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

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

And thus, we have come to the season finale of Series 7 in the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. This is also where the 50th anniversary celebrations of ‘Doctor Who’ begin in the new TV series. It’s time for us to check out ‘The Name of the Doctor’ by Steven Moffat, starring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald. This is where the mystery of ‘the impossible girl’ is resolved, as the Doctor finds out who Clara is and how she died twice in ‘Asylum of the Daleks’ and ‘The Snowmen’. The episode features the Paternoster Gang, including Neve McIntosh as Madame Vastra, Catrin Stewart as Jenny Flint and Dan Starkey as Strax. There’s also the return of Alex Kingston as River Song, and there’s Richard E. Grant who returns as the Great Intelligence. This time, it’s not Yeti or Snowmen that the Great Intelligence are controlling, but it’s the Whispermen. 😀 There are nods to previous Doctors in the classic and new TV shows of ‘Doctor Who’ and we have the introduction of a unique incarnation of the Doctor that our time-travelling hero chooses to not talk about. ‘The Name of the Doctor’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Crimson Horror’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s time for us to check out ‘The Crimson Horror’, which happens to be the second contribution made by Mark Gatiss in Series 7 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series (the first one being ‘Cold War’). In this ‘Doctor Who’ episode, Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Jenna Coleman as Clara visit Victorian London in the year 1893. There’s the return of the Paternoster Gang, including Neve McIntosh as Madame Vastra, Catrin Stewart as Jenny and Dan Starkey as Strax. Interestingly, the Paternoster Gang mostly appear in the first half of the episode, since the Eleventh Doctor and Clara don’t appear until the episode’s second half. 😐 An unnerving mystery takes place at a utopian community in Yorkshire called Sweetville, led by the late Dame Diana Rigg (well-known for playing Emma Peel in the 1960s TV show ‘The Avengers’) as Mrs. Gillyflower. There’s also Rachael Stirling (Diana Rigg’s real-life daughter) as Ada. Can our heroes solve the mystery as to what’s happening with ‘the crimson horror’? ‘The Crimson Horror’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

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

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

We’re starting on what is arguably labelled the Clara Season – the second half of Series 7 in the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. This is where Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor gets to meet his new companion – Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald. Jenna Coleman previously played Oswin Oswald in ‘Asylum of the Daleks’. However, it turns out Matt Smith’s Doctor doesn’t get to meet Clara quite yet in this 2012 Christmas Special. This is ‘The Snowmen’ by Steven Moffat. I’m certain that the special was inspired by ‘The Snowman’ – both the book and TV special – by Raymond Briggs. 😀 The special takes place in London in the year 1892. It also features the return of the Paternoster Gang, including Neve McIntosh as Madame Vastra, Catrin Stewart as Jenny Flint and Dan Starkey as Strax, who previously appeared in the Series 6 episode ‘A Good Man Goes to War’. There’s special guest star Richard E. Grant (who played one of the Doctors in ‘The Curse of Fatal Death’ and the Doctor in ‘Scream of the Shalka’) as Dr. Simeon. And there’s Ian McKellen (who played Gandalf in ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ film trilogies and Magneto in the ‘X-Men’ films) as the voice of the Great Intelligence. ‘The Snowmen’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘A Town Called Mercy’

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

Today, it’s time for the third episode in Series 7 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. It’s called ‘A Town Called Mercy’ by Toby Whithouse. This is a Wild West adventure for Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams, as they find themselves dealing with the cyborg-like Gunslinger, played by Andrew Brooke, in the American Frontier town of Mercy (played by Fort Bravo and Oasys theme parks in Spain 😀 ). This ‘Doctor Who’ episode also features Adrian Scarborough (who’s been in the Big Finish audio story ‘The Boy That Time Forgot’ with Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton as well as the 2018 film ‘Patrick’) as Kahler-Jex. There’s Garrick Hagon (who’s been in the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Mutants’ with Jon Pertwee) as Abraham, and the episode’s narrator happens to be Lorelei King (who I’ve seen in an episode of ‘Monarch of the Glen’ and she’s been in Big Finish audio stories like ‘The Contingency Club’). ‘A Town Called Mercy’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Dinosaurs on a Spaceship’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s time for us to check out ‘Dinosaurs on a Spaceship’, the first of two episodes by Chris Chibnall in Series 7 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. This episode is literally about a spaceship with dinosaurs on board which our heroes discover. There’s Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams. Our TARDIS trio is joined by Riann Steele as Queen Nefertiti of Egypt and Rupert Graves (who has played DI Lestrade in ‘Sherlock’) as Edwardian game hunter John Riddell. There’s also the introduction of Mark Williams (who played Maxwell Edison in the Big Finish audio story ‘The Eternal Summer’ with Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton) as Brian Williams, Rory’s dad. And there’s David Bradley (who would later play William Hartnell in ‘An Adventure In Space and Time’ and the First Doctor in ‘Twice Upon A Time’, ‘The Power of the Doctor’ and the Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’) as the villainous Solomon. ‘Dinosaurs on a Spaceship’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Asylum of the Daleks’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

And welcome to Series 7 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. Here we are on Series 7 – Part 1, starring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams. This is what I would like to label as the Pond Season in Series 7 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. Series 7 – Part 1 depicts the five final adventures of the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory as a TARDIS trio. Will they be a satisfying final set of adventures featuring Eleven, Amy and Rory? We begin the season with ‘Asylum of the Daleks’ by Steven Moffat. This adventure features a variety of Daleks from both the classic TV series and the new TV series versions of ‘Doctor Who’. There’s also the introduction of Jenna-Louise Coleman as Oswin Oswald, whom the Doctor communicates via various intercoms throughout the adventure. Is ‘Asylum of the Daleks’ a satisfying Dalek adventure for me? Did I find it better than ‘Victory of the Daleks’ from Series 5? 😀 ‘Asylum of the Daleks’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

Quick DVD Box Set Review – ‘The Musketeers’

SPOILERS ALERT!!!

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s funny how I seem to keep coming back to ‘The Three Musketeers’ by Alexandra Dumas every year. In 2021, I reviewed the 1993 film and in 2022, I reviewed the 2011 film. Both films I saw on Disney+. I’ve just finished checking out the BBC TV series ‘The Musketeers’, based on the 1844 novel. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ Marathon – ‘The Name of the Doctor’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

The 50th anniversary of ‘Doctor Who’ has arrived and it’s the season finale to Series 7. This episode features the Doctor and Clara journeying to Trenzalore where they rescue Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax from the Great Intelligence. River Song makes an appearance and the Doctor’s secret is revealed. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ Marathon – ‘The Crimson Horror’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s time to return to Victorian London again with the Doctor and Clara who are joined by the Paternoster Gang – Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax. This ‘Doctor Who’ episode is ‘The Crimson Horror’ by Mark Gatiss. It features special guest stars Diana Rigg and her daughter Rachael Stirling in it. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ Marathon – ‘The Snowmen’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s Christmas time again and it’s Jenna-Louise Coleman’s second TV appearance in the ‘Doctor Who’ series. She plays Clara Oswin Oswald in this episode and she meets Matt Smith’s Doctor with Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax in Victorian London where they face some scary snowmen and Richard E. Grant. 😀 Continue reading