It’s odd to see how much both Auton stories have dated in the past few years. Not since they were first screened, but in the last six years, since the return of the series. The reason for this is that both stories try terribly hard to be ultra-modern.
It’s arguable that (controversial claim, this) Doctor Who as we know it didn’t really start until 1970’s ‘Spearhead From Space’, here re-released as a Special Edition along with the following year’s ‘Terror Of The Autons’.
There’s no easy way to describe this one-off 1981 kids show, starring what look like distant relations of the Smash family from the series of ‘70s adverts. It’s certainly very odd, occasionally very witty, and probably better enjoyed by immature grown-ups than any of the kids that it’s aimed at.
Doctor Gabriel Monroe (James Nesbitt), the titular and principal character in Peter Bowker’s entertaining ITV1 drama series, is a neurosurgeon at St Matthew’s Hospital in Leeds. His wit is as incisive as his scalpel and his private life is as messily traumatic as the injuries of the people upon whom he operates.
If there’s any chance you haven’t heard the of the name Jack Rosenthal, then you really should have. As a TV writer, he should be mentioned in the same breath as Harold Pinter and Dennis Potter, who also made their names on the halcyon days of one-off plays for television.
Both the best and worst thing you can say about Secret Diary Of A Call Girl is that it’s exactly the kind of thing you’d expect to find screening on ITV2. Whether you think that’s a positive or a negative will dictate how you feel about the programme itself.
Channel 4’s surprising breakthrough hit of the year proves that Britain’s favourite pastime is a healthy dose of schadenfreude viewing.
Sarah Jane Smith is investigating strange goings-on at a meditation centre in rural England; spooky alien spiders are controlling the minds of human beings in a fiendish plot to take over the world; and the Doctor is wearing a bowtie, because bowties are cool.
The second season of Nurse Jackie demonstrates quite how wonderful and under-rated this show is. Edie Falco was consistently one of the best things about The Sopranos over its six season tenure and so a starring TV vehicle for the actress was warmly welcomed when Nurse Jackie premiered in 2009.
There are not many complete Patrick Troughton stories left in the world, but those that remain are held as glimmering icons of a bygone, genuinely classic era of Doctor Who.