Heads up! Dr Who starts Saturday....

[citoyen]

This is an achievement of which any one of us would be rightly proud.

Really? Why?

d.

[her_welshness]

This is an achievement of which any one of us would be rightly proud.

Really? Why?

d.

Exactly! My husband and his fledgling organisation have been setting up a licensing agreement with the Beeb for a RPG for Hoctor Doo, and I am immensely proud of him.

Plus seeing my mate Laura doing a sterling (if brief) job as Katherine Jenkins plainer sister in the Xmas special was also very cool 

[bobb]

This is an achievement of which any one of us would be rightly proud.

I'd lean more towards retarded than proud....

[Chris S]

I was pretty pissed TBH, and I'm not really a Dr Who fan, so no useful judge I guess.

I was hopelessly confused from start to finish, and really had no idea what the hell it was about. A flying shark that liked opera, was that it?

[Wowbagger]

This is an achievement of which any one of us would be rightly proud.

Really? Why?

d.

I've never met the girl, but to me it indicates an independence from mass media which I think is quite laudable.

[bobb]

She's bullshitting. And if you believe her, your beard is starting to grow over your eyes!! Unless she was kept in a cellar during her childhood, there is no way she wouldn't know about Dr Who or the Daleks....

[her_welshness]

This is an achievement of which any one of us would be rightly proud.

Really? Why?

d.

I've never met the girl, but to me it indicates an independence from mass media which I think is quite laudable.

Darling boy, I know it does to your good self but it can be incredibly well written and there is some superb acting. As my hubby likes to say, anyone who is anyone in the acting world wants to do this show - it is the gig which is why I am so proud that my friend Laura got. Which is why Sir Michael Gambon said that he had always wanted to do this show. It ain't mass media, its a well loved show which I have adored since I was a little 'un and will continue to appreciate for the rest of my life  

[tonycollinet]

This is an achievement of which any one of us would be rightly proud.

Really? Why?

d.

I've never met the girl, but to me it indicates an independence from mass media which I think is quite laudable.

Darling boy, I know it does to your good self but it can be incredibly well written and there is some superb acting. As my hubby likes to say, anyone who is anyone in the acting world wants to do this show - it is the gig which is why I am so proud that my friend Laura got. Which is why Sir Michael Gambon said that he had always wanted to do this show. It ain't mass media, its a well loved show which I have adored since I was a little 'un and will continue to appreciate for the rest of my life  

*applause*

[Wowbagger]

Jolly good! And long may you enjoy it, Katie!

But why is it so incredible that people have somehow not been touched by a certain aspect of the mass media / culture? Bobb, re-read: I have never met the girl. This cropped up in a conversation with my sis-in-law. I'm not lying in my reporting of that conversation to you and I'm sure she wasn't lying in her reporting of the conversation she had yesterday lunch time.

It's part of the rich tapestry that not everyone fits into the same mould. For me to say it's laudable that someone has somehow avoided that which is quite difficult to avoid doesn't mean that I'm in any way criticising people's favourite television programme or people who like the programme. It means that I'm celebrating people's diversity.

[bobb]

I'm most certainly not saying you are a liar, or your sil. Just that the girl in question is. Maybe not a full on liar - just a bit of a bullshiter.

I don't give a flying bollock bag about Dr Who. I enjoy it as a bit of Saturday evening light entertainment, but apart from that I only watch it because Amy Pond is fit as all fuck.

You avoid the meeja and you've heard of Dr Who and the Daleks, so how on Earth is this 18 year old to be believed when she says she hasn't?

She's clearly a nutter....

[Wowbagger]

I must have been about 9 when Dr. Who was first on the telly (my recollection was that the first episode was on about the same time that Kennedy was assassinated*), and the Daleks probably turned up in the first series (I can't remember). I watched quite regularly: William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker... how many years did that lot cover?

I also recall (possibly incorrectly) that the first episode was broadcast twice, on consecutive Saturdays, because the first one was so popular but lots of people missed it and requested that it be shown again.

*Just checked: Kennedy assassinated 22/11/1963. Dr. Who was first broadcast 23/11/1963.  

Premiering the day after the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy, the first episode of Doctor Who was repeated with the second episode the following week.

[bobb]

So we have the king of popular culture avoidance (you) admitting to knowing all kind of facts about the show!! 

You know I love you, Pete - it's just that I do not believe for one second that this girl is being truthful....

[Wowbagger]

So we have the king of popular culture avoidance (you) admitting to knowing all kind of facts about the show!!  

You've seen from the cricket quizzes what a prodigious memory I had for totally irrelevant facts.

I didn't always try to avoid popular culture. In fact, I don't think I make any effort to avoid it now. People are allowed to lose interest in stuff and if, after a period of more than 47 years, I've lost interest in what I always regarded as a children's programme, then surely that's not that surprising.

The same is true of television in general. If you watched just 10% of what's on offer you'd never have time for anything else. I've just become totally fed up with watching telly. I've even got fed up with watching cricket. Televised cricket was ruined by Mark Nicholas and the trashy Channel 4 presentation of it. I was brought up on commentaries by John Arlott, Jim Laker and E. W. Swanton. No contest.

[Biggsy]

This is an achievement of which any one of us would be rightly proud.

Really? Why?

She's in training to be a High Court judge

[Rig of Jarkness]

This is an achievement of which any one of us would be rightly proud.

Really? Why?

d.

I've never met the girl, but to me it indicates an independence from mass media which I think is quite laudable.

Excepting the Guardian of course ?

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

 Not keen on the Christmas episode really. No real sense of peril. The trailers for the new series look great though.

[her_welshness]

The trailers for the new series look great though.

They do, don't they?

[darkpoint]

The trailers for the new series look great though.

They do, don't they?

And one of them is written by Mr Neil Gaiman..

bounces.

[alexb]

The Christmas special totally failed the 6 year old test...my 6 year old was completely unable to summarise what he'd just seen to his elder sister.
She tends to use him as a barometer for how scary it is. If he isn't too freaked out, she'll watch it with him on demand!

[her_welshness]

The trailers for the new series look great though.

They do, don't they?

And one of them is written by Mr Neil Gaiman..

bounces.

Squeeeee (as the youth would say), didn't he write one episode for Babylon 5 many moons ago? I seem to recall it had Pen & Teller in it...

[essexian]

Any one been watching the Sarah Jane Adventures (9am on BBC1 during this holiday period)?

A first rate spin off which, IMHO, is better than some of the recent Dr Who's.

[Clandy]

Whilst waiting for dinner today at my brother's, I see Doctor Who is being repeated. Not the new crap Doctor, but the previous entertaining and well acted Doctor.

[MattH]

Who, Tom Baker? 

[Tourist Tony]

Who, William Hartnell?

[nicknack]

No, Patrick Troughton.

(Actually, I rather like Matt Smith)