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‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s time to check out the second ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special with Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, which was released on Christmas Day in December 2011. This is ‘The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe’ by Steven Moffat, loosely inspired by ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ by C.S. Lewis. As well as Matt Smith, there’s Claire Skinner as Madge Arwell. There are the Arwell children, including Maurice Cole as Cyril and Holly Earl as Lily. There’s Alexander Armstrong (well-known for voicing Mr. Smith in ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’) as Reg Arwell, Madge’s husband. There are comedic guest stars like Bill Bailey, Paul Bazely and Arabella Weir (who played an alternative version of the Doctor in the Big Finish audio ‘Exile’) in the Christmas Special. And there’s a Wooden King (played by Spencer Wilding) and a Wooden Queen (played by Paul Kasey). Does this Christmas Special satisfy me in being a good homage to ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’? ‘The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Wedding of River Song’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

Here we are on the season finale of Series 6 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. This isn’t a two-part story as you would expect. The finale happens to be a single episode. 😐 This is where theoretically mostly everything that’s been going on in Series 6 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series comes together in the episode. It’s time for ‘The Wedding of River Song’ by Steven Moffat, starring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond, Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams and Alex Kingston as River Song. This ‘Doctor Who’ episode also features the return of Frances Barber as Madame Kovarian, along with the Silence. There’s also the return of Simon Fisher-Becker as Dorium Maldovar, Ian McNeice as Winston Churchill, Richard Hope as Malokeh and there’s even Simon Callow as Charles Dickens. Was this is a satisfying ‘Doctor Who’ season finale for me? Were all the unanswered questions that went on in Series 6 answered in this episode? ‘The Wedding of River Song’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Girl Who Waited’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

In today’s instalment of the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon, it’s time for us to check out the ‘Doctor Who’ TV episode called ‘The Girl Who Waited’ by Tom MacRae. This is Tom MacRae’s second contribution to the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series, since he wrote ‘Rise of the Cybermen’/’The Age of Steel’ in Series 2. In the episode, Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams visit the planet Apalapucia for a holiday, but they soon find that the planet is under quarantine as there seems to be a deadly plague about. Amy accidentally gets separated from the Doctor and Rory, and soon there are two Amys, including the younger Amy and an older Amy. This episode also features the Handbots, who are likely to kill our heroes, despite them saying that what they’re doing is ‘a kindness’. ‘The Girl Who Waited’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s time for us to start checking out Part 2 of Series 6 in the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. We start off with the episode called ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’ by Steven Moffat. I was hoping that this would be an episode featuring a full-on Nazi Germany extravaganza with Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory. Will that be the case when checking out the episode itself? This episode also features Alex Kingston as River Song and Nina Toussaint-White as Mels, Amy and Rory’s childhood friend. There’s also the return of Caitlin Blackwood who plays Amelia Pond in the episode. ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’ also features the Teselecta, a shape-changing and human-looking robot that’s manned by a human crew from the future, and they’re miniaturised inside it. The Teselecta also contains deadly antibodies inside it. ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Rebel Flesh’/’The Almost People’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

We’re now on the last two-part story to ever be featured in the Matt Smith/Eleventh Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’. It’s time for ‘The Rebel Flesh’/’The Almost People’ by Matthew Graham, who previously penned ‘Fear Her’ in Series 2 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. In this ‘Doctor Who’ adventure, Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams meet the Gangers on Earth in the 22nd century. There are special guest stars like Mark Bonnar (who would go on to play the Eleven in the Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’) as Jimmy, Sarah Smart (who’s been in ‘At Home with the Braithwaites’ with Peter Davison and the Big Finish audio drama ‘The Crooked Man’ with Tom Baker) as Jennifer, and there’s Raquel Cassidy (who’s been in the Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’ and the ‘Downton Abbey’ TV series and movies) as Cleaves. ‘The Rebel Flesh’/’The Almost People’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Curse of the Black Spot’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

Today in the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon, we’re checking out the Series 6 episode in the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series called ‘The Curse of the Black Spot’ by Steve Thompson (who has also written for the ‘Sherlock’ TV series run by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss). This is a ‘Doctor Who’ episode where Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams find themselves on a pirate adventure. They board a pirate ship in the 17th century, which happens to be captained by Hugh Bonnerville (well-known for being in ‘Downton Abbey’ and the two ‘Paddington’ films) as Captain Henry Avery. Apparently, there’s a connection between this episode and the 1966 TV story called ‘The Smugglers’. 🙂 Will this be like a ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ adventure, even though the pirate crew are cursed with the Black Spot and there’s a female Siren about? ‘The Curse of the Black Spot’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Impossible Astronaut’/’Day of the Moon’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

Series 6 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series begins with a two-part adventure called ‘The Impossible Astronaut’/’Day of the Moon’ by Steven Moffat. This ‘Doctor Who’ two-parter stars Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond, Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams and Alex Kingston as River Song. Our heroes visit the USA in 1969 where the landmark event of the first man to walk on Earth’s moon takes place. An astronaut appears on Lake Silencio in Utah and kills the Doctor. This two-part story starts off an arc in Series 6 in terms how the Eleventh Doctor ended up being killed by a mysterious astronaut and the Silence make their presence known in this ‘Doctor Who’ adventure. The story also features Mark Sheppard as Canton Everett Delaware III and Stuart Milligan as President Richard Nixon. ‘The Impossible Astronaut’/’Day of the Moon’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ Marathon – ‘The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

Ready for another ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special with Matt Smith? Well, here’s one for your delight as Claire Skinner joins Matt Smith’s Doctor in this festive episode called ‘The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe’. Will this episode be anything like ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ it’s based upon? Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ Marathon – ‘The Wedding of River Song’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

This is the season finale of Series 6 in ‘Doctor Who’. It’s a story that should’ve been a two-parter with everything crammed in at the end. It features the return of River Song as well as the Silence. Can the Doctor stop time collapsing with the world now seemingly jumbled up with many time zones? Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ Marathon – ‘The Girl Who Waited’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

This is a ‘Doctor Who’ episode that’s pretty complicated when you watch it casually on the TV. It features two Amys, including a young Amy and an older Amy who had to wait for years for the Doctor and Rory to find her. Despite the story’s complexity, it does have some very emotional moments. Continue reading →