Doctor Who: The New Team

Last night, at around 10.30pm, the BBC revealed who would be playing the Doctor's new friends. Bradley Walsh will be playing Graham. Mandip Gill is playing Yasmin and Tosin Cole is playing Ryan. As there has been so little  Doctor Who news of late I drifted away and missed the announcement.  Just by chance, I checked the Doctor Who News Page and found out about the news. Overall, I am fairly okay with this. 

There were rumours about the involvement of Bradley Walsh since August but then the rumours faded away . He is best known for hosting The Chase, an ITV game show.  He has also been in Coronation Street and played DC Ronnie Brooks in Law and Order UK, another show that Chris Chibnall worked on. Doctor Who fans will best know him from The Sarah Jane Adventures. 

The other two are less well known and their casting was a surprise. Mandip Gill is  known for playing Phoebe McQueen in Hollyoaks, a show that I've never watched. She has also appeared in Cuckoo, Doctors, and Casualty. Tosin Cole, like Mandip, has appeared in Hollyoaks. He has also been in Eastenders and E20. He also appeared in The Force Awakens as Bastian, a Lieutenant in the Resistance who flew an X-Wing. Although Star Wars might be the bigger sf franchise, this role will probably be bigger and bring him to more attention.

At no point in the the press release are the new characters described as 'companions' or 'assistants'. Although they will undoubtebly be involved in the adventures, it is not yet clear if all or any of them will get to travel in the Tardis. If they do then it will be the largest ongoing team since the Fifth Doctor's era. Perhaps they will be a family in the same way the Tyler family was in the Tennant years, or the UNIT family in the Pertwee years. Perhaps they will all travel in the Tardis at different times from one another.

I am personally hoping for four travellers, reminiscent f my favourite team of Ian, Barbara and Susan. Some dislike what they consider a 'crowded Tardis' and feel that the Tegan, Nyssa and Adric team didn't work. But I always feel it depends how you integrate the characters into the story. A Story like the Aztecs involves each character using their abilities to get to the Tardis. Ian has to use his fighting skills, the Doctor uses his knowledge of science and Barbara uses her knowledge of Aztec history to ouwit her enemies. If everyone has a role to play then the story can work.

It is also interesting that all of the characters have ordinary names. Previous companions have had old fashioned names like 'Rose' or 'Martha' or unusual ones like 'Bill. It could mean that Chris Chibnall is trying to ground the series in a sense of normality.

Sharon D. Clarke is announced as playing a 'recurring role'. Inevitably this leads to the speculation that she's The Rani, Omega, or whateverold character. She could be an earthbound supporting character.

With this announcement also came the news that the episodes would be shortened from 12 episodes to 10x50 minute episodes. This is shorter but hopefully means that Chris Chibnall will get the series in the can quicker.

There should be something for everyone in this cast. Younger characters and old. It will be interesting to see where this goes.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1x02: The Harvest

Last week's episode set up the characters. This week we get the actual story.

Buffy is able to overcome Luke with the Chekhov's cross that Angel gave her. She and Xander and Willow take refuge in the library. This is where Giles is able to give a big speech about the power of monsters. Buffy vows to get Jesse back.

Buffy returns to the crypt to search for Jesse and Xander obsessively comes with her. They descend into the sewers where they find Jesse has become the vampire and they flee

All the while, Giles and Willow have been working out about the Harvest, an event where a vessel will devour the blood that will power the Master's freedom.

Buffy and the others head to the Bronze where the harvest happens. Xander kills Jesse. Willow injures Darla and Buffy kills Luke, thus leaving the Master trapped.

Angel only appears briefly but doesn't really help. He warns her about the Harvest but Giles could probably have found this information in his book. It feels as though he was only in the episode because he had to be.

The direction is good. The final act at the Bronze is nice and moody.

Overall this is a promising episode. Everything is set up and anyone would c

Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1x01: Welcome to the hellmouth

Earlier this year I commented on the fact that it was 20th anniversary of Buffy. Now I am keeping the promise I made back then to look back at the earlier episodes. How does Series 1 hold up after all this time?

The pre-titles sequence sets up the basic premise of Buffy. A man and a woman enter the school. In horror movies the girl would die but in this scenario she turns out to be the vampire and attacks the boy. The female victims are the empowered ones.

After the distinctive title sequence we are introduced to Buffy Summers. It is her first day at Sunnydale High after she was kicked out of her old one in Los Angeles. She meets new friends such as WIllow and Xander and also the adversarial Cordelia. Unfortunately she cannot escape her destiny. The librarian is her new watcher, Rupert Giles. Soon afterward, the body of the man from the pre-titles sequence is found and it becomes clear that Vampires are present.

In the evening, Buffy meets the mysterious Angel and gets a cross. She then goes to the Bronze where Willow is taken by a vampire.

Buffy is a likeable character. At this stage she is trying to move away from her vampire slaying duty but she is not too winy about it. Sarah Michelle Gellar successfully protrays the

Cordelia is the Queen Bee of Sunnydale High. She is unlikeable at this stage but it will be interesting to see where she goes from here.

Willow is shy and a victim.Alsion Hannigan does a good job portraying her.

Xander is outgoing but gawky. Nicholas Brendon does a good job in portraying him.

Jesse appears to be a main character and he is nerdy.

Principle Flutie is amusing and Buffy's mom is alright.

Vampires: The Master, Luke and Darla. The Master seems like a great character with nosferatu style make-up.

The sets are good. Teh graveyard is eerie and the Master's lair is a wonderfully gothic looking place.

Big Finish: The First Doctor Adventures

Looks like the BBC are taking full advantage of David Bradley's time in Cardiff. There will be a series of audios.

Jamie Glover, Jemma Powell and Claudia Grant will also reprise their roles from An Adventure in Space and Time. James Dreyfus has been cast as the Master. I'm not keen on this idea that everyone must meet the Master but it will be interesting to see what has happened.  

Class Cancelled

It was announced that Class will not be getting a second series. This is no surprise. Patrick Ness had announced it was quit and neither Chris Chibnall, nor outgoing showrunner Steven Moffat have said nothing about the show's future.

The show was fairly average. The episodes were released fairly quickly as though BBC3 wanted to get rid of it.A fantasy showset at a school is not a bad idea. Buffy and Smallville did it well enough. But Class was ultimately bland.

This is a shame for Doctor Who, as a spin-off for young adults could have increased the audience of the parent show and kept that age group interested.

Thirty Years of the Seventh Doctor

It is thirty years since Time and the Rani Part 1. It was not a very good introduction. Since Colin Baker had quit he had been forced to wear a wig for the regeneration. The story itself was also a bit of a mess. Fortunately his era gets better. We got stories like Remembrance of the Daleks, Greatest Show in the Galaxy, Ghost Light and Survival. 

RIP Victor Pemberton

And another Doctor Who luminary is lost to us. Victor Pemberton has died at the age of 85.

Victor Pemberton first appeared on screen in The Moonbase as a crewmember infected by the Cybermen's poison. But then he became story editor for The Tomb of the Cybermen. He finally got to write a whole story in Fury from the Deep. He created the Sonic Screwdriver, a device used many times since and passed over to the modern series. In the 1970s, Victor wrote the script for Doctor Who and the Pescatons, a story released on LP with a similar ocean theme.

Sadly I never met the man in person. I remember seeing a 2002 production of Fury in Portsmouth, with Nick Scovell as the Doctor. I' later got to see the recons and enjoyed it. He will be remembered.