The jury is still out

And so, Doctor Who without David Tennant. It was always going to be a hard act to follow. We’re now three episodes in, and I’m afraid that I’ve liked each one less.

The Eleventh Hour was broadcast whilst I was on holiday, and I caught up with it when I got back. I enjoyed a lot of things, but it didn’t grip me sufficiently for me to break through the post holiday fatigue and watch it all in one sitting. However, I really liked the writing, the concept that Amy met this new Doctor when still a little girl, and then again years later. Also Matt Smith (and Stephen Moffat) seem to be giving us a much more ‘alien’ Doctor than we’ve had.

The Beast Below was ok, though it reminded me of many previous episodes, of both Who, and Torchwood. Also, there were too many children in it for my liking. I really liked the character of Amy, though, who seems a good match for the Doctor.

And then we came to Victory of the Daleks. Oh dear. Some of the Dalek episodes have been among the poorest, and in my mind, they bring them back again far too quickly. Time to give them a rest I think. Whilst it was a close run thing with Daleks of Manhatten, I think this was the poorest of the lot. I was actually quite bored.

The relationship between the Doctor and Churchill seemed very false, and Matt Smith’s performance had neither the presence nor the stature of the Doctor. Maybe some of it was the writing, and the direction, but he seemed quite insignificant. This time I really, really missed David. I also really disliked what they have done to the Daleks in re-creating them. The old Daleks were menacing in their metal shells, these colourful Daleks (surely a marketing ploy to sell new figures?) seem to have lost this.

I hope for better things to come with next episode which brings back River Song and the Weeping Angels. But, for now, the jury is out.

Strictly Update

Yes, I’ve been a bit quiet on the Strictly front this year, haven’t I? Probably because it’s *whispers* a bit boring this year.

For the first few weeks I watched, trying to find my favourite. No one sprang out from the start, not like other years. Then Jade and Ian danced their Viennese Waltz, and I vocalised that I thought I’d found my favourites (well, Ian always had a bit of a head start). I even voted for them one week, after they’d landed in the bottom two. I also decided that I had a very soft spot for Chris and Ola, because whilst they’re not the best dancers, they are just so cute.

Then there was last week, with its catalogue of disasters. It’s almost like Brucie’s absence put a jinx on the whole thing. Firstly we had Jade’s knee injury, and then Laila’s ankle, (which I’m thinking may have actually saved her, as the thought of a romantic rhumba with Anton frankly makes me feel a bit queasy).

There was then a week of will Jade/won’t Jade be able to dance. I felt so sorry for her when they finally had to pull out, as the poor girl was clearly absolutely gutted, and almost too upset to speak. And then it all got just a little bit dull, as they were really the only ones who were seriously challenging the ‘top two’.

We’re now down to 5 couples, with 4 weeks to go which means, barring a rule change by the BBC*, we’ll have a two person final again, and the judges will get to decide one of the final two. I can’t see it being anything other than the Hollyoaks Twins, Ricky and Ali. Both are good dancers, but oh so dull. Brian, I quite like (faint praise there), Ricky’s partner, Natalie, I can’t bear**

Now, a Natalie Cassidy/Chris final, that might be fun! Sadly it won’t happen.

*Like they’ve never done that before, have they?
** I was with Len on ‘Liftgate’. It would have been appropriate in a final showdance, not in the American Smooth.

‘Do not go gently into that good night…’*

Spoiler Alert – Just in case anyone hasn’t seen The Waters of Mars yet (plus, if you don't watch Doctor Who, it won't make a great deal of sense)

It’s been over a week, and I’ve not said anything about The Waters of Mars. I think that’s partly because of where they took the Doctor in this programme.

The advance blurb about this episode said that it was ‘the scariest Who’ yet, but for the first 45 minutes, I wasn’t convinced. I should have realised that this was a classic piece of RTD’s mis-direction. The scary thing wasn’t the ‘water creatures’ (who, whilst a skilful make-up job, weren’t actually that frightening, though the gradual infiltration of the base by the water was very tense), it was the Doctor himself.

