Tag Archives: matt smith

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

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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 Doctor’s Wife’

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

It’s time for the first ‘Doctor Who’ episode to be penned by Neil Gaiman, who is the creator of the comic book series called ‘The Sandman’ and the writer of novels such as ‘Good Omens’ and ‘Stardust’. Today’s ‘Doctor Who’ episode is called ‘The Doctor’s Wife’, featuring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams. In the episode, our heroes receive a distress call and Matt Smith’s Doctor soon meets Suranne Jones as Idris, who happens to be the TARDIS in woman form. The story’s monster is called House and he’s voiced by Michael Sheen, who went on to be in the ‘Good Omens’ TV series with David Tennant. There’s an Ood with green eyes in the episode called Nephew, and there’s the return of the Russell T. Davies-era TARDIS console as well as the introduction of a new TARDIS console designed by ‘Blue Peter’ winner Susannah Leah. ‘The Doctor’s Wife’ 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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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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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’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘A Christmas Carol’

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

It’s time for us to check out the first ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special that features Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor. This is ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Steven Moffat, based of course on the classic 1843 novella by Charles Dickens of the same name. 😀 The Christmas Special was shown on BBC TV on Christmas Day in 2010. As well as Matt Smith, there’s Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams, who are now married in the TV series. There’s Michael Gambon (who I’ve seen in the BBC’s 1999 TV production of ‘Wives & Daughters’ and is well-known for being in the ‘Harry Potter’ films) as the Scrooge-like Kazran Sardick. And there’s Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins who makes her acting debut as Abigail. There’s also Laurence Belcher as a young Kazran and Danny Horn as a grown-up Kazran. The special also has flying giant sharks in it. 😀 ‘A Christmas Carol’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – Series 5 Summary

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

In my opinion, Series 5 is the strongest of the three seasons featuring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor as well as being the strongest season in the entire Steven Moffat era of ‘Doctor Who’. It starts off well in ‘The Eleventh Hour’ and it concludes well in ‘The Pandorica Opens’/’The Big Bang’. 🙂 Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Pandorica Opens’/’The Big Bang’

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

Here we are on the two-part season finale of Series 5 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series called ‘The Pandorica Opens’/’The Big Bang’ by Steven Moffat. In this two-part adventure, Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Karen Gillan as Amy Pond receive a message. They journey back in time to Roman Britain where they reunite with Alex Kingston as River Song. The trio soon ride off on horses to Stonehenge. There, they go underground to find a box-like structure called the Pandorica, which has been waiting for the Doctor. This story features a number of returning characters who have appeared in Series 5, including the return of Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams, who has managed to survive and cheat death following ‘Cold Blood’. This adventure also features the Pandorica Alliance of ‘Doctor Who’ monsters, including Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, Judoon, Silurians, etc. ‘The Pandorica Opens’/’The Big Bang’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

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

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

Today, it’s time for us to check out the ‘Doctor Who’ episode from Series 5 of the new TV series called ‘The Lodger’ by Gareth Roberts. This happens to be a TV episode based on a 2006 ‘Doctor Who Magazine’ comic story of the same name by Gareth Roberts, featuring the Tenth Doctor. I must check out more comic stories and perhaps do a comparison between the comic and TV versions of ‘The Lodger’. In the TV version of ‘The Lodger’, Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor becomes stranded on Earth after stepping out of the TARDIS whilst Karen Gillan as Amy Pond is still inside the blue box time machine. The Doctor meets up with James Corden as Craig Owens and ends up becoming his roommate. This is the first time I’ve come across James Corden in TV and film, and this is before James Corden went on to voice Peter Rabbit in the 2018 film and its 2021 sequel. 😀 ‘The Lodger’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Vincent and the Doctor’

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

It’s time for us to check out a ‘Doctor Who’ episode that’s penned by one of the writers of comedy TV shows like ‘Blackadder’, ‘Mr. Bean’ and ‘The Vicar of Dibley’. He was also the executive producer of ‘The Curse of Fatal Death’, which was written by Steven Moffat. Today, it’s time for us to check out ‘Vincent and the Doctor’ by Richard Curtis. Having lost Rory in ‘Cold Blood’, Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Gillan as Amy Pond are now travelling in the TARDIS together. Visiting the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, they soon travel back in time to meet the artist Vincent van Gogh, played by Tony Curran, to solve a mystery that involves one of his paintings. This episode also features Bill Nighy (who I’ve heard play Sam Gamgee in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ radio series and many film and TV productions over the years) as Dr. Black. ‘Vincent and the Doctor’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Hungry Earth’/’Cold Blood’

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

I’ve found out that the two-part ‘Doctor Who’ story we’re revisiting today – ‘The Hungry Earth’/’Cold Blood’ by Chris Chibnall – takes place in the year 2020. Keep in mind that the two-part story was shown on BBC TV in May 2010. I’d like to assume that the story takes place in early 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic ever happened. Or it could be that the story takes place in an alternative universe where Covid-19 never happened. 😀 Anyway, let’s check out this two-part story starring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams, as they visit South Wales in 2020 and we have the return of the Silurians with a redesigned look compared to the classic TV series versions of them. The main Silurians featured in this story include Neve McIntosh as Alaya and Restac, Richard Hope as Malohkeh and Stephen Moore as Eldane. ‘The Hungry Earrth’/’Cold Blood’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading