Tag Archives: pearl mackie

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

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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

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

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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’

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’

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’ Marathon – ‘Twice Upon A Time’

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

This is the last episode of the Peter Capaldi era and the Steven Moffat era of ‘Doctor Who’. In this episode, which is the 2017 Christmas Special called ‘Twice Upon A Time’, Peter Capaldi’s Doctor meets up with David Bradley as the First Doctor, Pearl Mackie as Bill Potts and Mark Gatiss as the Captain. Continue reading

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

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

Here we are on the season finale of Series 10 of ‘Doctor Who’. This is a two-parter and features Peter Capaldi’s Doctor, Pearl Mackie’s Bill and Matt Lucas’ Nardole up against Michelle Gomez’s Missy and John Simm’s Master along with the Mondasian Cybermen, ‘Age of Steel’ Cybermen and ‘Nightmare In Silver’ Cybermen. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ Marathon – ‘The Eaters of Light’

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

It’s time for the return of a classic ‘Doctor Who’ writer to the new TV series. Rona Munro, who wrote the last story of the classic series called ‘Survival’ with Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred, returns to write ‘The Eaters of Light’ with Peter Capaldi, Pearl Mackie and Matt Lucas. Is this as good as ‘Survival’ though? Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ Marathon – ‘Empress of Mars’

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

This ‘Doctor Who’ episode features the return of the Ice Warriors with Peter Capaldi’s Doctor. This is one of my favourite episodes from Series 10. The episode is by Mark Gatiss. It’s interesting how it features the Ice Empress and provides quite an intriguing back-story to the Ice Warriors as Martians. Continue reading