Whitechapel

Whitechapel

Yesterday evening we watched the first episode of 'Whitechapel' in preparation for Episode 27 of 'Round The Archives'.

First shown in February 2009 it is quite a recent show for us to be covering.

And it's an interesting series to cover as it is set in the present day, but is obviously influenced by the Jack the Ripper legend and would go on to feature The Kray Twins and in a later series The Ratcliffe Highway Murders.

One thing that I did like is that all of the characters featured have names that are connected in some way to Jack The Ripper.

The most obvious of these is DI Joseph Chandler (as played by Rupert Penry-Jones), as there was an actual Inspector Joseph Chandler, who was the first senior policeman to arrive at the site of Annie Chapman's body. Also the female Pathologist (played by Claire Rushbrook) is Dr Llewellyn, the name of the doctor who examined Mary Ann Nichols' body and was one of the Police Surgeons in the area.

You also have Edward  Buchan (Steve Pemberton) who is a Ripperologist and was the name of a possible suspect at the time. And his character is probably the most fun and interesting to watch as he is an eccentric (he's got a hat!) but knowledgeable person.

Rupert Penry-Jones and Phil Davis are also excellent and rub up against each other very well in the first episode; being a fast-tracked "plastic" policeman and the other an old-school old-fashioned copper (according to the press pack which is still available online as I discovered this afternoon).

There is also a link between this and the 1988 'Jack The Ripper' series as Christopher Fulford stars in both, playing DC Fitzgerald in 'Whitechapel' and Sergeant Brent in 'Jack the Ripper'.

It's a very atmospheric series with nicely shot scenes of the killer in shadow and the camera right in close behind Chandler towards the end of the episode when he is looking around a run down flat.

One thing that annoyed me however was the fast moving shots of London that are shown in between scenes as I find these a little gimmicky and unnecessary.

I am looking forward to watching the rest of the series and to see if I have remembered the ending correctly.

(Written by Lisa Parker)

Spearhead From Space

Spearhead From Space

'Spearhead From Space' is a story that I would have first come to with the Target novelisation and I think the first time I would have seen it would have been the compilation VHS version, released in 1988. It's possible I'd seen an unofficial version before that, but if so, my memory has clearly been wiped. Or possibly swiped.

Watching this opening edition, it's remarkable how little we see of Jon Pertwee with even members of the supporting cast such as Talfryn Thomas getting more lines. But at least the Doctor has better hair than Mullins's optimistic comb-over.

If you list the number of things that have changed since the previous episode, you can make the case that 'Spearhead' racks up more innovations than 'The Power Of The Daleks', even if not all of them were planned. We are so used to the transmitted all-film production, that one rarely stops to consider what it would have looked like it if had followed the studio / film mix of the rest of the Pertwee era.

Hugh Burden gets precisely no lines at all, but still makes an instant impression. But that's the skill of this talnted actor shining through and the more people that discover him in 'The Mind Of Mr J G Reeder', the better.

The Brig and UNIT are supposedly here to smooth over the transition from the previous decade, but if new viewers come on board at this point, all this talk of the past is of little help, thus putting Liz into the role of the identification character. And her dismissive talk of 'invisible ink' brings a bit of useful cynicism to the table.

Also worth a mention is the sheer matter-of-factness in the opening scene with Tessa Shaw's UNIT Officer. At no point does Ellis Jones give even a hint that his superior being a woman is unusual and it's a shame we never see her again. This is so far away from some of the nonsense that Zoe has to put up with in 'The Invasion', it's a wonder people don't comment on it more.

And, of course, another innovation occurs with the first of a long line of Pertwee era Comedy Yokels in the form of seedy Sam Seeley. We note that he's clearly been told it's going to be in colour as he's brought along his best neckware in a shade of red that sears itself into the memory more than anything else.

Maybe Doctor Who should have nicked that in Episode Two and combined it with that flat cap he so hastily discards?

No, maybe not...

Our video about 'Spearhead From Space' can be seen here.

(Written by Andrew Trowbridge)

The Power Of The Power Of The Daleks

The Power Of The Power Of The Daleks

With 'The Power Of The Daleks' it's interesting what doesn't change from previous stories with the title sequence and theme arrangement all present and correct. But everyone's much more concerned about whether they can pull off this audacious change of lead actor to worry about the more cosmetic details. There will be time (and the money) to do that sort of stuff in a few months...

Ben is very much in denial (other rivers are available), even though (as far as we can tell from the surviving material) he must have just seen the Doctor change before his very eyes.

Note how a relatively new production team goes back to the early days by recruiting both David Whitaker and Christopher Barry (plus a dash of Dennis Spooner) as they helped establish Hartnell, so hopefully they have some idea of what to do with the new chap. Even Sydney Newman has a few words of advice, mostly involving the phrase 'Cosmic Hobo'.

But how much of this is careful planning and how much is closer to headless chicken time is difficult to determine, unless footage of the readthrough turns up. Which probably ain't gonna happen, if we're being honest.

The draft scripts are a fascinating insight into what might have been, with the strong suggestion that the Doctor has gone through this process at least once before. And that stuff about the 'galactic war' rings a few bells in hindsight.

I remember getting very excited about the telesnaps from Episode One when I tunred the fiinal few pages of 'Doctor Who - The Early Years' and for a few mad moments, I was convinved that someone had found a 16mm film copy.

Sadly, that's never come true, but 'The Power Of The Daleks' keeps on coming around in different versions every now and then with the recent animation helping me get a better feel for the story as a whole.

It's still difficult to imagine what it must have been like to watch on Bonfire Night 1966. Audience Reports are all very well, but how many people were appalled, or indifferent, or wildly excited? Did a whole generation of kids subconsciously associate Patrick Troughton with fireworks? Was there an upswing in interest in playing the recorder at school?

There's so much about 'The Power Of The Daleks' that we don't know. Even if the whole thing turned up tomorrow, we wouldn't really know what it was like to be there at the time.

'Doctor Who' likes to be mysterious in more ways than one.

And actually, I quite like that.

Our video about 'The Power Of The Daleks' can be seen here.

(Written by Andrew Trowbridge)

Wedding Bells

Wedding Bells

We recently acquired a copy of the 1976 Granada Publishing book of 'Are You Being Served?' which is based around adaptations of seven scripts from the first three seasons in a fairly random order.

The brief CV at the front for Jeremy Lloyd is interesting for its apparent claim that the full title of 'Whodunnit?' is actually 'The Thames Television Popular Whodunnit Detective Show' which probaby wouldn't have fitted on most televisions of the time and would have required Jon Pertwee to contort his body making all sorts of letter shapes at the end instead of his more usual impression of a W.

The cover is of the main cast, of course, with Mrs Slocombe in grey/blue hair and holding aloft a pair of drawers with the instruction 'No Parking' on them, which means we can identify it as being associated with the episode 'Wedding Bells', which we just happened to watch last night.

In the same way that we've talked about the slight differences between 'Dad's Army' scripts and the broadcast episodes, it's interesting to compare the version of 'Wedding Bells' in the book with the one on our DVD set.

The printed one pushes Mr Humphries' anecdote about dressing up as the Red Shadow for the fancy-dress party to the opening scene, but he thankfully the outcome is not altered and he still got time to share a sherry with the friendly policeman who is keen to demonstrate his handcuffs.

Mrs Slocombe's friend, Mrs Axelby, seems to have dropped a few letters along the way and is now referred to as Mrs Axby, which is far too close to 'Mrs Axon' for those of us who would be reading 'Doctor Who And The Claws Of Axos' a year or two later.

The naughty knickers still have the same slogans printed on them, though I do wonder if 'Hello Cheeky' is meant to make the viewers at home think of Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Junkin and Barry Cryer on the radio.

John Clegg's battle with the tight sweater starts the same, but when he is offered the larger size it's a 46 rather than the televised 48. Perhaps they really do shrink after the first wash?

Also, when he exits, the price tag for the sweater is stuck on the back of his very expensive, undetectable hairpiece, which may indicate some material that was lost in the final edit.

When exchanging harsh words with Mrs Slocombe, Mr Grainger "swelled up like an old bull frog" which again makes me think of 'The Claws Of Axos'.

We retain the reference to Old Mr Grace, though he still doesn't get about much these days, but there is little attempt to describe the multi-coloured hairdo Mrs Slocombe is sporting after she has been lacquered solid.

It's an amusing enough work and there's even a sly bit of product placement in the adaptation of 'Camping In' when Mr Lucas mentions the book 'The Sensuous Woman'.

If you turn to the last page, this features twice in the list of other titles that are available, sandwiched between first 'Norma Jean (Illustrated)' and 'Surface!' then again between 'The Great Beast' and 'The Occult' and a snip at 50p.

Three mentions in one book? Looks like someone was on a better commission than the staff of Grace Brothers...

Our video about 'Wedding Bells' can be seen here.

(Written by Andrew Trowbridge)

The Goodies On DVD

The Goodies On DVD

With Episode 26 of 'Round The Archives' now released into the wild, I opened up an Audacity project for Episode 27 and it didn't take long before some 45 minutes of new material was sitting on the timeline, thanks to a couple of pieces from some familiar names.

One of whom, incidentally, pointed out that our article of 'The Rivals Of Sherlock Holmes : The Case Of The Dixon Torpedo' seemed to be peppered with a large portion of innuendo, but personally I can't see anything wrong with the following...

"He's looking at a bloke who's got his torpedo out. He takes this weapon or whatever it is and he places it in the water. It's a decent size, and then it starts moving on its own."

Maybe we've been watching  too much 'Are You Being Served?', but we're only doing it once a week, which is surely not excessive?

But as the long-awaited Network release of 'The Goodies' arrived recently, we have had once-a-night sessions of the Boys From Cricklewood, with 'Give Police A Chance' accompanying our post-9pm cup of tea last night.

I've discussed the first episode on this blog already, so if you want to refresh your memory of that, head over here and then come back...

OK?

Good.

Of course, getting the complete run of BBC episodes is exciting enough, but the real icing on the cake has to be the two books by Andrew Pixley, which have barely left my side all week.

We had treated ourselves to his 'Super Chaps Three' and it was everything we could have hoped for, but these new works solve the slight problem of it being too large to easily hold in your hand.

They still run to over 850 pages, but splitting all this wonderful information into 'The Goodies' Book Of Criminal Recordings' and 'The Goodies DVD File' means it's all easier to navigate.

One thing that impresses me is the assumption that these books will be read in a hundred years time or more as an accompaniment to the actual episodes, so at no point is it taken for granted that the reader knows all the references to other shows and TV personalities.

Even now, some of the more obscure lines or jokes can easily draw blank looks ("That will do, Maynard!" being a nod to 'The Simon Dee Show'). In the same way that good editions of Dickens have copious notes at the back, a quick explanation of Tony Blackburn or Tommy Cooper will probably be needed in a generation or two.

It's something we've become aware of as our audience has grown beyond our immediate circle of friends. There's a fine line to walk between boring people who know far more than we do and explaining a series adequately to someone who has never heard of it.

But as always, Andrew Pixley's example is on hand to Show Me The Way!

(Written by Andrew Trowbridge)

An Unearthly Child

An Unearthly Child

As there are now under two weeks to go until the 13th Doctor makes her debut we thought we'd take a look at the introductory episode of each of the Classic Series Doctors.

So the logical place to start is with 'An Unearthly Child', which of course features not only the debut of William Hartnell but indeed the first appearance of the Doctor (or Dr Who / Doctor Who) himself.

And what an entrance he makes, and no I'm not just talking about Hartnell's off-screen coughing fit but the impact the episode makes as a whole.

Firstly we get the superb Delia Derbyshire theme arrangement and the original and highly innovative title sequence.

I really love the 'Doctor Who' theme music in all its different variations. And what a theme tune; nothing like it had been heard on television before and the skill and hard work of Delia and the Radiophonic Workshop cannot be praised enough.

It still sends shivers down my spine and brings me so much happiness. I associate it with exciting adventures that I always really enjoy.

The fact that this is a remount means that everyone has had the chance to try out their characters and make changes if necessary.

And I'm very glad that the Doctor has been softened quite a lot from the pilot as even though he is obstructive and rude you can see the start of the Doctor we will come to love.

William Hartnell plays the character very well and it is a joy to see him soften the character as he goes along, becoming the Grandfather figure we all adore.

William Russell is on top form as Ian Chesterton, and he is playing it very like Sir Lancelot, a part he had played a few years before. And while by no means being the hunk originally intended, he is a reassuring presence for the audience at home.

Jacqueline Hill as Barbara is a wonderful character and holds the Doctor to account on many occasions. Admittedly she has her moments of being the damsel in distress but on the whole is one of the first strong female characters to feature in the series.

Ian and Barbara are our way in the world of the Doctor and the adventures that follow, in the same way that I hope that Mandip Gill, Tosin Cole and Bradley Walsh will introduce us to the new Doctor.

And then. of course. we have the other-worldly Susan, played by Carole Ann Ford. She is an interesting character and is still quite independent at this point, not yet becoming the screaming young girl who falls over the smallest bump.

For this first episode we mostly feature the regular crew apart from a few non-speaking extras such as the Kenneth Williams-like schoolboy and Reg Cranfield's policeman who makes you think of 'Z Cars' or 'Dixon Of Dock Green'. When watching 'Doctor Who' it is always interesting to see what else was on at the time, and how different 'Doctor Who' was to the rest of what was on offer.

Although the appearance of the Daleks in a few weeks time is credited with the show's success, this first episode cannot be overlooked in making the 4.4 million people watching (and the many more who saw the repeat the following week) come back for more.

We'll be taking a look at Patrick Troughton's first episode 'The Power Of The Daleks' later in the week and the wonderful idea of regeneration that has allowed 'Doctor Who' to continue for almost 55 years.

Our video about 'An Unearthly Child' can be seen here.

(Written by Lisa Parker)

Episode 26 now available

Episode 26 now available

Episode 26 of 'Round The Archives' sees us return to the world of 'Jack The Ripper', this time concentrating on the 1988 version starring Michael Caine with a brief look at the surviving material from the original production that would have starred Barry Foster.

We then motor on to get involved in the 'Wacky Races' as Dick Dastardly and his side-kick Muttley get up to all sorts of dirty cartoon tricks, but still fail to pass the finishing line first.

Martin springs into orbit to investigate crime in space as he takes a look at 'An Instinct For Murder', the first episode of 'Star Cops' from 1987.

To round off we meet one of 'The Rivals Of Sherlock Holmes' as Jonathan Pryde tackles 'The Case Of The Dixon Torpedo' from 1971.

Episode 26 of 'Round The Archives' can be heard here.

(Written by Andrew Trowbridge)
('Round The Archives' artwork by Martin Holmes)

The Rivals Of Sherlock Holmes

The Rivals Of Sherlock Holmes

Yesterday with Warren we watched 'The Rivals Of Sherlock Holmes' episode 'The Case of the Dixon Torpedo' featuring the late Jacqueline Pearce.

To hear our views on that one you'll have to listen to Episode 26 of 'Round The Archives', but we were long overdue to take a look at the series.

There are so many great episodes of 'Rivals' that it's hard to know where to start. In Series One, for example, you have Donald Pleasence as Carnacki in 'The Horse Of The Invisible' which is a wonderful story and has to be seen to be believed.

You also have 'The Missing Witness Sensation' which stars the wonderful Robert Stephens as Max Carrados and he is just brilliant. I really wish that they had made a series with the character as there is a lot of potential.

Peter Vaughan also stars in two Series One episodes, 'The Affair Of The Avalanche Bicycle And Tyre Co Ltd' and 'The Case Of The Mirror Of Portugal' as Horace Dorrington, a less than honest Enquiry Agent and the first story is certainly quite dark in places with more than a hint of Grouty from 'Porridge' on show.

In 'The Duchess Of Wiltshire's Diamonds' Simon Carne is played by Roy Dotrice and his daughter Michele features in 'The Horse Of The Invisible'.

And overacting each other madly are Donald Sinden and Michael Bates in 'The Assyrian Rejuvenator' which also stars Alethea Charlton and Frank Williams.

In Series Two Sherlock Holmes actor Douglas Wilmer plays Professor Van Dusen in two episodes 'Cell 13' (which also stars the wonderful Clifford Rose and Nicholas Courtney) and 'The Superfluous Finger' which boasts the always marvellous William Mervyn.

Although Series Two is perhaps not as consistantly good as Series One, it does feature 'The Missing QCs'  which cannot be easily described and I urge you to watch it. Featuring Robin Ellis, John Phillips, John Barron and Jack May (who are both very fruity) the episode features a couple of extraordinary scenes.

There are many wonderful actors in both series such as Derek Jacobi, John Thaw, Ronald Fraser, Peter Barkworth, Ronald Hines, Bernard Hepton, Robert Lang, Richard Hurndall and the always wonderful Windsor Davies. Unusually for the 1970s, there are even a few episodes featuring female investigators, such as Elvi Hale in 'The Woman In The Big Hat', Judy Geeson in 'The Mysterious Death On The Underground Railway' and Sara Kestleman as Hagar in 'The Mystery Of The Amber Beads'.

I only wish that we had seen more of Carnacki, Horace Dorrington, Jonathan Pryde, Martin Hewitt, Simon Carne or Professor Van Dusen as each of these characters  could have carried their own series.
Or pehaps a modern remake...

Now who would I cast as Carnacki?

'The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes' is available on DVD from Network.

(Written by Lisa Parker)