“Gridlock” sees the Doctor return to New Earth this Saturday, grid reference “slap bang in the middle of New New York”, at the later time of 7:40pm, unless he stops off to watch the beautiful game, in which case the TARDIS is going to arrive a week late. Let’s hope the Face of Boe doesn’t mind being kept waiting. One thing’s for sure, any postponement will play havoc with the “Radio Times” impending Dalek cover. It might even mean a second issue of the “Doctor Who Magazine” being delayed a week, in order to avoid any premature revelations!
The episode itself looks promising. Or rather, the imagery does. David Tennant has referenced Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner” but, from what I’ve seen, it looks more like Luc Besson’s “The Fifth Element”. Both films, though, owe much to Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis”. The Doctor’s coat does look a bit Harrison Ford, which is preferable to Bruce Willis, while the vehicles seem to belong more to the French director’s effort. No sign of this blog’s resident eye Milla Jovovich dropping in, however! I have to admit disappointment that no one has ever enquired about the evil one!!
Ardal O’Hanlon is the main attraction, this week, appearing as cat man Thomas Kincade Brannigan. It’s preferable that he’s best known for playing Father Dougal McGuire in “Father Ted” rather than George Sunday, aka Thermoman, in “My Hero”! My personal preference, though, is for his portrayal of Eamon Donaghy in the excellent first series of ITV1’s “Big Bad World”. The second series wasn’t bad, exactly, just didn’t live up to expectation. And, scoring his hat trick, football permitting, Struan Rodger reprises his role as the Face…
