Visit the official Doctor Who website

Visit the official Doctor Who website
Look to the future

Asylum seekers...

Asylum seekers...
Refuge of the Daleks

Doctor Who picture resource

Doctor Who picture resource
Roam the space lanes!

Explore the Doctor Who classic series website

Explore the Doctor Who classic series website
Step back in time

Infiltrate The Hub of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood

Infiltrate The Hub of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood
Armed and extremely dangerous

Investigate The Sarah Jane Adventures

Investigate The Sarah Jane Adventures
Fearless in the face of adversity

Call on Dani’s House

Call on Dani’s House
Harmer’s a charmer

Intercept the UFO fabsite

Intercept the UFO fabsite
Defending the Earth against alien invaders!

Uncover the secrets of the Dollhouse

Uncover the secrets of the Dollhouse
Programmable agent Echo exposed!

Hell’s belles

Hell’s belles
Naughty but nice

Love Exposure

Love Exposure
Flash photography!

Primeval portal

Primeval portal
Dressed to kill or damsels in distress?

Charmed, to be sure!

Charmed, to be sure!
The witches of San Francisco

Take on t.A.T.u.

Take on t.A.T.u.
All the way from Moscow

Proceed to the Luther website

Proceed to the Luther website
John and Jenny discuss their next move

DCI Banks is on the case

DCI Banks is on the case
You can bet on it!

On The Grid with Spooks

On The Grid with Spooks
Secret agents of Section D

Bridge to Hustle

Bridge to Hustle
Shady characters

Life on Ashes To Ashes

Life on Ashes To Ashes
Coppers with a chequered past

Claire’s no Exile

Claire’s no Exile
Goose steps

Vexed is back on the beat!

Vexed is back on the beat!
Mismatched DI Armstrong and bright fast-tracker Georgina Dixon

Medium, both super and natural

Medium, both super and natural
Open the door to your dreams

Who’s that girl? (350-picture Slideshow)

Thursday 19 April 2007

My Name is Tallulah



Guest-starring in this Saturday’s episode of “Doctor Who”, “Daleks in Manhattan”, starting at the earlier time of 6:35pm, is “Spooks” actress Miranda Raison as showgirl Tallulah. At school, I was always taught to read around a subject. Don’t just read the set book, for example, but try a couple of others by the same author to see if he/she always wrote in the same style using similar themes, that kind of thing! Find out who influenced the writer in question and what other interests occupied their daily lives, together with the historical context in which the work was written.

So, being ever-informative (!), I thought I’d post this clip of a young Jodie Foster from the 1976 film “Bugsy Malone”, the first of five musicals directed by Alan Parker. Tallulah’s name, and character, in the upcoming Dalek two-parter were inspired by Jodie’s performance as her namesake in Parker’s film, in which all the parts are played by children. They play gangsters but instead of carrying weapons firing real bullets they use “splurge guns” that cover the victim in cream! The story details the rise of “Bugsy Malone”, played by Scott Baio, and the battle for power between “Fat Sam”, John Cassisi, and “Dandy Dan”, Martin Lev.

How much of the actual plot, of “Bugsy Malone”, carries over into the “Doctor Who” story remains to be seen but if “Daleks in Manhattan” is as much fun to watch as the thirty-year-old movie then we’re all in for a real treat. And, forget Daleks like you’ve never seen them before, prepare yourselves for the shock of hearing MI5 agent Jo Portman with a Brooklyn accent! It gives a whole new meaning to speakeasy!!

2 comments:

Steve said...

I loved Bugsy Malone as a kid - and now as an adult there is something ineffably appealing about the idea of associating Jodie Foster with a splurge gun... or is that just me?

Andrew Glazebrook said...

I love Busgsy Malone, saw on stage up here about 5 months ago. Good fun !! I'm a fan of Paul Williams's musicals,he wrote and starred in Phantom of Paradise and wrote such Muppet classics as The Rainbow Connection, his Bugsy Malone score is great too. I loved that tribute to it in the Episode of Spaced where it was Daisy's Birthday and they all start fighting with the cake at the restaurant and they have the bit where the piano starts up like at the end of Bugsy !