Audio Description – Well Eye Never

Doctor Who Review – The Movie (30th Anniversary Blu-ray)

My interest in Doctor Who has mainly been confined to the Modern era from the 2005 reboot onwards, as that was when I first got into it, and I’ve been gradually revisiting and reviewing those series in recent years. It looks like I now have quite a bit of time to complete those reviews too, given that the show is going on hiatus again.

However, I have very little experience of the Classic era. I was still in my childhood for most of the Wilderness Years, when the programme was off air between 1989 and 2005, so it wasn’t a big part of my life growing up.

I did of course become aware of the show, particularly via a couple of charity specials that were broadcast on TV in the 90s, because it is a British institution that is deeply embedded in popular culture. It’s impossible to live here in the UK and not know about it. But I was too young to care. It was just one of those many old programmes that the adults used to watch, and it had long gone. And since getting into the Modern era, I’ve only seen occasional stories from the old days, either in their original form or via modern re-edits.

During its 16-year absence, however, there was an attempt to bring the show back in 1996, via a feature-length American TV pilot simply known as Doctor Who: The Movie, featuring Paul McGann as the 8th Doctor. A lot of fans in the UK liked it, but there wasn’t enough interest in the States to resurrect the show fully.

So it completely passed me by at the time. But I did eventually see it many years later, on Netflix in December 2013, when it was available there alongside a tiny selection of Classic era episodes that I also watched. I had taken the opportunity to check out those stories because of the 50th anniversary of the show – which means my first experience of Paul McGann had actually been his Night Of The Doctor mini-episode the previous month, showing his regeneration into the War Doctor. And as it happens I’ve recently seen that story again, having just rewatched the 50th anniversary specials during May. He also later made a cameo in The Power Of The Doctor in 2022 that I enjoyed.

12½ years on from my one and only viewing, therefore, I have no clear recollection of the film or whether I liked it. So buying the new 30th anniversary Blu-ray is a bit of a gamble for me, but a fascinating one too, as it’s my first proper deep dive into any Doctor Who story before 2005. It feels like I’m watching the movie for the first time again, and all of the special features (apart from the trailer for this release) are completely new to me, as I’ve never owned any previous editions.

So join me as I experience the movie in all its remastered glory and explore all the bonus material. I’ve also put together a playlist of highlights, music tracks, interviews, convention appearances, etc that you can look through too. I hope you enjoy!

May 2026 Favourites

Hello there, I hope you’ve had a good month. Thanks to my foot injury I haven’t been out much for a while, but I am doing fine, as it has been feeling a lot better. And my mother is doing well too, although she did struggle in the heatwave we just had. I’ve included a little update on my caring situation in this post for those who are interested.

For the most part, however, my focus here will be on entertainment. And on that front the most significant thing is that I’ve been on the radio! I was very kindly invited to join in a discussion about audio description, and it’s already had some excellent feedback. Then beyond that, my mother and I have been celebrating David Attenborough’s 100th birthday, and I’ve been watching Doctor Who and some comedies.

So there’s plenty to get through in this roundup as usual, and I hope you enjoy!

February & March 2026 Favourites

Hello again, I hope your year’s been going well so far, and you’re enjoying the Easter weekend. For me, the first few months of 2026 have been a transition period, as I’ve been making the switch from my support worker role to a new zero-hours contract as an accessibility tester, so I can focus more on caring for my mother and looking after my own wellbeing. You can find out more about all of that in my latest Carer & Career Update post.

Because of that, along with the often cold and wet weather, I haven’t done many interesting things in London since my January Favourites. I’ve been out for a few walks, got a haircut and done some shopping when the weather allows, but that’s it – until very recently, when I saw my first theatre show of the year with a friend of mine, which was a much-needed bit of light relief.

So in this post I’ll be talking about my theatre visit, which involved a touch tour and audio description, as well as the variety of entertainment I’ve been enjoying at home. None of it’s sponsored or gifted as usual, and I hope you find it interesting!

Christmas 2025 Favourites – Part 2

Happy New Year! I hope you’ve had a wonderful time this festive season. Or if it’s been a difficult period, or even a tough year overall, then I hope 2026 works out better for you.

My mother and I are certainly hoping it will be more positive after everything we’ve been through in the last 12 months. I’ve written a lot about being a carer for her, and recently brought our story up to date by reflecting on the year and the considerable progress we’ve made. We did have a lovely, relaxing, over-indulgent Christmas, I’m pleased to say, so that’s put us in the right frame of mind for the year ahead. The future of my job is very uncertain, granted, but whatever happens with that I’ll be alright. So fingers crossed things continue to go well for us.

I previously posted about the things I enjoyed during the advent period leading up to Christmas, so now it’s time to catch up with all the other entertainment that’s been keeping me occupied since then. So let’s jump straight into it, and I hope you enjoy!

Doctor Who Review – Series 5

Now that the most recent series of Doctor Who is out of the way – and I’ve just updated that review with details of its Blu-ray steelbook release – and as there’s going to be a big gap until the next series while the BBC decide what to do, I’m going to continue rewatching the earlier series of the modern era.

I’ve already reviewed all of the series and spin-offs from Russell T Davies’ first stint as showrunner, so it’s time to move on to the fifth series overseen by Steven Moffat, which aired 15 years ago in 2010. Hard to believe it’s that old already.

With a new showrunner, Doctor, companions, Tardis and theme tune, this was another fresh start for the programme, and it worked really well. So I hope you enjoy my deep dive into it.

June 2025 Favourites

Hello again, I hope you’re all doing well. Those of you who saw last month’s roundup will know that I’m going through a difficult patch at the moment because of my mother’s health. We have started to get a bit of help, in terms of medical assistance and reaching out to support services, all of which takes time, and I will explain more in due course. Suffice to say for now that going totally blind has naturally had a big impact on her mental health and sleep, and by extension has affected my wellbeing as her carer. We are ok, but certain aspects are quite difficult to deal with

As a result, I’m not making videos to go with these posts for the time being, as it’s just not practical right now and I want to make things easier for myself. It also means I’m not doing as much out and about as usual, as my caring role is dominating my time much more than it used to – and I am therefore starting to explore the support that’s available for carers.

However, I did manage to go to the theatre a couple of times with friends early in the month, which I was really grateful for, as I needed to confide in them about what’s been going on, and the shows were great escapism, especially because of the touch tours and audio description.

So I’ve got those shows to tell you about, as well as some bits and pieces I’ve been watching at home, and none of it’s sponsored or gifted as usual. So let’s get on with it, and I hope you enjoy!

April 2025 Favourites

Hey there, hope you had a wonderful Easter and a lovely April in general. This has been my busiest month for a while, as there’s lots to mention in terms of outings, including social events, a musical and a concert, along with TV shows and films I’ve been watching at home.

The concert I went to was a PR invite for me to review, but otherwise nothing is sponsored to appear here, and in any case all opinions are my own as usual. So let’s jump straight into April’s post and video roundup, and I hope you enjoy!

I Want Some More! – Oliver! Review

As I’ve said in the past, I love the 1968 musical film adaptation of the Dickens novel Oliver Twist, with all its wonderful songs, characters, sets and costumes, all brought to life by a brilliant cast. It was based on Lionel Bart’s theatre show of course, of which there have been several productions since it launched in 1960, and while I have the soundtrack albums for some of them, I’ve never had a chance to see the musical live, until now.

That’s because I recently went to the Gielgud Theatre to see an audio described performance of the current production of Oliver! by Cameron Mackintosh, which launched last year. And on reviewing the situation (for this post that isn’t sponsored), I think it can consider itself well in, because it’s a fine life for those who will buy a ticket to see it.

The Gielgud Theatre, a four-story building with ornate decor that stands proudly on a street corner, with signage for the Oliver musical. The centre of the building, which curves around the corner, has an extra room with a domed roof on the very top.

Poster for Oliver, showing a painted image of a young boy's face, with the London skyline in the background, including St Paul's Cathedral. Blue text above him says Everybody's Asking For More. Just below the boy's face is more blue text saying Cameron Mackintosh and Matthew Bourne's glorious Dickens of a show. And immediately below that is the title Oliver, with an exclamation mark, in big red letters.

41st Birthday Favourites

So another birthday month has rolled around. And while this time it’s not been quite as crazy as my big four-o last year, it’s still been busier than I expected, as I’ve been out for 3 enjoyable theatre shows and 2 nice meals, most of which have been free thanks to very kind friends of mine.

So I’ve got all of that to mention in this latest post and video, along with my PIP review decision, some films and TV shows I’ve been watching, and the sporting action in the Olympics and Paralympics.

As usual, none of this is sponsored to appear here, plus all opinions are my own, and I hope you enjoy. Let’s crack on with it!

Merci Paris Part 2 – Paralympics Review

Following on from my review of the Olympics earlier this summer, we’ve just had even more spectacular sporting action with the Paralympics in Paris, which I’ve been absolutely obsessed with over the past fortnight.

ParalympicsGB did extremely well as per usual, scooping up 49 golds amongst their 124 medals, and it’s their many achievements I’ll be focusing on in this post of course. But it was great to watch elite athletes from all nations – of which there were 4,400 competitors from 168 delegations in total – as they shared their fascinating stories and showcased their incredible skills in 22 sports, featuring hundreds of events across a myriad of disability categories.

There were huge audiences supporting them with enormous enthusiasm as well, which was wonderful to see. They generated such an electric atmosphere, in stark contrast to the lack of crowds in Tokyo’s Covid-hit Games, so these have really felt like the first proper Paralympics in 8 years.

And it’s also great that the Games were more widely broadcast around the world than ever before, including on Channel 4. Indeed, the fact that there was barely any time difference with the UK made it possible for us Brits to watch everything live on TV and online, and to have full roundups at the end of each day with the highlights programmes and The Last Leg. So it almost felt like a home Games again, the closest we’ve had since London 2012.

All of which meant there was a lot going on all day every day, which was daunting yet exciting to try and keep up with. So in this extensive review post – which isn’t sponsored by anyone and all opinions are my own – I’ll go through all of Britain’s medal winners along with some of my other highlights, and I’ve also made a Youtube playlist to go with it as well. I hope you enjoy!

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