions to Series 15 of ‘Doctor Who’ with Ncuti Gatwa, Verada Sethu and Millie Gibson (which ended up being the biggest and longest compilation video I’ve ever put together lasting for 1 hour and 32 minutes). I shared my blog post to celebrate 62 years of ‘Doctor Who’ as well as shared my quick thoughts on the deleted scenes from Series 15 of ‘Doctor Who’, which was released on the 23rd of November via the official ‘Doctor Who’ YouTube channel.
DECEMBER
In the final month of 2025, I shared my annual ‘Bradley’s Basement’s Advent Calendar’ which contained videos and quick reviews on the episodes of Season 1 of ‘Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends’, narrated by Ringo Starr. This was partly to celebrate the 80th anniversary of ‘The Railway Series’ books featuring Thomas by Rev. W. Awdry. I greatly enjoyed sharing my latest Advent Calendar on Season 1 of the 1984 ‘Thomas’ TV series, especially as it was something I grew up watching and enjoying as a young kid in the 1990s. I’d like to do another ‘Advent Calendar’ focusing on Season 2 of the ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ TV series. Whether that will happen or not, we’ll just have to wait and see.
I shared quick Christmas reviews in December 2025, which included three adaptations of the famous Christmas story ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens. This included the 1992 film ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol’ with Michael Caine, the 2009 CGI animated film ‘A Christmas Carol’ with Jim Carrey, and the 1951 film ‘Scrooge’, starring Alistair Sim. This helped me with preparing for a reading I did, taken from ‘A Christmas Carol’, for a Christmas service, which I was invited to partake in. Since seeing the 1951 film ‘Scrooge’ in black-and-white on DVD, my Dad shortly purchased the colour version of the film also on DVD, which my parents and I enjoyed.
In December, I finished my 40th anniversary celebrations of ‘Back to the Future’ by checking out the third and final movie novelization on the third and final film of the trilogy, ‘Back to the Future, Part III’ by Craig Shaw Gardner. I greatly enjoyed reading the ‘Back to the Future, Part III’ novelization from November to December in 2025, and I’m pleased I was able to finish my 40th anniversary celebrations of ‘Back to the Future’ in time before the year ended. Who knows what else is left for me to review in terms of ‘Back to the Future’? Hopefully, there’ll be something exciting and interesting for me to check out in future. 😀
Concerning the cinema, I got to see ‘Zootropolis 2’ at the cinema, which I’m very pleased I did, especially as I rewatched the first ‘Zootropolis’ film on Disney+ first before checking out the second film. I also saw a limited re-release of the 2000 film ‘The Grinch’, starring Jim Carrey, to celebrate the film’s 25th anniversary. It was my first experience of checking out the ‘The Grinch’ on the big screen, as I never saw it when it came out at cinemas back in 2000. It was a worthwhile experience, and I greatly enjoyed spotting all the intricate details in the film that I wouldn’t have seen on DVD.
In terms of main ‘Doctor Who’ TV viewing in December 2025, I saw a Special Edition version of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Sea Devils’, starring Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning and Roger Delgado. This was to coincide with the release of the spin-off series ‘The War Between the Land and the Sea’, starring Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Whilst I enjoyed ‘The War Between the Land and the Sea’ in the first three weeks of December leading up to Christmas, I can’t say I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed ‘The Sea Devils’ 2025 Special Edition. At least it made up for the absence of a ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special that we didn’t have this year.
To celebrate Sarah Sutton’s birthday in December 2025, I shared a review as well as a video of the exclusive Blu-ray behind-the-scenes making-of documentary ‘Time Trap’ that focuses on the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘Castrovalva’. This documentary features Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding and Matthew Waterhouse, who are joined by Mark Strickson guiding them on revisiting the locations of ‘Castrovalva’, including Harrison’s Rocks in Tunbridge Wells. I’m very pleased I got to share the ‘Time Trap’ making-of documentary in a video and share a review on it for my ‘Castrovalva’ page on ‘Bradley’s Basement’. Hopefully, I can do the same for more exclusive Blu-ray making-of documentaries such as ‘Double Trouble’ for the TV story ‘Black Orchid’.
