‘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.

‘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.

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

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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.

‘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.

‘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.

‘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.

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

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

It’s time for us to check out the second contribution made by Neil Cross in Series 7 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. This is the ‘Doctor Who’ episode called ‘Hide’, starring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Jenna Coleman as Clara. Our TARDIS heroes visit and investigate an old mansion in November 1974, as it seems to be haunted. The special guest stars featured in this ‘Doctor Who’ episode include Dougray Scott as Professor Alec Palmer. I’ve seen him in ‘Mission: Impossible 2’ and quite recently in ‘Ever After: A Cinderella Story’. There’s Jessica Raine as Emma Grayling. She’s well-known for playing Jenny Lee in the first three seasons of ‘Call the Midwife’ and she would go on to play Verity Lambert in ‘An Adventure In Space and Time’. I’ve also seen Jessica Raine in the 2015 TV series ‘Partners In Crime’ with David Walliams. Is ‘Hide’ a very satisfying and enjoyable episode in Series 7 of ‘Doctor Who’? Does Matt Smith’s mispronunciation of Metabellis III stop me from enjoying the episode? 😀 ‘Hide’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer.

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Cold War’

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

The ‘Doctor Who’ episode that we’re checking out today is the one that features the return of the Ice Warriors (well, one of them anyway 😀 ) in the new TV series. This is ‘Cold War’ by Mark Gatiss. 🙂 ‘Cold War’ has Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Jenna Coleman as Clara visiting a Soviet submarine in 1983 during the Cold War. It’s where the Ice Warrior called Grand Marshal Skaldak (played by Spencer Wilding and voiced by Nicholas Briggs) breaks loose and plots revenge against humanity. There are special guest stars in the episode like Liam Cunningham (who I’ve seen in the 2007 TV adaptation of ‘Northanger Abbey’) as Captain Zhukov. There’s the late David Warner (who I’ve met at conventions, seen in two ‘Star Trek’ films and heard in the Big Finish audios) as Professor Grisenko. There’s Josh O’Connor (who’s been in ‘The Durrells’ and the 2020 film ‘Emma.’) as Piotr, there’s Tobias Menzies (who’s been in the 2007 TV adaptation of ‘Persuasion’) as Lieutenant Stepashin, and there’s James Norton (well-known for playing Sidney Chambers in ‘Grantchester’) as Onegin. ‘Cold War’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer.

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Rings of Akhaten’

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

In today’s ‘Doctor Who’ episode in the 60th Anniversary Marathon, Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor takes Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald on her first adventure in the TARDIS. This is ‘The Rings of Akhaten’ by Neil Cross, who makes the first of two contributions in the new TV series. The Eleventh Doctor and Clara visit the Rings of Akhaten, where several planetoids in a ring system are orbiting a larger planet. A religious festival takes place and Emilia Jones as Merry Gejelh, the young Queen of Years, is about to be sacrificed to the parasite of Akhaten. 😮 This episode also features a number of flashback scenes where the Eleventh Doctor witnesses Clara Oswald growing up and her parents raising her. Clara’s parents include Michael Dixon as her dad Dave Oswald and Nicola Sian as her mum Ellie Oswald. This is part of the story arc going on in the Clara Season in Series 7 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series, where Matt Smith’s Doctor has to work out who Clara Oswald – ‘the impossible girl’ – is. ‘The Rings of Akhaten’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer.

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Bells of Saint John’

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

The Clara Season in Series 7 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series has restarted with the episode ‘The Bells of Saint John’ by Steven Moffat. This is where Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor meets Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald properly in the TV series. The previous two Claras in ‘Asylum of the Daleks’ and ‘The Snowmen’ were killed off. The Doctor needs to solve the mystery of ‘the impossible girl’ whilst also having to deal with a deadly Wi-Fi that’s uploading people’s minds to it without consent. The episode also features Celia Imrie (who would later go on to be in the third and fourth ‘Nativity’ movies) as Miss Kizlet. There’s Robert Whitlock (who’s done quite a number of Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’ including ‘The Edge’, ‘Psychodrome’ and ‘One Mile Down’) as Mahler. And there’s James Greene (who played Professor Purwell in ‘The Moon Stallion’ with Sarah Sutton) as the Abbott. Richard E. Grant also makes a return appearance as the Great Intelligence in the episode. ‘The Bells of Saint John’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer.