Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
I’ve seen the latest musical fantasy film called ‘Wonka’ at the cinema. This happens to be an origin story for Willy Wonka, a character in the 1964 book ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ by Roald Dahl. It’s also a prequel to the 1971 film ‘Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory’ with Gene Wilder. Continue reading
Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
To celebrate Sarah Sutton’s birthday today, I’ve put together a list of all the conventions I’ve attended over the years from 2010 to 2023, which includes ‘Doctor Who’ conventions, multi-purpose conventions and a ‘Star Trek’ convention. You can check out my ‘convention memories’ blog posts and my convention reports by clicking on the images below. 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!
Quite arguably, Series 10 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series is the best season out of the three that Peter Capaldi did as the Twelfth Doctor. There are some good episodes to take away from the season, including ‘Smile’, ‘Thin Ice’, ‘Empress of Mars’ and ‘The Eaters of Light’, which I’ve enjoyed. 🙂 Continue reading
Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
We come now to the two-part season finale in Series 10 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series, starring Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, Pearl Mackie as Bill and Matt Lucas as Nardole. This is ‘World Enough and Time’/’The Doctor Falls’ by Steven Moffat. This two-part adventure has Michelle Gomez as Missy actively involved in the season finale for a change, and there’s the return of John Simm as the Master, who was last seen in ‘The End of Time’ with David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. There’s also the return of the Mondasian Cybermen, who made their debut in ‘The Tenth Planet’ with William Hartnell as the First Doctor, and they’ve been in the Big Finish audio story ‘Spare Parts’ with Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor. Clearly, ‘World Enough and Time’/’The Doctor Falls’ is supposed to be a dramatic and emotional finale to Series 10, especially considering what happens to our three main heroes: the Twelfth Doctor, Bill and Nardole. Do I think this two-part story is worthy enough to be considered a dramatic and emotional finale in Series 10 of the new TV series? ‘World Enough and Time’/’The Doctor Falls’ 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 fitting that today’s instalment in the 60th Anniversary Marathon of ‘Doctor Who’ on the 60th anniversary date is an episode by a writer who’s written for both the classic and the new TV eras of the show. Today, we’re checking out ‘The Eaters of Light’ by Rona Munro, who penned ‘Survival’, the last story of the classic TV series featuring Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and Sophie Aldred as Ace. ‘The Eaters of Light’ features Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, Pearl Mackie as Bill and Matt Lucas as Nardole. The story takes place in Scotland in the 2nd century, where our heroes investigate the fate of the Ninth Legion of the Imperial Roman army. As well as Romans, this story also features the Pict tribe, led by Rebecca Benson as Kar, who’s also the ‘Guardian of the Gate’. There’s a crow that happens to say words of English if you listen carefully. Nardole is in his dressing gown in this story ( 😀 ) and there happens to be a brief appearance of Michelle Gomez as Missy at the episode’s end. Is ‘The Eaters of Light’ as good as ‘Survival’ in being a ‘Doctor Who’ instalment by Rona Munro? ‘The Eaters of Light’ 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!
Here we are on the third and final episode of ‘The Monks Trilogy’ in Series 10 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. It’s time for ‘The Lie of the Land’ by Toby Whithouse, starring Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, Pearl Mackie as Bill and Matt Lucas as Nardole. There’s another appearance of Michelle Gomez as Missy, who happens to be the person that was locked in the vault that the Doctor and Nardole were protecting under St Luke’s University in Bristol. In ‘The Lie of the Land’, Bill and Nardole must find a way to rescue the Doctor after he is imprisoned, and they must end the Monks’ invasion of Earth. At the time of watching this episode on BBC TV back in June 2017, I found this to be a marked improvement over the previous two instalments of ‘The Monks Trilogy’ – ‘Extremis’ and ‘The Pyramid at the End of the World’. How much of my thoughts have changed since then? Do I still consider ‘The Lie of the Land’ a good conclusion to the trilogy, or do I think it falls flat in the same manner as the first two episodes of the trilogy? ‘The Lie of the Land’ 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!
We’re on the second half of Series 10 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series today, and we’re checking out the second episode of ‘The Monks Trilogy’. It’s time for us to check out ‘The Pyramid at the End of the World’ by Peter Harness and Steven Moffat. Peter Harness previously wrote ‘Kill the Moon’ for Series 8 and he co-wrote ‘The Zygon Invasion’/’The Zygon Invasion’ with Steven Moffat for Series 9. Will ‘The Pyramid at the End of the World’ be more like ‘Kill the Moon’ or more like ‘The Zygon Invasion’/’The Zygon Inversion’? The episode stars Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, Pearl Mackie as Bill and Matt Lucas as Nardole. There’s also Rachel Denning as Erica and Tony Gardner (who I’ve seen in ‘Young Hyacinth’ and ‘The Larkins’ as well as heard in the Big Finish audio story ‘The Wrong Doctors’) as Douglas. And there’s Tim Bentinck who returns to voice the Monks in the episode. I revisited the final scene of this episode on YouTube recently and found it very good. Does that reflect my overall feelings about ‘The Pyramid at the End of the World’? The episode 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 starting off a trilogy of loosely-connected ‘Doctor Who’ episodes in Series 10 of the new TV series, which happens to be ‘The Monks Trilogy’. The first episode is called ‘Extremis’ by Steven Moffat, starring Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, Pearl Mackie as Bill Potts and Matt Lucas as Nardole. Following on from the end of ‘Oxygen’, the Doctor is now blind and he wears his sonic sunglasses to conceal the fact that he’s blind from Bill Potts. Nardole is the only one who knows the Twelfth Doctor’s secret. In the episode, the Vatican calls upon the Doctor to investigate the Veritas, which is a book whose readers typically kill themselves after reading it. The guest cast includes Joseph Long (who was in ‘Turn Left’) as the Pope. There’s also Tim Bentinck (who’s done some Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’) as the voice of the Monks. And there’s Michelle Gomez who returns as Missy in Series 10 of the new TV series. ‘Extremis’ is rated highly by the critics. Do I consider ‘Extremis’ to be a good beginning to ‘The Monks Trilogy’ of ‘Doctor Who’ episodes? ‘Extremis’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading
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