Welcome Back

So... It's been something like two years since the blog last spluttered temporarily into life and then died a death again due to a confluence of circumstances far too boring to go into. Far too long, in other words.

With the advent of a wondrous new toy (I'm finally iPadded up) I'm in a position to write on the fly,  whereas previously I had to specifically make a point of sitting down at the PC and then pouring all the words out of my head then and there. Additionally it's also meant I'm in a position to do a lot more reading of books and comics than I have done for quite a while so I find myself feeling like I've got stuff I actually want to talk about and share.

So I'm back... Let's see how long this one lasts.

To kick off I figured I should bring people up to date on some of what I've been doing in the interim. As a card carrying nerd I've not remained idle.

Firstly, I remain active in Doctor Who fandom. As you may or may not recall this is my first love and I continue to coordinate the Merseyside Local Group. (Still online at http://www.mlgonline.co.uk) We've moved a couple of times in the last couple of years and we currently meet at the historic Caledonia pub on Catharine Street (Round the back of the Philharmonic) on our customary First Saturday of every month. 2013, of course, was a busy year for Doctor Who and Doctor Who fans and I continue to be tapped by local and national media as a rentagob for any Doctor Who-related items. (For example  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzsCLyz90lI) At the MLG we also celebrated our 35th anniversary cementing our place as (probably) the longest continually running local group in the UK, if not the world. I've also been active on the convention circuit a little with some interviewing gigs at the local "Who at Hoylake / The Hilbre" events (Here's me talking to Anneke Wills http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jro47Ht-RsM)

and a visit to the National Space Centre in Leicester for last years "Science of the Timelords" as compere and sole interviewer for a day. (Nicholas Briggs, Andrew Cartmel, Nev Fountain, Marcus Hearn, Frazer Hines, Louise Jameson, Sarah Sutton, Nicola Bryant, Sophie Aldred all in one day...) What a busy, busy day.

Additionally, I'm now a regular presenter on the "Attack of the 50ft Nerds" podcast as resident "Third nerd" alongside my best mate Mike Bell and our partner in crimes against nerd-dom Andy Wears. It's a bizarre mix of regular shows where we discuss "everything in geekdom", film commentaries, "Beyond" episodes where we just talk about shit and occasional specials that don't fit into any of the existing brackets. Something for everyone as long as you can handle dick and fart gags. You can find the existing episodes on iTunes and the Pop-cast network pages (http://pcn.panelsonpages.com/category/50ft-nerds/).

As well as all the regular stuff, the new love of my life is Tabletop gaming, and it's all that fucking Wil Wheaton's fault. (Yes. Wesley Crusher. shut up. I know.) if you haven't caught Wil's show Tabletop on the Geek and Sundry network on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4F80C7D2DC8D9B6C) (Founded by Felicia Day and home of The Guild amongst other great nerd programming) it is my favourite TV show that is not actually on TV. This is what the YouTube app on my PS3 was made for. Best description? Celebrity Poker for Geeks. Take Wil, plus three friends (or sometimes members of his family) who are from the gaming, YouTube or acting communities and watch them play a fun game for 30 minutes and discover just how much you could have playing them too. Behind the sofa next to me is a pile of games that has been amassed in the last six months thanks to the Griggs families combined love of Tabletop. The games themselves are awesome and it's a great way to have some family time instead if just sitting in front of the TV. It's true, the family that plays together stays together. Wil and co have just successfully completed an IndieGogo funding campaign to raise a million dollars for season Three AND a new RPG show as well, so expect to hear more about my own adventures in the world of Tabletop.

The Family AutonScouser #Tabletop Collection

As always you can follow me on the twitter where you can keep up with my latest reading (Thankyou Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/), watching (Thankyou Tvtag at http://tvtag.com/feed), Beer drinking (Thankyou Untappd at https://untappd.com/) and general shenanigans that I can fit into 140 characters or less and, hopefully, I will periodically point you back here for something a bit more substantial. 

This has been a Public Service Announcement for AutonScouser... Drive safely folks.

New Dimensions in a galaxy far, far away...

The first thing I've been meaning to blog about during my interregnum was a trip to the cinema during the last school half term with my youngest son to see Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace in 3D.

Three subjects I want to cover from that trip.

Firstly, The film.
Secondly, It was my first experience of the current vogue for 3D in cinema
and finally, the cinema itself.

"Every generation has a legend, every journey a first step...."

This isn't going to be yet another blog slagging off The Phantom Menace. Quite the reverse, in fact. I'll hold my hand up quite happily and say "I like The Phantom Menace." Many, many Star Wars fans (some famous, some not so famous) have gone on record over the (14) years since it's release saying how much they hate it. How it doesn't stand up to the glorious original trilogy. How George Lucas has destroyed their childhood memories. In his autobiography, Simon Pegg described it as "...a boring, turgid, confused mess of pretensions and ill-thought-out science-fiction conceits, masquerading as children's entertainment and told with all the dexterity of a four-year-old recounting his summer holiday with a paintbrush." And that was one of his more polite pronouncements on the subject publicly and through his work.
To Simon (You're a hero of mine and I love you, but...) and everyone else who feels the need to continually complain about The Phantom Menace let me begin by saying "GET OVER IT!"
The original Star Wars is held up as this work of genius due, in part, to it's invention of the modern blockbuster, which in itself was merely a reinvention / re-imagining of the Saturday morning serials from days of yore. It's not a work of genius though. It's a very entertaining adventure movie made by someone who knew the films that had entertained him and was able to bring them up to date for his modern audience.
We watched it and we loved it as kids and have applied many more adult reasons for continue to love it as the years go on and we grow older. A 6, 8, 10 year old isn't going to care about the links to Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress" or the post Second World War themes running through it. It's got good guys and bad guys and spaceships and laser swords.
I maintain that if The Phantom Menace had been made in 1977 it would have had the same effect on us as it does on my (nearly) 6 year old. It took me a while to get Auton Scouser Jnr. to watch any of the Star Wars films and it was the prequel trilogy that got him hooked eventually, not our original films. He loves them all and taking the chance to see them on a big screen had to be done. I've seen five out of the six on the big screen thanks to the Special Editions being re-released back in the nineties. Sadly I missed out on Return of the Jedi, but I guess I'll finally nail that one in 2017. I gained a new appreciation for The Phantom Menace on that viewing as I sat there in the dark with Jnr. bouncing in his seat in excitement and virtually straining to join in with the light sabre battles and dogfights. It excites and entertains the audience its aimed at. What else does it need to do?

Into the Third Dimension...

For me, this was the 'new' thing I was getting out of the trip. I'm really not that bothered about 3D cinema. I'm happy with the media as it is. As long as the screen is big and the sound system is loud then that's as immersive as it needs to be. The greatest cinema experience I ever had was sitting alone in a large cinema watching a 70mm print of Apocalypse Now. No gimmicks. Just The Doors playing as a jungle is napalmed into extinction and the helicopters "whup whup whupping" from one side of the image to the other.
However, its all 'in-vogue' and it was about time I had a look.
Basically the illusion of depth has been added to The Phantom Menace by separating some (not all) of the scenes into multiple flat sections allowing some sections to appear closer than others.
It doesn't particularly add anything to my enjoyment of the film, but it didn't detract either thanks to the use of polarised glasses as opposed to the older generation of Red/Blue 3D glasses.
To be honest, I'm well aware this is probably not the best way to experience a 3D film as its, obviously, had the 3D aspect added later rather than, say, Avatar which was made with 3D cameras.
So, for now, I'm not overly excited by 3D, but I'm sure I will give a properly made 3D film a go at some point.

Seeing The Light...

Now, it's rare that the actual cinema that I visit rates a mention in any kind of review or discussion, but on this occasion I have to make an exception to write about our new local cinema in New Brighton on the Wirral.
The Light is a new multi-screen all-digital cinema opened as part of the Marine Point development and is only the third cinema opened by the chain (the others are in Hungary and Germany) with a fourth screen opening in Cambridgeshire next year.
Until the advent of The Light we were limited to two main chains (Vue and Odeon) and the 'art house' Picturehouse at FACT in Liverpool within easy reach. Suffice to say, cinema-going can be an expensive business when you have a family of two adults and two children (one teen and one under-10). In fact, it's very much of a muchness regardless of what cinema you go to these days as regards your experience. Expensive food, sticky carpets, not especially comfy seats, prices that gouge you for the 3D experience or if you're just a couple of years too old or too young.
The Light is a lovely looking cinema that's designed to be a social hub as well as a cinema. A bright and airy foyer that includes a licenced bar (Yes, that conversation from Pulp Fiction has finally happened) leading to the 8 screens (Two downstairs, the rest upstairs). I can see the size of the foyer struggling on a particularly busy day, but for my visits so far it's all been very relaxed. Customer service is spot on and the staff all appear to be well trained and inclined to doing the best for the customer rather than for the business.
For The Phantom Menace we were in one of the smaller screens which houses (to my quick count) about 100. Impressively clean and fresh and the seats are remarkably comfortable (and not of the fold-down variety) with plenty of leg room for those of us of the six-foot persuasion. Also happy to say this also means you don't have to squeeze yourself into a ball to let people get past you in the aisle. A few days later we also tried a bigger screen for The Muppets and had the same experience. Seating approx 250 in that one.
Ticket pricing is generally in line with industry except that there are no annoying 'Teen' prices. Adult OR Child. No in-between. This also means that we can book a family ticket for the four of us which saves us about a fiver over what we would pay at other local screens. There is no additional surcharge for a 3D film (Although you will still pay extra for your glasses if you need them. They are reusable so make sure you keep them.) and there is no booking fee through their website so you can book in advance and pick your specific seats knowing that you will definitely get to sit where you want.
The digital projection screens are truly beautiful showing bright crystal clear images without any kind of discernible artefacting. (Mrs AutonScouser is now such a digital-snob that she complains at how bad the 'traditional' film looks if we go to a different cinema.)
With the advent of cinemas like The Light I hope cinema managers get the opportunity to be a little more creative with their programming allowing some classics to re-appear on the big-screen regardless of a large-scale re-release as with The Phantom Menace 3D and the forthcoming Titanic 3D.
I commend film fans from all over Merseyside to give The Light a go as it's close to New Brighton railway station and therefore is an inexpensive destination wherever you are. My family definitely feel like we have a new home for cinema.

Deepest Apologies...

Yes. It has been far too long since I last posted here.

Regrettably a change in circumstances at work took away my normal blogging time and space, but I'm homing to return things to business as usual from today.

Thanks for hanging in there.

"There's nothing only about being a girl..."

"The universe has to move forward. Pain and loss, they define us as much as happiness or love. Whether it's a world, or a relationship... Everything has its time. And everything ends." 

A great deal has already been written this year about the late Elisabeth Sladen. Her untimely passing earlier this year lead to a mass outpouring of grief, and of celebration, that I don't think we had ever seen before.


As the organiser of the Merseyside Local Group of Doctor Who fans I was called upon by our local media to put into words the shock and sadness of tens of thousands of Doctor Who fans worldwide. It wasn't, and still isn't, easy to describe Lis, her career, and what she meant to fans and why she was so popular without straying into a long and involved ramble. So, at the time, I said my piece, we raised a glass in Liverpool to one of our own that we had sadly lost and then put things to rest.


Thinking about it in hindsight, I've realised she was a far more important part of my Doctor Who experience than I'd previously thought. A close friend at school was the one who got me into Doctor Who as a fan experience and he was besotted by Lis, therefore most of the videos I borrowed from him were late Pertwee and eary Tom Baker stories starring the lady herself. My friend also agented for her fan club and when he retired I took on the role leading to my earliest encounters with Lis. (I shall have to make a point of digging out my first interview with her soon and post it up here.)


Now, nearly eight months later, it's time to pick up the (figurative) pen again. While she would never be far from the thoughts of any Doctor Who fan, Lis is very much in the spotlight again with the transmission of the final episodes of The Sarah-Jane Adventures and the release of her much anticipated autobiography.


Elisabeth Sladen: The Autobiography. It never needed anything catchy or crass like "Who's That Girl?" Unlike other actors and actresses that have gone down this publishing route she always spoke for herself. Elisabeth Sladen. Sarah-Jane Smith. Nothing more had to be said. As the above quote from "The Monster of Peladon" goes, there's nothing 'only' about being a girl, let alone a Doctor Who girl.


Now, even Lis herself admitted that this book is a team effort, co-written with Jeff Hudson from many hours of interviews and discussions, but straight off the bat you can, almost spookily, hear her voice captured in the words that have been laid down. 

Bold Street Today (Courtesy of Google Street View).
The Shelagh Elliott-Clarke school was above the Jewellers
on the left hand side of the picture.

Starting with a potted family history and portrayal of her early life in Liverpool it's interesting from the point of view of being based in Liverpool to note mentions of familiar places. Lis refers to an early dance school being based on Bold Street (Up until recently just round the corner from the Merseyside Local Group's meeting venue and just across the road from a branch of Forbidden Planet) and makes mention of working on and having family holidays on my side of the river on the Wirral. It shouldn't have come as a surprise. I'm sure I've visited many places in common with Paul McGann or Tom Baker, but it still feels slightly bizarre, after all these years of walking particular streets, to think that I was following the footsteps of Lissie herself. 


Much of what follows will be familiar from years of interviews and convention anecdotes, so little is truly new or groundbreaking, but the book does give you at least an insight of Lis's feelings and personality beyond that of the public 'Sarah-Jane'. Who was Elisabeth Sladen? By turns she was hard-working, warm-hearted, generous, but she was also not backward if she felt you'd wronged her and terrible at any kind of forward planning (which she feels explains why her career ultimately took the shape that it did.) 


Obviously, the vast majority of the book covers her years in Doctor Who and her relatonship with the show in the years after. There's a sense of overwhelming joy and fun in the, albeit, hard work involved with churning out the show 26 episodes a year. Who did she get on with? Who didn't she get on with? That's for the book to reveal, but a glaring ommission is the ongoing mystery of who she replaced. Who had already been cast as the companion for season eleven that hadn't worked out? Barry Letts never let on, and now never will, and Lis similarly seemed to know, but doesn't give much away. (The chemistry between Miss X and Jon Pertwee didn't work and apparently she was quite a busty lady, which might prove problematic when running down corridors, but thats all we get.) It's amazing, given how many people have gone through the paperwork files for Doctor Who that this name has never been revealed, and potentially never will. 


Lis had always given the impression of a very positive person, so it shouldn't be a surprise that there are very few descriptions of bad experiences, so K9 and Company notwithstanding she celebrates her career in and out of Doctor Who, her adventures in america, her further adventures as a mother and her later return to the screen with Doctor Who and The Sarah-Jane Adventures. For obvious reasons, the book does feel a tad unfinished. The finished draft had sat in Lis's desk drawer untouched due to her illness, so she never had a chance to review and add anything further she might have felt was needed. The chapters covering The Sarah-Jane Adventures, in my humble opinion, are crying out for expansion, but in the end the pagecount contributed to any particular subject is proportional to its importance, so the Who sections will always be the biggest and don't leave you feeling short-changed.


The book in and of itself is classily presented, much like Lis, and includes a selection of personal and publicity photos that has become de rigueur for 'celebrity' biographies (Celebrity in quotes as Lis would never have considered herself as such) which, as with the rest of the book, gives us a glimpse into her life and adventures.


Elisabeth Sladen: The Autobiography now claims pride of place on my shelf next to "Who On Earth Is Tom Baker?", (or it will once my teenage daughter gives it back) just as I'm positive it will with many other Doctor Who fans. 

As mentioned before, the book coincided nicely with the transmission of season 5 (or at least the half of it that was completed on the tale end of season 4), so watching the 'final' adventures of Sarah-Jane Smith and her young friends is, again, an experience tinged with sadness and not a little frustration as these three stories maintain a level of quality across the run that hasn't been seen for a while. "Sky" is, in many respects, a retread of "Invasion of the Bane" in that Sarah-Jane and the plucky sideckicks have to save a child who has been created by aliens for nefarious reasons and the child ends up as part of the extended Smith family. Less of a reboot and more of a reaffirmation of what The Sarah-Jane Adventures is about. With Luke away at university and Rani and Clyde getting older, the cast needed a bit of freshening up and Sinead Michael has quickly proven herself as one of the new generation of 'not irritating' child actors. Would have loved to have seen more of her. Drama and comedy in equal measure and further mystery with the return of the Shopkeeper and his parrot. Will writer Phil Ford ever reveal the deal behind these characters? (Twitter @philfordesq and ask him.)


"The Curse of Clyde Langer" puts Daniel Anthony front and centre and, as always, demonstrates what a fine actor he is. It's rare for Doctor Who or The Sarah-Jane Adventures to touch on 'issues' quite as directly or effectively as this take on teen homelessness. The subject hasn't been couched in metaphor or made to look cool or attractive or exciting. Lily Loveless (another young actress who definitely has places to go following The Fades and Skins) performs a star turn next to Dan. Lily has an ability to perform a tough exterior with a soft-centre that makes her ideal for this kind of role and again we have a relationship left dangling that we'll never know the outcome of. The highlight of this run.


"The Man Who Never Was" isn't the strongest story to end the series on, but it still has plenty going for it. Tommy Knight is back as Luke, so we can finally have some sibling rivalry with his new 'sister', however it's James Dreyfuss who steals the show as the bitchy Harrison. Kudos for Gareth Roberts who turns in yet another stellar script. and manages to sneak in the rudest joke I've ever heard on a pre-5pm show. 

And so the series and the characters walk off into the sunset, leaving us wanting more, and it seems likely that AudioGo will be happy to fill that gap with the release of two more of their audio exclusive stories, this time read by Daniel Anthony and Anjli Mohindra. Doctor Who novelist par-excellence Martin Day gives us "Children of Steel", an evocative tale involving a steam-punk robot from the victorian age being woken up in the modern day. Doctor Who Magazine comic strip writer Scott Gray presents "Judgment Day", an adventure that sees Sarah-Jane called to account for her willingness to bend the truth for the greater good. A remarkably prescient tale given the current Leveson inquiry into media ethics which demonstrates that, just like "The Curse of Clyde Langer", The Sarah-Jane Adventures never shied away from big ideas just because it was a 'kids show'. Daniel and Anjli have some figuratively big boots to fill following Elisabeth Sladen's readings on the previous releases in this series, but both are assured readers and bring the team to life strongly. If AudioGo do continue the series in this manner then the legacy of Sarah-Jane and Elisabeth Sladen would be in good hands. 


And that's what we can be thankful for. Elisabeth may have passed on, we won't see Sarah-Jane in new adventures again, but she left behind a legacy of nearly 40 years worth of adventures with the Doctor and her new young friends which will never be far away. I just need to reach out for the DVD shelf and I can go right back to the beginning and there she will always be, holding her own against Sontarans and dark ages thugs with a massively scouse "GEROFF!" Never to be forgotten.

As the caption reads at the end of "The Man Who Never Was", "And the story goes on.... forever"

Elisabeth Sladen: The Autobiography is published by Aurum Press 

The Sarah-Jane Adventures: Children of Steel by Martin Day and Judgment Day by Scott Gray are published on CD and download by AudioGo 

Series 5 of The Sarah-Jane Adventures is currently listed for release on DVD and BluRay by 2Entertain in February 2012.

It's Beginning to Sound Alot Like Christmas...

Yes, the blog has been quiet for a few weeks. My deepest apologies and we should be business as usual from now on. We're into December and the festive season is only a few weeks away. As is customary in my house my iPod is full to bursting now with a permanent christmas playlist and I wanted to share my top 5 christmas albums that are currently in rotation. All the traditional songs are included on the player, but I can't help but collect christmas music so I often end up with umpteen cover versions of the same song. Here's the albums I think you can't be without over the yuletide period as an antidote to the usual fare of Wizzard, Wombles and White Christmas.

5. Trojan Christmas Box Set - Various Artists

Who cares about walking in a winter wonderland when you can feel the jamaican sun beating down on your christmas turkey thanks to one of the bumper compilations of reggae from Trojan. Just over three hours of classic chugging guitar riffs and hammond organ. Highlight is John Holt's rendition of Merry Xmas (War is Over). 

4. Tijuana Christmas - The Torero Band
From a Jamaican christmas to a Mexican one. Fantastically upbeat brass renditions of old carol staples like 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' and 'Silent Night' that will banish any signs of boredom brought on by hearing these melody's for the millionth time. Admittedly the musicians are likely to be as Mexican as I am, but it's a forgotten gem nonetheless.

3. A Green and Red Christmas - The Muppets
With the forthcoming release of the new Muppets movie in the UK (We have to wait a whole two months more than the USA, Boo, Hiss...) it's time to introduce a new audience to this album and so it's getting a re-release. Frankly anything is vastly improved by the introduction of Muppets to it, so an album of Christmas classics performed by your favourite Muppets is a no-brainer. The headliners are all there:- Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie, but it's the covers of 'Zat You, Santa Claus?' and 'Run Rudolph Run' by The Electric Mayhem Band that really rock out.

2. Christmas Spirit... In my House - Joey Ramone
Jeffrey Hyman, instantly recognisable in look and voice under his stagename of Joey Ramone. This is more of an EP than a full album and was released, like his solo-album, posthumously in 2002. Five festive (or at least festive-ish) ongs as a grand tribute to the man who epitomised US punk. Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight) was originally a Ramones track from the album Brain Drain, but is still the stand out track of this small, but perfectly formed collection, beating out Joey's cover of What A Wonderful World by a Ramones-whisker. Gabba, Gabba, Hey! ONETWOTREETFOUR!

1. A Christmas Gift to You from Philles Records - Various Artists
The single greatest Christmas album in the world ever! Whether you're a lover of Phil Spector's 'wall of sound' or not, it contains, pound for pound, the single biggest concentration of great christmas music ever in its barely half-hour length. Not a duff track. Not a bum note. (Some modern compilations tend to spoil things by have Sir Cliff of Sodding Richards on them and anyway, they don't count because all these tracks were recorded for this album, not collected from elsewhere.) Surprisingly, not a big seller on its original release, this is the album that my family traditionally listens to as we open our presents on Christmas Day morning because, quite frankly, I need something a little up-tempo to wake me up at half-six. It's hard to pick a favourite on this album, but if I had to be pinned down then its The Ronettes rendition of 'Frosty the Snowman'.

Post-script: A number of artists nearly made it into the top five, so honourable mentions must got to the swinging Brian Setzer Orchestra, progsters the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and the ever lovely Tori Amos for their Christmassy albums without which it wouldn't be a particularly fun time of year.

Res Ipsa Loquitur

I have to admit, I've probably made a rod for my own back in starting this blog. But then the whole idea was to force myself into writing regularly, or at least more regularly than I have been in far too many years. The difficulty, so far, has been in finding things I want to write about. Not so bad when I've got a fresh delivery of things to review and be excited about, but when I'm in a lax period...

That said, I shouldn't find it hard to find something to write about. I still read alot. I still watch a fair amount of TV. Unfortunately, alot of the TV that's inflicted on me isn't exactly by choice. Take an avergae saturday night, for example. Being a family man I have the choice of either going to a different part of the house or living through the excruciating torture of "Strictly Come Dancing" and "The X-Factor" (Oh and don't get me started on the forthcoming return of "I'm a Celebrity, starve me to death in the Australian outback!!!!").

Yup, there's a great deal of crap that gets watched on my telly by my wife and daughter. "Gossip Girl", "Grey's Anatomy", "Glee", etc, etc. Some of it is even genre crap that, on the face of it, you'd think I'd be more receptive to (Hello "The Vampire Diaries", I'll be covering you and your twinkly "Twilight" brethren and actual decent blood-shirtsty vampires in a forthcoming blog!), but generally if it's crap, I'll call it that.

However, just occasionally my missus strikes upon a little nugget of gold. In amongst all that chick drama comes a little programme that could. Something hidden away (more than likely on SkyLiving) that we blokes will more often than not ignore, but is actually worthy of our attention.

"Drop Dead Diva" presents the life, or more precisely afterlife, of vapid blonde model Deb who dies in a car accident and at the gates of St. Peter is judged 'shallow' and manages to get herself sent back to earth in the body of Jane, a recently deceased, brilliant, plus-size lawyer. With the assistance of her very-own guardian angel, Fred, and Deb's friend Stacy, who are the only people who know her true identity, Deb integrates herself into Jane's life and along the way learns lessons about life, love, identity and the old maxim about beauty only being skin deep.

"Drop Dead Diva" isn't a show that revels in it's genreness (Is that even a word?), nor does it dwell on it. The genre aspects are a tool to tell its stories and explore its themes rather than the raison detre of the show. In many respects it comes across as a modern chick-lit era take on Quantum Leap crossed with Ally McBeal, without a dancing baby or cigar-smoking hologram, but more than making up for it with its own brand of oddness. Indeed, stretching the Ally McBeal comparison further it's refereshing to see an attractive curvy leading lady in the guise of Brooke Elliott as opposed bag of bones Calista Flockhart. (Harrison Ford may go for that, but I sure don't!)

Elliott is surrounded by a strong supporting cast of generally unknown or half-know actors who, in the best traditions of these ensemble shows, have their moments to shine and often do without distracting the audience from Deb (as Jane's) journey. This isn't to dismiss them. The ongoing B-plots and relationships (Fred the Angel loves Stacy and Stacy ends up cheating on him, Deb as Jane works with her former fiancee, Grayson, who she holds a torch for, the boss and the other hot-shot female lawyer seem to have an on-and-off thing, etc etc...) are just as well-drawn and important as the primary plots.

Given that the vast majority of the shows that my beloved other half watches have me silently yearning for an asteroid to put me out my misery Drop Dead Diva makes a pleasant change. A relaxed and funny show that I can, secretly, enjoy with the wife as a guilty pleasure.

It was Thirty Years ago... Yesterday...

The Date: November 2nd, 1981.
The Place: BBC 2

In preparation for the then forthcoming new season of Doctor Who with its new Doctor, Peter Davison, BBC 2 ran a season of repeats stripped four afternoons a week under the title "The Five faces of Doctor Who." Producer John Nathan-Turner chose five stories to represent the many faces of the Doctor.

I can remember some of that season quite vividly. It would have been the first time I can remember watching Doctor's other than Tom Baker on TV. I'm pretty sure I caught the repeat of "An Unearthly Child" as I have a memory of sixties London swooping away from us on the TARDIS viewscreen, but I don't recall seeing the rest of that weeks story. I definitely saw all of "The Krotons." The eponymous aliens with their weird crystalline design and odd voices stuck with me as well as any Dalek or Cyberman. "Carnival of Monsters" I think appealed to me because of the timey-wimey weirdness of being stuck in a loop rather than the monsters or the rather pants aliens and their attempted political chicanery. As for "The Three Doctors", how could anyone not be drawn to more than one Doctor in an adventure! All that said, I have absolutely no memory of "Logopolis" from the repeat or the original transmission, so I think I can safely say I never saw that one.

I wasn't a fan back then, but I was the typical target demographic for Doctor Who. Seven years old and loving adventure stories, especially space ones, so amongst the myriad Enid Blyton's I was reading by that point there was the odd Tom Swift or W.E. Johns and the many, many Target novels that I borrowed from the local library. An almost unprecedented opportunity to watch old Doctor Who stories in a world barely coming into the home video revolution and unable to imagine DVDs, Blu Rays, Internet Streaming or iPads. It was thrilling without, at the time, entirely understanding why.

Over the years I think we (as opposed to the Not-We) have all played the game of "The X Faces of Doctor Who" season. What would we air if we were choosing a story to represent every incarnation of the Doctor? (Indeed, what would Steven Moffat do? Hmm... That sounds like a T-Shirt slogan.) How do you pick just one story? What criteria do you use. Popularity? Perceived quality? The monsters? My personal choices are as follows and fit, generally, to the rule that we have to fit the season into a fifty minute slot. So classic episodes are aired two at a time (therefore four episode stories rather than five or three). Admittedly Paul McGann would have to have a special dispensation, but otherwise the rules should stand. I've chosen to avoid characters or aliens reappearing and also chosen to go with a completely different companion each time as well.

1. An Unearthly Child
In the beginning, there was the word... and the word was... Foggy. The only hold over from the original five faces season. How it all began as a 'mild curiosity in a junkyard' becoming a 'great spirit of adventure.'

2. The Tomb of the Cybermen
Thought lost forever by 1981, returned to the archives in the nineties, this is a great representation of the Monster years and is chosen as my appearance of the Doctor's second-best enemies.

3. Day of the Daleks
Daleks plus Timey-Wimey. How can it not be popular?

4. City of Death
Tom Baker at his most-bonkers. Douglas Adams at his wittiest. Doctor Who abroad. Ticks many, many boxes for me.

5. The Visitation
The Davison era is a tough one to pick from as it was 'my era', the one I grew up on. Earthshock would be the obvious choice, but as the Cybermen have already appeared I went for another of my strongest recollections. Not so much a 'celebrity-historical' as one of those 'How the Doctor caused history to happen' stories. I always love the final shot of flames licking round the road sign of Pudding Lane.

6. Vengeance on Varos
Colin Baker's era, being rather short, leads to one or two tough decisions. Daleks and Cybermen are already out. The Trial of a Timelord is far too long. Timelash and The Twin Dilemma aren't great stories, so we're left at a toss up with which I came down on the side of Eric Saward's parody of reality television.

7. The Curse of Fenric
Just to show that Doctor Who was getting really, really good again when they cancelled it.

8. The Movie
D'uh. No brainer.

9. Rose
To my mind, the modern Who reintroduction of the series couldn't have been done better (Regardless of what Russell T. Davies has subsequently said on rewatching) and deserves it's place here.

10. Smith and Jones
While there are potentially better episodes to choose, the ones I'd most likely go for are the 'Doctor-Lite' episodes like "Blink", so here's my pick.

11. Vincent and the Doctor
And finally, bang up to date with the new Doctor. Alright he's not that new anymore, but still. Vincent and the Doctor is one of the finest of the 'celebrity-historicals' and plucks all the right emotional chords to have you sobbing along at the end.

And there you have it. 11 stories. 11 Doctors. One big celebration which we'll never actually see on telly because, lets face it, with todays umpteen repeats on BBC3 or Watch or on DVD/Bluray there's no point for the primary channels (BBC's One or Two) to do this kind of repeat season. But it's still fun to dream...