Tag Archives: toby whithouse

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Twice Upon a Time’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s time to check out the final story of the Peter Capaldi/Twelfth Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’ and it’s the final story of the Steven Moffat era. Here we are on the 2017 Christmas Special called ‘Twice Upon a Time’ by Steven Moffat. As well as Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, he gets to meet and team up with David Bradley as the First Doctor. David Bradley played William Hartnell in the 2013 docu-drama ‘An Adventure In Space and Time’. Since then, he’s played the First Doctor more than once in the Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’. Also in ‘Twice Upon a Time’, there’s the return of Pearl Mackie as Bill Potts and the introduction of Mark Gatiss as the Captain. There are guest returns of Rusty the Dalek from ‘Into the Dalek’, Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald and Matt Lucas as Nardole. There are also small appearances of the First Doctor’s companions, including Polly (played by Anneke Wills/Lily Travers) and Ben (played by Michael Craze/Jared Garfield). With this being the last story of the Peter Capaldi/Twelfth Doctor era, does ‘Twice Upon a Time’ conclude it on reassuring and satisfying notes? ‘Twice Upon a Time’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

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

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 – ‘Under the Lake’/’Before the Flood’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s time to check out another two-part story in Series 9 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. Today, it’s time for ‘Under the Lake’/’Before the Flood’ by Toby Whithouse, starring Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor and Jenna Coleman as Clara. This ‘Doctor Who’ adventure has the Doctor and Clara visiting an underwater mining base in Caithness, Scotland in the year 2119, where the crew discover an alien craft in the ruins of a submerged town. Ghosts start to appear aboard the base and the Doctor and Clara must help the crew to solve the mystery. The base’s crew includes Colin McFarlane (who’s been in the ‘Torchwood’ story ‘Children of Earth’ and the Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’) as Moran, the base’s commander, who gets killed off early in the story. There’s Sophie Stone as Case, who happens to be deaf both in real-life and in the story, and Zaqi Ismail as Lunn, who interprets on Cass’ behalf when she communicates in sign language. There’s Morven Christie (who’s been in the first three seasons of ‘Grantchester’) as O’Donnell, Arsher Ali as Bennett and Steven Robertson as Pitchard. There’s the introduction of a rock music version of the ‘Doctor Who’ theme in ‘Before the Flood’. This ‘Doctor Who’ story is meant to be a scary ghost story with the Twelfth Doctor and Clara. Does it work on all levels? Is it truly satisfying as a scary ‘Doctor Who’ ghost story? ‘Under the Lake’/’Before the Flood’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

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

Hello everyone! 🙂

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 – ‘The God Complex’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

We’re checking out another ‘Doctor Who’ episode in Series 6 of the new TV series today, and it happens to be ‘The God Complex’ by Toby Whithouse. In this episode, Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams find themselves trapped in what appears to be a 1980s hotel with constantly changing corridors (Not like ‘The Space Hotel’ then 😀 ). There’s also a Minotaur-like creature (played by Spencer Wilding) walking about the corridors of the hotel, as it feeds off the faith of the Doctors, his companions and other guests in the hotel. And yes, the Minotaur happens to be distantly-related to the Nimon from ‘The Horns of Nimon’. 😀 This ‘Doctor Who’ episode also features David Walliams (well-known for being in ‘Little Britain’) as Gibbis. There’s also Caitlin Blackwood, who briefly appears as Amy Pond in the episode. ‘The God Complex’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Vampires of Venice’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

I saw this ‘Doctor Who’ episode on my birthday, as it was shown on BBC One on the 8th of May 2010. 😀 This is ‘The Vampires of Venice’ by Toby Whithouse. In this episode, Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Karen Gillan as Amy Pond are joined by Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams, Amy’s fiancé, who previously appeared in ‘The Eleventh Hour’. The Doctor takes Amy and Rory on a romantic trip to Venice in 1580, but it goes pear-shaped since there happen to be vampires in Venice. But are these vampires like the ones in ‘State of Decay’ as well as in ‘Doctor Who’ books like ‘Goth Opera’ and ‘Blood Harvest’? This episode features the late Helen McCrory as Rosanna Calvierri, and there’s Gabriella Wilde (who’s been 2011’s ‘The Three Musketeers’ and ‘Wonder Woman 1984’) as one of the Vampire Girls. ‘The Vampires of Venice’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘School Reunion’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

In today’s instalment of the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon, we have a special new TV series ‘Doctor Who’ episode from Series 2 called ‘School Reunion’ by Toby Whithouse. In the episode, David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose reunite with Noel Clarke as Mickey, as they investigate some strange goings-on at Deffry Vale School. The Doctor is also reunited with his best friend Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, who makes a tremendous return to the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series before going on to star in her own spin-off TV series ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’. There’s also the return of K-9, voiced by John Leeson (Sarah Jane received the Mark III model of K-9 as a gift from the Doctor in the 1981 spin-off special ‘K-9 & Company’). This episode also introduces the monstrous Krillitanes, led by Anthony Head as the villainous Mr. Finch. ‘School Reunion’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ Marathon – ‘Twice Upon A Time’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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 – ‘The Lie of the Land’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s the last episode of ‘The Monks Trilogy’ in Series 10 of ‘Doctor Who’. This is ‘The Lie of the Land’ and Bill Potts has to make everything right with what she did in making a deal with the Monks to save the Doctor. Will she get the Doctor back and will Michelle Gomez as Missy agree to help this situation? Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ Marathon – ‘Under The Lake’/’Before The Flood’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s time for the second two-parter of Series 9 in ‘Doctor Who’ with Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman. In this story, the TARDIS duo visit an underwater base where they find the crew haunted by ghosts. Will the Doctor solve the mystery of the ghosts and will this story end up with a very complicated ending? 😀 Continue reading