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‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘World Enough and Time’/’The Doctor Falls’

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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 →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Eaters of Light’

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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 →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Empress of Mars’

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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 →

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

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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 →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Oxygen’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

Here we are on the fifth episode of Series 10 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series, starring Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor and Pearl Mackie as Bill. And this time, Matt Lucas as Nardole gets to join the Twelfth Doctor and Bill on an adventure for a change. Today’s instalment in the 60th Anniversary Marathon on ‘Bradley’s Basement’ is ‘Oxygen’ by Jamie Mathieson. In previous seasons, Jamie Mathieson wrote ‘Mummy on the Orient Express’ and ‘Flatline’ for Series 8 and he co-wrote ‘The Girl Who Died’ with Steven Moffat for Series 9. I enjoyed Jamie Mathieson’s episodes in Series 8 more than I enjoyed ‘The Girl Who Died’. Does ‘Oxygen’ as a ‘Doctor Who’ episode make up for the disappointment I had with the particular Series 9 episode? Is it as good as the Series 8 ‘Doctor Who’ episodes penned by Jamie Mathieson? Can something of value be taken away from watching ‘Oxygen’? The episode itself ends on a dramatic cliffhanger concerning Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, especially when it leads into the next set of episodes in Series 10. ‘Oxygen’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Knock Knock’

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

It’s time for us to check out a spooky haunted house ‘Doctor Who’ episode in the Peter Capaldi/Twelfth Doctor era. Today, it’s time for ‘Knock Knock’ by Mike Bartlett. It has Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor joining Pearl Mackie as Bill on an adventure when she moves into a house with some friends, including Mandeep Dhillon as Shireen, Colin Ryan as Harry, Ben Presley as Paul, Alice Hewkin as Felicity and Bart Suavek as Pavel. The house happens to be owned by special guest star David Suchet (well-known for playing Hercule Poirot in the ITV series called ‘Poirot’ or ‘Agatha Christie’s Poirot’) as the mysterious Landlord. There’s also Mariah Gale as Eliza, who lives in the house itself. Matt Lucas also makes another appearance as Nardole by the episode’s end. When I first saw ‘Knock Knock’ back in May 2017, I enjoyed watching it, especially via BBC iPlayer when I was using my tablet at a Premier Inn – I was attending ‘The Capitol II’ convention at the Arora Hotel in Gatwick at the time. Does the episode hold up well or are there noticeable flaws in it? ‘Knock Knock’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →

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

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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 – ‘Smile’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

We’re on the second episode of Series 10 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series today. It’s time for us to check out ‘Smile’ by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, starring Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor and Pearl Mackie as Bill. Matt Lucas as Nardole briefly appears at the beginning of the episode. In ‘Smile’, the Twelfth Doctor and Bill visit an off-world Earth colony in the far future. There are robots called the Emojibots that give the Doctor and Bill badges, which record their emotions to the Vardy – nanobots that are meant to maintain the colony. Our heroes discover that are series of deaths are caused when negative emotions are reported to the Vardy via the emojis on people’s badges. Can the Doctor and Bill solve the mystery as well as save the colony’s inhabitants? The guest cast includes Mina Anwar (who’s been in ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’) as Goodthing, Ralf Little (who I’ve seen in ‘Nativity 3: Dude, Where’s My Donkey?!’ and he plays Michael in WF92’s ‘Fifth Doctor’ series of ‘Doctor Who’ stories 😀 ) as Steadfast, and there’s Kiran Shah (who’s been scale doubles in ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ films) as one of the Emojibots. ‘Smile’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →

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

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

It’s time for us to check out Peter Capaldi’s third and final season as the Twelfth Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’ – Series 10 of the new TV series. In the first episode called ‘The Pilot’ by Steven Moffat, the Twelfth Doctor is joined by a new companion – Pearl Mackie as Bill Potts, who happens to be an openly gay character. There’s also Matt Lucas as Nardole, who helps the Doctor to protect a vault under St. Luke’s University in Bristol. This is Nardole’s third ‘Doctor Who’ TV appearance since being in ‘The Husbands of River Song’ and ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio’. Apparently, the Doctor has been living the life of a university professor and Nardole has been his assistant at the university for 70 years. Throughout the episode, Bill finds herself falling for a girl – Stephanie Hyam as Heather – who turns out to be an alien water puddle. 😀 There’s also a brief appearance of the Daleks and the Movellans from ‘Destiny of the Daleks’ in the episode. Is ‘The Pilot’ a worthwhile introduction to Bill Potts as a new ‘Doctor Who’ companion? Is this a very good opening episode to Peter Capaldi’s third season as the Doctor? ‘The Pilot’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

There was only one ‘Doctor Who’ episode shown on TV in the year 2016, and that was the 2016 Christmas Special called ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio’ by Steven Moffat, starring Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor. This ‘Doctor Who’ adventure goes into superhero territory, as the Doctor meets Justin Chatwin (who you may have seen in 2005’s ‘War of the Worlds’ with Tom Cruise as well as ‘Dragonball Evolution’) as Grant Gordon who becomes the superhero called the Ghost. There’s also Matt Lucas as Nardole, who was last seen in ‘The Husbands of River Song’ and has now become a companion of the Twelfth Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’. And there’s Charity Wakefield (who I’ve seen in the 2008 BBC production of ‘Sense & Sensibility’) as news reporter Lucy Fletcher who becomes Grant Gordon/the Ghost’s love interest in the Christmas Special. As you’re probably aware, I’m into superheroes (both Marvel and DC). So, does ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio’ satisfy me as being a ‘Doctor Who’ take on the superhero genre. ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →