Hug a Whoodie!

“Blood of the Daleks”, the opening two-part story of the new BBC7 eight-episode radio season of “Doctor Who”, begins a lot like “The Runaway Bride”. As Catherine Tate’s Donna in the television special, so too new companion Lucie Miller, played with such spark by “Two Pints” actress Sheridan Smith, when she finds herself foisted upon the Doctor. She’d rather be anywhere than on board the TARDIS with this “frock-coated ponce”! The similarity continues up to the point where the Doctor immediately tries to return his unwanted guest back from whence she came!! But that’s about all these two adventures have in common. “Blood” feels like good old-fashioned “Doctor Who”, despite being audio only and in the double-length format. It also boasts a traditional cliff-hanger, at the end of episode one, with Paul McGann’s passionate eighth Doctor in peril of extermination. The story has been likened to “Genesis of the Daleks” in that we witness the birth of a new breed of Daleks, here from the remnants of a crashed Dalek spaceship, at the hands of a wannabe Davros. But, I think “Blood of the Daleks” owes more to “Revelation of the Daleks” with its warring Dalek factions, farming of humans, and incubation chambers. Even the incidental music reminds me of the Colin Baker serial.

I love it! Steve Lyons script is happy to draw on the best of all worlds, name checking the Mechonoids, from “The Planet of Decision”, the last episode of “The Chase”, as well as the Movellans, from “Destiny of the Daleks”, but avoiding the mention of Davros actually by name though referencing new series’ episode “Dalek” at the moment of flight. There’s even a nod to “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” with Kenneth Cranham’s character Tom Cardwell’s explosive batteries reminiscent of Dortmun’s homemade bombs in the Hartnell serial. The second episode is bursting at the seams with all manner of Dalek voices. Nick Briggs is in his element when barking “Dok-tor” at regular intervals and “E-le-vate” at the requisite moment. When the Skaro originals turn up and start ranting about ethnic cleansing, again reminding me of Davros in “Revelation”, these monsters scare the hell out of me. All they did on telly last year was pop up for a bit-of-a-bitch with the Cybermen, fly a bit, and then disappear down the proverbial plughole! And well before the end of the story. Here they are still going strong right up to the climax, leading into the first single-episode story “Horror of Glam Rock”, bizarrely featuring a race called the Only Ones (name of a Seventies’ punk band!), which sounds equally intriguing…

Reasons to be Cheerful...

Not one, not two but three actresses all with one thing in common. Yes, they’re all about to appear in “Doctor Who” for the first time but, more particularly, they’re also all about to do battle with the Daleks. At the top is Sheridan Smith who must be so drunk by now, after all those pints, that I don’t think she’ll even be able to see those mutants from Skaro. We won’t either. She’ll join eighth Doctor Paul McGann as his new companion Lucie Miller from New Year’s Eve on BBC Radio 7 in the first of a two-part story, “Blood of the Daleks”. The narrative follows on from the 1996 TV movie rather than the previous Big Finish audios and is written by Steve Lyons. The new episodes are being released on CD one a month, from round about now, and this first story also features “Hellraiser” Ken Cranham, fresh from his appearance in the unsatisfying “Doc Martin” Christmas Special, and Queen guitarist Brian May’s other half, ex-“EastEnder” Anita Dobson.

In the middle is Freema Agyeman, in a screen cap taken from the Season Three teaser at the end of “The Runaway Bride”. She has three episodes to settle in, as tenth Doctor David Tennant’s new companion Martha Jones, before coming face-to-face with the metal meanies. This means only four episodes separate the Daleks next appearance, in another two-part story, from their previous one in “Doomsday”, which fleetingly saw the Black Dalek escape. Their return, however welcome, strikes me as somewhat hasty. It smacks a little of must have the new girl meet the old baddies as soon as feasibly possible! Before then, the time travellers will face the dreaded Sontaran look-alikes the Judoon in opening episode “Smith and Jones”, battle fearsome flying witches in “The Shakespeare Code”, and in a return to New Earth, in the third as yet untitled episode, encounter the Face of Boe for the third and final time, assuming he’s a man of his word!!

Appearing with David and Freema, in the fourth story of the third season of new “Doctor Who”, is “Spooks” actress Miranda Raison, pictured above as Jo Portman in a screen cap taken from episode five of the recently transmitted fifth season (the story which saw the emotional departure of Ruth Evershed). I love the way Miranda’s character was introduced last year, it was like a breath of fresh air, but have been disappointed in how Jo hasn’t really developed in the latest series. She seems to be in the show, almost solely, to provide backup and make up the numbers. I do hope the lack of good writing for her in this year’s “Spooks”, coupled with her up-coming appearance in “Doctor Who”, doesn’t mean we’ve seen the last of her in the spy drama. However, Miranda is playing a New York showgirl in her “Who” adventure, set in the 1930s, and I have to admit to being quietly chuffed, as I bet she is, that her appearance in the programme coincides with the inevitable return of the exterminators!

Miller’s Tales!

Just for a brief moment last week, I actually found myself feeling excited again on hearing news pertaining to the “Doctor Who” universe. It was the announcement of eight brand new audio episodes, a season if you will, featuring the return of Eighth Doctor Paul McGann to BBC7, from New Year’s Eve, in a run of six stories. Produced by Big Finish, they have adopted the double length episode format of the recent TV revival and the mix of two part and single episode stories, so beloved across the Atlantic, that we have embraced here in order to conform and thus compete in the marketplace. The two two-parters open and close the season, the first featuring the Daleks, the latter the Cybermen.

It’s interesting to mull over the story titles. My favourite has to be Paul Magrs “Horror of Glam Rock”! Nice play on “Fang Rock” and certainly brought a smile to my face. I wonder if it’s about Gary Glitter? Anyway, that one follows the opening story “Blood of the Daleks” by Steve Lyons. Two stories (three episodes) have been written by Eddie Robson, the closing Cybermen tale “Human Resources” and “Phobos”, fourth in the sequence, presumably set on, or about, the larger and closest of the two satellites orbiting the planet Mars. The title of the preceding story, “Immortal Beloved” by Jonathan Clements, is intriguing. This was also the name of a film about a letter written by Beethoven to an unknown lover, starring Gary Oldman. So, I’m wondering if my wish, mentioned a couple of posts ago, that the Doctor should encounter a famous composer, is about to come true?! The penultimate story of the second McGann radio season of “Doctor Who” is “No More Lies” by Paul Sutton. I wonder if he’s related to Sarah?!!

As well as an impressive guest cast, joining the Doctor on this two-month aural extravaganza, just after Christmas, is new companion Lucie Miller. After two days of auditions, Sheridan Smith was chosen to replace India Fisher’s outgoing companion Charley Pollard from last year’s debut season. Following Doctor John Smith, Sarah Jane Smith, and Mickey Smith, does this mean we’ll finally have a real Smith aboard the TARDIS? Sheridan will be a familiar face to anyone who has ever switched on BBC THREE! She has played the part of Janet for well over fifty episodes in six seasons of sitcom “Two Pints of Lager & a Packet of Crisps” and, more recently, led the cast of similar sitcom “Grownups”, as Michelle, from the same writer and production team. I’m nothing, if not curious, as to how this pairing will turn out!