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‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Arachnids in the UK’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s the first day in December 2023 today and we’re on the fourth episode in Series 11 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. It’s time to check out ‘Arachnids in the UK’ by Chris Chibnall, starring Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, Bradley Walsh as Graham, Tosin Cole as Ryan and Mandip Gill as Yaz. In the episode, the Doctor takes her three friends back to Sheffield, where they discover a serious problem occurring in the city, which in the form of giant spiders. Is one of the spiders Shelob from ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’? 😀 There are special guest stars like Chris Noth as Jack Robertson, Tanya Fear as Dr. Jade McIntyre and Sharon D. Clarke as the ghost of Grace O’Brien, Graham’s wife. We’re also introduced to Yaz’s family, including Shobna Gulati as Najia, Yaz’s mum; Ravin J. Ganatra as Hakim, Yaz’s dad; and Bhavnisha Parmar as Sonya, Yaz’s sister. Upon transmission in October 2018, ‘Arachnids in the UK’ received generally positive reviews from critics. Do I consider this a very good ‘Doctor Who’ episode in Series 11? ‘Arachnids in the UK’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →

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

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

Today’s instalment in the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon has us delve into more of our human history. It’s the third episode in Series 11 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series called ‘Rosa’ by Malorie Blackman (who also wrote the Puffin e-short story ‘The Ripple Effect’) and Chris Chibnall. ‘Rosa’ has Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, Bradley Walsh as Graham, Tosin Cole as Ryan and Mandip Gill as Yaz visiting Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, where they meet Vinette Robinson as Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks becomes a significant person in the American civil rights movement during the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955. Vinette Robinson has been in ‘Doctor Who’ before, as she was in the new TV series episode ’42’. She’s also been in the ‘Sherlock’ TV series and later in ‘Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker’. There’s also Trevor White (who I’ve heard recently in the ‘Demon Quest’ audio story ‘Starfall’) as James Blake, and there’s Joshua Bowman as Krasko, a time-travelling criminal who wants to stop Rosa Parks’ influence in the American civil rights movement. ‘Rosa’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Ghost Monument’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

Here we are on the second episode in Series 11 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series, starring Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, Bradley Walsh as Graham O’Brien, Tosin Cole as Ryan Sinclair and Mandip Gill as Yasmin ‘Yaz’ Khan. It’s time for ‘The Ghost Monument’ by Chris Chibnall. In the episode, the Doctor and her friends are accidentally transported to a distant solar system, where they become part of an interplanetary alien rally that crash-lands at their final stop on the hostile planet of Desolation. The Doctor and her friends hope to reach the finish line – the titular ‘ghost monument’, which happens to be the TARDIS – to get back to Earth. There are special guest stars like Susan Lynch as Angstrom, Shaun Dooley (who I would later see in episodes of Series 6 of ‘Grantchester’) as Epzo and Art Malik (who I’ve seen in the final episode of ‘Sherlock’, 2023’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘True Lies’) as Ilin. There’s also Ian Gelder (who was in the five-part ‘Torchwood’ story (Series 3) called ‘Children of Earth’) as the voice of the Remnants. ‘The Ghost Monument’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading →

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Woman Who Fell to Earth’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

And welcome to the Jodie Whittaker/Thirteenth Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’! 🙂 It’s Chris Chibnall’s turn to be showrunner of ‘Doctor Who’ from 2018 to 2022. He brings in his era of the show by having the main character be played by a woman. This era has divided fan opinion, but is this an era I regard highly compared to others? Let’s start off by checking out the first episode of Series 11 of the new TV series called ‘The Woman Who Fell to Earth’ by Chris Chibnall. Following on from the end of ‘Twice Upon a Time’, Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor crash-lands to Earth and meets up with Bradley Walsh as Graham O’Brien, Tosin Cole as Ryan Sinclair and Mandip Gill as Yasmin ‘Yaz’ Khan. The episode also features Sharon D. Clarke as Grace, Graham’s wife and Ryan’s gran; Samuel Oatley as the alien Stenza warrior called Tzim-Sha (or as the Doctor calls him ‘Tim Shaw’); and there’s Johnny Dixon as Karl. This ‘Doctor Who’ episode received a rating of 10.96 million viewers as well as positive reviews from critics. Does it still hold up well after all these years? ‘The Woman Who Fell to Earth’ 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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Hello everyone! 🙂

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 →