My parents and I revisited Bute Park in Cardiff where they had another Christmas lights night trail show for us to enjoy. It was great to do the ‘Christmas at Bute Park’ night trail again. Not only did I take photos of the latest light show in Bute Park, but I also took video clips and compiled them into a YouTube video to share some of the highlights of the Christmas show. My two cuddly toy dogs Cuddles and Buggles accompanied me on the trip to Bute Park and I took photos of them as well as filmed video clips of them watching the night show. I doubt I’ll be doing Bute Park again for 2026, but I’m glad to have shared another trip to Bute Park in Cardiff at Christmas time for my blog.
I saw a couple of items on Netflix over the Christmas period. This included ‘Man vs. Baby’ starring Rowan Atkinson, the sequel series to ‘Man vs. Bee’, which I revisited before checking out its follow-up. I greatly enjoyed ‘Man vs. Baby’, as it’s very well put-together and it suits Christmas very well. I also saw ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ starring Daniel Craig, the third film of the ‘Knives Out’/Benoit Blanc murder-mystery film series by writer/director Rian Johnson. My mum and I revisited ‘Knives Out’ and ‘Glass Onion’ before checking out ‘Wake Up Dead Man’, which was great to do over the Christmas holidays. I’m sure it’ll be another three years from now before we get a fourth ‘Knives Out’/Benoit Blanc film with Daniel Craig. If that happens, I’m looking forward to it very much.
I shared my Merry Christmas message on Christmas Day via ‘Bradley’s Basement’, which included sharing my latest Christmas photos of me with David Tennant and Jenna Coleman at the ‘London Comic Con Winter’ in November 2025. I also shared a brand-new compilation video containing interviews with Sarah Sutton from December 2023 to October 2025. Christmas Day was a very happy day for me, especially I received some nice Christmas presents, including a brand-new mug containing a photo of me with Sarah Sutton at the ‘Scarborough Comic Con’ in November 2023 as well as calendars, which I’ll be sharing more details about tomorrow.
I got to do my ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review season for December 2025 to January 2026 before the year ended. I shared reviews on ‘The Cloud Exiles & Other Stories’ audio anthology, which included updated reviews on ‘Danger Down Below’ and ‘The God Machine’ from the 1983 ‘Doctor Who Annual’ featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan. I also shared my reviews on the Big Finish audios ‘Genesis of the Cybermen’, ‘The Great Beyond’, ‘Hooklight’, ‘Spare Parts’ and ‘1963: Fanfare For The Common Men’. At this point, there’s one more review to share in my latest ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review season, which will happen tomorrow. I started work rather late on my latest ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review season in the last week of November, but I preserved and managed to get all my reviews scheduled on time for sharing on ‘Bradley’s Basement’.
I saw a few Christmas Specials, including two ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ items. This included ‘All Creatures Great and Small: Behind the Magic’ as well as the 2025 Christmas Special called ‘Comfort and Joy’. It was great to see these ‘All Creatures’ Christmas items on Christmas Eve. I also saw the ‘Dad’s Army: At the BBC’ documentary on Christmas Day via BBC Two as well as the ‘Doctor Who Unleashed’ episode ’20 Years in Wales’ to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. I also saw the extended cut of ‘Knight and Day’, starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, and ‘The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim’, both on DVD over the Christmas period.
Looking back on 2025 overall, I’m very pleased I’ve been able to achieve this landmark milestone of doing ‘Bradley’s Basement’ for 10 years. I’m happy I’ve done a variety of topics and reviews on my blog, ranging from ‘Doctor Who’ to many films and TV shows. 🙂
In terms of conventions, I’m amazed I’ve done eight this year! Five with Sarah Sutton, four with Peter Davison, two with Janet Fielding and three with Millie Gibson. I’m also pleased I’ve seen David Tennant a second time at a convention and Jenna Coleman for the first time.
