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

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

We’re starting on what is arguably labelled the Clara Season – the second half of Series 7 in the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. This is where Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor gets to meet his new companion – Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald. Jenna Coleman previously played Oswin Oswald in ‘Asylum of the Daleks’. However, it turns out Matt Smith’s Doctor doesn’t get to meet Clara quite yet in this 2012 Christmas Special. This is ‘The Snowmen’ by Steven Moffat. I’m certain that the special was inspired by ‘The Snowman’ – both the book and TV special – by Raymond Briggs. 😀 The special takes place in London in the year 1892. It also features the return of the Paternoster Gang, including Neve McIntosh as Madame Vastra, Catrin Stewart as Jenny Flint and Dan Starkey as Strax, who previously appeared in the Series 6 episode ‘A Good Man Goes to War’. There’s special guest star Richard E. Grant (who played one of the Doctors in ‘The Curse of Fatal Death’ and the Doctor in ‘Scream of the Shalka’) as Dr. Simeon. And there’s Ian McKellen (who played Gandalf in ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ film trilogies and Magneto in the ‘X-Men’ films) as the voice of the Great Intelligence. ‘The Snowmen’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s time for us to check out ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’ by Steven Moffat. This is the fifth episode in Series 7 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series and it’s the final episode of what I would label as the Pond Season in the first half of Series 7. This is Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill’s last regular appearance as Amy Pond and Rory Williams, who have been loyal companions for Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’. In this episode, the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory visit Central Park in New York in the year 2012 before they get swept up in a deadly adventure involving the Weeping Angels on the planet Earth in the year 1938. They’re joined by Alex Kingston who returns as River Song in the episode. Will I find this Weeping Angels episode better than ‘The Time of Angels’/’Flesh and Stone’ from Series 5? Will it match in similar quality to ‘Blink’ from Series 3? And will this be a very satisfying and emotional departure for Amy and Rory as ‘Doctor Who’ companions? ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Power of Three’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

Let’s check out the fourth ‘Doctor Who’ episode in Series 7 of the new TV series, starring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams. This is ‘The Power of Three’, which is the second of two episodes by Chris Chibnall for Series 7 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. The episode features another appearance of Mark Williams as Brian Williams, Rory’s dad, who previously appeared in ‘Dinosaurs on a Spaceship’. There’s the debut of Jemma Redgrave as Kate Stewart, who is the daughter of Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart and is now the new leader of U.N.I.T. And there’s special guest star Steven Berkoff (who voiced King Herod in ‘It’s a Boy’) as the alien Shakri of Time Lord legend. This ‘Doctor Who’ episode features the slow invasion of the cubes on planet Earth. Can Amy and Rory balance out their normal lives when travelling with the Doctor whilst also having to contend with the slow invasion of the cubes? ‘The Power of Three’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘A Town Called Mercy’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

Today, it’s time for the third episode in Series 7 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. It’s called ‘A Town Called Mercy’ by Toby Whithouse. This is a Wild West adventure for Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams, as they find themselves dealing with the cyborg-like Gunslinger, played by Andrew Brooke, in the American Frontier town of Mercy (played by Fort Bravo and Oasys theme parks in Spain 😀 ). This ‘Doctor Who’ episode also features Adrian Scarborough (who’s been in the Big Finish audio story ‘The Boy That Time Forgot’ with Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton as well as the 2018 film ‘Patrick’) as Kahler-Jex. There’s Garrick Hagon (who’s been in the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Mutants’ with Jon Pertwee) as Abraham, and the episode’s narrator happens to be Lorelei King (who I’ve seen in an episode of ‘Monarch of the Glen’ and she’s been in Big Finish audio stories like ‘The Contingency Club’). ‘A Town Called Mercy’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Dinosaurs on a Spaceship’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s time for us to check out ‘Dinosaurs on a Spaceship’, the first of two episodes by Chris Chibnall in Series 7 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. This episode is literally about a spaceship with dinosaurs on board which our heroes discover. There’s Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams. Our TARDIS trio is joined by Riann Steele as Queen Nefertiti of Egypt and Rupert Graves (who has played DI Lestrade in ‘Sherlock’) as Edwardian game hunter John Riddell. There’s also the introduction of Mark Williams (who played Maxwell Edison in the Big Finish audio story ‘The Eternal Summer’ with Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton) as Brian Williams, Rory’s dad. And there’s David Bradley (who would later play William Hartnell in ‘An Adventure In Space and Time’ and the First Doctor in ‘Twice Upon A Time’, ‘The Power of the Doctor’ and the Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’) as the villainous Solomon. ‘Dinosaurs on a Spaceship’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →

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

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

And welcome to Series 7 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. Here we are on Series 7 – Part 1, starring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams. This is what I would like to label as the Pond Season in Series 7 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. Series 7 – Part 1 depicts the five final adventures of the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory as a TARDIS trio. Will they be a satisfying final set of adventures featuring Eleven, Amy and Rory? We begin the season with ‘Asylum of the Daleks’ by Steven Moffat. This adventure features a variety of Daleks from both the classic TV series and the new TV series versions of ‘Doctor Who’. There’s also the introduction of Jenna-Louise Coleman as Oswin Oswald, whom the Doctor communicates via various intercoms throughout the adventure. Is ‘Asylum of the Daleks’ a satisfying Dalek adventure for me? Did I find it better than ‘Victory of the Daleks’ from Series 5? 😀 ‘Asylum of the Daleks’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →

‘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 – ‘Closing Time’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s time for us to check out the ‘Doctor Who’ episode called ‘Closing Time’ by Gareth Roberts. This is a sequel to the Series 5 episode called ‘The Lodger’ and it features the return of James Corden as Craig Owens. Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor is without Amy and Rory (though Karen Gillan as Amy and Arthur Darvill as Rory do appear briefly in the episode). Instead, Matt Smith’s Doctor teams up with Craig, as they work together to thwart some Cybermen hiding underneath a department store. And this is while Craig is looking after his baby son called Alfie – or Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All as he likes to be called, according to the Doctor. 😀 This episode also features the return of the Cybermats (well, one of them 😀 ), having last appeared in stories like ‘The Tomb of the Cybermen’, ‘The Wheel In Space’, ‘Revenge of the Cybermen’ and ‘Spare Parts’. There’s also special guest star Lynda Baron (who played Captain Wrack in ‘Enlightenment’) as Val at the department store. ‘Closing Time’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The God Complex’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

We’re checking out another ‘Doctor Who’ episode in Series 6 of the new TV series today, and it happens to be ‘The God Complex’ by Toby Whithouse. In this episode, Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams find themselves trapped in what appears to be a 1980s hotel with constantly changing corridors (Not like ‘The Space Hotel’ then 😀 ). There’s also a Minotaur-like creature (played by Spencer Wilding) walking about the corridors of the hotel, as it feeds off the faith of the Doctors, his companions and other guests in the hotel. And yes, the Minotaur happens to be distantly-related to the Nimon from ‘The Horns of Nimon’. 😀 This ‘Doctor Who’ episode also features David Walliams (well-known for being in ‘Little Britain’) as Gibbis. There’s also Caitlin Blackwood, who briefly appears as Amy Pond in the episode. ‘The God Complex’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →