Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
2023 is coming to an end! It’s been a busy year for me, especially with celebrating ‘Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary. Every day in 2023, I’ve been doing my ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon where I’ve shared reviews on every ‘Doctor Who’ TV story and I’ve shared summaries on seasons and reflections on the Doctors.
I’d been hoping for a very fruitful celebration of 60 years of ‘Doctor Who’ in 2023. To an extent that has happened, especially with me attending three ‘Doctor Who’ conventions in the UK and writing a couple of special celebratory anniversary stories – one for the Divergent Wordsmiths and one for me.
I can’t say it’s been an entirely satisfying celebration of 60 years of ‘Doctor Who’ for me. For one thing, there wasn’t a massive BBC event to celebrate the occasion, like there had been with Longleat in 1983 and in Edexcel, London in 2013. Although some are probably thankful that there wasn’t that this year.
The official 60th anniversary specials of ‘Doctor Who’ by Russell T. Davies, starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate, haven’t been very satisfying for me either, especially since there haven’t been that many callbacks to the TV show’s long past, which I would’ve liked. But that’s my personal opinion.
There has been a lot of strife throughout 2023, including strike action that’s currently ongoing, such as the rail strikes in the UK. There was quite a lengthy strike in Hollywood, which began in the summer months in 2023. Thankfully, these things haven’t affected me too badly as I would’ve expected. 🙂
As well as celebrating 60 years of ‘Doctor Who’, I’ve had the chance to do some quick movie reviews on my blog, including doing some Disney+ Roundups, which are small collections of reviews on films I’ve seen on Disney+. Hopefully, I’ll be able to continue with the Disney+ Roundups in 2024.
I’ve been able to have a few holidays in 2023. As well as conventions in places like Sheffield, Swansea and Scarborough, I’ve enjoyed holiday breaks in places like Cheltenham (twice in March and November) and my parents and I enjoyed a nice holiday break in Amroth, West Wales in September. 🙂
The Covid-19 pandemic restrictions are non-existent at this stage, though there’s still quite a bit of Covid going on in many parts of the world, so please keep safe. The number of in-depth reviews hasn’t been that plentiful in 2023, but I’m looking forward to doing more in-depth reviews in the New Year.
2023 has been an intriguing year with some expectations met and some not, but I’m thankful about the things I’ve achieved this year, especially through ‘Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary celebrations. Let me share with you how things have turned out for me this year and what are my 2023 highlights. 🙂
JANUARY
So, 2023 started with me sharing the remainder of my 2022-23 ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review season. This included updated reviews on the short stories featured in the ‘Short Trips: Transmissions’ anthology. One of the stories is ‘Tweaker’ featuring the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa. I also shared my brand-new reviews on the ‘Tenth Doctor, Classic Companions’ audio box set by Big Finish, which I have on CD, including ‘The Stuntman’ featuring the Tenth Doctor, Nyssa and K-9. I enjoyed the audio box set very much.
I started sharing my reviews on the ‘Doctor Who’ TV stories in the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon on ‘Bradley’s Basement’ with a look into the William Hartnell/First Doctor era. For January, I shared my reviews on stories from ‘An Unearthly Child’ featuring the First Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan to ‘The Smugglers’ featuring the First Doctor, Polly and Ben. I also shared my summaries on Seasons 1, 2 and 3 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series.
To pay tribute to Stephen Greif, who sadly passed away in December 2022, I shared a new behind-the-scenes photo in colour featuring him with Susan Penhaligon, Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton during the making of the Big Finish audio drama ‘Primeval’. It was so nice to come across that photo when I did in January 2023.
I saw ‘Matilda the Musical’ the film on New Year’s Eve in December 2022, but I didn’t have time to share my thoughts on it before the previous year ended. So, I shared my quick review on the film in January 2023 instead. For Christmas last year, I received two films on DVD from my best school mate Stephen, which I checked out in January and did quick reviews on. The two films were ‘The Master of Disguise’ and ‘Dungeons & Dragons’. They were fascinating films to check out with varying levels of bad. 😀
My first Disney+ Roundup for 2023 was on two films starring Robin Williams, including ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ and ‘Flubber’. My series of ‘convention memories’ blog posts continued this year, as I shared my ‘convention memories’ on ‘Big Finish Day 6’, held at the Copthorne Hotel Slough-Windsor in Slough in January 2015.
FEBRUARY
In February, I continued the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon on ‘Bradley’s Basement’, as we closed off the William Hartnell/First Doctor era with ‘The Tenth Planet’, featuring the First Doctor, Polly and Ben, before venturing into the Patrick Troughton/Second Doctor era. I shared my reviews on the whole of the Patrick Troughton/Second Doctor era from ‘The Power of the Daleks’ to ‘The War Games’, before I ended the month with sharing my review on the first Jon Pertwee/Third Doctor era story in the classic TV series called ‘Spearhead From Space’, featuring the Third Doctor, Liz and the Brigadier. I shared my reflections on the First and Second Doctor eras of ‘Doctor Who’ and I shared summaries on Seasons 4, 5 and 6 of the classic TV series.
My first two reviews on a couple of Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’ to celebrate the TV show’s 60th anniversary were on ‘The Beginning’, starring Carole Ann Ford and Terry Molloy, and ‘The Dying Light’, starring Frazer Hines, Wendy Padbury and Terry Molloy. They’re the first two stories in ‘The Quadrigger Stoyn Trilogy’ of Big Finish audios, which was part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of ‘Doctor Who’ back in 2013.
I shared my review on ‘The Doctor Who Cookbook’ by Gary Downie, which was published in 1985. I also added to my ‘Doctor Who Cookbook’ review my brand-new review on ‘The Doctor Who Cookbook Revisited’ documentary and my slightly updated reviews on the three bonus recipes of ‘The Doctor Who Cooked Revisited’, including the Kipper of Traken, Vegetable Soup with Dalek Krotons and Lasagne.
My second Disney+ Roundup of film reviews in February was on the two films ‘Stargirl’ and ‘The Absent-Minded Professor’. ‘The Absent-Minded Professor’ is the original 1961 precursor to ‘Flubber’ with Robin Williams, which was made in 1997. I also did a Disney+ Roundup on three films, including ‘The Book Thief’ and the two Tom Hanks films called ‘Big’ and ‘Splash’.
I saw the ‘Tom and Jerry’ film ‘Cowboy Up!’, which I purchased in the summer of 2022, but it took me a while to get around to watching it in February 2023. 😀 I also saw the ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’ film ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ , which I managed to see twice at the cinema in the months of February and March. 🙂
I started helping Critical Penguin with uploading the MJTV audio series ‘Soldiers of Love’ on YouTube. In February, I sent him the first two ‘SOL’ audio episodes called ‘Genesis’ and ‘Deathtraps’, which he uploaded on his YouTube channel. It’s currently slow progress with uploading the ‘SOL’ audio series on YouTube, but I’m glad I’ve helped Critical Penguin with uploading the series so far.
MARCH
When it came to March, the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon continued with a look into the Jon Pertwee/Third Doctor era. The first story in the marathon for that month was ‘Doctor Who and the Silurians’, featuring the Third Doctor, Liz and the Brigadier. The last story in the marathon for that month was ‘The Ark In Space’, featuring the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry. We were beginning to take a look into the Tom Baker/Fourth Doctor era by then.
I also shared my summaries on all five of Jon Pertwee’s ‘Doctor Who’ seasons (Seasons 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11) in the classic TV series. And I shared my reflection on the Third Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’. To conclude my look into the Third Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’, I shared my review on the Big Finish audio story ‘The Doll of Death’, starring Katy Manning and Jane Goddard.
I shared my ‘convention memories’ on ‘Valiant 2015’, held at the Showroom Workstation in Sheffield, which I attended in March 2015. From January to February in 2023, I saw Series 12 of ‘Call the Midwife’, which consists of eight episodes, on BBC iPlayer and BBC TV. I shared a quick review on the season in March.
In March, I helped Critical Penguin by sending him the third ‘Soldiers of Love’ audio episode called ‘Metamorphs’, which he shared on YouTube. ‘Metamorphs’ is the latest ‘SOL’ audio episode that Critical Penguin has shared on YouTube so far. I hope he’ll be able to share more ‘SOL’ audio episodes online.
With movies, I saw the two ‘Shazam!’ movies this year! 🙂 I saw the first ‘Shazam!’ movie on TV via Amazon Prime Video and I saw ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ at the cinema. I finished checking out ‘The Musketeers’ BBC TV series from 2014 to 2016 on DVD, which I started watching in the middle of 2022 and finished in March 2023. I did a Disney+ Roundup on three films in March, including ‘Race to Witch Mountain’, ‘The Haunted Mansion’ and ‘The One and Only Ivan’.
APRIL
With April, I mostly shared reviews on the ‘Doctor Who’ TV stories starring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. The month started with ‘The Sontaran Experiment’, featuring the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry, and ended with ‘The Power of Kroll’, featuring the Fourth Doctor and Romana. I also shared my summaries on Seasons 12, 13, 14 and 15 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series.
For my April Fools video on YouTube this year, I shared an overview of the ‘Doctor Who’/‘Mr. Men’ book series. It’s shocking that Cuddles turned out to be editing me in that video. 😀 On a serious note, I hope I’ll get back to reviewing more ‘Doctor Who’/‘Mr. Men’ books someday. What form those reviews will be in is yet to be determined.
April was a month to celebrate Easter. As well as sharing my Good Friday and Easter Sunday blog posts, I did my Easter review season on the ‘Doctor Who’ BBC Audio series ‘The Nest Cottage Chronicles’, starring Tom Baker, Richard Franklin and Susan Jameson, including ‘Hornets’ Nest’ (‘The Stuff of Nightmares’, ‘The Dead Shoes’, ‘The Circus of Doom’, ‘A Sting In The Tale’ and ‘Hive of Horror’), ‘Demon Quest’ (‘The Relics of Time’, ‘The Demon of Paris’, ‘A Shard of Ice’, ‘Starfall’ and ‘Sepulchre’) and ‘Serpent Crest’ (‘Tsar Wars’, ‘The Broken Crown’, ‘Aladdin Time’, ‘The Hexford Invasion’ and ‘Survivors In Space’).
During my sharing of ‘The Key to Time’ season (Season 16) in the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon, I checked out the printed Target novelizations of ‘The Stones of Blood’ and ‘The Androids of Tara’ by David Fisher, and listened to the audiobooks in the background. I updated my reviews on both the Target novelizations and audiobooks of the two ‘Doctor Who’ stories by the late David Fisher accordingly.
From Christmas 2023 to Easter 2024, my parents and I have enjoyed checking out ‘Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman’, starring Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher. It’s become one of our favourite superhero TV shows, especially as we’re revisiting it for a second time on DVD in December 2023. We’re currently on Season 2. 🙂 I also saw ‘Ms. Marvel’, a six-part ‘MCU’ series on Disney+. I’m pleased I checked it out on Disney+ in April, especially in preparation for ‘The Marvels’ later in the year.
My parents and I also enjoyed checking out the ‘Streetwise’ DVD, which I got for my Dad last Christmas, and it features Roy Castle, who played Ian in ‘Dr. Who and the Daleks’ with Peter Cushing. At the cinema, I got to see films like ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ and ‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’. I greatly enjoyed those films. And I did a Disney+ Roundup in April when checking out films like ‘The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes’, ‘Super Buddies’ and ‘Space Buddies’.
As well as the year to celebrate the 60th anniversary of ‘Doctor Who’, 2023 was the year to celebrate the 30th anniversary of ‘Power Rangers’. I celebrated the occasion by checking out the 30th anniversary special ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always’, which was released on Netflix, and it starred David Yost, Walter Emanuel Jones, Charlie Kersh, Catherine Sutherland and Steve Cardenas.
It was a happy time for me at the end of April, since the Divergent Wordsmiths shared Volume 1 of ‘A Sparkle of Doctors’, which was their two-volume anthology and is now their three-volume anthology to celebrate 60 years of ‘Doctor Who’. Volume 1 contains ‘Part 1’ of ‘Interdimensional Rescue’, featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy.
MAY
May saw us checking out the remainder of the Tom Baker/Fourth Doctor era in the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon. The month started with the last story of ‘The Key to Time’ season called ‘The Armageddon Factor’, featuring the Fourth Doctor, Romana and K-9. We also began looking into the Peter Davison/Fifth Doctor era, and the month ended with the last story of ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’ called ‘Enlightenment’, featuring the Fifth Doctor, Tegan and Turlough.
I shared my summaries on Seasons 16, 17, 18 and 19 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. I shared my reflection on the Fourth Doctor era, and I shared my review on ‘Luna Romana’, the third and final story of ‘The Quadrigger Stoyn Trilogy’ of Big Finish audios, starring Lalla Ward, Juliet Landau and Terry Molloy.
For ‘Star Wars’ Day on May the 4th, I shared my quick reviews on three LEGO ‘Star Wars’ specials, including ‘The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special’, ‘LEGO Star Wars: Terrifying Tales’ and ‘LEGO Star Wars: Summer Vacation’. I’m looking forward to checking out more ‘Star Wars’ content in the New Year.
It was my birthday in May. I enjoyed my birthday, although it was raining quite a lot that day. 😀 To celebrate the occasion, my parents and I went to see the ‘MCU’ film ‘Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3’ at the cinema. I also enjoyed revisiting the original ‘Spider-Man’ film trilogy with Tobey Maguire on Blu-ray and the ‘Doctor Who’ audio story ‘1963: Fanfare For The Common Men’, starring Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton, on vinyl for my birthday.
On Disney+, I saw the latest Peter Pan film called ‘Peter Pan & Wendy’, which wasn’t really what I expected and hoped to see in terms of Disney‘s latest interpretation of Peter Pan. I also saw one of my birthday presents from my best mate Stephen in May called ‘Peter Pan Goes Wrong’, which I enjoyed more than ‘Peter Pan & Wendy’ on Disney+. 😀
I did a Disney+ Roundup on the two films ‘The Strongest Man in the World’ and ‘Spy Hard’. I saw the two live-action ‘Smurfs’ movies on Netflix, starring Neil Patrick Harris, who would go on to play the Toymaker in the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th anniversary special ‘The Giggle’. I also shared a quick review on Seasons 4 and 5 of ‘The Muppet Show’. It’s amazing to think that I started checking out ‘The Muppet Show’ on Disney+ in 2021 and finished it in the middle of 2023.
JUNE
In June, we continued the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon with a look into the rest of the Peter Davison/Fifth Doctor era, starting off with ‘The King’s Demons’, featuring the Fifth Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Kamelion. We also looked into the whole of the Colin Baker/Sixth Doctor era from ‘The Twin Dilemma’ to ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’. The month ended with us starting to look into the Sylvester McCoy/Seventh Doctor era, and the last story in the marathon for June was ‘Silver Nemesis’, the official 25th anniversary story of ‘Doctor Who’, featuring the Seventh Doctor and Ace.
I shared my summaries on Seasons 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series as well as shared my reflections on the Fifth and Sixth Doctor eras. I also shared my reviews on ‘And You Will Obey Me’, starring Peter Davison and Geoffrey Beevers, and ‘Vampire of the Mind’, starring Colin Baker and Alex Macqueen, in ‘The Two Masters Trilogy’ of ‘Doctor Who’ audios by Big Finish. I shared my thoughts on the upcoming return of Bonnie Langford as Mel in ‘Doctor Who’.
At the cinema, I saw the 2023 live-action remake of ‘The Little Mermaid’ by Disney. I enjoyed it on the big screen and enjoyed it again on Disney+ later in the year. I also saw the two movies ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ and ‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ in a row in one day in June. I did a quick review on the two movies in one blog post. 😀 I also saw ‘The Flash’ at the cinema, finding it an intriguing DC superhero multiverse film featuring the Flash, Michael Keaton’s Batman and a new version of Supergirl. I did a Disney+ Roundup in June on films like ‘Treasure of Matecumbe’, ‘Treasure Buddies’ and ‘Tall Tale’.
JULY
July began with me sharing the remainder of the Sylvester McCoy/Seventh Doctor era in the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon, which started off with ‘The Greatest Show In The Galaxy’, featuring the Seventh Doctor and Ace. I also shared my review on the 30th anniversary story ‘Dimensions In Time’ as well as reviews on the Eighth and War Doctor eras, including ‘The TV Movie’ and ‘The Night of the Doctor’. I also shared my reviews on the entire Christopher Eccleston/Ninth Doctor era from ‘Rose’ to ‘Bad Wolf’/’The Parting of the Ways’. For the marathon, the month ended with me starting to share reviews on the David Tennant/Tenth Doctor era. The last review was on ‘Rise of the Cybermen’/’The Age of Steel’, featuring the Tenth Doctor, Rose and Mickey.
I shared my summaries on Seasons 25 and 26 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series and I shared my summary on Series 1 of the new TV series. I shared my reflections on the Seventh, Eighth, War and Ninth Doctor eras of ‘Doctor Who’. And I’ve shared my reviews on some Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’, including ‘The Two Masters’, the third story of ‘The Two Masters Trilogy’, starring Sylvester McCoy, Geoffrey Beevers and Alex Macqueen; ‘The Witch From The Well’, starring Paul McGann and Julie Cox; ‘Agents of Chaos’, starring John Hurt and Jacqueline Pearce; and ‘Back to Earth’, starring Christopher Eccleston.
I shared a quick review on the ‘Doctor Who Am I’ documentary, starring Matthew Jacobs, who is the writer of the ‘Doctor Who’ TV Movie. It was very interesting to check out from Matthew Jacobs’ point-of-view how the ‘Doctor Who’ fandom works in America. I also shared my ‘convention memories’ of attending the ‘H-Con’ event in Eastleigh, Hampshire in July 2015.
In July, I checked out and shared a quick review on the second birthday present from my best mate Stephen, which was the 1994 film ‘Dumb and Dumber’, starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels. I also saw for the second time (the first time was in 2022) and shared a quick review on the Netflix series called ‘Man vs. Bee’, starring Rowan Atkinson.
I saw the first four ‘Indiana Jones’ movies on Disney+ before checking out the fifth film ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ at the cinema. 🙂 I also saw ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One’ at the cinema. I don’t know what’s become of ‘Part Two’ lately, but I’m looking forward to seeing it in 2025.
I did a Disney+ Roundup on two Harrison Ford films, including ‘Six Days, Seven Nights’ and ‘Air Force One’. I also reviewed Season 3 of ‘Star Trek: Picard’, which my Mum and I saw via Amazon Prime Video. I also shared my thoughts on the classic ‘Casualty’ episode called ‘Charity’, featuring Sarah Sutton as a guest star. I saw the episode via UKTV Play. It’s still available on UKTV Play if you want to check it out. 🙂
AUGUST
For August, we covered a lot of the David Tennant/Tenth Doctor era in the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon. I shared my reviews on stories from ‘The Idiot’s Lantern’, featuring the Tenth Doctor and Rose, to ‘The Next Doctor’, featuring the Tenth Doctor and Jackson Lake. 😀 I also shared my summaries on Series 2, 3 and 4 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. For me, the original Russell T. Davies era of ‘Doctor Who’ featuring Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant is one of my favourites.
Also in August, I shared my first ‘Power Month’ review season to celebrate the 30th anniversary of ‘Power Rangers’. This mostly covered the first half of Season 1 of ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’ from ‘Day of the Dumpster’ to ‘Clean-Up Club’. I’m looking forward to putting together my second ‘Power Month’ review season in 2024, which will cover the remainder of Season 1 of ‘Mighty Morphin’ and the beginning of Season 2.
I saw the two Disney live-action versions of ‘Alice In Wonderland’ and ‘Alice Through The Looking Glass’, both starring Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, on Disney+. They’ve been interesting adaptations of Lewis Carroll’s stories, but they’re not as good as the Disney 1951 animated film and 1973’s ‘Alice Through The Looking Glass’ with Sarah Sutton.
I shared my thoughts on ‘The Incredible Hulk’ TV series, starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferringo, through the original movie collection, including ‘The Incredible Hulk Returns’, ‘The Trial of the Incredible Hulk’ and ‘The Death of the Incredible Hulk’. Hopefully, I’ll be back on track with checking out more of ‘The Incredible Hulk’ TV series in the New Year.
August was another month to celebrate, as ‘Part 2’ of my two-part story ‘Interdimensional Rescue’ was released in Volume 2 of ‘A Sparkle of Doctors’ by the Divergent Wordsmiths to celebrate the 60th anniversary of ‘Doctor Who’. My part to play in ‘A Sparkle of Doctors’ finished by then, but it wasn’t over for ‘A Sparkle of Doctors’, as it became a three-volume anthology instead of two.
I also finished checking out the BBC comedy-drama TV series ‘A Very Peculiar Practice’, starring Peter Davison, Barbara Flynn, Graham Crowden and David Troughton. I enjoyed checking out the two seasons of the series as well as the TV film ‘A Very Polish Practice’ on Britbox. I can’t say it’s a series I would want to watch again and again, but I’m glad I saw it when I did on Britbox in 2023.
I also shared my ‘convention memories’ of attending the ‘Bournemouth Film and Comic Con’ which was held in August 2015. This was my final set of ‘convention memories’ to share on ‘Bradley’s Basement’. I would soon be attending the first of three conventions to celebrate 60 years of ‘Doctor Who’.
SEPTEMBER
September was a very exciting month for me in 2023. It began with me sharing the remainder of the David Tennant/Tenth Doctor era in the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon, starting off with ‘Planet of the Dead’, featuring the Tenth Doctor and Lady Christina. I also shared the first half of the Matt Smith/Eleventh Doctor era and the month ended with me sharing my review on ‘The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe’, featuring the Eleventh Doctor, Madge, Amy and Rory.
I shared my summaries on the 2008-2010 Specials, Series 5 and Series 6 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. I shared my reflection on the Tenth Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’. And I shared my review on the Big Finish audio story ‘Wink’, starring David Tennant and Colin Baker, which was the third story in the ‘Out of Time’ trilogy of ‘Doctor Who’.
I saw the Disney+ series ‘The Muppets Mayhem’ in the summer of 2023, which I reviewed in September. It was an interesting series to check out on Disney+, but I don’t think it’s as good as previous ‘Muppet’ shows I’ve seen, including the original ‘Muppet Show’. I did a Disney+/Netflix Roundup on three films, including ‘Ever After’, ‘Knight and Day’ and ‘True Lies’.
In September, I had three exciting holiday breaks. The first was when I attended the ‘Popcorn TV, Film & Comic Con Sheffield’, which was held at the Magna Science Adventure Centre in Rotherham on Sunday the 10th of September. It was the first of three conventions I attended to celebrate 60 years of ‘Doctor Who’. I saw my favourite TARDIS duo there – Peter Davison (the Fifth Doctor) and Sarah Sutton (Nyssa). I also conducted an interview with Sarah at the ‘Popcorn’ event.
I then went for my week’s holiday in Amroth, West Wales with my parents. Whilst I was away in Amroth, I shared some ‘Tortoise and the Hare’ items on ‘Bradley’s Basement’. This included a couple of quick reviews on the Disney short films ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’ and ‘Toby Tortoise Returns’. I also shared three YouTube videos on the UK version of ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’ by Living Books, which I played on my home computer.
My third exciting holiday break was when I attended ‘Regenerations 2023’ in Swansea. This was the second of three conventions I attended to celebrate 60 years of ‘Doctor Who’, and it was held at the Village Hotel in Swansea from Saturday the 23rd to Sunday the 24th of September. There were guests like Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Peter Purves, Wendy Padbury, Frazer Hines, Matthew Waterhouse, etc who attended the convention weekend.
I shared some new pages on my blog to compile all my ‘Doctor Who’ stories under specific Doctors. This includes the main ‘Doctor Who’ by Tim Bradley page as well as pages for the First Doctor, the Second Doctor, the Third Doctor, the Fourth Doctor, the Sixth Doctor, the Seventh Doctor, the Eighth Doctor, the Ninth Doctor, the Tenth Doctor, the Eleventh Doctor, the Twelfth Doctor and the Thirteenth Doctor. I updated my Fifth Doctor by Tim Bradley page accordingly.
To commemorate the occasion of my late sister Bethan on her birthday in September, I shared a picture of Snuggles, Bethan and Puddles on my blog. This was provided by the sister of a friend of my Dad’s. I really like the picture, as it’s so sweet and thoughtful. I’ve shown and given a copy of the picture to Sarah at the ‘Popcorn’ event, who really liked it. It was the first time I told Sarah I once had a sister.
At the end of September, I celebrated ‘Bradley’s Basement’s 8th anniversary. To celebrate the occasion, I shared new ‘Doctor Who’ timelines for the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors, Ruby Sunday, Michael Anderson for WilliamsFan92‘s series of Fifth Doctor stories; Kazran Sardick from ‘A Christmas Carol’ and the Unbound Ninth to Thirteenth Doctors from ‘The Curse of Fatal Death’. I also shared a special preview of my 60th anniversary ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’.
OCTOBER
In October, I continued the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon by sharing my reviews on the rest of the Matt Smith/Eleventh Doctor era, starting off with ‘Asylum of the Daleks’, featuring the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory. I then shared the first season of the Peter Capaldi/Twelfth Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’ – Series 8 – with the month ending on ‘Dark Water’/’Death in Heaven’, featuring the Twelfth Doctor and Clara.
I shared my summaries on Series 7, the 2013 Specials and Series 8 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. I shared my reflection on the Eleventh Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’, and I shared my reviews on Volume Two of ‘The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles’ of ‘Doctor Who’ by Big Finish, starring Jacob Dudman.
I shared some thoughts on three film items that I saw on Netflix, Disney+ and at the cinema, including ‘Spy Kids: Armageddon’, ‘Casebusters’ and ‘Toy Story’. I saw ‘Spy Kids: Armageddon’ on Netflix, ‘Casebusters’ on Disney+ and ‘Toy Story’ at the cinema, as part of the Disney 100 celebrations.
Also on Disney+, I saw ‘Carl’s Date’, the sixth and final episode of ‘Dug Days’, a spin-off series from the Disney/Pixar film ‘Up’. Also at the cinema, I saw a re-release of the two Laurel & Hardy films ‘Sons of the Desert’ and ‘Dirty Work’ and greatly enjoyed them on the big screen. I also did a Disney+ Roundup on four films, including ‘The Ghosts of Buxley Hall’, the 2023 film ‘Haunted Mansion’, ‘See How They Run’ and ‘The Lone Ranger’.
NOVEMBER
November was the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th anniversary month! I continued the 60th Anniversary Marathon by sharing the rest of the Peter Capaldi/Twelfth Doctor, which started off with ‘Last Christmas’, featuring the Twelfth Doctor and Clara. By the end of November, I began sharing the Jodie Whittaker/Thirteenth Doctor era and the month ended with me sharing my review on ‘Rosa’, featuring the Thirteenth Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz.
I shared my summaries on Series 9 and 10 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. I shared my reflection on the Twelfth Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’, and I shared my review on ‘The Twelfth Doctor Chronicles’ story by Big Finish called ‘Timejacked!’, starring Jacob Dudman and Bhavnisha Parmar.
I began sharing my epic three-part ‘Doctor Who’ 60th anniversary story ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’ in October. The story was completed and available on ‘Bradley’s Basement’ in November. The Divergent Wordsmiths also finished sharing their three-volume 60th anniversary anthology ‘A Sparkle of Doctors’ by releasing Volume 3 in November. On reflection, I’m very pleased that I wrote ‘Interdimensional Rescue’ and ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’ when I did for ‘Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary.
I attended the third of my three conventions to celebrate 60 years of ‘Doctor Who’ in November, which was of course the ‘Scarborough Comic Con’. I greatly enjoyed attending that convention, as it had guests like Sarah Sutton, Peter Davison, Nicola Bryant, Colin Baker, Sophie Aldred, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann. It made the 60th anniversary of ‘Doctor Who’ for me. 🙂
Incidentally, Sarah Sutton told me in Scarborough that there would be a new official website for her. On the 25th of November, I came across the new official website for Sarah and I’m very happy about it! 🙂 I purchased a signed photo of Sarah Sutton as Nyssa from ‘Snakedance’ via the website and I received it in the post. Sarah wrote “To Tim, Keep Smiling! Sarah Sutton” on the photo, which was very nice of her. 🙂
On BBC iPlayer, I saw the ‘Talking Doctor Who’ documentary with David Tennant and ‘Doctor Who at 60: A Musical Celebration’. I saw them at the beginning of November before I reviewed them later in the month. I shared my Celebrating 60 Years of ‘Doctor Who’ blog post on the 23rd of November. I also saw ‘The Daleks in Colour’ on ‘Doctor Who’ day. I shared a spoiler free reaction on ‘The Star Beast’, the first ‘Doctor Who’ 60th anniversary special by Russell T. Davies, on YouTube, and I saw the Channel 5 documentary ‘Doctor Who: 60 Years of Secrets and Scandals’ on the 25th of November.
From October to November, my parents and I saw Series 4 of the new ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ TV series on Channel 5. I enjoyed Series 4, although Callum Woodhouse’s absence as Tristan was felt throughout. On Disney+, I saw the Disney/Pixar film ‘Elemental’, which turned out to be better than I expected. I also saw the ‘MCU’ film ‘The Marvels’ at the cinema, which I enjoyed very much. Like ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’, I saw ‘The Marvels’ twice on the big screen. The second time was when my parents and I holidayed in Cheltenham from the end of November leading into December. I also enjoyed doing the ‘A Dalek Awakens’ Escape Hunt game in Cheltenham. November concluded with the announcement of my Advent Calendar for December 2023.
DECEMBER
December closed the year with me sharing my ‘Bradley’s Basement’s Advent Calendar for 2023. The calendar contained my 24-part ‘Doctor Who’ story called ‘And There Were Seven’, featuring the Fifth, Tenth and Thirteenth Doctors, two Nyssas, Adric and Tegan via the use of Eaglemoss figurines.
The ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon continued with me sharing the rest of my reviews on the Jodie Whittaker/Thirteenth Doctor era, starting with ‘Arachnids in the UK’, featuring the Thirteenth Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz. We went through the 60th anniversary specials including ‘Destination: Skaro’, featuring the Fourteenth Doctor, as well as ‘The Star Beast’, ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ and ‘The Giggle’, featuring the Fourteenth Doctor and Donna. The marathon ended with me sharing my review on the 2023 Christmas Special called ‘The Church on Ruby Road’, featuring the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby.
I shared my summaries on Series 11, 12 and 13 as well as on the 2022 Specials of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. I shared my reflections on the Fugitive, Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors and on 60 years of ‘Doctor Who’. And I shared reviews on the comic story ‘Origins’, featuring the Fugitive Doctor; the book/audio story ‘Combat Magicks’, featuring the Thirteenth Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz; and the comic story ‘Liberation of the Daleks’, featuring the Fourteenth Doctor.
I shared my reaction to the situation of ‘An Unearthly Child’ and ‘An Adventure In Space and Time’ in 2023, including Ncuti Gatwa’s appearance at the end of the 2023 edition of ‘Adventure’. I shared my spoiler free reactions to ‘Wild Blue Yonder’, ‘The Giggle’ and ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ via YouTube. I also compiled a list of reports and memories of all the conventions I’ve attended from 2010 to 2023. Sadly, Richard Franklin (Mike Yates in ‘Doctor Who’) passed away on Christmas Day this year. I shared my tribute to Richard, as I greatly enjoyed meeting him at conventions.
I managed to share some Christmas reviews in December, including on films like ‘The Nutcracker and the Four Realms’, the 1961 film ‘Babes in Toyland’ and ‘Dashing Through The Snow’, which I saw on Disney+. I saw ‘Tom and Jerry: Snowman’s Land’ on DVD, and I saw the 2022 film ‘Scrooge: A Christmas Carol’ and the 2018 film ‘The Grinch’ on Netflix.
At the cinema, I saw a re-release of the 1985 film ‘Santa Claus: The Movie’ as well as new films like ‘Wonka’ and ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’. I saw the two ‘Chicken Run’ movies on Netflix, including ‘Chicken Run’ and ‘Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget’. My parents and I also saw ‘Anchors Aweigh’ on DVD, starring Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson and Gene Kelly, which was my Christmas present for Dad this year. I gave ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning; Part One’ on Blu-ray to Mum for Christmas in 2023.
On Christmas Day, I shared my ‘Merry Christmas’ message, which also contained a YouTube video featuring me and special guest star Sarah Sutton, which we recorded at the ‘Scarborugh Comic Con’ in November. I also shared a convention panel video featuring Elisabeth Sladen and Sarah Sutton from the ‘Aylcon 1994’ convention.
In terms of the other Christmas Specials that I saw on TV as well as the ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas special ‘The Church on Ruby Road’, I saw the 2023 Christmas Special of the new ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ Channel 5 TV series called ‘On a Wing and a Prayer’. I also saw the 2023 Christmas Special of ‘Call the Midwife’ on Christmas Day.
So, as you can tell, the conventions I’ve attended this year to celebrate 60 years of ‘Doctor Who’ have been worthwhile. I’m pleased I saw Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton at two conventions this year, especially for ‘Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary as they’re my favourite Doctor and companion. 🙂
I’m pleased I’ve written the two ‘Doctor Who’ stories ‘Interdimensional Rescue’ and ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’, as they fulfilled my fix on what I wanted to experience with celebrating 60 years of the TV show. This is a contrast to how the 60th anniversary TV specials did things to celebrate the occasion.
The number of films I’ve reviewed hasn’t been that plentiful, apart from the Disney+ Roundups I’ve shared on ‘Bradley’s Basement’. Most of my movie reviews have been quick reads. I hope to remedy this with some new film review seasons in the New Year and I hope to view more Disney+ content. 🙂
The 60th Anniversary Marathon of ‘Doctor Who’ on ‘Bradley’s Basement’ took up a lot of my time in 2023. Thus, I wasn’t able to do as many brand-new reviews on Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’ as I would’ve liked. I’m looking forward to when I do more reviews on the Big Finish audios in the year 2024.
A consequence of focusing on the 60th anniversary celebrations of ‘Doctor Who’ is that I haven’t been able to find time to do my annual ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review season from December 2023 to January 2024. It’s been saved for my upcoming Easter review season from March to April 2024.
Other Big Finish audio-spin off series are in the pipeline for me to check out and review. This includes more audio stories in ‘Timeslip’, ‘Star Cops’ and ‘Dark Season’. Hopefully, I’ll get onto reviewing those audios and other spin-off media that I haven’t had the chance to check out in 2023.
I’ve been behind on ‘The Collection’ Blu-ray box sets of ‘Doctor Who’, especially with the releases of the Season 2, 9 and 20 Blu-ray box sets. I’m looking forward to revisiting those box sets and updating my reviews on the stories in those seasons, especially as Season 20 features Sarah Sutton as Nyssa. 🙂
There are plenty of Target novelizations of ‘Doctor Who’ to check out, including new books for ‘The Daleks’, ‘Warriors’ Gate’, ‘The Fires of Pompeii’, ‘Planet of the Ood’, ‘The Waters of Mars’, ‘The Zygon Invasion’, ‘The Eaters of Light’ and ‘Kerblam!’. Those books should be very exciting to check out.
Despite the leftovers in 2023 to catch up on, I’m pleased with how I’ve handled my time in terms of celebrating 60 years of ‘Doctor Who’. In my opinion, it’s an improvement on what I did to celebrate 50 years of the TV show in 2013. The convention experiences have been worthwhile and were less frantic.
There’s so much to be thankful for with how 2023 ended up. It wasn’t the most spectacular year for me, especially in terms of how ‘Doctor Who’ was celebrated for its 60-year anniversary, but I’m looking forward to the future with some new stories to tell and new reviews to share on ‘Bradley’s Basement’.
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now, best wishes and please keep safe!
See you next year! 😀
Tim 🙂
Bradley's Basement 
