Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ and I’m Tim Bradley!
For four nights over the past weekend, my Mum and I have been enjoying the last four ‘Mission: Impossible’ films directed by Christopher McQuarrie, starring Tom Cruise, at Cineworld in Cardiff. That wasn’t planned since we intended to just see two ‘M:I’ movies.
Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
I’ve seen the latest ‘Fantastic Four’ film at the cinema, ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’, which is part of the ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’ film series. I greatly enjoyed seeing the film, and I found it a better movie experience compared to seeing the 2025 ‘Superman’ film. Continue reading
Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
I’ve recently checked out the Target novelization/audiobook ‘Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks’ by Terrance Dicks, based on the ‘Doctor Who’ TV story by Terry Nation, which was shown from April to May 1973. This story features the Third Doctor and Jo teaming up with the Thals on the planet Spiridon, as they tackle the deadly Daleks. I’ve enjoyed the Target novelization via its 1992 edition with cover art by Alister Pearson. I read the book with the 2013 unabridged audiobook read by Mark Gatiss, who is well-known for writing ‘Doctor Who’ episodes in the new TV series and has played characters like Professor Lazarus in ‘The Lazarus Experiment’ and the Captain in ‘Twice Upon a Time’. Nicholas Briggs also provides the voice of the Daleks in the unabridged audiobook. Continue reading
SPOILERS ALERT!!!
Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
It’s time to talk about ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’, starring Tom Cruise. This is the latest instalment in the ‘Mission: Impossible’ film series. I’ve seen it twice at cinemas – on Saturday the 24th and on Spring Bank Holiday Monday (the 26th of May). Continue reading
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
Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
After ‘The Monks Trilogy’, we’re back to some proper standalone ‘Doctor Who’ episodes in Series 10 of the new TV series. Today in the 60th Anniversary Marathon, we’re checking out ‘Empress of Mars’ by Mark Gatiss. This features the return of the Ice Warriors. Still not sure if it’s Nicholas Briggs who’s voicing the Ice Warriors in this episode. Notable Ice Warrior characters that appear in this episode include Richard Ashton as Friday and Adele Lynch as the titular ‘Empress of Mars’ named Iraxxa. Incidentally, Adele Lynch recently played a similar character in the Ice Queen named Vextyr in the Big Finish audio story ‘Cry of the Vultriss’ with Colin Baker. The guest cast also includes Anthony Calf as Godsacre and Ferdinand Kingsley as Catchlove. There’s a nice cameo of Alpha Centauri from the ‘Peladon Tales’ of ‘Doctor Who’, and she’s voiced by Ysanne Churchman. And there’s a brief appearance of Michelle Gomez as Missy somewhere in the middle and at the episode’s end. At the time of watching this, I found ‘Empress of Mars’ a good ‘Doctor Who’ episode. Do I still regard it favourably after all these years? ‘Empress of Mars’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading
Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
Today, we’re looking at an interesting experiment of a ‘Doctor Who’ episode in Series 9 of the new TV series. Here we are on ‘Sleep No More’ by Mark Gatiss, starring Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor and Jenna Coleman as Clara. This is a ‘Doctor Who’ episode that’s presented through a series of found footage. There’s also no opening titles sequences for this ‘Doctor Who’ episode. And this happens to be an episode that was shown in November 2015, not at the end of October 2015 as you would expect (That honour was of course given to ‘The Zygon Invasion’ – the first episode of the two-part Zygon story in Series 9 😀 ). As well as Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman, this ‘Doctor Who’ episode features special guest star Reece Shearsmith as Rassmussen. Reece Shearsmith is no stranger to ‘Doctor Who’, since he’s been in the ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ series by BBV, playing Andrew Powell in the episodes ‘The Devil of Winterborne’ and ‘Ghosts of Winterborne’. He also briefly played Patrick Troughton in the 2013 docu-drama ‘An Adventure In Space and Time’. There are monsters in the episode that happen to be called the Sandmen (No, not Sandman in ‘Spider-Man’. And not the Sandmen in the Big Finish audio drama ‘The Entropy Plague’ 😀 ). Is this a ‘Doctor Who’ episode that wins me over completely? Do I find this experiment of a ‘Doctor Who’ story truly satisfying? ‘Sleep No More’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading
Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
In today’s instalment of the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon, we have the Doctor meeting Robin Hood for the first time (at least on TV that is 😀 ). This new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series episode from Series 8 is called ‘Robot of Sherwood’ by Mark Gatiss. This happens to be one of my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ episodes from Series 8 of the new TV series. Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor gets to fight Robin Hood with a spoon rather than a sword ( 😀 ), and Jenna Coleman gets to dress up in a nice outfit and look like Maid Marian for a bit. 🙂 The guest cast includes Tom Riley as Robin Wood and Ben Miller as the Sheriff of Nottingham. There’s Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Quayle and Sabrina Bartlett (who later starred as Mariette in Series 1 of ‘The Larkins’ as well as the Christmas Special) as Quayle’s ward, who turns out to be Maid Marian in the episode. There’s Robin Hood’s Merry Men, including Ian Hallard as Alan-a-Dale, Trevor Cooper as Friar Tuck, Rusty Goffe as Little John and Joseph Kennedy as Will Scarlet. Oh, and there are robot knights in this ‘Doctor Who’ episode. 😀 ‘Robot of Sherwood’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading
Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
It’s time for us to check out ‘The Crimson Horror’, which happens to be the second contribution made by Mark Gatiss in Series 7 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series (the first one being ‘Cold War’). In this ‘Doctor Who’ episode, Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Jenna Coleman as Clara visit Victorian London in the year 1893. There’s the return of the Paternoster Gang, including Neve McIntosh as Madame Vastra, Catrin Stewart as Jenny and Dan Starkey as Strax. Interestingly, the Paternoster Gang mostly appear in the first half of the episode, since the Eleventh Doctor and Clara don’t appear until the episode’s second half. 😐 An unnerving mystery takes place at a utopian community in Yorkshire called Sweetville, led by the late Dame Diana Rigg (well-known for playing Emma Peel in the 1960s TV show ‘The Avengers’) as Mrs. Gillyflower. There’s also Rachael Stirling (Diana Rigg’s real-life daughter) as Ada. Can our heroes solve the mystery as to what’s happening with ‘the crimson horror’? ‘The Crimson Horror’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading
Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
The ‘Doctor Who’ episode that we’re checking out today is the one that features the return of the Ice Warriors (well, one of them anyway 😀 ) in the new TV series. This is ‘Cold War’ by Mark Gatiss. 🙂 ‘Cold War’ has Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Jenna Coleman as Clara visiting a Soviet submarine in 1983 during the Cold War. It’s where the Ice Warrior called Grand Marshal Skaldak (played by Spencer Wilding and voiced by Nicholas Briggs) breaks loose and plots revenge against humanity. There are special guest stars in the episode like Liam Cunningham (who I’ve seen in the 2007 TV adaptation of ‘Northanger Abbey’) as Captain Zhukov. There’s the late David Warner (who I’ve met at conventions, seen in two ‘Star Trek’ films and heard in the Big Finish audios) as Professor Grisenko. There’s Josh O’Connor (who’s been in ‘The Durrells’ and the 2020 film ‘Emma.’) as Piotr, there’s Tobias Menzies (who’s been in the 2007 TV adaptation of ‘Persuasion’) as Lieutenant Stepashin, and there’s James Norton (well-known for playing Sidney Chambers in ‘Grantchester’) as Onegin. ‘Cold War’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading
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