Tag: Shakespeare's Globe

Doctor Who Review – Series 3

It’s time to continue my 60th anniversary celebration of Doctor Who by doing an in-depth review of the third series and its Blu-ray steelbook, following on from my posts about Series 1 & 2.

Russell T Davies continues in his role as showrunner here, overseeing David Tennant in his second series as the Doctor. But here the Time Lord is accompanied by the fun-loving, strong-minded, logical and brave medical student Martha Jones (played by Freema Agyeman).

Unlike Rose, who was looking for excitement and an escape from her everyday existence, Martha is actually quite happy and busy with her family, career and social life. But the temptation to travel with the Doctor wins out, naturally. The one similarity that Martha has with Rose is that she soon falls in love with him, but the Doctor is still hurting from Rose’s departure and views Martha as a good friend rather than anything more. He simply needs a caring companion to support him and stop him feeling too lonely, which he knows only too well, but he’s reluctant to admit that to himself, and initially insists that Martha won’t be a full-time passenger. But he changes his mind when Martha proves her worth in various ways, and she ends up saving his life, and the lives of others, on several occasions.

So there’s a different dynamic in the Doctor’s relationship with Martha compared to Rose, and she’s a different character to her predecessor – all of which is a good thing, otherwise it would have felt repetitive. Actors David and Freema have a great chemistry together, evident from the behind the scenes material as well as in their performances, which makes them enjoyable to watch. It’s also worth celebrating the fact that she’s his first full-time black companion (whereas Mickey Smith didn’t travel with the Doctor very much), and therefore Martha does encounter occasional racism when they travel back in time (as did Freema in real life from a small sector of the fanbase, sadly). So it’s good that the show acknowledges those attitudes in small ways, rather than pretending they don’t exist.

Ultimately, although Martha is sadly only in the show for one series, she does make a very big impact on the stories and the Doctor himself, and likewise it all has a huge effect on her, as she goes through quite the journey of development. She also makes a few guest appearances in the show later on (and could still do so), as well as appearing in the Torchwood spin-off and a more recent Big Finish audiobook, plus the character featured in the Tenth Doctor audiobook adaptations by the BBC, some of which Freema narrated. So this isn’t the last we see or hear of her.

Before we meet Martha, we’re also introduced to Donna Noble in the Christmas special, for what at the time was intended to be a one-off guest appearance by Catherine Tate, though that changed in Series 4. And in the finale Martha gets to meet Captain Jack Harkness when John Barrowman returns in the role, as well as John Simm in his first appearance as the Master. Plus there are some other great stars who appear throughout the series.

So it’s another fantastic collection of episodes, I hope you enjoy my look through them all, as well as the extensive playlist of clips I’ve put together on Youtube.

[Note: This post was edited in November 2023 to mention the new Whoniverse collection on iPlayer and the Series 1-4 & Specials box set.]

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Christmas 2020 Favourites

Happy New Year! Well, as happy as it can be in the circumstances. Let’s face it, 2020 is the year that nobody wants to look back at. Referring to perfect vision as 20/20 will forever carry a certain irony with it now. And if you were to try and sum up the year with a word or phrase, there isn’t much that’s family-friendly that truly does it justice – other than dumpster fire perhaps, which I’ve seen a lot of people use very accurately.

But I did manage to find plenty to keep me occupied, as you can see from my many Favourites posts during the year. The major highlights for me were definitely being interviewed on the BBC’s In Touch programme, taking part in the CXcon Accessibility Panel Discussion, and being able to see at least a couple of my friends after such a long period apart. I also started publishing my old journal posts to fill the gap left by my lack of activity, which have had a surprising amount of interest, and my very in-depth reviews of Queen’s albums for their 50th anniversary. Both of those projects will continue to keep me busy on my blog throughout 2021.

Granted, 2021 hasn’t started off any better, but that’s because we’re still experiencing the fallout from the damage caused by its unruly predecessor. 2021 has its work cut out trying to repair that, and it will undoubtedly require the assistance of 2022 and beyond to achieve it. However, 2021 is giving us a lot of reason to be hopeful, so there is definitely light at the end of this long, dark tunnel we’ve all been stuck in.

But I need to wrap up 2020 nevertheless. It was a strange and difficult Christmas without a doubt, not the sort any of us wanted, and it’s going to be a hard winter for many, especially now we’re in lockdown again. There’s a big ray of hope with the rollout of the vaccines though, so the future’s looking good, and many thanks to all the health workers who are doing their utmost to dish them out as quickly as possible.

My thoughts also go to everyone in America after the recent terror attack amid the fallout from Trump’s defeat. Biden’s inauguration on January 20th can’t come soon enough. Best wishes from across the pond, stay safe!

Those challenges aside, however, I hope you were able to find some enjoyment and comfort during the festive period, insofar as the rules allowed in your part of the world.

Mum and I are doing fine, I’m pleased to say. We’ve enjoyed lots of nice treats, and have had plenty of fun things to watch and listen to, all of which has been a welcome distraction from the news. I continued to have a few long walks around my local area during December as well, as that was the only way I could get out and about, so it was important to make the most of it. Mum’s had a bit of fresh air too of course, but doesn’t go on the long hikes like I do, and we’ve made sure she stays well away from other people apart from her sister (and even then they keep their distance at the front door, she hasn’t been in the house).

So we did pretty well this Christmas despite the limitations, and here’s my festive post and video to round things up. I’m not going to mention absolutely everything we filled our stomachs with, or every little bit of entertainment we watched or listened to. I’m just going mention my favourite things, as is the purpose of these posts. Nothing here is sponsored as usual, and any gifts are just from friends, not the people behind the products. So I hope you enjoy!

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