@mersey Yeah, it was an extra random thought…great granddaughter? (;  Ha ha, I know, wishful thinking, more than likely she is related to Clara somehow, if anyone.

@mersey Like the Rembrandt thought.  (:

@Mersey—

Yes, McCoy is — and I suspect always will be — a highly underrated Doctor. There are definite hints of the direction that both the Virgin New Adventures and Big Finish took his Doctor in, most notably in (as @Mudlark says) Remembrance of the Daleks, Ghost Light and Curse of Fenric.

And I know what you mean about his regeneration,…[Read more]

@Mersey

The Movie Which We Do Not Name is no way to have been introduced to any manifestation of the Doctor, so your original reaction to the seventh Doctor is entirely understandable.  I have to admit that I, too, underestimated McCoy in the role until fairly recently.  I had stopped watching entirely not long after Colin Baker took over, beca…[Read more]

@mersey, @whisht
There was a point in The Five(ish) Doctors Rebooted, where Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy are trying to break into the BBC Cardiff Studios, and Colin Baker, in exasperation, asks, “Why are we doing this?” Peter Davison thinks about it for a minute, and replies, “We’re doing it for the fans!” Colin Baker smiles and…[Read more]

Hi @Mersey – I don’t have anything to add, I just think I’d say how I appreciated your desire of a re-appraisal of Seven.

I’ll admit that my interest in Who waned around that time, but it wasn’t McCoy’s fault (it was as much to do with my changing interests and age).

I think that actually McCoy has or will have the ‘most under-appreciated’ tag…[Read more]

@Mersey

I agree that the current format of Gardener’s world tends to seem cramped and am glad that in this 50th anniversary year we have been promised more one-hour episodes.  The Chelsea Flower show is next month and the BBC generally devote at least an hour and a half a day to that during the week it is on. I don’t know whether you get any acc…[Read more]

@Mersey

Beth Chatto’s garden is wonderful and I just wish that they could have devoted more time in the programme to it and the interview with her.  The garden is only about 60 miles from where I live, but it is a long time since I last visited it and I really must do so again soon. At one time the format of Gardener’s World was such that they…[Read more]

@mersey

Nobody here would dispute this statement:

Sexuality shouldn’t be discuss as something sensational.

In fact that is exactly what Moffat said.

But he knows the British tabloids and their willingness to use any stick to beat the BBC with. It is not just The Sun or The Mirror, but the Daily Mail, one of the most hateful publications a…[Read more]

@mersey;

Thank you. I should like to stress that because I make a statement it doesn’t mean I’m right. I might think I am, but I could be wrong too. There have  been very, very rare occasions when I have been swayed. If  a thing sounds logical to me, I’ll accept it.

I really, really don’t like gardening! *grins*

Has anyone looked at the Video p…[Read more]

@Mudlark @miapatrick

And the discussion is this week, not with the show on the air – a very smart bit of PR management (also @Mersey).

@Mersey

You didn’t enrage me, and I am very sorry if I upset you by giving you the impression that I was ‘enraged’.  I was simply a little concerned that you seemed to have allowed the opinions and criticisms of others to sway your judgement.

I’m glad that you do in fact enjoy Gardeners’ World and like Monty Don as presenter and hope that you c…[Read more]

@mersey

after reading those critical comments I started to think that maybe Don really is wrongheaded, has no professional knowledge or is just rude

This is straying somewhat off topic but, as a keen gardener myself,  I think that you are being a little unfair here.  Alan Titchmarsh’s training as a practical gardener began with an apprenticeship a…[Read more]

@mersey

after reading those critical comments I started to think that maybe Don really is wrongheaded, has no professional knowledge or is just rude

This is straying a bit off topic but, as a keen gardener myself I feel that you are being a little unfair here.  Alan Titchmarsh’s training as a practical gardener began with an apprenticeship after h…[Read more]

@severusoswald  Great!  Always happy to see someone back here again!

@mersey  Makes sense to me.  Except for perfection . . . an episode that seems perfect to me now I might see very differently a year from now, with or without arguments one way or another.  It doesn’t change; I do, and as a growth-oriented person, that’s a good sign to me.  In…[Read more]

@Mersey

You underestimate the ability and willingness of the tabloid press to stir up trouble, on any pretext, for the BBC. Moffat has spiked their guns.

@mersey  Lem is amazing — the thing about “Solaris” is that opaque and subjective as it seems, it’s been made into movies twice that I know of — it exerts some kind of pull on movie folks, but how?  I loved the first film version that I saw (Russian?), and the US one was pretty good too . . . for some reason, I tend to think of Doris Lessing’s S…[Read more]

@mersey  I really like your gobelin — my kind of color scheme, or a major one of them.  I used to do needlepoint, and often worked with dark, dark blues and purples, with shimmers of pale in white, pale lemon, etc.