Category Archives: Douglas Adams

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Shada’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

How fitting that on the 8th of May – my birthday as well as a Bank Holiday – we look at another one of my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ stories from the Fourth Doctor era as well as the actual finale to Season 17 of the classic TV series. This is ‘Shada’, a six-part adventure by Douglas Adams, featuring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, Lalla Ward as Romana and K-9, voiced by David Brierley. This story was never shown on TV in 1979, but thankfully it has been completed with animation and was released in 2017. You can check out the feature-length 2017 film version of ‘Shada’ on DVD, Blu-ray and Britbox and you can check out the exclusive six-part 2021 version of the story on Blu-ray. Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Horns of Nimon’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

Here we are on one of the most infamous ‘Doctor Who’ stories shown on screen called ‘The Horns of Nimon’. This classic four-part ‘Doctor Who’ adventure by Anthony Read has a pantomime feel to it that many people loathe, yet somehow, I have a soft spot for it. 😀 ‘The Horns of Nimon’ ended up being technically the finale to Season 17 of the classic TV series; but it’s actually the penultimate story of the season. The story stars Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, Lalla Ward as Romana and K-9, voiced by David Brierley, with guest stars Graham Crowden as Soldeed, future ‘Blue Peter’ presenter Janet Ellis as Princess Teka and the minotaur-like Nimon. ‘The Horns of Nimon’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and Britbox. Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Nightmare of Eden’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

Today, on King Charles’ coronation in the UK ( 😀 ), it’s time for the fourth story of Season 17 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series called ‘Nightmare of Eden’. This four-part story by Bob Baker is infamous for its behind-the-scenes issues. The story stars Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, Lalla Ward as Romana and K-9, voiced by David Brierley. In ‘Nightmare of Eden’, the theme of drug-smuggling is addressed and we’re introduced to a new race of monsters called the Mandrels. ‘Nightmare of Eden’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and Britbox. Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Creature From The Pit’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

We’re now on the third story of Season 17 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. This is ‘The Creature From The Pit’, a four-part story by David Fisher. As well as Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor and Lalla Ward as Romana, there’s K-9 (now voiced by David Brierley). This story also features guest stars like Myra Frances, Eileen Way and Geoffrey Bayldon. Is the titular creature as scary as it sounds or will it end up being ridiculous? 😀 ‘The Creature From The Pit’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and Britbox. Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘City of Death’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s time to check out my absolute favourite Fourth Doctor/Tom Baker era ‘Doctor Who’ story. Here we are on ‘City of Death’, a four-part story by ‘David Agnew’ (pseudonym for David Fisher, Douglas Adams and Graham Williams). This is the second story in the classic TV series of ‘Doctor Who’, starring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor and Lalla Ward as Romana. There are also special guest stars like Julian Glover, Catherine Schell, Tom Chadbon, David Graham, Peter Halliday, John Cleese and Eleanor Bron. ‘City of Death’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and Britbox. Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Destiny of the Daleks’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

And welcome to Season 17 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series! This is the season where Douglas Adams (author of ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’) is the script editor. It’s Tom Baker’s sixth season as the Fourth Doctor, Graham Williams’ third and final season as producer, and Lalla Ward’s first season as the second Romana. To start off the season, we look at ‘Destiny of the Daleks’, a four-part story by Terry Nation which features the Daleks of course, the return of Davros (played by David Gooderson) and introduces the robotic Movellans. ‘Destiny of the Daleks’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and Britbox. Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Armageddon Factor’

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

We’ve come to the end of ‘The Key to Time’ season…

Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!

Oh yeah, it’s Bank Holiday Monday in May in the UK today. Fitting it should be on the 1st of May too. 🙂 Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Pirate Planet’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

We come to one of my favourite stories in ‘The Key to Time’ season (Season 16) of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. This is ‘The Pirate Planet’, a four-part adventure by Douglas Adams, who is well-known for being the author of ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’. This story stars Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, Mary Tamm as Romana, and K-9, voiced by John Leeson. The TARDIS trio end up on the planet Zanak, as they try to locate the second segment of the Key to Time and they come up against Bruce Purchase as the Pirate Captain. This story inspired me to create the atmosphere for my ‘Fifth Doctor’ adventure called ‘The Space Hotel’. 😀 ‘The Pirate Planet’ can be checked out on DVD and Britbox. Continue reading →

CD review – ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Primary Phase’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

I’ve created a new page about Douglas Adams on ‘Bradley’s Basement’. I’ve also reviewed the first of ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ radio series by Douglas Adams called ‘Primary Phase’. This is a series I’ve wanted to check out and review on my blog for quite some time. I’m glad I’ve been able to review the first ‘Hitchhiker’s’ radio series as a starting point. Continue reading →

Season 17 of ‘Doctor Who’ with Tom Baker on Blu-ray #6

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

And we’ve come to the end of Season 17 of ‘Doctor Who’ on Blu-ray with Tom Baker. To finish off, we’re taking a look at the lost story called ‘Shada’, which was meant to be the season finale to Season 17, but was cancelled due to strike action happening in 1979. My review on the original ‘Shada’ is based on the 2021 ‘definitive version’ of the story in the Season 17 Blu-ray box set. I’ve combined both my reviews on the 1992 VHS version and the 2017 movie version of the ‘Shada’ story for this review. Continue reading →