To the Devil a Daughter!

Who’s Who?

Celebrity is a strange business. Look at the career of Billie Piper! One minute she is a crap, though commercially-successful, pop star, the next a much-admired, in some quarters, “Doctor Who” companion. But, in the blink of an eye, she’s moved on to star in prestigious costume dramas. ITV1 is about to launch a new SF series, with the intention of rivalling the adventures of the great Time Lord, called “Primeval”. And, guess what? It stars ex-pop star Hannah Spearritt from cheesy pop combo S Club (7). Coincidence or deliberate strategy? It’s all about a time rift! Now there’s an original idea!! I wonder where we’ve heard that one before?!!

Hannah’s ex-band mate Jo O’Meara has just popped up again on telly. In an even more bizarre twist, she’s appearing alongside eccentric, but wildly-brilliant, film director Ken Russell in “Celebrity Big Brother 5”. You couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried! None of the non-entities knew of him or any of his work. He had Alan Bates and Oliver Reed indulging in a spot of nude wrestling long before Russell T thought it oh-so-modern to have a couple of guys playing tonsil tennis on prime time. I won’t be eulogising over “Bog Bother” as I absolutely abhor the concept and the exceptionally un-divine Davina.

And, while Ms O’Meara wastes her time trying to rekindle her career, I will, at least, be tuning in to Hannah’s drama. There’s the clue... Drama. Let’s have more of it on TV. I’ll, no doubt, post more on “Primeval” later. Meanwhile, which pop stars are likely to appear in a science fiction drama next? It’s only a matter of time. After all, Charlotte Church, Jennifer Ellison and Rachel Stevens, yet another ex-S Clubber (you’ve got to be careful how you say that!), have already been suggested as possible replacements for Billie Piper in “Doctor Who”!! See below to help imagine them in the part!!!

Who Might’ve Been?

a.L.L. T.h.e. s.O.N.g.s. T.h.e.Y. s.A.N.g.

t.A.T.u. live, December 2006

New Year’s Greetings from the Grotto!

It’s been a strange couple of years in fantasy telly land! Mostly, I was disappointed with “Doctor Who”. Last year, it was just great to see it back and seemed like the usual mix of good and bad. I didn’t like the first two stories but enjoyed the Simon Callow episode and so on. As the initial season progressed, the blandness of style just seemed too all pervading but the anticipation had been so strong it took a while before realising that Russell T Davies is no Philip Hinchcliffe. I thought they reintroduced the Daleks in the wrong way, with only a single one, but with the benefit of hindsight “Dalek” is the strongest of the new Dalek episodes. En masse would’ve been better to claim new fans. And I was struck immediately by the quality of the direction in the opening of the Blitz two-parter. I still think “The Empty Child” is the best story from 2005 but I don’t think it’s as good as I initially thought whereas I like “Dalek” more than I did originally.

This year the only stand out story, for me, was “The Impossible Planet” which I wasn’t as struck with at first as after repeated viewing. It was the tiresome opening scene between the Doctor and Rose that threw me on first viewing. I had been optimistic. I thought Tennant would be good. Graeme Harper would be masterminding all the Cybermen episodes and yet I remember mentioning in a post my worry that his style would be homogenised. There are bits here and there. I would add the Queen Victoria episode to the list if it wasn’t for the feeble attempt at humour. I would add “School Reunion” had equal attention been paid to the alien part of the story. The real slump came after “The Satan Pit”. I think Marc Warren is a terrific actor, he’d even possibly make a better Doctor than Tennant (who, in turn, would make a good Adam Adamant) but “L&M” just wasn’t for me and neither was “Fear Her”. The kindest thing I can say about the Olympic fiasco was that the yellowy-orange t-shirt colour suited Billie! And, like the previous year’s two-part finale, I felt the first half was padding, leading the viewer up to the cliff-hanger, and the second carried by spectacle, the very thing the writer of these episodes claimed was less important than the quality of writing.

While “Doctor Who” morphed into an action adventure series, I held out hopes for spin-off “Torchwood”. Same team, same mess. It’s had its good episodes. I enjoyed “Greeks Bearing Gifts”, possibly for the wrong reasons, and “Out of Time” was terrific, definitely for the right reasons! I’ve posted a few rehearsal shots below, showing Burn looking flushed with success, to celebrate its singular quality. But “Countrycide” was appalling and “Combat” even worse. I hope the author of the latter is writing better scripts on alternate Earth! “TW” has been so uneven, it hasn’t helped the viewer delineate who the main characters are meant to be.

“Spooks” was also disappointing this year. Every episode of season five was essentially the same. It was still exciting, better executed than “DW”, but the main guest actor in each story, usually playing the top politician, was always in league with the terrorists! They brought in a new female lead instead of moving Miranda Raison centre stage. Her sense of wonderment in season four, especially when entering Thames House for the first time, was what Billie’s should’ve been on first seeing the inside of the TARDIS. Better guest actors last year too, Martine McCutcheon, Andrew Tiernan, Jeff Rawle - Plantagenet in “Frontios” and who I would cast as the Doctor, Nigel Terry, Douglas Hodge, George Baker, David Burke, Lindsay Duncan. All terrific.

I enjoyed “A for Andromeda” despite its critical mauling. The return of “Cracker” was ok but paled against repeats of the first two seasons on ITV3. Certain repeats have been good. Great to see “The Green Death”, “Spearhead from Space” and “The Ark in Space” on BBC4, even if they weren’t in their original format. “Space: 1999” and “UFO” were on ITV4 and I got to see “Strange Report” for the first time - a little gem. BBC4 ran a series of half-hour documentaries on cult telly including “Adam Adamant Lives!”, “Doomwatch”, “Star Cops”, “Survivors”, “Blake’s 7” and “The Tripods” but only featured whole episodes of the first two! And Christmas telly… well “Dracula” was good but not a patch on the earlier BBC version starring Louis Jourdan. In fact, the best thing about this Christmas was the trailers for “Dracula” which featured David Bowie’s “Warszawa”, from the album “Low”, accompanying the sequence of excerpts. Now that was spooky!

Well, let’s hope for better things in the New Year, which is only hours away. I’m ever optimistic. Sarah Jane kicks things off. Let’s hope they don’t manage to kill her off “properly” and I am looking forward to seeing Miranda Raison in “Doctor Who” though I would’ve chosen MyAnna Buring (Scooti), as the new companion, over Freema Agyeman. Hope you all have a good one and see you on the other side of “The Midnight Hour”…

Here’s looking at you, kid!

Ruby Wednesday!

Here’s a collection of half a dozen screen caps featuring Billie Piper as Sally Lockhart in Philip Pullman’s “The Ruby in the Smoke” which premiered on 27th December on BBC1. It passed without illustration in a previous post so am rectifying that oversight with this small group of stills. Billie looked good in period corsets though I don’t think she was as emotionally stretched as in “Doctor Who”, which is perhaps surprising. There were odd glimpses, too, of a very contemporary smile though it didn’t intrude on her performance. I’m looking forward to seeing her soon as Fanny Price in ITV1’s new adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Mansfield Park”, which also features Douglas Hodge and Maggie O’Neill. I remember Sylvestra Le Touzel in the role, whose first acting job, coincidentally, was in the Patrick Troughton “Doctor Who” story “The Mind Robber”, in the BBC’s version broadcast in 1983. I’m also looking forward to seeing more of Sally Lockhart in “The Shadow in the North”, already in the can for transmission later next year.

As well as her television work, Billie is about to take to the stage, touring the UK with Christopher Hampton’s play “Treats” prior to making her West End debut at the Garrick Theatre towards the end of February. Set in London in 1974, “Treats” examines a love triangle between Ann (Piper), a young professional at a struggling newspaper, her new lover Patrick, who is a colleague from work, and her ex-boyfriend Dave. The play was originally produced at the Royal Court, where it starred Jane Asher, Stephen Moore and James Bolam. On this occasion, the men in Ann’s life are played by Kris Marshall, best known for “My Family” but recently seen on BBC3 as Sarah Smart’s husband in “Funland”, and Laurence Fox, third son of actor James Fox and Kevin Whately’s sidekick DS James Hathaway in the upcoming “Inspector Morse” spin-off series “Lewis”, following a successful pilot. Almost a month before opening in London, there will be an opportunity to see “Treats”, reasonably locally at the Malvern Theatres, during the week beginning Monday 29th January.

For Better or For Worse?

Just when I thought I was safe from the monster that is Jackie Tyler, along comes her replacement! Catherine Tate, as bride-to-be Donna, was best when she was pleasant but I couldn’t bear her voice at the beginning!! Once she started to trust the Doctor, and smiled, it was more watchable than when she was whining. I still don’t like David Tennant’s manic interpretation, though I understand why he portrays the character in this way. It appeals to all those children who consume too many E numbers through drinking too much orange squash!

There were some good shots in “The Runaway Bride”. The water-drenching close-up on Tennant’s transfixed face was straight out of a Ridley Scott movie. The upward-spiralling TARDIS, at the end of the taxi sequence, as well as the children in the back seat of their car, seen but not heard, each mouthing “Jump”, were both entertaining moments. Some have suggested the episode peaked too early at this point. Bouncing along the M4 isn’t typical TARDIS behaviour but it was fun.

I enjoyed the several nods to classic adventures. The robot reveal in the taxi, when the Santa mask came off, was reminiscent of “Terror of the Autons”; showing Donna the origins of the universe was similar to showing Sarah Jane its possible ending in “Pyramids of Mars”; monster in the basement reminded me of “Paradise Towers”; and the genocide of the Racnoss - “Terror of the Vervoids”, the very thing the Doctor was on trial for twenty years ago!

I suppose, for the fans who want to be surprised, although the episode title ruins that possibility, there should’ve been a spoiler alert before the Dalek reveal at the end of the trailer for season three but it’s shown to draw the casual viewer to the programme who might not otherwise bother to tune in. Or put cynically, it’s pandering to a common denominator in the pursuit of ratings over creativity!

Land of the Free!

I’m assuming that this pair of screen caps is from the season three two-part Dalek adventure set in New York, working title “Daleks in Manhattan”, given that the Statue of Liberty is pictured on the monitor behind Martha (Freema Agyeman). I’m also assuming, therefore, that common or garden authenticity isn’t, in any way, important to the Production team. There are two mistakes in the monitor’s caption. There are no motorways in the United States, just freeways and highways! Secondly, across the pond, centre is spelt center!! Surely this is common knowledge? Russell’s forever telling us that “Doctor Who” has to be grounded in reality if we’re to believe the unbelievable! Apart from those glaring errors, however, it’s looking good but then it always does until you hear the scripts!!

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!