A classic ‘base under siege’ tale, it had a number of similarities to Utopia, where the real focus of the episode only became apparent towards the end. For much of this, the Doctor was an observer, so much so that you wondered when he would actually do something. He actually walked away, to leave them to their fates. It was the ‘right’ thing to do, and yet it felt wrong.

And then, he didn’t. If anyone (still) needs proof that DT is the best TV actor of today, then the last 10 minutes prove it. Again, it was in his eyes, as much as in his actions. He looked dangerous, and the power of the Time Lord to save those who shouldn’t be saved was indeed scary. There really was no one to stop him, and this time, he wasn’t going to stop himself. I love the way that they have pushed the boundaries with DT’s Doctor, taking the character to places that he’s never been before.

The final scene, in the snow, as he confronted the reality of what he had become, and where it had taken him, was mind blowing. There is only one end to this journey now, but it’s been one hell of a ride.

*Not a quote from the episode, but from DT describing the Doctor’s actions in ‘Confidential’

The start of the Strictly season

Summer is over, there are a few golden days with clear blue skies but there’s already a distinct nip in the air up north. Nights are drawing in, so it’s time to snuggle down on the sofa with Strictly on a Saturday night, and It Takes Two during the week.

Only this year, it’s a bit different. They started with two weekly shows, on a Friday and Saturday evening, allowing all the contestants to dance ballroom and Latin before there is a vote. This seems fair to me, as many people, particularly in the early stages, are better at one style (or, rubbish at both!). They’ve also ditched the Sunday night results show, which I’m pleased about, as I never liked it, though it does now mean that the time scale for voting is pretty short – no chance to influence what happens to your favourite if you happen to be out during the show. At least they don’t have to remember to pretend that people danced ‘last night’ any more, and no one can spoil the result for you, as long as you can watch it live (which I haven’t managed to do as yet!).

The biggest controversy, of course, is the replacement of Arlene with Alesha. Now, I like Alesha, and she was a worthy winner, but she hardly has the dance credentials to pass judgement on others. Sadly this has been all too obvious so far, and I’m not sure her presence on the panel will do her, or the show, much good.

We also have some new female dancers. Camilla was ‘retiring’ anyway after winning, but Karen has also gone (and would, I think, have made a good judge, from her comments on ITT) as well as the unlamented Hayley who danced last season. The ‘new girls’ remind me of the over tanned, and over made up, partners on DWTS, the American version of the show.

We’ve seen everyone dance now, and so far I don’t really have a favourite. For the first couple of weeks, everyone looks so terrified that it’s difficult to see how they will develop. There is some talent there, but I haven’t singled anyone out. Chris Hollins surprised me, in actually being quite good, and funny, Phil Tufnell also surprised with an elegant waltz, and they actually seem to have given Anton a partner who can dance this year, in Laila Rouass. They’ve given Brendan Jo Wood, who can’t, and won’t be there for long.

Despite all the claims that ‘this is the most challenging Strictly yet’, so far it doesn’t look like a vintage season. But it’s early days.

Watch this space.

Just beautiful!

Comic Relief only comes round every two years. This year's was a hell of an achievement in fundraising terms. This may have had something (ok, maybe only a little) to do with the chap above.

I don’t normally ring up and donate, but when David Tennant looks at you directly from the TV screen and asks you for money, well, who could resist a skinny boy in a suit?

I do have a bit of a thing about vampires*

I am currently loving Being Human on BBC3 (Sunday nights, 9pm, repeated lots of times throughout the week, so you really have no excuse for missing it).

I caught the pilot episode last year, and loved that. It came with good credentials, as the lead writer is Toby Whithouse who wrote ‘School Reunion’, one of my favourite episodes of Series 2 of Doctor Who. I did wonder what they’d make of it for the series, particularly when I read that most of the leads, bar Russell Tovey**, had changed. Having now seen 5 out of the 6 episodes, I think it’s been a change for the better.

Basically it’s the story of a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost who share a house in Bristol. Why Bristol? Who knows. Maybe they’d be less noticeable there! It’s quite dark, well, there’s a lot of death, for one thing, but it’s also very witty. There are sometimes plot holes if you think too deeply about it, but on the whole, it’s very well written.

Of course, the rather gorgeous Aidan Turner, as vampire Mitchell, is a bit of a bonus.

Last night gave us a cliff hanger, and it’s the final episode of the series next week. I’m hoping that they’re going to resolve it in a way that there can be another. I may just cry, otherwise.

*Just ask anyone who knew me through my six series addiction to Buffy the Vampire Slayer
**Best known as a History Boy, but also as the Midshipman in Doctor Who, who finally gave DT’s Doctor the chance to say ‘Allons-y Alonso’.

Doctor Who?

(yes, I know it’s been used by others, but it’s an obvious one)

After much speculation, and even the suggestion that we could have a female Doctor this time, David Tennant’s replacement, and the Eleventh Doctor, was announced on Saturday evening as Matt Smith. It’s a measure of just how popular this programme is that it was announced on Saturday evening primetime, and even shown on the big BBC screens across the country.

I have to admit my initial reaction when his face flashed up on screen was ‘oh’, and ‘who?’ I had to be reminded that I’d seen him in Ruby in the Smoke (so hadn’t found him memorable). I hadn’t watched Party Animals, probably because politics is, for me, pretty much a turn off. I was surprised that they’ve cast someone so young, but also pleased that it’s not one of the more obvious names who have been mentioned, so hopefully they’ve gone for acting ability. The fact that he was once a History Boy gives me hope, as he’s got a theatre pedigree, and that’s always good in my book.

So, despite my comments, my reaction isn’t currently similar to the one I had to both Billie Piper and Catherine Tate – both of whom proved me wrong in no uncertain terms. I think he has potential. Not as much, admittedly, as David did, but I can see a quirky-ness in him that is appealing. He also has very defined cheekbones, always good in my book (yes, I know, that’s nothing to do with his acting, but I’m shallow)

Until he makes his debut, we still have more of David to come. I have to admit to being slightly disappointed in The Next Doctor. I loved it at first, when the Doctor was trying to discover why the other ‘Doctor’ couldn’t remember him, but felt it tailed off in the second half, and honestly found the Cyberking striding above London a bit daft. But then, at the end, it was all pulled back, with a look, a few words, and a broken heart, and once again there were tears on Christmas Day.

Strictly Update

I have to admit to being a little underwhelmed by this year’s Strictly so far. I keep telling myself it’s early days still, but no one has actually grabbed my attention yet. I do like Austin, but he has a rather annoying way of watching Erin while he’s dancing, rather than performing out to the audience. I also like Tom, but he doesn’t seem to have that special spark (but then I was always going to compare him, wasn't I). If I have a favourite at all, it’s Cherie, mostly because of the beautiful rumba that she and James did a few weeks ago (I have never liked him in previous series, feeling him to be a bit of a bully), but also because she was ‘my’ first RSC Viola*, all those years ago.

I found the last couple of weeks pretty disappointing. I usually love the American Smooth, but wasn’t overwhelmed by any of them (I thought Lisa and Brendan were overmarked), and the sambas were pretty average. This week, I was expecting some pretty dramatic pasos, but they were all pretty lack lustre. The Viennese Waltz is a beautiful dance, but can be difficult to make exciting – last year we had a some lovely examples, and they’re hard to forget – this year, well, it all felt a bit pedestrian.

Then, last night, in between programmes on ITV, there was a trailer for next year’s Strictly live show in Newcastle. I didn’t go this year, mainly because the only person I wanted to see in it was James Martin. For next year, they were trailing the celebrities, Julian Clary (ok, yes, funny, but not a great dancer), Jill Halfpenny (very good, but I really wasn’t as addicted in series 2), so far, so not making me book, and GETHIN JONES. He was never going to do it while he was with Blue Peter, but this year, he’s available!

I have absolutely no willpower when it comes to thing like this, and just know it’s only going to be a matter of time before I book.

*Newcastle Theatre Royal 1980 - it was magical, and I can still recall it so clearly

Sunday night in

I usually go to the pub quiz on a Sunday evening. It serves the dual purpose of a chance to win money (and wine) with the opportunity to put off thinking about Monday for as long as possible.

Last week however, the jackpot (£170!) was won, and not by us. Somehow I think we believed that it was just a matter of time before we won it, and it was waiting for us to add it to our ‘pot’. Sadly, someone else got it, so I wasn’t that disappointed that I had to miss the quiz to drive south for work.

So, instead of drinking pinot grigio in the pub, I found myself in a rather nice hotel in Hatfield*, arriving in plenty of time for the Strictly results show**. Checking in, I decided I needed wine and snacks with my viewing. What did I see? The room service menu!

So, there I was – chips, wine, and a cafetiere of coffee, Strictly on the fancy tv. And then, to follow…Dirty Dancing. There are worse ways to spend Sunday evening when you’re away from home.

*nice hotels are seriously cheap on a Sunday night, I've paid more for the Travelodge next door.
**Yes, I was recording it, but there's always the chance someone will blab!

If only I could live like this

Over the last few weeks, after a shaky start, which led me to dismiss it as ‘Too ITV’ (a pretty damning assessment in my eyes), I really got into Lost in Austen, where a modern woman went back through a time portal into the fictional world of Pride and Prejudice*, swapping places with Lizzie Bennet just at the start of the novel.

I think it hooked me at the point where the plot began to deviate from the story, and Jane ended up married to the odious Mr Collins. Darcy was insufferable as he is in the early parts of the novel, but Wickham turned out to be a good guy, and Lydia ran off with Bingley, who’d turned to drink when Jane married another. As in all good fairy tales, it all ended happily, however, and Amanda, our modern heroine, stayed with Darcy, whilst Lizzie found a new life in modern Hammersmith.

So, when I went to Middlethorpe Hall for lunch on Friday, all this was still in my head, as I’d watched the final episode the night before.


I love Middlethorpe. It’s a beautiful 17th Century house, set in glorious grounds, and is now a hotel and restaurant. It’s usually a treat for special occasions, but this time we went for lunch as it was the York Food and Drink Festival, and also to celebrate C’s official appointment as my assistant.

Before lunch, as we sat in the lounge, C declared that she could happily live there, as it was ‘managable’. Well, yes, it is, but you’d still need an army of staff. One of the things I love is that the service is superb, but unobtrusive.

Lunch was lovely, and, fortified by two glasses of wine, we went for a stroll round the grounds. It was one of those mellow autumn days that Keats wrote about, with a hint of mist in the air, but still some warmth in the sun. We walked down the lawn to the haha, and ventured further into the orchard and wilderness, discovering the lake. All I needed was a regency dress, and Mr Darcy. The setting was all there.














* Mr Darcy, time travel, how could I not end up loving it?

The 'Strictly' Season

It’s that time again. The nights draw in, and Saturday night becomes a night for watching TV and ignoring phone calls. Yes, Strictly Come Dancing started last Saturday.

As you know I got just a little bit obsessed last year, and I'm hoping that I won’t go the same way this year. It’s too early to judge yet, as I can’t have a favourite until I’ve seen a couple of dances. I don’t support people blindly, they do need to have potential. After all, last year it didn’t hit me until Week 5 when Gethin danced the foxtrot.

We’ve had the ‘boy’s week’ and the front runners seemed to be Austin Healey and Tom Chambers*. This week it’s the girls and it looks like Rachel Stevens and Lisa Snowdon are going to be good. Shame I don’t like either of their partners! The lovely Ian Waite has got the tallest girl again, and that’s rarely good.

All this, and there’s It Takes Two to catch up on every weekday evening. There’s a ‘Strictly’ programme on every day from now until the weekend before Christmas. And it’s actually quite scary to see it like that.

