Upcoming Treasure

Upcoming Treasure

We bought some new batteries last night, just in case the audio recorder needed a top-up, but it seems to have survived a fairly long session this afternoon and all the files have now been copied across to the laptop.

As planned, Warren arrived soon after lunch and we settled down to watch Episode 9 of Season 4 of 'Treasure Hunt' which saw the show visit some locations very familiar to some of the 'Round The Archives' team.

There is much talk of Dorset Knobs, which our dirty minds could hardly ignore, but all in all, I don't think it's turned out too shabby. Except for one bit, which was intentionally so, but you'll have to wait for the episode to be released before it becomes obvious what that is a reference to...

Having a bit of local knowledge gave us a different perspective on this edition of 'Treasure Hunt' and we are already toying with the idea of doing a follow-up article about the one when they visit the Isle Of Wight as we're always partial to a bit of Shanklin.

Then we turned our attention to Series One of 'Whitechapel' with our trusty Police Advisor shining a light on the way television portrays the detail of procedure, and how the reality has to be compromised for the sake of drama.

A very rough assemble edit (literally copying and pasting the files onto the timeline without links or music) gives us a rough final running time of 2 hours again, which at least proves that we are consistent.

Episode 27 will have four articles, with two from guest writers, both of whom you should know from their previous work.

Warren has already asked what Episode 28 might contain, but that is still pretty vague.

After all, we've got to have some secrets!

(Written by Andrew Trowbridge)

Happy Birthday Blue Peter

Happy Birthday Blue Peter

Proving once again that time is an illusion, we celebrated 'Blue Peter's 60th birthday by digging out the book published for its 50th anniversary...

Our video, which can be seen here, concentrates on a small section towards the end of Richard Marson's fabulous book, which lists some of the famous faces who have appeared on the show over the years, including Jon Pertwee, Arthur Lowe, Kenneth Williams and 'The Goodies'.

In other news, we're aiming to do some more recording for Episode 27 of 'Round The Archives' at the weekend, having planned a full afternoon with Warren. We've already watched all the material we want to talk about, although we'll doubtless have a bit of a refresher on at least one of them, which has quite a local theme...

Martin has also been very busy in the last week or so, supplying all manner of goodies. We'll keep some of it under wraps for the moment, but we were very impressed with the end results of a little idea he had to attempt a version of the Target book cover for 'Doctor Who And The Ice Warriors'.
We trotted upstairs and gave our best impressions of Victoria and Bernard Bresslaw (we didn't try and be too innovtive by gender-swapping the roles, at least this time around), sent the picture back to Martin and sat back to await the results.

And once again our unpaid Art Department came up with something that made us grin for the rest of the day.

So here it is... 'Round The Archives And The Podcast Of Amiable Chat'...

And we hope to live up to that title again at the weekend!

(Written by Andrew Trowbridge)

New Look

New Look

I do wonder how much of a strain it was making Season Three of 'Are You Being Served?'.

With more episodes to cram in, by the time you get to 'New Look', it does feel more like a series of short sketches, rather than anything approaching a fully-formed plot.

You've got a mish-mash of ideas here, as Mister Mash has a fountain (that makes everyone want to spend a penny) and an accidentally rude display for Camishirts to play with.

Mr Humphries is going to be Best Man at his friend's wedding, but that doesn't really go anywhere and instead we veer off into a sequence with the Suggestion Box, that is home to a bus ticket and yet more remains of Mr Grainger's collection of randomly-located pork pies.

We then go up another dead end with the idea of recording announcements to play in-store which never really pays off, either. Though it did raise the mildly interesting question of what the recording order was for the second half of the season, as Miss Thorpe in introduced as being new, despite having already appeared twice before, in 'German Week' and 'Shoulder To Shoulder'.

And, for no readily apparent reason, we then have a short dance routine for John Inman and Young Mr Grace gets to do that thing where you wave your hands in front of your kneecaps as it looks a bit silly.

And in a shocking conclusion to the series, betraying everything that has gone before, the end credits are done on a roller as seemingly no-one has had time to do a camera script fot the individual 'You Have Been Watching' shots.

I just get the slight feeling that there was at air of panic about this one, with everyone hoping for a bit of time to catch their breath before they break some new ground with the first ever Christmas Special...

Our video about 'New Look' can be seen here.

(Written by Andrew Trowbridge)

Looking For Peter

Looking For Peter

Dalekmania is a well-documented phenomenon, but the lesser aliens of 1964 come nowhere near this level of interest, with Voord-ambivalence giving way to Sensorite-indifference.

From my point of view, the main selling point of the DVD release of 'The Sensorites' is the charming extra 'Looking For Peter' which attempts to cast some light on the enigmatic writer Peter R Newman.
Toby Hadoke takes up the challenge and wastes no time demonstrating one of those universal truths. Namely, never believe anything on the internet, which in Peter's case claims that he died in both 1969 and 1975.

Phone calls to Rob Shearman and 'Doctor Who Magazine' don't make much headway, but a meeting with Richard Bignell at Alexandra Palace holds a bit more promise and the pair head off to Westminster Register Office to search through the files of death certificates.

The way these type of documentaries are shot always amuse me, as I tend to overthink things. Producer /director Chris Chapman does a fine job, of course, though one shot seems to imply he's been locked in the vault all night as the camera rushes eagerly towards the door when it is opened.

The certificate confirms the 1975 date as being the correct one and it seems that Ilford in Essex is the place to continue the investigation. Interestingly, the name of one of Peter's brothers is revealed to be Francis Sydney Newman, the latter two names being rather familiar to people working on early 'Doctor Who'.

Toby then takes a trip to Shepperton Studios, exploring such locations as Peter Sellers Way (no relation to Eileen Way) and meets up with Marcus Hearn to discuss Peter's film for Hammer, 'Yesterday's Enemy'.

Some time later, Richard has completed his digging with Peter's birth certificate providing more clues that have enabled him to compile a complete list of brothers and sisters.

It's at this point that I'm going to get even more vague, as the story takes on a more personal element, but suffice it to say that all this activity is not in vain.

What started out as an intellectual exercise suddenly becomes part of the real world and ends on a very thoughtful note.

'The Sensorites' may not be a particularly brilliant story, but these sort of pieces remind us that every name that comes up on the credits is that of an actual person, whose work on 'Doctor Who' was only a very small part of much fuller lives.

'Looking For Peter' is one of the gems of the DVD extra range, so a sincere round of applause for everyone involved.

(Written by Andrew Trowbridge)

Strange New Worlds

Strange New Worlds

OK, so it's not exactly a hard and fast rule, but it's interesting how many times the second story for a new Doctor takes us on a journey to a spaceship, a new planet or both.

There are obvious reasons for this, as the viewers identify with companions such as Ian & Barbara, or Harry, or Rose as they are shown the first hint of how far-ranging the series can be in its storytelling.

There's a deliberate Hartnell vibe about the 2018 stories so far, from the way the title sequence starts with a swirl of light in the centre of the screen, to three companions being transported to a planet with a very literal name.

Several people have already noted how 'The Ghost Monument' seems to have been partly inspired by, of all things, 'The Keys Of Marinus', with Art Malik taking the place of George Coulouris, a sea of death and some robot soldiery things. Whether Shaun Dooley and Susan Lynch have much in common with Altos and Sabetha is up for debate, though. Shaun Dooley's not showing his legs off as much as Robin Phillips, for one thing. ..

Even the final shot of the TARDIS (out of play for most of the story) leaving the planet for new adventures is suspiciously familiar. It's not actually in 'The Keys Of Marinus', I know, but as a bonus, the Custard Cream Dispenser must surely have come from the same manufacturer as the David Whitaker's beloved Food Machine.

We really, really hope that the custard creams come in all possible flavours, including the taste of eggs and bacon.

And if anyone complains that their bacon is soo salty, the obvious retort has to be that it shouldn't be, it's from Sheffield!

Our video about 'The Ghost Monument' can be seen here.

(Written by Andrew Trowbridge)

Music, music, music.

Music, music, music.

So it's Week Two of 'Doctor Who' and we get both the opening and closing titles for 'The Ghost Monument'.

And they are wonderful. The mix of the opening howl(a)round title sequence and the accompanying electronic theme tune are a refreshing change.

Segun Akinola brings a different feel to the series; his music is more in the background and almost veers towards sound effects at some points.

I look forward to seeing (or hearing) where he will take the incidental music next. I really like what he's doing and hope that there will be be a CD release very soon.

Having said that, I still really love Murray Gold's 'Doctor Who' music and quite often listen to it on the way to work.

'I Am The Doctor' is my favourite piece of his and I will often listen to it to cheer myself up if I feel a bit sad. It never fails to lift my mood. It reminds me of going to the 'Doctor Who' Experience in both London and Cardiff with Andrew & Warren and having a great time.

'Song Of Freedom' isn't far behind and I will admit to getting a little emotional whilst listening to it even when at the 2010 proms at the Albert Hall.

But there are many pieces that I love that bring back happy memories of watching 'Doctor Who' with friends and family.

I know that a lot of Murray's music is perceived as too bombastic and over the top, but I really love it as it's the kind of music I could listen to all day. It might not be a coincidence that Wagner, Holst and Mussorgsky are amongst my favourite composers.

The 'Doctor Who' theme itself is quite simply the best theme tune in the world and has never been beaten in any of its many variations.

Which just shows how strong Ron Grainer's theme and Delia Derbyshire's arrangement is; it's adaptable and wonderful and makes me happy.

I don't think you can ask for much more than that.

(Written by Lisa Parker)

Supergran

Supergran

Firstly I have to apologise for the lateness of this blog post. It's due to life getting in the way and also stopping to watch 'Doctor Who', which was fantastic.

So what made me buy both series of 'Supergran' on DVD?

Especially as a child I didn't really like it that much, though for what reason I'm not entirely sure.

Well, both series were very cheap in one of Networks many sales, at £3 a set. And when I took a look at the guest casts it instantly convinced me to take a punt and buy both.

So we settled down last night to watch the first episode; 'Supergran and the Magic Ray'.

And I can't work out what the 12/13-year old me didn't like; it was simply fun and more than a little bit silly.

Gudrun Ure was very good as Granny Smith (not the variety of apple!) who is turned into Supergran by being hit by a Magic Ray (though Andrew insists it should be renamed a Science Ray as it is was generated by a machine) whilst watching her grandson Willy play football.

We had to look up how old Gudrun Ure was when she played the part as she was very convincing as both Granny Smith and Supergran. It seems that she was actually 58, showing that the makeup was very good indeed.

This episode also features Iain Cuthbertson as the Scunner Campbell who is of course the villain of the piece.

He has stolen the 'Magic' Ray of the title and plans to use it to give himself super powers, only it goes astray due to his nephew Tub's interference and hits Supergran, setting the whole series into motion.

I should also mention the theme music which is sung by Billy Connolly and is very memorable, as it manages to mention such names as B.A. Baracus, Superman, Spiderman, Batman and Robin tooo!

There are no major guest stars in the first episode but coming up in the next few are such names as Michael Elphick, Derek Deadman, the aforementioned Billy Connolly, Patsy Rowlands,Spike Milligan, Roy Kinnear and the legendary Georg(i)e Best.

In the second series we have Patrick Troughton and a merry Charles Hawtrey to look forward to, so we'll happily raise a glass to both of these legendary names.

Our video about 'Supergran' can be seen here.

(Written by Lisa Parker)