Children In Need – Well Eye Never

Doctor Who Review – Series 1

Doctor Who is one of Britain’s biggest cultural phenomenons and needs no introduction. With stories spanning all of time and space, encountering an infinite variety of locations, species and scenarios, and promoting the universal right and desire for everything to co-exist in peaceful harmony, along with the ability to regenerate the lead character using different actors, the series has a scope and versatility unlike any other. And the adventures, characters, drama, humour, special effects, music and other elements have all come together to make the show continuously exciting to watch.

Of course, everyone has their own favourite (and least favourite) Doctors, companions, enemies, stories, writers, showrunners, etc, even if we don’t all agree on which ones. For many Whovians, the first Doctor they watch becomes their favourite Doctor by default, because you form a special connection with the one who hooks you into the show to begin with. That won’t be the case for every fan, but it certainly is with me.

Christopher Eccleston is therefore my favourite Doctor, with David Tennant a tightly close second, while Billie Piper as Rose Tyler is my favourite companion, and Russell T Davies is my favourite showrunner. But I’ve continued to enjoy the show very much since they all departed, and I’m always happy to give new people a chance. Whilst every change takes a bit of time to bed in and get used to, I like seeing the show evolve with new faces, places and ideas, as it helps to keep it fresh and interesting. After all, it would get boring if it always stayed the same.

But it’s still a joy to see former stars returning too of course. And so this year, for the big 60th anniversary, I’m delighted to see David Tennant is back as the Doctor for a special trilogy. And it’s great to see Russell T Davies as showrunner once again, 18 years after his big revival of the show in 2005.

Therefore, given the special circumstances, and because I’m a huge fan of the modern era of the show, I figured it’s high time I try and do detailed reviews for each of the modern series, which I own on Blu-ray. It’s certainly a good excuse, as if one’s ever needed, to rewatch the episodes and extra features yet again. So for this post I’ll be going through the Series 1 Steelbook Edition Blu-ray, as well as mentioning the music soundtrack and a few relevant items online. I’ll never be able to mention absolutely everything to do with the show, nor would I want to. I just want to pick out the things that stand out to me, of which there are many in this first series.

I won’t complete all the series in time for the 60th anniversary of course, but I want to try and tick off the old Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant episodes by then if I can. And I fully intend to review the other Doctors beyond that as well. So we’ll see how far I get.

This first post is a particularly lengthy one, because I discuss how I got into the series, explore the 13 episodes and the various Blu-ray extras in depth, and express a lot of admiration for Christopher Eccleston as he was my first Doctor. And there’s an associated playlist on my Youtube channel with clips, music, interviews and other things relating to the series. So I hope you enjoy!

Lockdown Favourites – Weeks 5-8

Hello again, hope you’re all keeping safe and well. We’ve now had nearly 3 months of lockdown, and this ‘new normal’ still feels surreal. It certainly puts everything in perspective, that a microscopic virus can temporarily shut down the entire planet in a matter of weeks. It’s a stark reminder of how powerful nature can be.

Everyone’s perception of time is rather weird at the moment too, with the weeks seeming to fly by, but that can be explained by science at least. Although, of course, it will be dragging much more slowly for those going through a particularly rough time at the moment, and you have my sympathies if that applies to you.

As I see it, the current small changes to our lockdown, as part of the government’s long term recovery plan, are basically urging people to use their common sense, as the virus is still circulating. We must continue to stay at home and work from home if at all possible, and obey the other safety rules. But provided we do so, we have a little bit more freedom now. So I hope people will continue to be careful and sensible, as we’re nowhere near out of the woods yet, but we’re getting there slowly. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. And obviously for disabled people things are more complicated, as Lucy Edwards has discussed with a couple of her fellow blind activists in a recent video.

As for me though, I’m still doing fine. I’ve been staying indoors to keep my elderly mother safe, but recently I went out for the first time in over 5 weeks, as a couple of essential items were missing from our online shopping delivery. So I was very pleased to find that there were hardly any people and very few cars about, and that I was able to use the priority hour for disabled people at the supermarket, which was fully stocked and had social distancing measures very well enforced. So my risk of exposure was hopefully minimal.

But otherwise I’m still staying at home, and I’ve continued to keep myself entertained in various ways. So here’s my latest recap of what I’ve been enjoying and discovering recently, along with videos summarising week 5, week 6, week 7 & week 8. As usual nothing is sponsored or gifted, and all opinions are my own. So I hope you enjoy!

Journal – November-December 2011

Here’s another set of journal entries to wrap up the year, including a friend’s birthday, new DVDs, an accidental recovery for Nan, and our first Christmas without Dad, as well as some more jokes I’ve received via email. I hope you enjoy!

Journal – November-December 2010

This is a difficult set of journal entries to share, with Dad going back into hospital, as things haven’t ended well in that regard. I could just stop sharing these posts and resume when things improve again, but as this is life-changing and will clearly have a huge impact on my future, it’s important to include and acknowledge it.

I do mention various other things in these entries as well, including DVDs, TV shows, music, Christmas food, news stories, etc. But most of it is about my father, with some of the details edited out of course. So if it’s the sort of thing you’d rather not read about, then by all means skip this, and come back at a later date when things improve again. But if you do read on, I hope you find it of interest.

Journal – October-November 2008

Welcome to another set of my journal entries. I’ve combined 2 months together here as things have been fairly quiet, particularly in October, and as a result I’ve often left it two weeks between posts. That said, however, I did stay with my friend in Exeter a couple of times, I’ve been busy at work, I’ve enjoyed various things on TV including Children In Need and a special royal comedy show, and lots of news stories have caught my eye, including the fallout from the prank calls made to Andrew Sachs. And there’s also been a surprise trip arranged for December. So there’s plenty here overall, and I hope you enjoy!

Journal – November 2005

Here’s another month of entries from my journal. This time I’ve had a lot of fun visiting my best mate to celebrate his 21st birthday, plus I’ve been assessed for support I might be able to get for work because of my visual impairment. There have also been lots of DVDs coming out in the run up to Christmas that I’ve been keen to get, and we’ve had Children In Need and other delights on TV. So there’s a variety of things here as usual, and I hope you enjoy!

Journal – November-December 2004

Here’s another instalment of entries from my journal, bringing us to the end of 2004. I’ve been doing a work experience placement at my local council, and I’ve continued to enjoy my music and DVD purchases as usual.

Unfortunately, however, I don’t have any entries for December as they were accidentally deleted! So I’ve just briefly mentioned the key points from the month, and added another top 100 list to make up for it. That anomaly aside, however, I hope you find these entries interesting!

Journal – November-December 2003

We’ve made it to the end of my second year of journal entries! I figured I may as well combine the last 2 months here, as there wasn’t much to say for November. As usual I talk about university, the latest DVDs I’ve been buying and the TV I’ve been enjoying. Plus there’s another top 100 list and a few of the stranger news stories that have caught my attention, and of course there’s Christmas. So I hope you enjoy!

Journal – November 2002

Here are some more extracts from my journal. You know what to expect by now – university work, socialising, CDs, DVDs, gaming, TV, etc. This hasn’t been a very eventful month, but there are a couple of interesting top 100 lists, and my favourite moments from Children In Need, among other little bits and pieces. So I hope you enjoy!

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: