Tag Archives: mike tucker

Season 25 of ‘Doctor Who’ with Sylvester McCoy on Blu-ray #4

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

And here we are on the fourth and final story in Season 25 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series, starring Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and Sophie Aldred as Ace. I’m glad we’ve reached this point in completing Season 25 of classic ‘Doctor Who’, as we look into ‘The Greatest Show in the Galaxy’, a four-part story by Stephen Wyatt, who previously wrote ‘Paradise Towers’ in Season 24. I’ve updated and extended my thoughts on the story, based on my revisit of ‘Greatest Show’ via the Season 25 Blu-ray box set. There are two versions of ‘Greatest Show’ on Blu-ray, including the original four-part story and the Special Edition version. With the Special Edition version however, ‘Parts One and Three’ are given the extended treatment along with brand-new CGI effects. Continue reading

Season 25 of ‘Doctor Who’ with Sylvester McCoy on Blu-ray #3

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s time for us to check out the third story in Season 25 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series, starring Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and Sophie Aldred as Ace. Today, it’s time for ‘Silver Nemesis’, which is the actual 25th anniversary story of the season and it features the return of the Cybermen as well as featuring neo-Nazis, Lady Peinforte and Richard. I’ve updated and extended my thoughts on the story, based on my revisit of ‘Silver Nemesis’ via the Season 25 Blu-ray box set. ‘Silver Nemesis’ is a three-part adventure by Kevin Clarke. For the Season 25 Blu-ray box set, there are four versions of the story, including the original three-part story, the three-part Special Edition version, the 55-minute Special Edition omnibus version and the three-part extended VHS version from 1993. Continue reading

‘Tales From The TARDIS’ Review – ‘Stop the Pigeon’

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

Let’s check out the eleventh and penultimate story in the ‘Tales From The TARDIS: Volume One’ collection of ‘Doctor Who’ audio stories called ‘Stop the Pigeon’ by Robert Perry and Mike Tucker. The story features the Seventh Doctor and Ace. It also features the Tremas Master, as played by Anthony Ainley, as well as a Krynoid and a talking pigeon. 😀 The story is read by Sophie Aldred, who plays Ace in the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series and the Big Finish audios. As well as the eleventh story in the ‘Tales From The TARDIS: Volume One’ collection, it’s the fifth story in the ‘Short Trips’ audio anthology produced by the BBC. It’s also the fifth story in the ‘Short Trips’ 1998 book collection by the BBC, which I reviewed in my ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review season for Easter from March to April 2024. Apparently, the prose version of ‘Stop the Pigeon’ is longer than the audio version of the story. 😀 Continue reading

Season 2 of ‘Doctor Who’ with William Hartnell on Blu-ray #8

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

Here we are on the penultimate story of Season 2 of the classic ‘Doctor Who TV series. It’s time for another one of my favourite stories from the William Hartnell/First Doctor era – a six-part adventure called ‘The Chase’, featuring the third appearance of the Daleks on TV. This story is notable for featuring the debut of Peter Purves in ‘Doctor Who’ where he plays Morton Dill in the third episode and Steven Taylor in the sixth episode. Steven Taylor becomes a new ‘Doctor Who’ companion after this story. There’s also the introduction of the Mechanoids in this story. ‘The Chase’ also features the departure of TARDIS regulars William Russell as Ian Chesterton and Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright, who have been in the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series since the beginning. Continue reading

Book Reviews – ‘More Short Trips’ (Doctor Who)

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

It’s Easter Saturday today, and the 2024 ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review season continues as we check out the second ‘Short Trips’ anthology book of ‘Doctor Who’ published by the BBC called ‘More Short Trips’, released in March 1999. There are seventeen stories in the anthology. Once again, one of them features the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa. 🙂 Continue reading

Book Reviews – ‘Short Trips’ (Doctor Who)

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s Good Friday today, and we’re continuing the 2024 ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review season by checking out the first ‘Short Trips’ anthology book of ‘Doctor Who’ published by the BBC, which was released in March 1998. There are fifteen stories in the anthology and one of them happens to feature the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa. 🙂 Continue reading

Tim Bradley’s Convention Memories and Reports – 2010-2023

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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

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Thin Ice’

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

Just to be clear, we’re checking out the ‘Doctor Who’ TV episode called ‘Thin Ice’ today. Not the Big Finish audio story called ‘Thin Ice’. That audio drama features Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and Sophie Aldred as Ace. The Ice Warriors are in that too. 😀 The ‘Thin Ice’ TV episode from Series 10 of the new TV series features Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor and Pearl Mackie as Bill, and it’s penned by Sarah Dollard, who previously wrote ‘Face the Raven’ in Series 9. No Ice Warriors are to be found, however. The TV episode ‘Thin Ice’ is a pseudo-historical adventure that takes place at the last great frost fair in London in the year 1814. The Doctor has visited the last great London frost fair before, when he was the First Doctor in the Big Finish audio story called ‘Frostfire’, along with Vicki and Steven. The frost fair in ‘Thin Ice’ must be the same one as the frost fair in ‘Frostfire’, right? 😀 Our heroes discover something lurking below the frozen Thames. But is this a sinister thing that’s lurking below the Thames? Matt Lucas as Nardole makes an appearance at the episode’s end. ‘Thin Ice’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Time of the Doctor’

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

Here we are on the final adventure of the Matt Smith/Eleventh Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’. This is ‘The Time of the Doctor’, the 2013 Christmas Special by Steven Moffat, starring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald. It’s the fourth Christmas Special to feature Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor. The special also has Daleks, Cybermen, Weeping Angels, Sontarans, the Silence and plenty more monsters to finish off the Eleventh Doctor. There’s Orla Brady (who I’ve seen more recently in the ‘Star Trek: Picard’ series) as Tasha Lem, and there are guest stars like Sheila Reid (who was in ‘Vengeance on Varos’) as Clara’s Gran. Tessa Peake-Jones (well-known for being in ‘Only Fools and Horses’ and she would go on to be in ‘Grantchester’) makes a small guest role in the special as Marta. There’s also a couple of guest cameos, including a past face and a new face in ‘Doctor Who’. 😀 Will this be a satisfying swansong of a ‘Doctor Who’ adventure for Matt Smith’s Doctor? Can a single Christmas Special conclude the Eleventh Doctor era entirely on a worthwhile note? ‘The Time of the Doctor’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Day of the Doctor’

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

The time has come for ‘The Day of the Doctor’ by Steven Moffat – the 50th anniversary special of ‘Doctor Who’. This was shown on BBC TV on the 23rd of November 2013. It stars Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald, Billie Piper as the Moment and John Hurt as the War Doctor. There are special guest stars like Jemma Redgrave as Kate Stewart, Ingrid Oliver as Osgood and Joanna Page as Queen Elizabeth I. The story also features the Daleks as well as the return of the Zygons, who previously appeared in their first TV story ‘Terror of the Zygons’. There are surprise guest cameos of Doctors and companions that a keen ‘Doctor Who’ fan would need to look out for. 😀 This is a ‘Doctor Who’ anniversary special that’s highly rated by the fans. Do I agree with that? Do I think that this is a better anniversary special than ‘The Five Doctors’, the 20th anniversary special? Does it cover everything that I want to celebrate about 50 years of my favourite TV show? Are there things that I like about ‘The Day of the Doctor’? 😀 ‘The Day of the Doctor’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading