"Get the right one in the right 'ole!"

"Get the right one in the right 'ole!"

Lisa roused me yesterday with something I took a few moments to process through the fuzz of a not-so-rude awakening. But as my eyes managed to focus, I was really rather touched by what was being thrust at me...

 The lovely and talented Martin Holmes (currently starring in Episode 20 of 'Round The Archives') had drawn a wonderful piece based on Gerald Scarfe's 'Yes Minister' caricatures, but with Jim, Bernard and Sir Humphrey replaced by two dodgy-looking sorts that seemed strangely familiar.

Watching the show, I always identified with Bernard - hesitant, but trying to do his best - and seeing us depicted in this way was a smashing surprise and made us smile all day. We cannot thank Martin enough for this and still find it very surreal - I'm grinning to myself even as I type this...

He's also provided us with a moody 405-line logo that is worthy of a proper grown-up show and not something daft knocked up on our sofa. We've never thought of 'Round The Archives' as a brand, but maybe we could do some mugs or T-shirts at some stage?

Well, if it works for Clayton Hickman... :-)

So hats off to Martin, demonstrating again his superb flair for all-round artiness. "Wow" is not a word I tend to use very often, but in this case I'll dust it down and give it an airing...

And speaking of dust...

We might not be able to draw, but we have been quite prolific on the video front in the last few days, so in case you're not sleeping at nights, worrying whether you've missed some innovative bit of visual material filmed in our second bedroom here's a quick round-up.

'Dustiny Of The Daleks' sees Lisa getting all dirty, sorting through some of our dustier 'Doctor Who' toys. We've got Daleks with limp plungers and me being unable to remember what a Carrionite was actually called. Though we quite like the idea of a story called 'Dr Who And The Lady Witch'... It has been pointed out that we have got a bit of innuendo going on in this one, but these things sometimes come up quite without prompting...

Next I must deeply apologise for my dreadful Drunken Acting, as I've only had a few ales. offisher (and they were 0.5% anyway). It seemed a good idea at the time, I suppose. This is simply a quick look at 'Fletcher's Book Of Rhyming Slang', a slim volume I never even knew existed until recently. It's a bit of an oddity, but that's not against the law, despite what 'Orrible Ives might say...

Finally, we zoom through 'Some Of Our Signed Doctor Who VHS Covers' which having now discovered some more after stopping recording, might well spawn a sequel. I hadn't realised quite how many we had collected over the years, but I guess no-one could accuse us of neeeding to Get Out More. I wonder how long we must have spent in autograph queues over the years? And to be honest, it was never about the actual autograph - being able to say hello to the people concerned was always much more important.

And for those who care about the numbers, we are proud to announce that our number of subscribers on YouTube has lurched into double figures. Sincere and heartfelt thanks to all 10 of you! :-)

Guess we'll have to keep going!

(By Andrew Trowbridge)