Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
Well, we’ve come to the end of my second complete year on ‘Bradley’s Basement’! I’m amazed it’s nearly the end of 2017! I’ve enjoyed this year as there have been so many highlights to look back on. As it’s New Year’s Eve today, let’s take a look back at some of those great moments on my blog!
JANUARY
The year began with ‘The Nyssa Challenge’ continuing with ‘The Peterloo Massacre’, one of Sarah Sutton’s favourite audio stories of ‘Doctor Who’ from Big Finish. ‘The Nyssa Challenge’ continued for the rest of the year as well as some new ‘Doctor Who Reviews’ being added to ‘Bradley’s Basement’.
‘The Fifth Doctor by Tim Bradley’ series continued with a new trilogy of stories called ‘The Salvador Trilogy’. The first story released in January 2017 was ‘The Austen Code’. It featured the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy and had them visiting Bath in three time zones as well as meeting Jane Austen.
In terms of movies in January, I saw ‘La La Land’ starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone at the cinema. My parents and I also finished the complete DVD box set of the BBC sitcom series, ‘It Ain’t Half Hot Mum’, which was my Dad’s Christmas present from 2016. We greatly enjoyed watching that series!
My parents and I also saw Peter Davison in the four-part ITV series, ‘Sugar Free Farm’. It was fun seeing Peter in that series and how he went through that challenge to go on a sugar free diet at a farm. I did get to chat to Peter at a convention about how he found the ‘Sugar Free Farm’ challenge.
There was also the news that Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor was to leave ‘Doctor Who’ at the end of the year. I shared my thoughts about Peter’s exit from ‘Doctor Who’ following the announcement, saying that I was sad he was leaving and felt he didn’t have a long stint on the show.
FEBRUARY
In February, the second story of ‘The Salvador Trilogy’ in ‘The Fifth Doctor by Tim Bradley’ series, ‘Junglos 4198’, was released that month. The story saw the Doctor, Nyssa and Billy visit the jungle planet where a quest for a special treasure took place. It also explored Nyssa and Billy’s relationship.
With movies at the cinema, I saw a re-release of the 1942 film, ‘Casablanca’, with my parents. This was on St. Valentine’s Day at the Showcase Cinemas in Nantgarw. I also saw ‘The LEGO Batman Movie’ which I’d been looking forward to for a long time. This became one of my favourite movies of 2017!
I reviewed all of ‘Star Trek: The Original Series’ – Season 2 on my blog and I also saw a theatre production of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff which I enjoyed. The biggest highlight of February for me was passing my driving test! This is the first time I’ve mentioned it! 😀
MARCH
For March, it was my Mum’s birthday that month! I also added the third ‘Doctor Who’ story in ‘The Salvador Trilogy’ of ‘The Fifth Doctor by Tim Bradley’ series called ‘Chieftain’s Caves’. This story had the Doctor, Nyssa and Billy visiting Scotland where they faced Salvador in an epic final showdown.
I added a new page to my blog on ‘The World of Charles Dickens’. This featured reviews on ‘The Charles Dickens Collection’ DVD box set that my parents and I saw from November 2016 to March 2017. I also added a new page and reviewed the complete BBC comedy series, ‘Keeping Up Appearances’.
I went to see the theatre production of ‘Gaslight’ at the New Theatre in Cardiff. I also reviewed all of ‘Star Trek: The Original Series – Season 3’. With movies at the cinema, I saw the live-action film, ‘Beauty and the Beast’. It was a great film to see at the cinema, as my parents and I saw it more than once.
APRIL
It was Easter time in April 2017 instead of March. I celebrated the good news and message of Jesus Christ with a LEGO version of the Easter story on Good Friday. I also added my seven book reviews on ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ by C.S. Lewis, which I’d read from September 2016 before April 2017.
April was an exciting time for me as a ‘Doctor Who’ fan, as the TV series returned with Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, Pearl Mackie as Bill Potts and Matt Lucas as Nardole. For this month, there were three episodes transmitted on TV including ‘The Pliot’, ‘Smile’ and ‘Thin Ice’, which I reviewed.
I added a new ‘Superman’ page to my blog where I reviewed the movies from ‘The Superman 5-Film Collection’ including the four Christopher Reeve movies and ‘Superman Returns’. For Easter Monday, my parents and I enjoyed a day trip to ‘The Doctor Who Experience’ before it closed in September.