The trips to London have been plentiful, including ‘Fawlty Towers – The Play’ in February, a convention in April, a weekend of ‘Fawlty Towers – The Play’ and ‘Back to the Future – The Musical’ in August, ‘Back to the Future – The Musical’ again in September and a comic con in November.
More than I anticipated. I’ve spent quite a lot this year. It’s something I have mixed feelings about. On the one hand, I’m glad I’ve been able to do these activities in 2025, especially to celebrate 10 years of ‘Bradley’s Basement’. I’ve made the most of the celebrations. 😀
On the other hand though, it’s made me consider cutting back on what I enjoy in terms of doing activities every year. I plan not to go to London so often in 2026 and I aim to cut down on going to conventions and doing theatre trips. Whether I’ll succeed is yet to be determined.
At present, I’m looking forward to going to ‘Happy Who Year’ in Andover in January 2026 and to see ‘Doctor Who’ stars like Sarah Sutton, Peter Davison and Janet Fielding again. It’ll be nice and thrilling for me to see these ‘Doctor Who’ stars at the start of the New Year. 🙂
I’m also looking forward to ‘London Comic Con Spring’ in February 2026 to see Millie Gibson again along with Ncuti Gatwa and Verada Sethu. What will happen for the rest of the year, I don’t know, but I’m happy I’ve at least two conventions to look forward to and enjoy.
My plans for updating my ‘Doctor Who’ reviews in ‘The Collection’ Blu-ray range haven’t exactly gone according to plan. Although I’ve managed to share my updated reviews on Seasons 15, 20 and 26, there are more ‘Collection’ Blu-ray box sets for me to get through.
Not that’s an hinderance of any kind. I’m looking forward to checking out ‘The Savages’ animation on DVD as well as the Seasons 7, 13 and 21 Blu-ray box sets in the New Year. It’s just it’ll take time for me to get around to them. I don’t have as much time as I used to. 😦
Plus, before I even get back to updating more reviews on classic ‘Doctor Who’ stories, I’ve yet to do my in-depth reviews on Series 14 and 15 with Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor. It’s something I’m looking forward to doing, but it’ll mean me delaying other projects.
I’ve still got more of my ‘Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy’ stories to share on my blog, including the next one in the series called ‘Swing Time’. Hopefully, I’ll be sharing more of that story soon as well as the rest of the series that will depict Billy’s exit from ‘Doctor Who’.
There are still some non-‘Doctor Who’ Big Finish audio ranges I’ve yet to check out and review, including ‘Star Cops’ and ‘Dark Season’. Hopefully, I’ll get onto checking those out sometime soon, but there’s still a long way for me to go in terms of checking out new content.
I would like to check out more Disney+ shows on my blog in 2026 as well as the latest season of ‘Alex Rider’ on Amazon Prime Video. Hopefully in 2026, I’ll have a clearer focus on what to do for my blog, especially since the 10th anniversary celebrations have finished.
For now, I’m very happy with what I’ve achieved in 2025 and I’m so pleased I’ve been able to do 10 years of my blog. I’m very pleased I saw Sarah Sutton again this year at conventions, as I consider her a very special friend and our friendship developed greatly these past 15 years.
I’m also pleased I’ve been able to form a friendly rapport with Millie Gibson at conventions, especially since I’ve seen her at three events so far. I look forward with positiveness to 2026. I also aim to improve what I did before this past year in the upcoming New Year.
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now, best wishes and please keep safe!
See you next year! 😀
Tim 🙂
Bradley's Basement 
Happy 10th, Tim, and Happy New Year. ☮️
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Happy New Year to you, scifimike.
Many thanks for your support this past year! See you in the New Year!
Tim 🙂
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