[Craig @replies Emperor]

Thanks @geoffers

I’ve spammed them.

Apologies to everyone for being AWOL but life has kinda got in the way recently. I will get back to normal service before the New Year episode.

I’m planning an update to the site (as the version of WordPress it works on is out of date). It will probably annoy some but will be a good framework for the future. It may involve shutting down the site for a few days in February but I will try to keep downtime to a minimum.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

I quite like this from tonight’s watch-along.

I once came third in a Doctor Who pub quiz because I got questions about my own episodes wrong. #clockdown

— Steven Moffat (@StevenWMoffat) May 6, 2020

[Craig @replies Emperor]

A little extra made during our lockdown, for after the Twitter watch-along. Written by Steven Moffat and voiced by Sophia Myles (of course).

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Damn, just after posting something nice, something sad happens. Florian Schneider, co-founder of Kraftwerk, has passed from cancer. A massively influential career. I mean, music wouldn’t be anything like it is today without those guys messing about with boxes and wires to make sounds.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Something to cheer the soul. I really liked this. Despite all the lockdowns etc. I love how we are now getting raw performances. Featuring Colin Hay who was the vocalist and guitarist in Men at Work (a Scottish born person, I should add).

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@winston @whisht

Unfortunately it was the virus that got him – which is especially sad as there was probably no long-term build up and maybe very little family allowed to visit him.

However, it was lovely to see “Dave Greenfield” and “Golden Brown” trending number 1 and 2 on Twitter in the UK last night.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Dave Greenfield passed away yesterday. You might say “Who?”. He was the keyboard player for The Stranglers. And if you haven’t heard of them you might say “Who?” too.

In 1977-78 my parents wouldn’t let me buy this new punk thing that was happening but I loved it and my friend’s big brother was allowed to buy their music and the Sex Pistols, so I used to go over to his to listen to them. And Greenfield’s keyboards were amazing. He was like the Ray Manzarek of punk. He’s the one with the moustache.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@blenkinsopthebrave I’m really looking forward to that one as I never got a chance to see it.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@blenkinsopthebrave and everyone else.It’s actually available for almost a week from now. And there are two versions.

The Frankenstein play (directed by Danny Boyle with music by Underworld) is available to view until 7 May with Benedict Cumberbatch as the monster.

But you can also watch it (maybe if you want to watch it twice) with Jonny Lee Miller as the monster until 8 May.

I saw it. It was amazing. When it was on in London they swapped roles every night – one the Doctor, one the monster. Now you can see both.

Benedict Cumberbatch as the monster, Jonny Lee Miller as Doctor Frankenstein.

Johnny Lee Miller as the monster, Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Frankenstein.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@blenkinsopthebrave Yeah. I love how creative people are being while in lockdown.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

In a very fun new short prequel to ‘Dalek’, we are introduced to alien researcher Sven, Adam’s predecessor at GeoComTex. Sven will feature in the forthcoming ‘Dalek’ Target novelisation.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@winston @blenkinsopthebrave

I think this is an uninterrupted version.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Not really music but this made me laugh a lot – I think I posted the energetic video to “Life During Wartime” by Talking Heads a short while back. We all need a laugh at this moment.

Keeping in shape with my favorite workout video, the critically-acclaimed 1984 Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense pic.twitter.com/2aV3MZ9fBB

— alicia cougar mellencamden (@aliciacamden) April 26, 2020

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Russell and I were extremely excited at our BEST EVER SHOT of making it on to the cover … pic.twitter.com/RDlG9f9gAQ

— Steven Moffat (@StevenWMoffat) April 27, 2020

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Thursday 30 April – to mark the 15th anniversary – the world will be watching “Dalek” at 7pm UK time. Join in the fun on Twitter with the hashtag #TheMetaltron

[Craig @replies Emperor]

And this is the new epilogue written by Paul Cornell and narrated by Lauren Wilson, who played the scary little girl with the balloon who eventually got trapped in all our mirrors.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

‘Shadow of a Doubt’ was specially created as a prologue to ‘Human Nature’ and ‘The Family of Blood’, released as part of #DoctorOfMine, the worldwide tweetalong of this two-parter during the quarantine.

Written by Paul Cornell and starring Lisa Bowerman as Bernice Summerfield, from many Big Finish audios, ‘Shadow of a Doubt’ was home-produced remotely during the ‘lockdown’ period of the COVID-19 outbreak in April 2020.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@winston Hope the Saturday night show is good.

The funny thing is, most of them just shoot against a blank wall or a bookcase. But Matt Smith was in a converted church. And, as I know he lives near me, and if that is his home, I think I know exactly where he lives now. Maybe not the best thing to do on TV.

But it was excellent to see them all together. And I thought Tom Baker looked even better than he did in Day of The Doctor. Is he getting younger with age? He is a Time Lord after all!

[Craig @replies Emperor]

And all the Doctors took part in tonight’s Big Night In too.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

I enjoyed this – David Tennant and Catherine Tate back together for a little skit as teacher and pupil again, as they did a few years ago for the UK’s Comic Relief charity.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@blenkinsopthebrave Many thanks. I’ve marked them as a spammer.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

I started a petition just now, for the first time in my life – but you sometimes gotta do what you gotta do.

It’s basically to try and get a memorial built in the UK to all those who die of the virus.

So that we never forget.

If you live in the UK, please sign. It would mean a lot to me.

http://chng.it/L4mTkKCZ

[Craig @replies Emperor]

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Just in case the tweet gets deleted. Steven Moffat’s mood-setter. “My fave piece of music ever – listened to it a lot writing Heaven Sent. By coincidence it was in editor Will Oswald’s temp score. It’s a tribute to the genius Murray Gold that I ended up loving The Shepherd’s Boy just as much.”

[Craig @replies Emperor]

https://t.co/e3ow00qnja

Mood-setter. My fave piece of music ever – listened to it a lot writing Heaven Sent. By coincidence it was in editor Will Oswald's temp score. It's a tribute to the genius Murray Gold that I ended up loving The Shepherd's Boy just as much. #hellofabird

— Steven Moffat (@StevenWMoffat) April 14, 2020

[Craig @replies Emperor]

[Craig @replies Emperor]

From Peter Capaldi. And Happy Birthday to him!

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Okay, I’m having trouble keeping up with all this along with doing nothing all day 🙂

But you can now be part of a sing-along!

🎵 We need YOUR VOICE for the BIGGEST #DOCTORWHO MUSIC COVER EVER!@BornaMatosic is covering The Rings of Akhaten's 'Long Song' and we need fans around the world to sing as the choir…

Watch this video to find out how to get involved: https://t.co/1C5XTELU3b #LockdownLongSong pic.twitter.com/pJHr5sV4Xa

— Emily Cook (@Emily_Rosina) April 14, 2020

[Craig @replies Emperor]

At 8pm tonight, there’s another mass watch-along, this time it’s of “Heaven Sent”. Join Steven Moffat and director Rachel Talalay on Twitter to get their insights. Details are on the Home page.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

And a message from Suranne Jones!

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Rory is back.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

[Craig @replies Emperor]

In advance of tonight’s global viewing of “The Doctor’s Wife” at 8pm Neil Gaiman has posted this cryptic message on Twitter:

SOMETHING related to #BiggerOnTheInside is going to be released at 7 pm BST. Follow @Emily_Rosina on Twitter to find out what. I’m saying absolutely nothing, not even hinting that it will be the first time we’ve seen a beloved Doctor Who character in YEARS.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@jimthefish @blenkinsopthebrave I think the problem is just not wanting to step on the current showrunner’s toes.

I kinda think that’s why Russel T Davies didn’t write an episode for the Moffat era.

Can you imagine if Moffat wrote an episode like “Blink” for the Chibnall era and everyone said “This is exactly what we’ve been waiting for – proper Doctor Who, not the rubbish we’ve had so far” (not that I think it’s rubbish – but some people do).

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@jimthefish @blenkinsopthebrave I just saw a link to that on Twitter and came on here to post it.

Great job by Moffat that, sort-of, connects to young Amelia Pond, in a way, or his other childrens’ stories such as young Danny and the young Doctor.

I hope it means he might write an episode, especially if he’s bored at home like the rest of us, but I’d understand if he can’t.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

This time it’s 8pm (because Neil Gaiman is currently in New Zealand) – Saturday 11 April we’re all gonna watch “The Doctor’s Wife” and join along with Neil on Twitter.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Damn. R.I.P. the great Bill Withers. He was right – especially now. We all need someone to lean on. Lean on me, cos one day I’ll need to lean on you. What a great guy. Also the punchline to one of Dad’s favourite “Dad” jokes – “How do you make a duck into a music star? Stick it in the oven until it’s Bill Withers”. I know. I know. As the kids say, don’t at me bro.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Tomorrow night.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Doctor Who for April Fools’ Day

[Craig @replies Emperor]

I saw a rumour on Twitter that Matt Smith will be returning as the Eleventh Doctor in this year’s Christmas Day Special, Revolution of the Daleks, alongside Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gill, Tosin Cole and … John Barrowman. No confirmation though.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@jimthefish A little anecdote. I was seeing an Australian girl around 2003 (roughly) and “Love Actually” was on the TV one night and all her flatmates wanted to watch it. So I sat quietly and watched it, hated it all over again, but when it finished they all said how much they loved it.

I couldn’t contain myself and started my rant about how bad it is, how it exploits the tragedy of 9/11, then makes fun of a kid running through airport security (how can you reconcile those two parts of a story’s theme I don’t know?), and the awful, really awful, like, terrible, terrible treatment of the female characters.

The relationship managed to survive that. But then we went to Australia for Christmas to see her family. And her Mum said “I’ve rented my favourite Christmas movie for tonight”. Yes, it was “Love Actually”. My girlfriend looked at me with a “shut your face” look. So I shut my face.

We didn’t last much longer though. I’m not saying it was Curtis’ fault, there was a lot more going on, but I think he may have played a part.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@blenkinsopthebrave Totally agree. Curran is excellent. Matt Smith said last night on Twitter that Curran slept all night in the bed before the anger/depression scene to get in to character. He really is fantastic in the role, that’s why I liked his little video tweet the most.

@jimthefish I forgot about “Yesterday” which my parents made me watch and that was okay, mostly because the actors were really good. Haven’t seen “About Time”. But both seem reasonably high concept, alternate world type stories so maybe this was a “moment” for Richard Curtis.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@jimthefish Yeah, wasn’t a huge fan of Blackadder until Ben Elton joined in, then it got a lot better.

I did quite like “Four Weddings and a Funeral”, maybe because the Hugh Grant character was supposed to have been based on my boss at the time – or, at least the way Grant was told to play the character was based on my boss.

But “Notting Hill” and, especially, “Love Actually” make we want to throw things at the screen. “Love Actually” is, possibly, the most reprehensible movie I have ever seen, with its allusions to 9/11 and its treatment of women. And, yet, some people love it. I really don’t understand why at all. It enrages me. Maybe it’s just me.

I haven’t watched his other movies because of that.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@whisht And here it is.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@whisht Many thanks. Yep, you’ve got a pretty good understanding of where I’m coming from – what Scottish boy of a certain age didn’t love Claire Grogan?

Also, what a great version of “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. You are correct – it was number one in the UK the day I was born.

For my 40th birthday my friends managed to get an original 7 inch record of it and had it made into a clock, which now hangs proudly on my wall. I’m guessing there was a “time starting, then passing with every tick” theme to their thoughts.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@jimthefish I dunno, most of the comments tonight were a bit lacklustre, but I actually quite liked the Richard Curtis feed.

I mean, Richard Curtis’ work is not something I usually like, in fact almost dislike, but he did a great job with this episode (who knows how much Moffat reined him in?) and everything seemed to gel almost perfectly.

It was nice to find out his daughter came up with the idea of the monster in the painting, and that the whole thing is basically a love letter to his sister who loved van Gogh, and who suffered from depression before taking her own life. And that the line “No, they are tears of joy” comes from the film “Elle S’Appelle Sabine” which, again, is about someone who suffered terrible depression. One I’ll I have to search out.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Oh, and this.

Look what I got…my dad went on a secret mission to get it for my birthday. Had no idea! Best gift. #TheUltimateGinger pic.twitter.com/u1Ip1moGFe

— Karen Gillan (@karengillan) March 30, 2020

[Craig @replies Emperor]

My favourite tweet from tonight’s global viewing.

#TheUltimateGinger. 🖼 pic.twitter.com/Pugs011jOR

— Tony Curran (@TonyCurran69) March 30, 2020

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Thet seem to be coming thick and fast today.

Many thanks @toinfinityandbepond and @blenkinsopthebrave

I’ve marked them as spammers.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Hey all, at the risk of seeming needy, I thought I would let you all know that today is my 50th birthday.

And I’m spending it on my own. 🙁

We did have a whole family thing planned with my parents and my brother and his family but it all, quite rightly, had to be cancelled. Have talked on the phone though.

Then one of my friends was going to stay, but we cancelled that too.

So I’m having cake on my own today.

I am planning a 50 and a half birthday party though – if this has all blown over by then.

[Author]

Posts