Tag Archives: steven moffat

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

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

Listen up, everyone! 🙂 (See what I did there? 😀 ) It’s time to check out the fourth episode in Series 8 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series called ‘Listen’ by Steven Moffat. This is a ‘Doctor Who’ episode where Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor becomes concerned about the monster that lurks under people’s beds. This episode also has Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald on a date with Samuel Anderson as Danny Pink, who works at Coal Hill School with her. ‘Listen’ uncovers more about the Doctor’s past and his fears. It also has Clara getting to know Danny and his past as well as his future when she and the Doctor meet Orson Pink (also played by Samuel Anderson). This ‘Doctor Who’ episode has received a lot of praise over the years from critics, audiences and fans. Do I think it’s one of the best ‘Doctor Who’ episodes ever made in the new TV series? Is this a ‘Doctor Who’ episode worthy of my time? Apparently, Kirah Shah (who was in ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ films as well as ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ 2005 film) plays the figure under the bed in the episode. ‘Listen’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Robot of Sherwood’

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

In today’s instalment of the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon, we have the Doctor meeting Robin Hood for the first time (at least on TV that is 😀 ). This new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series episode from Series 8 is called ‘Robot of Sherwood’ by Mark Gatiss. This happens to be one of my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ episodes from Series 8 of the new TV series. Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor gets to fight Robin Hood with a spoon rather than a sword ( 😀 ), and Jenna Coleman gets to dress up in a nice outfit and look like Maid Marian for a bit. 🙂 The guest cast includes Tom Riley as Robin Wood and Ben Miller as the Sheriff of Nottingham. There’s Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Quayle and Sabrina Bartlett (who later starred as Mariette in Series 1 of ‘The Larkins’ as well as the Christmas Special) as Quayle’s ward, who turns out to be Maid Marian in the episode. There’s Robin Hood’s Merry Men, including Ian Hallard as Alan-a-Dale, Trevor Cooper as Friar Tuck, Rusty Goffe as Little John and Joseph Kennedy as Will Scarlet. Oh, and there are robot knights in this ‘Doctor Who’ episode. 😀 ‘Robot of Sherwood’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Into the Dalek’

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

Here we are on the second episode of the Peter Capaldi/Twelfth Doctor era as well as Series 8 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. This is ‘Into the Dalek’ by Phil Ford and Steven Moffat. In this episode, Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor has Jenna Coleman as Clara join him on an adventure where they go inside a Dalek. The Doctor also asks Clara, “Am I good man?”, which forms part of the Twelfth Doctor’s journey throughout Series 8. This episode features guest stars like Zawe Ashton as Journey Blue and Michael Smiley as Colonel Morgan Blue, who get involved with the Dalek that seems sick and wishes for all Daleks to be destroyed. Incidentally, the Dalek ends up being called Rusty in the episode. We’re also introduced to Samuel Anderson as Danny Pink, who becomes Clara’s love interest in Series 8 and he’s the new mathematics teacher at Coal Hill School where Clara works. There’s also Nigel Betts as Mr. Armitage at Coal Hill School and we have another appearance of Michelle Gomez as Missy in the TV series. Is ‘Into the Dalek’ a worthy episode to check out in Series 8? ‘Into the Dalek’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Deep Breath’

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

It’s time for us to begin the Peter Capaldi/Twelfth Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’ and we’re starting off with the first episode of Series 8 in the new TV series called ‘Deep Breath’ by Steven Moffat. I saw this ‘Doctor Who’ episode on TV when I was on holiday in Scotland in August 2014. This episode was also released at cinemas. Joining Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor is Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald, who is coming to terms with the newly regenerated Doctor. There’s the return of the Paternoster Gang, including Neve McIntosh as Madame Vastra, Catrin Stewart as Jenny and Dan Starkey as Strax. There’s also the debut of Michelle Gomez as Missy at the end of the episode. Lately, I’ve seen a video clip of this episode on YouTube featuring a phone call conversation between Clara and a certain surprise character. There was a lot of hype surrounding Peter Capaldi’s arrival as the Twelfth Doctor, especially in the promotion that built up to Series 8 in 2014, including a World Tour. Is this reflected in the ‘Doctor Who’ episode? Is ‘Deep Breath’ a worthwhile ‘Doctor Who’ episode? ‘Deep Breath’ 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

‘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 – ‘Nightmare In Silver’

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

Here we are on the penultimate episode of Series 7 in the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. It’s time for ‘Nightmare In Silver’ by Neil Gaiman, his second contribution to the TV series (the first being ‘The Doctor’s Wife’ from Series 6). Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Jenna Coleman as Clara are joined by the Maitland children – Clara’s charges as a nanny. There’s Eve de Leon Allen as Angie and Kassius Carey Johnson as Artie. In the episode, the Eleventh Doctor, Clara, Angie and Artie visit an extraterrestrial theme park called Hedgewick’s World of Wonders on an alien world. Unfortunately, an army of Cybermen is about to wake up after their defeat in a war centuries ago. The episode’s guest cast also includes Jason Watkins as Webley. I’ve seen him in the first three ‘Nativity’ films and the BBC4 ‘Dirk Gently’ TV series. There’s Warwick Davis as Porridge. He’s well-known for being an Ewok in the ‘Star Wars’ film ‘Return of the Jedi’ and I’ve seen him in the BBC’s ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ TV series and the 2008 film ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian’. And there’s Tamzin Outhwaite as Captain Alice Ferrin. Recently, she was in the Big Finish audio ‘Secrets of Telos’ with Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor. ‘Nightmare In Silver’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

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

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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 – ‘Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS’

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

Here we are on a ‘Doctor Who’ episode in the new TV series that gets to delve deeper into the TARDIS. This is ‘Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS’ by Steve Thompson, who previously penned ‘The Curse of the Black Spot’ in Series 6 of the new TV series. In the episode, the TARDIS gets hit by a salvage ship’s magnetic tractor beam, which causes a lot of damage to the ship’s engines. Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor forces the salvage crew to help him rescue Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald, when she gets lost in the depths of the sentient space and time machine. This episode features special guest star Ashley Walters as Gregor van Baalen. I’ve seen Ashely Walters in the 2006 film adaptation of ‘Stormbreaker’. Apparently, this episode is based on showrunner Steven Moffat’s frustrations with ‘The Invasion of Time’, which intended to explore the TARDIS’ interior. Does this episode excite me enough as a ‘Doctor Who’ fan when our heroes delve deeper into the TARDIS? ‘Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading