Category Archives: Book

Novelization/Audiobook Review – ‘Doctor Who – The Star Beast’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s been a while, but I’m back on track with checking out Target novelizations/audiobooks of ‘Doctor Who’ at last! I’ve a lot to catch up on, but hopefully I’ll be able to cover the latest and upcoming Target novelizations/audiobooks very soon. For a start, let’s check out the first of three Target novelizations/audiobooks on the three 60th anniversary specials of ‘Doctor Who’, as they’re still fresh in my mind. The first Target novelization/audiobook of the three 60th anniversary specials is on the TV story ‘The Star Beast’, featuring the Fourteenth Doctor, Donna Noble and Beep the Meep. Continue reading

Novelization/Audiobook Review – ‘Doctor Who and the Horns of Nimon’

Horns_of_Nimon_novel

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

I’ve just updated my review on the Target novelization ‘Doctor Who and the Horns of Nimon’ by Terrance Dicks. This ‘Doctor Who’ story features the Fourth Doctor, Romana II and K-9 Mark II. I revisited this Target novelization with the latest BBC audiobook read by Geoffrey Beevers, who is well-known for playing the Master and voicing the Melkur in ‘The Keeper of Traken’. There’s also John Leeson who voices K-9 in the audiobook for ‘The Horns of Nimon’ Target novelization. Continue reading

Book Reviews – ‘More Short Trips’ (Doctor Who)

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s Easter Saturday today and the 2024 ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review season continues, as we check out the second ‘Short Trips’ anthology book of ‘Doctor Who’ published by the BBC called ‘More Short Trips’, released in March 1999. There are seventeen stories in the anthology. Once again, one of them features the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa. 🙂 Continue reading

Book Reviews – ‘Short Trips’ (Doctor Who)

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s Good Friday today, and we’re continuing the 2024 ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review season by checking out the first ‘Short Trips’ anthology book of ‘Doctor Who’ published by the BBC, which was released in March 1998. There are fifteen stories in the anthology and one of them happens to feature the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa. 🙂 Continue reading

Basement Update & Quick Review – Season 20 of ‘Doctor Who’ on Blu-ray

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

You may have noticed the inactivity that’s occurring on ‘Bradley’s Basement’ so far in January 2024. Rest assured, I haven’t been idle. I’m currently putting together my ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review season for Easter in March and April and I’m working on ‘The Sunfire Chronicles’ set of short stories. Continue reading

Book/Audio Review – ‘Combat Magicks’ (Doctor Who)

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

There aren’t any Big Finish audios featuring the Thirteenth Doctor yet. Hopefully that will happen soon. In the meantime, let’s close off our look into the Jodie Whittaker/Thirteenth Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’ by checking out the ‘New Series Adventures’ book called ‘Combat Magicks’ by Steve Cole. This is the third in a trilogy of ‘Doctor Who’ books featuring the Thirteenth Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

And here we are on the season finale of Series 11 in the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series – Jodie Whittaker’s first season as the Thirteenth Doctor. This is ‘The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos’ by Chris Chibnall. In the episode, the Doctor, Bradley Walsh as Graham, Tosin Cole as Ryan and Mandip Gill as Yaz respond to a series of distress signals on the planet Ranskoor Av Kolos. It’s where they confront Samuel Oatley as Tzim-Sha/Tim Shaw, the alien Stenza warrior who last appeared in ‘The Woman Who Fell to Earth’. Tzim-Shaw is using the powers of the psychic alien species called the Ux to shrink the planet Earth in revenge for what happened to him in the Thirteenth Doctor’s first TV outing. The episode also features Phyllis Logan (well-known for being in ‘Downton Abbey’) as Andinio, Percelle Ascott as Delph and Mark Addy (who’s been in ‘Young Hyacinth’ and the first ‘Downton Abbey’ movie) as Captain Paltraki. Apparently, Chris Chibnall has revealed that this episode was his least favourite script in the TV series. Do I consider this a least favourite ‘Doctor Who’ episode of mine? ‘The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Witchfinders’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

Here we are on what is arguably a very good ‘Doctor Who’ episode in Series 11 of the new TV series, starring Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, Bradley Walsh as Graham, Tosin Cole as Ryan and Mandip Gill as Yaz. This is ‘The Witchfinders’ by Joy Wilkinson, which happens to be another pseudo-historical adventure. In this episode, the Doctor and her three friends visit 17th century Lancashire where a witch hunt is taking place and it’s being held by a local landowner. The episode’s guest cast includes Alan Cumming (who I’ve seen in the ‘Spy Kids’ movies, ‘X-Men 2’ and ‘The Airzone Solution’) as King James, Siobhan Finneran (who’s been in ‘Downton Abbey’) as Becka Savage, and Tilly Steele (who’s recently been in ‘The Ninth Doctor Adventures’ Big Finish anthology ‘Lost Warriors’) as Willa Twiston. There are also mud witches in the episode. Whilst the episode received positive reviews from critics at the time of its BBC broadcast, do I consider this to be one of the best episodes from Series 11 of the new TV series as well as the Jodie Whittaker/Thirteenth Doctor era? ‘The Witchfinders’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Demons of the Punjab’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

We’re on the sixth episode in Series 11 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series today, and it happens to be ‘Demons of the Punjab’ by Vinay Patel. This is another ‘Doctor Who’ episode that delves into our human history, as Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, Bradley Walsh as Graham, Tosin Cole as Ryan and Mandip Gill as Yaz visit the Punjab in August 1947. Yaz has asked the Doctor to take her to see her nani during her youth. The Doctor and her friends soon get caught up in the events building up to the partition of India. Could aliens be involved in the death of a man that was killed during the Doctor and her friends’ visit to the Punjab? The guest cast includes Leena Dhingra (who’s also been in ‘The Unicorn and the Wasp’) as Nani Umbreen, Amita Suman as young Umbreen, Shane Zaza as Prem and Hamza Jeetooa (who later did a ‘Granchester’ episode) as Manish. There are also brief appearances of Yaz’s family at the episode’s beginning, including Shobna Gulati as Najia, Yaz’s mum; Ravin J. Ganatra as Hakim, Yaz’s dad; and Bhavnisha Parmar as Sonya, Yaz’s sister. ‘Demons of the Punjab’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Twice Upon a Time’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s time to check out the final story of the Peter Capaldi/Twelfth Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’ and it’s the final story of the Steven Moffat era. Here we are on the 2017 Christmas Special called ‘Twice Upon a Time’ by Steven Moffat. As well as Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, he gets to meet and team up with David Bradley as the First Doctor. David Bradley played William Hartnell in the 2013 docu-drama ‘An Adventure In Space and Time’. Since then, he’s played the First Doctor more than once in the Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’. Also in ‘Twice Upon a Time’, there’s the return of Pearl Mackie as Bill Potts and the introduction of Mark Gatiss as the Captain. There are guest returns of Rusty the Dalek from ‘Into the Dalek’, Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald and Matt Lucas as Nardole. There are also small appearances of the First Doctor’s companions, including Polly (played by Anneke Wills/Lily Travers) and Ben (played by Michael Craze/Jared Garfield). With this being the last story of the Peter Capaldi/Twelfth Doctor era, does ‘Twice Upon a Time’ conclude it on reassuring and satisfying notes? ‘Twice Upon a Time’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading