Blu-ray Review Update – ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ (Doctor Who)

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

Last week, I received my Blu-ray copy of the ‘Doctor Who’ 2023 Christmas Special called ‘The Church on Ruby Road’, starring Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor and Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday. I’ve updated my review on the special by adding the details of what special features are contained on the DVD and Blu-ray releases of ‘The Church on Ruby Road’.

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Church on Ruby Road’

– – – BRAND NEW REVIEW – – –

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

Today is the penultimate instalment of the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon on ‘Bradley’s Basement’ in 2023. I hope you’ve enjoyed checking out the marathon to celebrate 60 years of ‘Doctor Who’ as much as I’ve enjoyed sharing it this year. As we began with ‘An Unearthly Child’, the first TV story of the William Hartnell/First Doctor era, it’s only fair that we conclude with the first full-length TV adventure of the Ncuti Gatwa/Fifteenth Doctor era – ‘The Church of Ruby Road’ by Russell T. Davies. As well as being Ncuti Gatwa’s first full-length TV adventure as the Fifteenth Doctor, we’re introduced to Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday, who becomes the Fifteenth Doctor’s new companion. This is also the first ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special since ‘Twice Upon a Time’ in 2017. With this being the 2023 Christmas Special, ‘The Church of Ruby Road’ also features Davina McCall as well as goblins and their Goblin King aboard a flying sailing ship in the sky. We’re also introduced to Michelle Greenidge as Carla Sunday, Ruby’s adoptive mother; Angela Wynter (of ‘EastEnders’ fame) as Cherry Sunday, Ruby’s adoptive grandmother; and Anita Dobson (also of ‘EastEnders’ fame) as Mrs. Flood. Apparently, Gemma Arrowsmith, who wrote the ‘Doctor Who’ audio story ‘The Flying Dutchman’, is in this Christmas Special as a character called Ruth Lyons. Did ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ impress me as a good comeback for the ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Specials in 2023? ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ can be checked out on BBC iPlayer in the UK and on Disney+ in other parts of the world. The story will be released on DVD and Blu-ray very soon in 2024.

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Destination: Skaro’, ‘The Star Beast’, ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ and ‘The Giggle’

– – – BRAND NEW REVIEWS – – –

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

This is probably what you’ve been looking forward to. 😀 Welcome to the David Tennant/Fourteenth Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’ in the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon on ‘Bradley’s Basement’. This consists of the 60th anniversary specials that were shown on BBC TV in the UK and on Disney+ in other parts of the world from November to December 2023. There’s the mini-episode ‘Destination: Skaro’, which was shown on Children in Need night in November 2023, and there’s the three 60th anniversary specials themselves, including ‘The Star Beast’, ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ and ‘The Giggle’. All the specials are by Russell T. Davies (with ‘The Star Beast’ being from a story by Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons), and they star David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor and Catherine Tate as Donna Noble. There are also special guest stars like Neil Patrick Harris as the Toymaker and Yasmin Finney as Rose Noble, Donna’s daughter. There was a lot of hype in the build-up to the 60th anniversary specials on TV. Afterwards, lots of ‘Doctor Who’ fans and audience members have found them satisfying. Where do I stand on this? Did the 60th anniversary specials of ‘Doctor Who’ by RTD fulfil my expectations? ‘Destination: Skaro’ can be checked out on BBC iPlayer or YouTube, and ‘The Star Beast’, ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ and ‘The Giggle’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer in the UK or on DVD, Blu-ray and Disney+ in other parts of the world.

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

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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.

Quick TV Review – ‘The Daleks in Colour’

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

Okay, let me be clear about something. I love the first ‘Daleks’ story with William Hartnell, William Russell, Jacqueline Hill and Carole Ann Ford in ‘Doctor Who’. It’s one of the best William Hartnell/First Doctor era stories in the classic TV series. One I’ll happily revisit on DVD and Britbox. 🙂

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘World Enough and Time’/’The Doctor Falls’

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

We come now to the two-part season finale in Series 10 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series, starring Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, Pearl Mackie as Bill and Matt Lucas as Nardole. This is ‘World Enough and Time’/’The Doctor Falls’ by Steven Moffat. This two-part adventure has Michelle Gomez as Missy actively involved in the season finale for a change, and there’s the return of John Simm as the Master, who was last seen in ‘The End of Time’ with David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. There’s also the return of the Mondasian Cybermen, who made their debut in ‘The Tenth Planet’ with William Hartnell as the First Doctor, and they’ve been in the Big Finish audio story ‘Spare Parts’ with Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor. Clearly, ‘World Enough and Time’/’The Doctor Falls’ is supposed to be a dramatic and emotional finale to Series 10, especially considering what happens to our three main heroes: the Twelfth Doctor, Bill and Nardole. Do I think this two-part story is worthy enough to be considered a dramatic and emotional finale in Series 10 of the new TV series? ‘World Enough and Time’/’The Doctor Falls’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer.

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Eaters of Light’

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

It’s fitting that today’s instalment in the 60th Anniversary Marathon of ‘Doctor Who’ on the 60th anniversary date is an episode by a writer who’s written for both the classic and the new TV eras of the show. Today, we’re checking out ‘The Eaters of Light’ by Rona Munro, who penned ‘Survival’, the last story of the classic TV series featuring Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and Sophie Aldred as Ace. ‘The Eaters of Light’ features Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor, Pearl Mackie as Bill and Matt Lucas as Nardole. The story takes place in Scotland in the 2nd century, where our heroes investigate the fate of the Ninth Legion of the Imperial Roman army. As well as Romans, this story also features the Pict tribe, led by Rebecca Benson as Kar, who’s also the ‘Guardian of the Gate’. There’s a crow that happens to say words of English if you listen carefully. Nardole is in his dressing gown in this story ( 😀 ) and there happens to be a brief appearance of Michelle Gomez as Missy at the episode’s end. Is ‘The Eaters of Light’ as good as ‘Survival’ in being a ‘Doctor Who’ instalment by Rona Munro? ‘The Eaters of Light’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer.

Quick TV Reviews – ‘Talking Doctor Who’ & ‘Doctor Who at 60: A Musical Celebration’

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

On the 1st of November 2023, before I went away for my weekend to attend the ‘Scarborough Comic Con’, I saw two items to celebrate 60 years of ‘Doctor Who’. These were originally shown on BBC Four, and I caught up with them on BBC iPlayer. I found these very nice celebrations to check out. 🙂

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Empress of Mars’

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

After ‘The Monks Trilogy’, we’re back to some proper standalone ‘Doctor Who’ episodes in Series 10 of the new TV series. Today in the 60th Anniversary Marathon, we’re checking out ‘Empress of Mars’ by Mark Gatiss. This features the return of the Ice Warriors. Still not sure if it’s Nicholas Briggs who’s voicing the Ice Warriors in this episode. Notable Ice Warrior characters that appear in this episode include Richard Ashton as Friday and Adele Lynch as the titular ‘Empress of Mars’ named Iraxxa. Incidentally, Adele Lynch recently played a similar character in the Ice Queen named Vextyr in the Big Finish audio story ‘Cry of the Vultriss’ with Colin Baker. The guest cast also includes Anthony Calf as Godsacre and Ferdinand Kingsley as Catchlove. There’s a nice cameo of Alpha Centauri from the ‘Peladon Tales’ of ‘Doctor Who’, and she’s voiced by Ysanne Churchman. And there’s a brief appearance of Michelle Gomez as Missy somewhere in the middle and at the episode’s end. At the time of watching this, I found ‘Empress of Mars’ a good ‘Doctor Who’ episode. Do I still regard it favourably after all these years? ‘Empress of Mars’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer.

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

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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.