Three Days In The Country...

Last Friday night Stuart and I went to see Three Days In The Country at the Lyttelon Theatre on London's glitzy South Bank.

Chekhovian at its melancholic heart the story is one of unrequited love, deep regret and doomed bittersweet dalliance. Oh, and it's laugh out loud funny.

Starring Mark Gatiss and John Simm this freely adapted production is a cut down version of Ivan Turgenev's 1850 comic play A Month In The Country but with more jokes and snappier action. Patrick Marber's fresh English translation has a very contemporary feel and it was only the odd Russian song that pulled the action back to Ivan Turgenev original isolated Russian setting.

Gatiss is a joy as the all too frank doctor and his failed attempts to woe his intended and similarly Simm's sardonic suitor simply smolders.

Recommended.

The Doctor Who connection between these two actors is brought into sharp relief when at one point Gatiss's character exclaims to Simm's character, "Good advice... (pause) from THE MASTER."

Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular...

Last Saturday night Stuart treated me to a night seeing the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular at Wembley Arena.

The evening featured Murray Gold's music from the hit series performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Chorus of Wales conducted by Ben Foster. The music was accompanied by giant screens showing montages from the show, Cybermen, Daleks, The Silence, hideously emaciated mummies prowling the aisles and Peter Davidson hosting.

Also in attendance was showrunner Steven Moffat and Murray himself.

As Doctor number five Peter Davidson made many a joke about if his abilities as host weren't up to scratch his contract would be (ex)terminated he be replaced by Colin Baker (Doctor number six). Ho ho.

The show was great fun. The music fantastic with notable pieces the wondrous I Am The Doctor, The Impossible Girl (Clara’s theme), Abigail’s Song, Last Christmas Suite, Wherever Whenever and the thunderous Pandorica Suite.

One for the fans - but who isn't a fan on Doctor Who?

Blink!...

Tree up. Weeping Angel! Don't blink!

Doctor Who Disco 1979...

Doctor Who? Disco? Doctor Who Disco from 1979? Yes, please.

Deep Breath...

A blooming loved the first episode of Doctor Who series 8. A flaming T-rex, some creepy torture by robots, and buckets of humour. Great chemistry between new Dr and Clara too.

It was great to have a Doctor/companion relationship that is a clash of wills and wits rather than hearts too. The regeneration episode always needs the companion to be the last one on board with accepting the new Dr. The reason being that the viewers need to be compelled to accept the new Dr so the companion is always written as the last skeptic.

I also loved all the lesbian love interest. All matter of fact but done with humour.

The episode didn't have too much 'corridor running' either. Each scene was given room to breathe.

I loved the restaurant banter too. All round an ace episode.

RIP Kate O'Mara...

RIP Kate O'Mara. The Rani was one of my favourite Dr Who villains.

Doctor Who: The Day Of The Doctor...

Stuart and I saw the 50th anniversary Doctor Who: The Day Of The Doctor at the Southend Odeon Cinema.

It was in 3D and a made sure there was no chitting-chatting going on around us. The broadcast was almost live - there was a delay while Strax told us all to shut up and Matt Smith showed us all how to put on our 3D glasses.

The show was great though. exciting, thrilling, lots of stuff for fans and casual viewers alike and uber pleasing to see David Tennant, Billie Piper, Tom Baker's returns. What with the Night Of The Doctor that's two regenerations in one week. And the third at Christmas. Stephen Moffat you're spoiling us.

Doctor Who: The Time of The Doctor...

The Doctor Who Christmas episode will air at 7:30pm on Dec 25th 2013. Called The Time of The Doctor it will see Matt Smith regenerate into Peter Capaldi.
"Orbiting a quiet backwater planet, the massed forces of the universe's deadliest species gather, drawn to a mysterious message that echoes out to the stars. And amongst them - the Doctor. Rescuing Clara from a family Christmas dinner, the Time Lord and his best friend must learn what this enigmatic signal means for his own fate and that of the universe."

Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor 3D...

Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor 3D cinema tickets booked. Show starts 7:30pm Saturday 23rd Nov and lasts 80 minutes. Squeee!

The Day of the Doctor...

So the Doctor Who 50th anniversary episode will be called The Day of the Doctor and be 75 minutes long and screen on Saturday 23rd November.

Other shows around that time will be:-

• An Adventure in Space and Time by Mark Gatiss and starring David Bradley as William Hartnell.
• A BBC Two lecture by Professor Brian Cox discussing the pseudo-science behind Doctor Who.
• BBC Four is running a restored version of An Unearthly Child and the rest of the 100,000 BC serial that kicked off the show back in 1963.
• BBC Two’s The Culture Show is to screen Me, You and Doctor Who, hosted by lifelong fan Matthew Sweet.
• A 90-minute documentary on BBC Radio 2 asks Who Is The Doctor?
• BBC Three will be home to several commissions, including Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide.

Yay!

The History of Doctor Who - With Infographics...

The history of Doctor Who with loads of fabby infographics.

http://blog.visual.ly/doctor-who-infographics/

The History of Doctor Who - As A Tube Map...

The history of Doctor Who as a tube map, with a line for each Doctor. Fab.

http://www.crispian.net/DoctorWho/DrWhoTubeMap.html

Nightmare in Silver...

Last Saturday's Doctor Who Nightmare in Silver was an utter mess. Neil Gaiman lost it methinks. Underwritten yet over-complicated. Hated the children. Hated the plot holes. Some truly awful dialogue. Filmed in the props department. A complete waste of a cybermen story. Next!

Daleks’ - Invasion of Earth: 2013AD...

Daleks’ - Invasion of Earth: 2013AD.

Last Sunday the Daleks were out in force - recreating those iconic black and white images from the 1960s to promote the Mark Gatiss penned An Adventure in Space and Time - a one-off drama exploring the genesis of Doctor Who - which debuts later this year.

Blink...

Paul came to stay last night, I cooked and we stayed in and watched some telly. We rounded the night off with the fantastic Doctor Who episode Blink. For the umpteenth time.

The Weeping Angels still makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. Gives me the heebeegeebees. 

Shame Carey Mulligan's Sally Sparrow didn't become the new assistant - but guess she had bigger fish to fry.

Doctor Who Experience...

Dean and I ventured down to London's Olympia 2 on Sunday afternoon to see if we could gain entry to the Tardis. Or Tardises to be more precise. We were sure Doctor Who wouldn't mind.

The Doctor Who Experience is running for a ten months and contained within it a special effects show in which the 'shoppers' (i.e. us) took part (the experience bit) and an exhibition of costumes, props, audio, special effects, interactive exhibits and artefacts from said show.

We loved it. We gasped, we oohed and we aahed. The highlight was probably the Dalek war on the bridge of the Dalek spaceship. Or maybe it was the 3D monster climax. Or the giant K1 Robot. They were all a highlights! It was a veritable Whovians delight.

Many more pictures here (and below).