I suppose you want my opinion on a certain time and space bending show? Of course. Episode One of Series Three (or twenty nine if you like) was really very good, hence my lists:

The Good: The freaky Judoon talky faces, Martha being not annoying at all, The Doctor being back to his old flippant self, Anne Reid with a very sharp straw, endless funny lines that were not too silly (“Zovirax”, “compensation”, “little shop”, “made of wood”), a ridiculous plot (as usual) that didn’t make us groan, the end of the sonic screwdriver (however briefly),

The Bad: Those Saxon references are already annoying me, the crowd scenes in the hospital featured a very tiny crowd, Martha may have a crush on The Doctor.

This week’s pretend real Doctor Who World website is available by clicking here. You might hate it though.

This is also on The Other Blog but I like it so it’s here too…

Thanks to the lovely Sarah at Holler who sent me the official Peep Show Season 4 press release and some new promo photos…

PEEP SHOW – Series 4

The multi award-winning and critically acclaimed hit comedy starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb returns to Channel 4 for a fourth series in 2007. Peep Show follows the private world of Mark (David Mitchell) and Jeremy (Robert Webb), two twenty-something flat-mates living in south London. Mark is the sensible one – a professional brogue wearer with a slightly worrying interest in World War Two. Jeremy is the loose cannon – a lazy waster with dodgy friends – who dreams of becoming a musician but can never get his act together, or up in the morning. As ever, their deepest, darkest thoughts and feelings are revealed as they try in vain to find their place in the modern world and to find love and fulfilment. Having proposed by accident to Sophie (Olivia Colman), Mark now faces the horror of having to actually go through with the wedding. Or will he…? And when Jeremy’s beautiful ex ‘visa wife’, Nancy (Rachel Blanchard) unexpectedly turns up again, how far will he go to win her back?
The series also sees Mark spending a horrific weekend with Sophie’s argumentative parents, trying to get his gym instructor sacked (‘he touched me’), and getting involved in a spot of arson. Meanwhile, Jeremy performs some ‘handy’ work for a male pop star (with the emphasis on ‘handy’), does something pretty unspeakable to a dog, and worse of all – sleeps with Sophie’s mother.

Written by: Jesse Armstrong & Sam Bain
Directed by: Becky Martin
Produced by: Robert Popper

AWARDS: Winner – British Comedy Awards, Best Comedy 2006
Winner – RTS Award for Best Scripts, Comedy and Drama, 2006
Winner – Golden Rose in the Sitcom Category at Rose d’Or Lucerne 2004 Nominated for Best Situation Comedy BAFTA awards 2006
Nominated Best Comedy, Broadcast Awards 2006
Nominated for Best Scripted Comedy, Indies 2005
Nominated for Best Situation Comedy/Comedy Drama. RTS Awards 2004
Nominated for Best Situation Comedy BAFTA awards, 2004

Check out the official Peep Show MySpace…

Meanwhile, in the real world, the whole nation has gone a bit Doctor Whoey. Barrowman was on Richard & Judy (my eyes are bleeding from the images that phrase bring to mind) and they did their usual schtick of her talking nonsense and him telling her off. Most tiresome. Barrowman was then on Charlotte Church (he’d have to be pissed) which made me realise that my initial opinions of her potential to be a good television presenter were unfair. She is in fact even worse. Then Tennant was on Graham Norton, who appears to have transplanted his old very very poor Channel 4 show to a BBC2 slot. Cue lots of Graham pretending to fluff lines, do an hilariously piss poor thing with something mildly resembling a TARDIS by The London Eye for no resaon whatsoever and the usual amount of rubbish gay innuendo. John Inman would be turning in his grave if he was dead and now he is so I think it might just happen. Luckily The Times did a rather good article to balance the oddness of The Martha Jones MySpace.

XO found a Scary Picture!

Why, Rufus, why?

Wonder Woman hates Starbucks as much as I do!

Jodie Picoult is writing that comic at the moment. Really. So when is Dan Brown penning Ghost Rider?

A certain radio comedy sketch show that doesn’t even start recording until next week (full report forthcoming from me) is already available to pre-order on a well-known website. How very futuristic. Is it Torchwood.Com?

Did I mention that thing is on telly tonight at 7?

I could blog about David Beckham stealing Elton John’s ‘hair.’ But I won’t.

I could blog about the horrible popular chemist’s own brand cough medicine that tastes like liquorice from hell. But I won’t.

I could blog about that woman who tried to sue her landlord because she got drunk, climbed through a wondow and danced on a skylight that she then fell through. But I won’t.

I could blog about my quest for my very own nemesis. But I won’t.

I could blog about that Weakest Link that’s on tonight featuring the tin dog coming last and my shiny head in the background. But I won’t.