MAY
Tim Bradley with Matthew Waterhouse, Katy Manning, Peter Purves, Sarah Sutton and Daphne Ashbrook at ‘The Capitol II’, Arora Hotel, Gatwick, May 2017
May was a great month for me in 2017 as I celebrated my birthday! For the occasion, I attended ‘The Capitol II’ two-day ‘Doctor Who’ convention at the Arora Hotel, Gatwick from Saturday the 6th to Sunday the 7th. I saw Sarah Sutton there, who I saw for a second time round on my birthday in two years. I also saw Matthew Waterhouse, Peter Purves, Katy Manning and Daphne Ashbrook.
My parents and I also enjoyed the ‘Swing That Music’ Midweek Break with Tony Jacobs at one of the Warner Leisure Hotels in Thoresby Hall outside Nottingham, England from Monday the 15th to Friday the 19th. I enjoyed the ‘Birds of Prey’ falconry experience and met Thor the mighty Eagle Owl.
With ‘Doctor Who’ episodes on TV, I saw ‘Knock Knock’, ‘Oxygen’, ‘Extremis’ and ‘The Pyramid At The End of the World’ with Peter Capaldi, Pearl Mackie and Matt Lucas. I was getting into Series 10 by this point, although there were some episodes I found a mixed bag including ‘The Monks Trilogy’.
In my own ‘Doctor Who’ fan-fiction, I released two new Short Trip stories including ‘The Victorian Vampires’ with the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy and ‘The Vexo Knights Experience’ with the Tenth Doctor and Donna. I also saw the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol 2’ movie at the cinema that month.
From April to May, my parents and I saw the Roger Moore collection of James Bond 007 collection of films on DVD. It was a great way to commemorate Roger Moore, who sadly passed away in that year as well as John Hurt, Adam West, Trevor Baxter, dear Deborah Watling and Robert Hardy.
JUNE
For June, ‘The Nyssa Challenge’ came to an end with the last chronological story in Nyssa’s Timeline called ‘The Entropy Plague’ as well as the 30th anniversary Children-in-Need special, ‘Dimensions in Time’. I was sad to have finished the main run of ‘The Nyssa Challenge’, but I’m pleased I achieved it.
I also watched and reviewed the birthday presents given to me by my best mate, Stephen, from school. These were three DVDs including ‘Blackadder’s Christmas Carol’, ‘The Mask’ with Jim Carrey and ‘Napoleon Dynamite’. I enjoyed ‘Blackadder’s Christmas Carol’ the most out of the three!
The ‘Doctor Who’ TV series continued with me watching the episodes ‘The Lie of the Land’, ‘Empress of Mars’, ‘The Eaters of Light’ and ‘World Enough and Time’. I enjoyed ‘Empress of Mars’ very much from the series and I enjoyed ‘World Enough and Time’ as the first of the two-part finale.
In the month, I reviewed the two ‘Finding Nemo’ movies including ‘Finding Nemo’ and ‘Finding Dory’. I also created a new page for the ‘Finding Nemo’ movies. I also saw the movie, ‘Wonder Woman’ with Gal Gadot. It was a really good superhero film and I got to see it twice at the cinema.
I got to enjoy doing a number of things with my parents in June this year. My parents and I enjoyed a sunny day trip to Bath and Dyrham Park; we enjoyed the ‘Shake That Thing’ jazz concert with Tony Jacobs and we also enjoyed the theatre production of ‘Jane Eyre’ at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff.
JULY
For July, I saw the last episode of Series 10 of ‘Doctor Who’ with Peter Capaldi, Pearl Mackie and Matt Lucas. This was ‘The Doctor Falls’, the second part of the two-part finale featuring Michelle Gomez’s Missy, John Simm’s Master and the original Mondasian Cybermen from ‘The Tenth Planet’.
I added some new superhero pages to my blog. These included the ‘Batman’, the ‘Power Rangers’ and the ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’ page. I also added a page for Judy Garland and her movies. I started revamping my blog by giving it a brand-new ‘Welcome’ page to introduce to any newcomers.
July was a very exciting time for me. With movies at the cinema, I saw the film ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’. This also became one of my favourite movies in 2017. It’s not as good as the original ‘Spider-Man’ movie trilogy, but I really enjoyed the film and I got to see it three times at the cinema.
I also attended the ‘GEEKS Salisbury Comic Con’ on Saturday the 15th of July. It was a very happy, successful day trip for me, since I saw three of my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ stars, Sarah Sutton, Peter Davison and Colin Baker. I enjoyed the chats I had with the three stars as well as have items signed by them.
A day later, the biggest ‘Doctor Who’ announcement happened. Jodie Whittaker was announced as the new Doctor and the first one to be female. This divided fan opinion. Fans loved it; fans loathed it. But for me, I’m looking forward to seeing what Jodie Whittaker will be like as the Thirteenth Doctor.
Aside from that, I finished seeing the 1960s ‘Batman’ TV series with Adam West and Burt Ward, which I started watching from May since it was my birthday present this year. I also saw ‘Batman: The Movie’ with Adam West and Burt Ward as well as the ‘Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders’ film.
Tim Bradley in the TARDIS with Nicola Bryant, Matthew Waterhouse, Louise Jameson and Sylvester McCoy at the ‘London Film & Comic Con’, Olympia, July 2017
I also attended the ‘London Film and Comic Con’ for 2017 that month. It was a three-day event but I attended it from Saturday the 29th to Sunday the 30th. It was very busy but I got to see my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ stars including Sylvester McCoy, Nicola Bryant, Louise Jameson, Matthew Waterhouse, etc.
AUGUST
August was an intriguing and exciting month for me! For most of it, I released a repeat of ‘The Space Hotel’, the second story in ‘The Fifth Doctor by Tim Bradley’ series for four weeks, releasing a chapter per day. I hope to continue repeating previous ‘Doctor Who’ stories by me in the New Year.
I was looking forward to the ‘York Unleashed’ convention this month. In the week running up to that event, Big Finish released a podcast featuring an interview with Sarah Sutton. This was exciting for me as it helped with preparing for the York convention and it was lovely to hear Sarah’s voice in the podcast.
Tim Bradley with Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton at ‘York Unleashed 2017’, York Racecourse, York, August 2017
I had another exciting time seeing Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton at the ‘York Unleashed’ convention at the York Racecourse on Sunday the 13th. It was another happy weekend for me since I conducted a brand-new interview with Sarah on her ‘Top Five Favourite Nyssa Audios’.
I watched the original ‘Batman’ movies from 1989 to 1997 this year. In August, I added my reviews on the 1989 ‘Batman’ film, ‘Batman Returns’, ‘Batman Forever’ and ‘Batman & Robin’. I also created a new page onto my blog where I added my film reviews for ‘The World of Agatha Christie’. I also updated and extended my reviews on the 12 episodes of the ‘Fawlty Towers’ BBC sitcom TV series.
SEPTEMBER
In September, the highlight was me and my parents having our family holiday in Amroth, second year running. We went from Sunday the 10th to Thursday the 14th. We enjoyed revisiting Amroth, Colby Woodland Garden, Tenby, Wiseman’s Bridge and Saundersfoot as well as the caravan we stayed in.
For this month, I reviewed all four films from Series 1 of ITV’s ‘Agatha Christie’s Marple’ series. This included ‘The Body in the Library’, ‘The Murder at the Vicarage’, ‘4.50 from Paddington’ and ‘A Murder Is Announced’. I also created a new ‘Star Wars’ page and a new ‘Drama’ page for my blog.
I also created a new ‘Peter Pan‘ page for my blog as well as reviewed the 1953 Disney animated film of ‘Peter Pan’. This was to commemorate my sister Bethan on her birthday as she passed away in August 1993. I enjoyed seeing that film again and I hope I will add more ‘Peter Pan’ reviews in 2018.
My parents and I also enjoyed a day trip to Cardiff Castle in September on a sunny Saturday. I remember the ‘Wartime Shelters’ section vividly as well as visiting the castle itself that day. I also reviewed ‘The Barchester Chronicles’ TV drama serial for the ‘Drama’ page on ‘Bradley’s Basement’.
I also did a music presentation at the ‘Newport Nostalgia Music Society’ in September. This was ‘Tim’s Film/TV Favourites’ where I shared my favourite pieces of music from ‘Superman Returns’, ‘Singin’ in the Rain’, ‘Star Trek: First Contact’, ‘Fiddler on the Roof’, ‘Thunderbirds’ and many more.
The last day of September 2017 marked the 2nd anniversary of my ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog. To celebrate, I decided to give my blog a whole new makeover with a new logo and background full of nostalgic memories. I’m very pleased that I’ve achieved two years of my ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog.
OCTOBER
This year, I started watching ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ to celebrate 30 years of the TV show. I reviewed all 26 episodes of Season 1 of ‘Star Trek: TNG’ and added them to my blog. I also did a review with Timelord007 on the ‘Doctor Who’ TV story, ‘The Invasion of Time’. It was a happy collaboration. 🙂
My parents and I also enjoyed a little mini-break in Bath. I took some photos of Bath as well as enjoying a bus tour and seeing a TARDIS-like blue box at the railway station. We also received the ‘Newport Nostalgia Music Society’ newsletter for October that featured my ‘Tim’s TV/Film Favourites’ presentation.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of ‘Star Wars’, I did my ‘Star Wars Film Review Season’ focusing on the first seven ‘Star Wars’ movies in the lead-up to ‘The Last Jedi’. This started with ‘The Phantom Menace’ in October and finished with ‘The Force Awakens’ in November. Timelord007 even helped me with doing a review on ‘Return of the Jedi’, which was another happy collaboration.
In that month, I did a quick DVD film review on ‘Winchester ’73’ with James Stewart. I also saw ‘The Lego Ninjago Movie’ and ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ at the cinema. Towards the end of the month, I saw and did a quick DVD review on ‘Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory’. Seriously, what?!
There was also ‘The Crowded TARDIS Again’ news about Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole and Mandip Gil as the new TARDIS team for 2018. I shared my thoughts about this ‘Doctor Who’ news on my blog. I also had three video reviews on ‘The Tenth Doctor Adventures – Volume 1’ dedicated to me by Elinor Ekman on her ‘Everything and the TARDIS Console’ YouTube channel.
NOVEMBER
In November, I saw three movies at the cinema. These included the ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ 2017 film with Kenneth Branagh, ‘Paddington 2’ and ‘Justice League’. It was good to see these movies at the cinema. ‘Paddington 2’ is definitely my favourite out of the three films for that month.
It was also my Dad’s birthday that month. My parents and I did quite a lot of celebrating for the occasion. I gave Dad a DVD present of ‘Tom and Jerry & The Wizard of Oz’ (WHY?!!!) for his birthday. We also went on another mid-week break with Tony Jacobs called the ‘Big Band Sounds Break’. This was from Monday the 6th to Thursday the 9th at Gunton Hall, Lowesoft. It was a great birthday treat for Dad.
The biggest highlight of November for me was attending the ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con’ at the NEC Birmingham from the Saturday the 18th to Sunday the 19th. I saw three of my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ stars: Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding for two days which was great! I also met some other stars like Colin Baker; Pearl Mackie; David Bradley; Denise Crosby; Anthony Daniels; etc.
The Roman Baths with a Christmas Tree, November 2017
After the ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con’, I went straight from there to see my parents in Bath where he had another little break before Christmas. I had the ‘MCM Birmingham Comic Con’, the Bath holiday and seeing the ‘Justice League’ movie at the cinema in Bath all in one go, which was exciting!
I also reviewed all 22 episodes of ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season 2’. Before November ended, I added a new Christmas page to my blog. I added two Christmas-related reviews to my blog, including ‘Holiday Inn’ and ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’. I’ll add some more Christmas reviews in 2018.
DECEMBER
I enjoyed December very much. For this final month in 2017, I shared my latest ‘Doctor Who’ Short Trip in the form of my ‘Bradley’s Basement Advent Calendar’ for 2017. This was ‘The Five Doctors At Christmas’ in 24 parts. It featured the Second, the Fourth, the Fifth, the Seventh and Tenth Doctors.
I saw three movies at the cinema. They included re-releases of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ and ‘Home Alone’ as well as the latest ‘Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi’ movie. I also saw ‘Trust Me’ with Jodie Whittaker on DVD, which my best mate Stephen lent me as research into the new ‘Doctor Who’.
I also shared some more fan-fiction stories on my blog for Christmas. This included ‘The Pantomime of Death’ with the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy as part of my ‘Merry Christmas From The Doctor, Nyssa and Billy’ anthology in ‘The Fifth Doctor by Tim Bradley’ series. There was also ‘The Robots of ‘Lonmar’ special featuring five ‘Doctor Who’ companions including Victoria, Jo, Nyssa, Billy and Ace.
It was Christmas time again and I shared my Christmas post with a photo of me, Sarah Sutton and Cuddles. I also saw the ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special with Peter Capaldi and David Bradley called ‘Twice Upon A Time’ and also ‘The Highway Rat’ and the ‘Call the Midwife’ 2017 Christmas Special.
I also started sharing my mini-review series of ‘The Nyssa Challenge’ including the stories from December 2016 to November 2017. I also shared my final thoughts on the Steven Moffat era of ‘Doctor Who’ (you can now find the article in my ‘Twice Upon A Time’ review) as well as sharing my reviews on the presents that I’d received for Christmas this year.
I’ve added some new ‘Doctor Who Timelines’ to my blog throughout the year. These have been added to ‘The Companions’ Timelines Index’, ‘The Monsters’ Timelines Index’, ‘The Allies’ Timelines Index’ and ‘The Planets’ Timelines Index’. I’ve also added some new KEYs on the (Book) and (Audio) stories for my ‘Doctor Who Timelines’ to identify which category the book and audio tales go under.
I added some analysis blog posts on certain topics related to ‘Doctor Who’. These include ‘Tim Bradley’s Video Memories’ and ‘Monster File: The Cybermen’. Timelord007 also did a New Nyssa Painting from ‘Snakedance’ for me as well as a New Fifth Doctor Doctor Era Painting that I enjoyed.
I did a reviews on two Nyssa related items as blog posts including the ‘Alien Attax’ Trading Card Review – Nyssa of Traken’ and the ‘Doctor Who Magazine’ Review – Issue #110 with Sarah Sutton’. I also did reviews on the movie novelizations of ‘Fantastic Four’ from 2005 and ‘Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer’ from 2007. I’m hoping to do another novelization of a superhero movie in 2018.
I did a blog post on the ‘Making of ‘The Tree of Riverloth’, one of my stories in ‘The Fifth Doctor by Tim Bradley’ series. I also did a Quick TV Soundtrack Review on ‘The Pirate Planet’, one of the TV stories in ‘The Key To Time’ season as well as reading/reviewing the new novelization of ‘The Pirate Planet’ by Mr. James Goss. I also shared the ‘Daleks Mission to the Unknown’ Fan Film on my blog.
I also did some little reviews on the latest ‘Doctor Who’/’Mr. Men’ book series by Adam Hargreaves as well as on the ‘Dr Tenth Christmas Surprise!’ book. I’ve enjoyed reading these ‘Doctor Who’/’Mr. Men’ books. I look forward to the next set of books and hope to do better reviews on them in 2018.
Once again, I’ve been blessed with seeing my favourite TARDIS duo, Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton, at conventions this year. I’ve seen them at conventions in 2015, 2016 and 2017. I’m looking forward to seeing them in 2018, knowing that I’m on first name terms with them as well as a big fan of theirs.
I’m pleased 2017 went well for me on my blog. I’m amazed I’ve achieved two years of ‘Bradley’s Basement’. I’m looking forward to what’s in store for 2018 and I hope there’ll be interesting new challenges for me to make my blog better as well as develop general things in life for the New Year!
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now and best wishes!
See you next year! 😀
Tim. 🙂
Bradley's Basement 
Awesome summary of 2017, WOW it’s been a epic year on Bradleys Basement, you are one of the nicest people I’ve met, your love & passion for Doctor Who & movies, tv shows, music is wonderful, you are modest, complementary, kind, warm hearted & a good friend, you pour your heart & soul into everything you do & are hands down write quality story’s which i need to catch up on (I’m behind on a lot of things with my dad’s accident & recovery).
I wish you all the success in 2018 & beyond.
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Hi Simon.
Glad you enjoyed my summary on 2017 and how it went for me on ‘Bradley’s Basement’ in the past year.
Many thanks for the kind things you’ve said to me and for your support on my blog these past few years. I’m looking forward to what’s to come in 2018. I hope you’ll enjoy more stuff on my blog whether it’s ‘Doctor Who’ and movies. I know you’ve had a tough time in 2017 with family issues, but I greatly appreciate your support on my blog in the past year. I hope you’ll get to enjoy more ‘Doctor Who’ stories and reviews on my blog in 2018.
I hope you have a good 2018 too and that it’ll be better than last year.
Happy New Year, Simon!
Tim. 🙂
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Thanks again with helping me on the reviews for ‘The Invasion of Time’ and ‘Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi’. I enjoyed doing those with you! Tim. 🙂
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