The Doctor we love

It’s not often that the powers that be give you [back] what you want the most. Take David Tennant as the Doctor. I could easily have told you he was my favourite. But the rules being what they are – or were – we all knew he’d not be returning. And then it seems things got dire enough that David could come back as the Doctor; almost the same, but with a new number.

I imagine 95% of viewers drew a sigh of relief, while never having expected David’s return. Even if his presence was to be short lived, it was welcome. Not that Jodie Whittaker was wrong. I loved her, and her hair. But just as the frog doesn’t notice it’s being boiled, I suspect I had no idea that the quality of Doctor Who went south quite so dramatically. But then I didn’t even watch Jodie’s last season. I blamed it on me. Perhaps it was them?

No. 14 was older than no. 10, and so much better for it. Sometimes people need to gather maturity, as was obvious with David in Good Omens last year.

Although, seeing him again, I felt worse about Ncuti Gatwa. In fact, it had been so long since we were first told about him that I’d begun to wonder if he was really going to happen. Wasn’t too happy during the actual regeneration, but once Ncuti was on his own in the Christmas episode, he was all right. (Could have worn trousers, though.)

Have been informed there is time for me/us to catch up with Jodie’s last season before Ncuti starts for real. So that could be a plan.

Dumbing down?

What kind of a start, I mean, ‘Christmas’ episode, of Doctor Who was that? Apart from the possibly meaningful release of lots of new Daleks, it was mostly mush.

I’m all for feelings, but then I want to feel those feelings; not having them spoken about as though we need stuff explaining to us. It was all touchy feely, with few resolutions.

Captain Jack eyed up several of the Doctor’s fellow travellers. Why? And what was he doing there? His brief stint a year ago was OK. A bit fun. But this felt pointless, and I say this as a fan of the good Captain.

So we’re losing two companions. I’m not impressed by the advertised replacement, but as Daughter said, we’ve generally liked them once they get started. Let’s live in hope.

But it felt vague and bland. The bright spot, surprisingly enough, was Chris Noth. I almost felt as if I was meeting a much missed old friend. Let’s have him back. He was camper than Captain Jack.

And what’s with this season’s Christmas University Challenge? Those were no celebrities or famous people. Mostly. They were people doing jobs after having been to university. Mostly. Despite the questions feeling somewhat dumbed down, I was intrigued by what these people don’t know.

Geography is one subject they didn’t pay attention in. But let’s go for Svalbard at all times. Has to be right at least once. And and, I’m so old! I must be. There are things one knows through having lived through a period when those things happened. The man who graduated in 1967 turned out to be valuable. As did anyone with a useful hobby. Like an interest in football.

I did find I could cheer the Courtauld Institute team, though, and we loved Kate Fox from Loughborough. Hers was not just a funny face, but there was knowledge behind it.

And I have to say we did not dumb down at all, having our nut turkey and brussels sprouts accompanied by the Downton Abbey film. Good food and good trustworthy entertainment with the right amount of tears, even on a second viewing. And the dowager duchess will lick the stamps herself!

Rosa

Just a brief post on the greatness of great authors. I know. It’s sort of obvious, but why haven’t they asked more authors (of proper books) to come and write for the Doctor? Malorie Blackman’s Rosa was simply perfect.

Rosa, about Rosa Parks, in Montgomery in 1955, fitted in not just Whovian stuff and time travel, but it provided a whole section on [black] history. For us older viewers, this might seem like old news. But how many younger ones have not actually learned this at school [yet]? Maybe never will, the way things are going.

How useful to have a bus driver on the Tardis team, and a police officer in training! Not to mention a black man of today, discovering how far away 1955 really is, despite things seeming bad now.

More Malorie episodes, please!

(Photo © BBC)

A female Doctor

I had wondered. Who hadn’t? I didn’t doubt that a female Doctor would work; I just wasn’t sure they had it in them to make her work. But work she did, and magnificently so, even if she didn’t quite remember who she was to begin with. She knew what to do, and why. And what’s in a name?

Having no experience of Jodie Whittaker was probably a good thing. I knew as little as those who met her, when she fell into that train on Sunday night. A train, which to the Resident IT Consultant’s delight, was as wrong as screen trains tend to be. Just as well, once the weird and wonderful creatures have finished falling, the train would be a wreck anyway.

The new Doctor felt perfect, the way some people do, without you having been aware that you might welcome an improvement. Was that Jodie’s doing? Or the screenwriters’? Both, perhaps. And her hair… it was great hair!

Her companions were also pretty perfect, for being dyspraxic, having [had] cancer or being a rookie police officer wanting some excitement. I have seen criticism of there being three of them. I don’t agree, and feel that to have had one, wouldn’t have worked so well. I’d have liked it if there had been four. Ryan’s grandmother was quite a woman.

The adventure was also good, neither too tame nor too outlandish, and what a change it made to be in and around Sheffield, with actual accents being spoken. (I’m fine if next time we’re in some unknown corner of outer space.)

All we need now is the recipe for a sonic screwdriver. If it’s that easy to make, we could all have one.

(Photos © BBC)

Doctoring on

Well, what to say? Most people have already said it all, and it’s interesting to see how many anti-female-Doctor fans are out there. (What about the Master? And him fancying Missy? That’s weird enough.)

I really don’t care, as long as the new Doctor can act, and they get a decent script to work with. I don’t know Jodie Whittaker at all. I like her surname. She looks nice in general. I’ll await the future and see what I think.

Perhaps it was the sex-change aspect Peter Capaldi was referring to when he hinted that the next re-generation will be more difficult? We’ll see.

Another thing that surprised me this week was an informal poll on social media as to people’s favourite assistant. Bill came last or second last with most who took part. And as I said before, I think she’s the best we’ve had. I don’t get it. The last few episodes of this season of Doctor Who proved her greatness, as far as I’m concerned.

And that of Peter Capaldi. He has done extremely well this season. I don’t want him to go, but I reckon that’s why he should. Let him leave on a high.

Spent a couple of days last week watching the last two thirds of season ten with Daughter who had lagged behind for various reasons. It was good to see most of them again in quick succession, and watching again meant I noticed details I’d missed.

I’ll miss Bill, and I’ll miss no.12. But the others have become good friends, so I see no reason why no. 13 can’t win me over as well.

Who knows?

He’s looking like a Rolling Stone in those sunglasses. In general I feel Doctor Who is looking cooler than before, or is that just me? He feels more with it, as well. So I’m already mourning the Peter Capaldi Doctor, long before he goes.

Bill is one of the most perfect assistants I’ve seen. Have they been listening to us, or was it merely a stroke of luck? But then, it’s one thing to match a new assistant to an existing Doctor. And another to make her work well with the next Doctor.

Not sure about Nardole, although he is starting to make more sense. First he was a bit fun, and then that fun got irritating. Now, though, I am guessing there is a point to him. Not even Missy was too annoying in the latest episode, and that’s saying a lot.

So far I’ve liked all the episodes. They’ve been the right amount of exciting and not too scary, because, as someone pointed out again recently, this is a programme for children. The fact that old people enjoy the Doctor is a bonus.

Keep this up!

Who was best, the Doctor or Christie?

Doctoring your Agatha Christie… I wish they hadn’t. I didn’t initially remember* the original Witness for the Prosecution, but I gather the BBC added the odd thing at the end, and even when you don’t know the plot intimately, it was pretty obvious that someone had been allowed to go crazy. And I don’t mean the murderer or his unfortunate solicitor. Or even the sad victim who wasn’t the murderer after all.

The first half of this Agatha Christie short story was good and even a little enjoyable, bar the coughing from Toby Jones. Even the beginning of the second half was all right and the plot went in the expected direction. The falsely accused murderer and his ‘wife’ were both excellent. But I did hate the coughing. On the other hand, it was illuminating seeing the importance of good health care and how you can be virtually brought back from the almost dead. Unless you have been murdered.

Doctor Who, on the other hand, was a delight from beginning to end. I know people who hated it, but you need to keep in mind that Doctor Who is a programme for children, not adults. Doesn’t stop quite a few of us from liking it, though.

Superheroes, what’s not to like? The baby was a bit weird, but it was the babysitter we had an interest in. And his (her?) mother. Matt Lucas was fine, but I really didn’t grasp his role in all of this. Maybe his task was to look a bit odd and make a few funny comments?

But you know, the Doctor was expected, as he hung upside down outside the boy’s bedroom window. We all expect a visit from an unknown older male at Christmas, don’t we?

I had just about forgotten that we’d not had the Doctor round for the past year. But I’m ready for him now.

---

*It all came back to me after a while. The 1957 film was much better. And I also now recall trying to get my hands on the book, in Swedish translation, for a friend. It was impossible. I was at the back of a very long queue.

Something old, something new

Television at Christmas is like a table groaning under the weight of cake. Too much all at once. But it isn’t necessarily good cake. And it feels sort of wrong to be offered so much all at once – especially if you have other things to do – when you go so long wishing for worthwhile programmes at other times of the year.

And in reality, I have watched less than planned, and the other reality is that I have probably spent more time watching unplanned, old stuff, than the new films and series made specially for the last two weeks.

OK, I quite liked Sherlock. Many viewers didn’t, from what I’ve heard. And yes, the scriptwriters do appear to show off, which isn’t always an attractive trait. But shortly before Sherlock, we were eating our dinner in front of the television and simply needed something suitably timed to fit in right then, which is why we watched the second half of The Terminal (all right when you’ve seen the whole film before). I’m tempted to say that Tom Hanks can’t do anything wrong, and that half a Terminal trumped Sherlock.

On Christmas Eve someone else did the cooking, leaving Daughter and me with a couple of free hours as we waited to be fed. In the end we relaxed with two old Christmas episodes of NCIS, and felt much better for it. (The baby born in a garage, and DiNozzo Sr misbehaving.)

Christmas Day is a busy day without adding visual entertainment, but we obediently sat down and watched the two obvious programmes; Doctor Who and Downton Abbey.

As with Sherlock, Doctor Who was fun enough, but not as good as it could or should be.

And then it was Downton. Very silly, but oh so enjoyable! And most civilised of them to want to tie every last little thing up, with a happy ending for everyone (except for Matthew’s mothers’ new husband’s daughter-in-law).

Downton will be a hard act to follow. I reckon you could find fans to chat to all over the world. Like the Forsyte Saga, maybe, or Dallas.

When TV shows are like buses

I simply cannot keep up. It used to be bad when September brought all the television shows back. But I used to have maybe only four at the most, and with some of them taking breaks some weeks, you’d catch up with what you’d missed. Or I’d revert to old shows, where I am seasons behind.

We’ve spent the summer hiatus flitting back and forth between The Good Wife and Elementary. But after the new shows came back, we’ve had to leave them. So I don’t know what happens when The Bad Husband stepped outside their flat. I can imagine, though. But it’ll have to wait. In Elementary Watson is getting used to her competition, and Holmes is more annoying than ever. Thought we’d finish Due South once and for all, but there are still a few episodes left. They’re not so good, but I can’t leave a series hanging like that.

We’re keeping up with Doctor Who, although sometimes we wonder why, and with NCIS, where we mostly don’t wonder why. Yet.

We save the Big Bang Theory for when we need cheering up, or when a shorter sitting is required, so that’s less of a problem.

As I write I am one episode behind with Downton Abbey, and since I’m going away for the weekend, I will be two behind on my return. I understand there was blood. Might be a good thing to have the next episode standing by, just to be sure how bad it got. It’s getting silly, but we do enjoy it, and the relaxation makes it worth watching. And the grinning when the Dowager gets to air a few more good lines.

In between all the rest we can usually sneak in some NCIS: Los Angeles, and I haven’t even finished the first season of New Orleans, and won’t be watching anytime soon.

I understand there is something called River on BBC. Missed the first and recorded the second. I wonder how that is going to work out? As for the cinema, I looked up the times for screenings of Suffragette, amazingly on at both cinemas in town. But we had no time…

Downton Who?

Another November, another end to another season of Doctor Who. And to Downton Abbey. When they started in August and September it felt like we did nothing but watch television all weekend. It was great to get all of the Doctor in one fell swoop, though, instead of half a season here and half a season there.

As for Downton Abbey I was under the – obviously erroneous – impression it was doing its last rounds. Not only is there one for Christmas, but more is coming next autumn. Oh well. It is a soap, after all. They never stop.

Although it feels as if they are getting ready to chop quite a few of their characters, while having carefully enlisted some replacements. Have the actors had enough? Probably. I’d be sad to see Tom go, but he’s able to. Maybe Edith could too. But Mary will be held hostage forever.

I worry for the dowager, but hopefully Maggie Smith has many more years of acting in her still. And you could just see that poor Anna was in for it, almost from the word go. They concentrated too much on that train ticket.

The Doctor. Well. Peter Capaldi was OK. Ish. It’s tricky going from a jolly young man to a troubled and downright weird older one, but it can be done, and it was. I believe it’s Clara we mostly have a problem with. While I’m not 100% sold on the actress, I don’t mind the role so much.

I suppose we feel that anyone ought to be grateful to be the Doctor’s assistant and not moan so much or doubt that they are doing the right thing, but why not? She does need to think of her life and where it is going. And for a while there with the Cybermen I felt she was almost convincing as the Doctor. Maybe it’s really been her all the time?

There’s enough to look forward to. And a couple of the episodes of Doctor Who were among the best I’ve seen.

In Downton I quite enjoyed the divorce and Jewishness issues. The cousin will be interesting to watch (I take it she is here to stay). And so will her counterpart, the angry father-in-law.

Meanwhile I’ll make the most of not having a series to watch evey single day.