I could blog about the cheapo clothing company who sacked my friend for blogging about them and their unfortunate bad press due to 45 million UK and USA customers creditcard details being stolen by hackers. But I won’t.

I will blog about an excellent book that I have chosen as my Manager’s Book Of The Week even though that term does not really even exist. How can any sane person resist this marvellous item?

It’s both entertaining and educational. Learn how to stuff your beloved pets (once deceased of course) and make them more useful than just a regular rotting carcass. Wind chimes, coffee tables, jewellery, etc. Marvellous! A bargain at £4.99!

I will also blog about clicking here to get a free mp3 of Get Lost by Patrick Wolf which is pretty damn special.

I will blog about that new trailer for my favourite programme which appeared on the BBCi yesterday and then turned up on YooHooTube. New clips! Jess! Daleks! Gatiss! Pigs in space! Sir Derek! How bloody fantastic!

I need more cough mixture after watching that (for the fifth time).

I am tired. And uninspired.

So here’s some good old fashioned Daily Mail hate for a Thursday, mate.

Great.

That Catholic Dude with the really very Irish name has been moaning about them gays and their ‘special rights’ to not be discriminated against by those Catholics. Again. Yada yada yada. Mister Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor (to be sure) said that the new laws to stop intolerance and bigotry were in fact intolerant. Like that makes any sense. He said, in between being discriminated against by people, “My fear is that, under the guise of legislating for what is said to be tolerance, we are legislating for intolerance. Once this begins, it is hard to see where it ends.” I wonder where he thinks it ends. Is it, like those Mail readers might say, political correctness gone mad to not treat them lovely poofs as inferior just because they happen to like a bit of the other kind of how’s yer father? Or is it intolerant to actively persue the closing down of adoption agencies that look after vulnerable kids just because there might be a small chance that one of those kids might one day be looked after by a loving couple who like it a bit gaywise? I know what I think is more wicked. And I don’t mean that in the word of da yoof way. Right, I am off out with my Buy One Get One Half Price When You Go Gay leaflets. There’s a lot of promotion of homosexuality to be done, damnit!

I think a Catholic conversion is even less likely than a loft conversion. And I certainly do not need the space.

Only two more days to go now…

Billie Who?

If anyone is having doubts about continuing watching Lost then don’t. I enjoyed this week’s episode. That’s three in a row now. Blimey.

Next week: Girlfight!

Oh how I love to multi-task in the workplace. I can get too good at it and completely ignore people though. That and forget who people I know via MySpace are when told by their girlfriend that I have been leaving messages that I remember nothing about. It’s not meant to overlap, this interweb life and the real one. That’s not normal, is it? Even though I know quite a few of my ‘friends’ in the fleshy way too. No not that way. Meh. I fulfilled an ambition the other day when I put in a Doctor Who window in the bookshop, er, window. Is it wrong to be excited by such things?

Only a few more days until The Doctor Who Party! Including the first episode of Season Three (aka Season 29 for hardcore nerds) , a new Doctor Who Confidential, a showing of That Weakest Link Special that you can see me in the background behind John Barrowman in, loads of nibbley food, a cake of some sorts and probably too much wine. Plus various nerds, geeks, new fans and that woman who gets phonecalls while at parties from Liz Shaw and is having lunch with Romana (Version 1.0) on Friday. Oh such a showbiz whirl! I shall, of course, take some photographs of the drunk confused people not understanding why the Judoon look a bit too Sontarany.

Here’s the new video from Client. I like it. So should you.

Why do I love Wisdom, that comic written by the staggeringly talented Paul Cornell so much? I shall show you why:

See?

We went to see Chain Reaction being recorded last night after queuing round the block for a while. The theatre was a bit of a kerfuffle as there wasn’t much space to wait once everyone got inside so it got a bit warm in there. I noticed a lot of nerd shoes, as you do at these things, and some familiar BBC radio recording faces. Does this make me an uber-geek? The people taking part in what they call the ‘tag team interview show’ or something were Catherine Tate (interviewer) and David Tennant (interviewee). While waiting for them to come onto the stage I overheard various odd conversations including a man to my left who was telling his lady friends about ‘only having a few lines’ which may have been an acting job or some of them bad drugs. Behind us was a collection of youngish types who were mostly gays and some of whom worked in Cardiff on those sci-fi shows. It appears that a lot of employees there are of the gaywise persuasion (I never would have guessed) and have ‘dated’ a lot of their colleagues. They also discussed how pleased they were for their straight friends that there were now women who liked Doctor Who. Lucky them…
Anyway, we leant many things about the Tennant, including a bizarre stage show he recorded a VT appearance for in Edinburgh and then forgot about it. It starred a woman who is in Eastenders playing someone who is buying a baby but I don’t watch it so have no idea. She happens to be a friend of Catherine Tate which is in this case not a euphamism. We also learnt about David’s terrible script in The Bill and how he was almost in Taggart. He confessed to being a childhood Doctor Who fan as well as a lover of The Proclaimers and Catherine Tate realised that her career path may match that of Jeanette Krankie. Final Tennant facts include his hatred of interactive news channels that give pointless people the ability to text in about their opinions thst nobody needs know about, and astrology, which Tate loved. That’s girls for you…
The programme goes out sometime in maybe Summer or Autumn, I am not The Radio Times. But this is:

I know who that girl is!

Is this true? It’s inevitable really.

And in music news…

That Brett Anderson has a solo album out. The dreaded solo project indeed… and it’s sadly no Jarvis. Brett’s a bit too maudlin these days and he does take himself terribly seriously as you know. He’s stopped the crack and black (hair dye) and collaborated with Fred from Pleasure (mmmm rather good Nordic pop) to produce a CD of mostly downbeat songs. But not as ‘difficult’ as a Thom Yorke or Nicky Wire solo project, phew. Anyway, we get that single Love Is Dead which is pretty self explanatory, plus One Lazy Morning which has that nice laid back acoustic guitars and strings feel that some of the last Suede album had. He does ask if he’s gonna find Jesus in himself a bit, which does scare me. Not bad. Also in the good box are To The Witer, which is similar in tone to the previously mentioned track and mentions plastic dinosaurs, and The Infinite Kiss, which seems to be quite happy and nice really. Brett likes to recycle as he really cares so Dust And Rain has the ‘I am the dust and you are the rain’ line from The Tears’ Refugees. He also does too much drug referencing in his usual oh so serious lyrical ways but we can forgive that as it’s what makes him fun. In an unusual way of course. There’s a really awful song called The More We Possess The Less We Own Of Ourselves that Fiona Apple would dismiss as silly and pretentious. It’s horrible and the title tells you all you need to know about it. There are some average very Bretty songs like Intimacy and Ebony which are alright I suppose but don’t get me all that thrilled. The final track is Song For My Father which is a fair ending to a fair CD. It’s by no means a bad album, just very much as to be expected. It’s basically fine.

Brett Anderson, yesterday. Plastic dinosaurs not pictured.

Random comedy news. Or not. The latest American remake that doesn’t need remaking is as follows:
THE THICK OF IT (ABC) – Alex Borstein (“Family Guy”) is the latest addition to the comedy pilot, about the workers in the office of a low-level congressman. She’s set as the congressman’s press secretary.Commitment: Ordered to pilot.
Cast: Alex Borstein, Michael McKean, Oliver Platt, Rhea Seehorn (Ollie)
Writers: Mitchell Hurwitz, Richard Day
Director: Christopher Guest
Executive Producers: Armando Iannucci, Mitchell Hurwitz, Paul Telegdy (BBC Worldwide Productions), Richard Day
Studio: Sony Pictures Television.

It has Mitch Hurwitz as a producer (Arrested Development, comedy fans!) and Mister Iannucci is involved somewhere. And with Christopher Guest directing it could be good. Plus the voice of Lois Griffin! I shall wait and see…

In other other comedy news, David Mitchell was at the Mark Evans comedy thing last night with James Bachman. I wasn’t there as I was at the other thing but that man who is neither Mitchell nor Webb enquired about my horrible cough. Which was nice.

Firefawkes tagged me for another blasted meme. With a twist…

Three Things That Scare Me:
Human beings: Just stop it!
The Daily Mail and all who sail in it.
Little Britain and what has happened to it. Why why why?

Three People Who Make Me Laugh:
The people who made the Little Britain radio series and series 1 on telly.
That’s at least three people but I shall choose two more.
Mitchell And Webb.
My Husband. He tickles me.

Three Things I Love:
That Husband, although he is not a thing.
How about The Thing? From The Fantastic Four. He’s a Thing.
And thirdly, I love you all.

Three Things I Hate:
80% of puny humans.
Stupid ignorant people who should know better.
C*nts who drive enoromous vehicles that they don’t need on our roads. Wrong for so many reasons.

Three Things I Don’t Understand:
I don’t live up a mountain yet my neighbours buy vehicles that are only appropriate for that kind of terrain.
The whole cult of celebrity that appears to be very popular these days. Since when did what people who had been knocked up by a footballer say, do, or think need any analysis at all?
I also don’t understand those shoes with tiny wheels on them. They’re shit, kids. You look like tools and I hope you crash.

Three Things On My Desk:
Creme Egg wrapper.
Cup of tea.
Benylin.

Three Things I’m Doing Right Now:
This meme.
Slurping tea. As usual.
Listening to the Lucky Soul album on my computer. It’s really very good.

