The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon

THE AWAKENING  (Part One)  19/01/2024  Well, that was all sorts of brilliant! We're back on modern day Earth and the Doctor has brought Tegan to Little Hodcombe to visit her grandfather. Except the local Magistrate, Sir George Hutchinson, has had the village closed off from the outside world so villagers can engage in some celebratory War Games, reenacting the battle that took place there in 1643 between the Roundheads and the Royalists during the English Civil War, Tegan's grandfather (Andrew Verney, a local historian) has gone missing, and there's some very peculiar goings on concerning apparitions from the past. This episode was incredibly well shot and very tightly scripted with some properly unnerving scenes. It's Doctor Who  as a Ghost Story with the perfect locations of a dilapidated church and a quiet, deserted village. It's a brilliant idea having everyone (bar Jane Hampden) dressing up and being involved in the anniversary celebrations as it gives the stor...

WARRIORS OF THE DEEP  (Part One)  05/01/2024  When I saw the words 'Written by Johnny Byrne' at the start of this episode I was terrified we'd get another rehash of The Keeper Of Traken , just like last year's season opener, Arse Of Inanity . However, this was actually a very promising start! The Silurians (Eocenes?) are back, reviving a colony of Sea Devils near Sea Base 4, a military compound on the sea bed, probably the Atlantic, in 2084. This is the kind of shit we should have had last series - proper stand-out returning monsters with a striking, Cold War-style atmosphere and action in the vein of Earthshock . It's certainly well designed! The Silurians have had a makeover, more static than in 1970 but far less rubbery; I just wish they'd done something so we could tell the three Silurians apart! From the brief glimpse of the Sea Devils we got, they too have had a slight, rather less dramatic redesign. The interiors of Sea Base 4 are strongly reminiscent of ...