Karen Gillan in Radio Times

Karen Gillan may be leaving Doctor Who later this year but its nice to know she'll still be on out TV screens. The new issue of the Radio Times features Karen on the cover as she is appearing on BBC4 in We'll Take Manhattan where she stars as Jean Shrimpton in 1962.

A good enough reason for me to get scanning...

My new blog

I've set up my own website and put a wordpress blog on it. As time goes on I'll stick some blog posts up there. I expect I'll still post here though. Anyway, here's he blog address...

http://www.monobrowze.co.uk/blog/

Lara Pulver in Radio Times

Lara Pulver and some other Sherlock actresses are interviewed in the new Radio Times.

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2012-01-10/sherlock-lara-pulver-and-the-shows-female-stars-confess-all

Daily Mail Lara Pulver Sherlock Nudity Hypocrisy Shock!

You just gotta love the Dail Mail and it's ongoing obsession of looking for something to be annoyed or offended by the BBC. Today's paper included the shocking news that Lara Pulver was NUDE before the WATERSHED on Sunday night in the BBC's Sherlock.

And just to underline the SHOCKING NUDITY SHOCK what do they do?

They print two photos of Lara Pulver NAKED. Solely in the interests of journalistic integrity, you understand.

If readers want to be shocked then they can choose to follow the link below. Please note that the shocking nudity referenced above does not actually contain any NAUGHTY BITS.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2081486/Lara-Pulver-naked-Sherlock-Holmes-BBC-raunchy-pre-watershed-scenes.html

But why did they not run the story in Monday's edition? They must have been too shocked, perhaps.

It's a wonder they are not calling it Adlergate or something.

Shocking.

Sherlock 2.1 review

The long awaited Sherlock series 2 has finally arrived. I do feel like just saying, 'yes it's very good , watch it'. But I shall attempt a little more detail.

The episode picks up with the cliffhanger ending from the last series. You know, Jim Morarity and the swimming pool? Well I had forgotten it ended like that. I don't think the show really needs a cliffhanger ending.

The new episode mainly concerns itself with introducing Lara Pulver's rather naughty version of 'the Woman', Irene Adler. She is in possession of a camera phone that contains lots of secrets that various intelligence agencies and terrorists would be willing to kill over. Sherlock takes on the job of getting his hands on the phone, supposedly to protect the reputation of the royal family.

However for once it looks like Sherlock has met his match. Irene Adler turns out to be a resourceful adversary who gets the upper (whip) hand, at one point  drugging Sherlock to get her phone back.

The show continues to employ some wonderful visual flourishes to illustrate Sherlock's observations, wether it be someone coming into contact with 'three small dogs' or Watson having a 'new girlfriend'. However with Adler he is confused to find he can't read her at all, and we are presented with '??????'.

There's an excellent sequence that has Sherlock and Adler at the scene of another crime he was investigating, while in her living room, as the drugged Sherlock falls into bed. Yes, you really had to see it.

There's also a running gag about a personalised ring tone that Adler puts on Sherlock's phone that causes some amusement but also alerts us to his presence at unexpected moments.

Overall it's a very enjoyable opener to the new series.

Kelly Sotherton article to start the new year

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympics/article-2080779/LONDON-2012-Kelly-Sotherton-targets-Olympic-heptathlon-comeback.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Another Lara Pulver Sherlock Promo Photo

Found another Sherlock promo pic of Lara Pulver as Irene Adler in Sherlock Series 2.

http://adf.ly/4QbS7##CLICK##

Doctor Who and Downton Abbey Christmas episodes

I keep putting off commenting on the Christmas Day episodes of the above shows. Well, here's my thoughts.

Doctor Who was a bit odd. I don't mean odd as in strange or weird as its normally strange and weird. I mean odd as the story was a bit more straightforward than what I've come to expect from Stephen Moffat. Then again, maybe I'm getting used to his stories.

In any event it concerned the doctor crashing to earth in 1938 in a borrowed space suit and being helped by a lady played by Claire Skinner. He promises to help her in return, all she has to do is wish. Yeah.

So it's 1941 and she's had a telegram to say her RAF husband is missing presumed dead. She and the kids end up at a big house in the country wher the doctor is playing the part of the caretaker.

To cut a long story slightly less long, one of the kids goes through a present to a snowy tree world and disappears while following a wooden tree person.

Ok, that is a bit weird, I'll grant you that.

The doctor and the other kid follow and then the mum follows them. It turns out they are on Androzani Major (in a bit of name-checking to the last Peter Davidson story) and the bad humans are about to kill the trees with acid rain and the tree souls take refuge in Claire Skinner who pilots a big globe thing through the time vortex back to earth. And it turns out her husband isn't dead as he follows her trough the vortex as well.

So that's all ok, it's fine, not bad, I think as I look at my watch.

Then it goes brilliant as Claire Skinner convinces the doctor to go tell his friends he's not dead. He arrives outside Amy Pond's house and knocks on her (TARDIS blue) door. Amy answers and they stare at each other for a bit.

'So, you’re not dead,' Amy says. 'And a happy New Year,' smiles the doctor, embarrassed. 'River told us,' Amy finally reveals.

Karen Gillan is in full Amy frown mode. Is brilliant. That couple of minutes of them standing at the door makes me realise how sad it will be when Karen leaves next year. Sniff.

So, on to Downton Abbey.

According to the tv listings the episode lasted 2 hours. It probably did but in some ways it seems to have lasted about a week. There must have been about 27 advert breaks in it. Ok, 27 is an exaggeration. It was probably only 24.

For such a long running time not much actually seemed to happen. The main plot thread concerned Mary's impending marriage to Iain Glen, that actor bloke with the cool voice. It turned out that he was blackmailing her to marry him. As long as they were to be wed he was preventing the scandal getting out. You know, the scandle about her and the Turkish gentleman who went and died in her bed?

She discovers her dad knew about it when he tells her not to marry Iain Glen. Then she tells Wet Matthew. You remember Wet Matthew? He's the one who was paralysed in the war and then 'got better'. He was the one engaged to that nice Miss Swire who made the deathbed plee that he should get together with cousin Mary in order to be happy. Which then prompted him to go off in a huff and say that he could never marry cousin Mary and never forgive himself, etc.

Well, guess what? He's forgiven himself and asked cousin Mary to marry him. Honestly, you can't rely on him to make up his mind at all.

What helped the episode immeasurably was the complete absence of Lady Sybil and the Irish chauffeur. Let me state that I have no problem with the actress ho plays Sybil as she is quite pretty, and I don't object to the character. But that story line where she and the Irish chauffeur hooked up after displaying zero chemistry felt like a crudely engineered plot development that was jammed into the script as an afterthought.

Some other stuff happened involving a dog, and Bates was found guilty for murder much to the other character's surprise. Bates and his wife became slightly more interesting characters as they had to do all their scenes together in prison, and him in period manacles.

So, a slightly longer post than intended.

Prometheus Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sftuxbvGwiU

Nuff said.

Lara Pulver photo from Sherlock

Nice high quality photo of her Pulverness that I found floating around the interweb.

http://hatimoon.tumblr.com/post/14460239440/lindcherry-lara-pulver-in-sherlock-a-scandal-in

What to watch on TV this Christmas

Here's a few things that I will be watching on TV this Christmas.

On Christmas Day there is of course Doctor Who on BBC1 at 7pm. I expect there will be lots of running around and a soppy ending. Flying sharks will be unlikely this year. That's so 2010.

Later that evening there is a two-hour special of Downton Abbey. If there isn't anything better on I expect I'll give it a go while eating After Eights and Terrys Chocolate Orange segments.

(I'm still a bit miffed that they killed off the nice Miss Swire in the last episode. The poor thing had doomed written all over her the moment she turned up with Wet Matthew.)

Anyway. Back on the BBC from Tuesday 27 December to Thursday 29 December we have a new adaptation of Charles Dickens Great Expectations. Do we need another one so soon since the last one in 1999? Maybe not, but we're getting one and I'll be watching. Gillian Anderson (returning to Dickens after 2005's Bleak House) plays Miss Haversham. But here's a photo of Vanessa Kirby as Estella, mainly because she looks prettttyyyy.

Finally on New Years Day we can look forward to the return of Sherlock and the long awaited event that is Lara Pulver as Irene Adler. I expect I'll have something to write about that.

Two Missing Doctor Who Episodes Found

During the summer I found myself getting into classic Doctor Who and in the process purchased numerous Target novels, video tapes and DVDs. Along the way I got an appreciation for just how frustrating it is that so many 1960s episodes are missing due to the BBCs policy of junking film copies and wiping video tapes.

Therefore I spotted what was some unexpected good news online this morning, namely the discovery of two more missing episodes of 1960s Doctor Who. It had been a number of years since an episode was discovered and the count of missing episodes now stands at 106.

The episodes discovered were from the William Hartnell story Galaxy Four and the Patrick Troughton story The Underwater Menace. Hopefully this will inspire film buffs to double-check their attics for episodes from The Power of the Daleks or The Wheel in Space!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16136521

Lara Pulver photos from Sherlock

The BBC has released a couple of photos of Lara Pulver as Irene Adler from the forthcoming second series of Sherlock.

The new episodes are due in the new year, but just to confuse things the new Sherlock Holmes movie is also imminent.

The Killing II vs PanAm

So what to watch on Saturday night?

On BBC4 we have the followup to critically acclaimed The Killing. Nordic angst, grisly murder, chunky jumpers, frowning. And a double-bill no less.

On BBC2 we have fluffy frothy pretty but empty Pan Am, Mad Men lite as it were. It's got pretty air hostesses in the 1960s wearing fetching blue uniforms. And a double-bill no less.

For the first night of The Killing I decided that it would get my vote. Bring on the murder and the frowning. I thought the first episode was pretty good. But half-way through the second one I found myself stuck in a political meeting and with a shock I realised I was bored. So I gave up on The Killing half-way through episode 2.

Then this weekend I decided to pick up with episode 3, get back in the game. Bring on the jumpers and the angst! Very quickly thereafter I found myself in another political meeting and I realised I was bored. I quickly turned over to BBC2 to watch Pan Am. Yes, it was fluffy and frothy and empty, but in a pleasant way. The girls were pretty and looked good in their blue uniforms. There was even some sort of spy plot involving Goran from ER.

So until there is a director's cut of The Killing with all the political meetings removed my vote will be with Pan Am.

Kelly Sotherton: I don't want to get to 60 and think 'if only'

Another Kelly Sotherton article has appeared, this time in The Guardian. Hence me buying the paper during my lunch-break.

The British Olympian was told she would never compete again, slipped into depression and lost her funding, but now she has ambitions at London 2012 as well as Strictly Come Dancing.

Kelly Sotherton is taking nothing for granted but is planning to live off her savings and train through the winter at Birmingham's high performance centre.

"It's rubbish, really," Kelly Sotherton says, laughing defiantly at the fact that, last Sunday, she turned 35. Seven weeks since returning to training for the heptathlon, the gruelling multi-event discipline in which she once fractured her spine in between winning bronze medals at the Olympic Games and the world championships, Sotherton shrugs. "They're really cruel in athletics. As soon as you reach 35 they put a 'V' next to your name. V for veteran. Honestly.

You can read the whole article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/nov/14/kelly-sotherton-london-2012-olympics?newsfeed=true

Rebecca Hall in Radio Times

I discovered that Rebecca Hall is in the new issue of the Radio Times so I bought a copy and scanned the pages.

The fact that Christina Ricci was on the cover in a 1960s air hostess uniform might have had something to do with me picking up the magazine in the first place...

Rebecca Hall in Telegraph Magazine 29 October 2011

I spotted Rebecca Hall in today's Telegraph magazine so I picked up a copy and attempted some scans of the article which can be found below.

It's a while since I've seen Rebecca in a mag so it's nice to get an update on what she's been working on. Her next role is the lead in a 1920-set ghost story called The Awakening which is released in November.

Lara Pulver S Magazine 25 September 2011

Lara Pulver appeared in the Sunday Express "S Magazine" back on 25 September 2011. I've only got around to doing the scans now. Here they are!

Downton Abbey sisters in Radio Times

I know I was a little bit hard on Downton Abbey in my last post to this blog. However that didn't stop me from buying the new issue of the Radio Times that has a photo of the three Crawley sisters on the cover.

I'll be honest, I only bought it because there was a photo of the three Crawley sisters on the cover. I suspect it's largely to do with my strange and increasing attaction to the middle sister Edith.

Regardless of my motivations for buying said magazine here is a fairly good quality scan of the cover featuring Laura Carmichael, Jessica Brown Findlay and Michelle Dockery.

There are some actual words in an article about them inside the mag but I didn't bother scanning those.

I might tune in next Sunday night for a few minutes to see if Edith gets off with the Titanic guy.

Probably.

Kelly Sotherton returns to hepthalon

Long time readers of this blog may recall that while I am not enthusiastic about sport I am slightly more enthusiastic about Kelly Sotherton. Last year she announced she was giving up the heptathlon.

On Monday the news broke that it seems she's had a change of heart. Wednesday's Telegraph newspaper had an interview with her and here's an excerpt.

London 2012 Olympics: heptathlete Kelly Sotherton aims to finish athletics career on a high despite losing funding

It remains one of the harshest verdicts ever bestowed by a coach on his own athlete. In 2004, an emerging British heptathlete named Kelly Sotherton won Olympic bronze in Athens. Yet the first thing that everyone remembers about that breakthrough result is Charles van Commenee denouncing her as “a wimp”.

You can read the whole article at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/8848910/London-2012-Olympics-heptathlete-Kelly-Sotherton-aims-to-finish-athletics-career-on-a-high-despite-losing-funding.html