Three Things I Want To Do Before I Die:
Live a bit more.
Play John Inman in ‘I’m Free (But Don’t Tell Mother): A Life In Panto.
Carry on having a good time.

Three Things I Can Do:
It when I B&Q it.
Recommend a book I have never heard of and probably wouldn’t even like if I had.
Cook some cracking meals.

Three Things I Can’t Do:
Whistle.
The splits.
The Locomotion.

Three Things I Think You Should Listen To:
The voices in your head. But only the good ones.
The new Patrick Wolf CD.
Your Mum and Dad.

Three Things You Should Never Listen To:
The bad kids.
Melanie Phillips. She’s evil. And she smells.
Anything that has been near any of those awful musical ‘talent’ shows off the telly. Especially that new one, the one who looks like kd lang but is in fact a boy who thinks he is doing it his way when it’s really just Frank Sinatra’s way.

Three Things I’d Like To Learn (but probably won’t):
How to bullshit. But I don’t really want to.
Another language. But I am too lazy.
How to fix computers. Lazy, etc, etc.

Three Favourite Foods:
Only three? Pah!
Chocolate, chocolate cake, chocolate biscuits.
Cheddar, cheshire, mozzarella, parmesan, red leicester.
Vegetarian cottage pie, a good nut roast, Linda McCartney sausage sanwdich with ketchup.

Three Shows I Watched As A Kid:
I watched hundreds!
Doctor Who.
Twin Peaks.
The Young Ones.

…

Tomorrow: David Tennant facts! Learnt tonight (yes tonight!) at a thing in London on a stage what we queued round the block to go see but it was worth it even though I was so so tempted to shove all them people’s camera phones up their bottoms. Oh yes…

We lost an hour in bed and went to Essex for a belated Mothers’ Day today. That’s mothers in the plural sense as we have one each. Like most other people. So double Essex meant a lot of time in the car, admiring the marvellous Essex graffiti such as our favourite which is ‘Cock Bum Willy’ on a building near my parents’ house. Such class and inspiration there. We picked up my mum, nearly running over a stupid pheasant on the way, and found that my sister was in bed as usual, brother 1 (the one who is not horrible) was at work and brother 2 was, how shall I put it, eating more than his fair share of warm oaty cereal. My dad hates going shopping or going anywhere really so it was a mothery trip… We picked up Husband Jamie’s mum and brother and went off to Southend On Sea, home of Dan: The Art School Year(s).
Southend is a bit of a shithole really but I have loads of happy memories of it. I’m amazed that I can remember much of it at all as The Art School Year(s) was also the year of chemical darkroom work which tended to rot my braincells. That and the booze of course. Bloody students. I spent a year roaming the streets with a video camera, filming random seaside town life and overlapping the images with weird noises. Like you do. I also dressed one of my art colleagues up as a tramp and made a rather crummy bit about the homeless for a project. I was such a fraud and a lazy git too, but it was studenty times after all. Don’t even ask me about the shit movie with 70s funk music starring a character inspired by one of the settings on the outdated camera, involving a flipflop on a stick, a balaclava and a strategically placed pingpong ball as I am trying to forget that one.
The goth/chav division is strong in Southend. The goths have developed some odd sub-groups including the very local incarnation that consistsof hairdye (black), eyeliner(black) and Nirvana t-shirts (black) paired with a scowl and Very Long Leather Coat. Like some kind of grumpy superhero. Without fighting any crime as it’s too much hassle and pressure from sicuety to conform and that. It just looks silly but at least they aren’t running up and down the high street off their faces on cheap lager beer shouting at pigeons and seagulls. God I miss that place.
We had the authentic lunch of fish and chips except I had a dry cheese and onion pastie as I am one of them vegetablearyan freaks. The baked beans gave me much needed moisture. Made in a cafe and served up by an old lady who used a papery notepad to take our order. With ketchup from a squeezy thing. You don’t get that in Fancy London! We then had 99s and made a mess. Mmmm…
Almost ran over a grouse on the way to dropping my mum home. This makes it sound like they live in a game park or something. She had forgotten to take her housekeys, as you do, so another detour was needed… and eventually we got home and were rather tired.

My rubbish photoshop tribute to our day out. Marvellous!

This blog is sponsored by Benylin. Unfortunately for me it’s the non-drowsy version which does feck all to make me feel any better. I’m so uninspired at the moment so here’s another one of those trailers. It’s a little bit different as it has a certain large-faced person in it (no, not Sophie Ellis Bextor) and a brief snatch of Dalek.

Not that kind of snatch. Dirty!

I would have posted David Tennant doing some ‘comedy’ with Catherine Tate but as it didn’t even raise a laughter wrinkle in my face I felt that it would be cruel to inflict it upon anybody else.