Doctor Who, The Time of Angels

With the fourth episode of the new series Steven Moffat could be accused of revisiting past glories. But when said past glories involve the Weeping Angels from the superlative "Blink" and also tying in with "Silence in Library" I'm not going to complain too loudly.

The episode opens enjoyably with River Song up to something on a spaceship, juxtaposed with the Doctor and Amy in a museum subtitled "12,000 years later". The Doctor spots an artifact with Gallifreyian graffiti that translates as "Hello Sweetie" and off he goes to mount a rescue 12,000 years in the past.

One of my favourite moments of the episode comes early on when River lands the Tardis silently. The Doctor complains that it didn't make the "brilliant" noise, which he attempts to recreate vocally. River explains it only makes that noise as he leaves the hand-break on.

Then we are on an alien planet where the last of the Weeping Angels is hiding in the catacombs. Amy is introduced to the Weeping Angel by watching a four-second recording on a loop. One of the creepiest sequences of the episode follows when she is alone in the room and notices the Angel changing position on the recording every time she looks away.

Later they enter the catacombs to go looking for the Angel. Some of these sequences reminded me of the early Peter Davidson story called "Earthshock" which I can remember creeping me out all those years ago.

Then the Doctor realises he's made a mistake: They are not dealing with just one Angel. In true Doctor Who style we get a cliff-hanger and the preview of the next episode suggests the mythology of the Weeping Angels will be expanded in the concluding part.

Trailer and presskit for Ruth Wilson's Luther

The BBC Press Office website has posted some material on the upcoming six-part crime series Luther staring Idris Elba. Also appearing is Ruth Wilson as Alice Morgan, who is described as "beautiful, extraordinarily intelligent and a key witness in Luther's first investigation."

Here are some Ruth quotes from the presskit on her role:

"What intrigued me about the script was the writing, which was fantastic, and the characters within it – you don't get many female roles which are evil in that sense. I was really intrigued by it, and thought it was a wonderful piece that you could have a lot of fun with."

"I try all the time to do something that's going to take me somewhere else as an actress. The parts I played, both Jane Eyre and Queenie in Small Island, there’s always an emotional drive throughout the story with those characters.

"It's been quite weird for me to play, because I'm so used to being emotionally driven by being in love with someone, or loss of something, or frightened by someone – suddenly she is this all powerful woman who doesn’t have those feelings."

You can read all of ruth's comments in the Luther presskit.

Plus you can get a glimpse of what promises to be a very different role for Ruth by watching the Luther trailer.

Doctor Who "Victory of the Daleks"

So in the latest instalment the Doctor and Amy arrive in 1940s London and encounter secret weapons that look suspiciously like Daleks...

I'm in two minds about last night's episode. I like bits of it but feel oddly underwhelmed by the whole thing and wonder if I should have liked it more.

There are a lot of nice touches in the episode, mainly about retro-fitting Daleks to the world of World War 2. For example there's a little Dalek model on the map table and a WW2-style Dalek "To Victory" propaganda poster (avaiable as a dowlnoad from
downloads.bbc.co.uk).

There's another classic line: "Would you care for some tea?" Well, it's classic when spoken by a Dalek.

There's also Amy Pond's unfeasibly short skirt, but I digress.

Of course the audience and the Doctor know that Daleks can't be trusted and it's not long before we discover their true plan, which is basically to get the Doctor to say that they are Daleks so they can play the recording to new Daleks. Or something. I kind of missed the point regarding that.

Oh yes, we get new Daleks, bigger and brighter like the ones from the Peter Cushing movies.

And it's also got Churchill. And Bill Paterson as an android. And Spitfires in space. Really.

Ah, maybe it will grow on me with repeated viewings.

Next week, the Weeping Angels are back!

Ruth Wilson and Hayley Atwell 'Prisoner' article

And the build-up to The Prisoner continues. Here is a Daily Telegraph article featuring Ruth Wilson and Hayley Atwell where they discuss their experiences in Namibia making the show.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/7590450/Hayley-Atwell-and-Ruth-Wilson-on-The-Prisoner.html

Ruth Wilson article in Radio Times

The new issue of the Radio Times went on sale today and featured inside is a Ruth Wilson article to promote the first episode of The Prisoner, due for broadcast on ITV on Saturday 17 April 2010. See below for my scans. The full-page picture of Ruth turned out better than I thought it would so I left it extra big.

The article confirms that she will next be seen in Luther and the movie Cleanskin and also that she has been to Hollywood to talk to producers.

Doctor Who "The Beast Below"

Episode 2 of the new series of Doctor Who aired on Saturday. It was titled The Beast Below and was again written by Steven Moffat.

I have to say that any Moffat episode is packed with ideas. This one had a 29th Century UK roaming the stars (probably influenced by James Blish's Cities in Flight books). Add to that the detail of a police state controlled by "smilers" (spooky fairground-booth mannequins) plus a voting system that lets you choose to "protest" or "forget" every five years.

I'm liking Matt Smith's performance as the Doctor. Maybe its because he mentioned favouring the second Doctor in interviews, but he does remind me of Patrick Troughton. I'm quite fond of Troughton's version of the Doctor so that's no bad thing.

Karen Gillan gives another feisty performance as Amy Pond, even when she is forced to spend the episode running around in her nightie. We learn that she's been having doubts about her impending wedding.

My favourite moment of the episode involved the Doctor and Amy escaping from the beast's mouth by the Doctor triggering it's sick reflex. "This isn't going to be big on dignity," offers the Doctor apologetically.

Added to that a hint of the next episode, Winston Churchill phoning the doctor with the shadow of a Dalek visible on the wall...

Ruth Wilson article on Mail Online

This weekend's Mail on Sunday has a You magazine article titled "Why actress Ruth Wilson is our Number One". The article is obviously timed to coincide with the UK broadcast of The Prisoner next weekend.

The article also includes the following three images of Ruth looking typically smashing.





Source: www.dailymail.co.uk