*who I will support as he's dancing with Camilla, and I'd like to see her get to the final

'One man, travelling through space and time, in a box’

From: To:

Spoiler alert for Journey’s End, just in case anyone hasn’t watched it yet!

Well. That’s it.

How do I feel about it? Action packed, certainly, emotional, definitely, satisfying, almost. It was full of good ideas, resolutions to plotlines, occasionally too much so for its own good. It was like a finale to all RTD’s storylines, making way for the new regime, so it really was ‘Journey’s End’!

Firstly, the resolution to the cliffhangers. When we left our heroes last week, a number of them were facing certain death. It would be churlish to complain that we still have DT as the Doctor, but the feeding of the regeneration energy into his severed hand*, and the idea that the Doctor could choose not to regenerate did seem to mess with the canon**.

I felt that the closing off of Torchwood was to shut down what was probably a story strand too far (and about a team that, without Jack, many Who viewers aren’t invested in). It’s interesting to see how they’ve set up the new series of Torchwood, though, which just happens to have a couple of vacancies.

The ‘new’ Doctor, and the Doctor-Donna - somehow I didn’t quite believe that Doctor-Donna really understood the techno-babble, though I have no problem when the Doctor launches into it. I was very sad to see Donna turn back into shouty Donna, but it also demonstrated just how much the character had changed for the better, and contrasted with Davros’s claim that the Doctor turns his companions into killers.

The return to Bad Wolf Bay – oh, this was an emotional scene. Rose finally got her Doctor, but she didn’t get her Doctor. It was a resolution of sorts, and the only one possible, but it felt wrong for her to kiss him, (as Billie Piper herself admitted), as she’d really only just met this 'new new new' Doctor. How my heart was breaking as ‘our’ Doctor turned away from them.

I also loved:
The Doctor: ‘I didn’t need to change, I didn’t want to. Why would I? Look at me!’ (absolutely)
the daleks in Germany, ‘exterminiren’! (genius)
Donna to Jack: ‘you can hug me…no, really, you can hug me’ (well, wouldn’t you?)
Davros recognising Sarah-Jane, harking all the way back to Genesis of the Daleks,

K9 popping up to make an appearance.

Everyone together in the Tardis, making sense of the fact that it should really be piloted by 6 people (and Jackie not being allowed to touch anything).

Finally, David Tennant. Seriously, is there a better actor on TV at the moment? He was magnificent, playing all the emotions throughout the episode; his pain when Davros showed him what he’d turned his ‘children of time’ into; making the ‘new’ Doctor a totally different person. ‘Our’ Doctor could never have taken the final step to destroy the daleks***.

I think my heart broke just a little further as he stood in the rain talking to Wilf, and then returned to the Tardis, alone once again. As RTD said in Confidential, ‘you have to come back to one man, travelling through space and time, in a box’.

It seems a long time till Christmas, but thankfully, this time, I don’t have to wait till then.

*despite doing my best to avoid it, I had picked up an internet rumour about this during the week, but then I’d also picked up various rumours about who the new Doctor was going to be!
**yeah, yeah, I know!

***yes, we all know they'll be back again

Because, like so many others, I can’t let the moment go by without comment…

There it was, on screen, the long awaited reunion of the Doctor and Rose…running towards each other down a long street*, when that pesky dalek emerged.

I was convinced it was Rose who was a gonner, and I believe I gasped when it hit the Doctor**.

At the moment, I’m holding the faith with RTD. I firmly believe that if it was the end, then it wouldn’t (couldn't!) have been in such a minor key. I know I didn’t trust him on Billie Piper, or on Catherine Tate***, but I do believe.

Really, I do.

*really, just how long was that street!
** Is it just me, or don’t daleks usually have a tendency to speak before they fire? – for once, that sneaky little dalek fired first!
*** Yes, I know!

Breaking News

So there I am, idly browsing The Stage blogs when I spot it.

Gethin is leaving Blue Peter (you thought I'd moved on? not really!).

I thought it would only a be a matter of time after Strictly. And you know my other thought?

Now maybe he can be Heat's Torso of the Week!

Welcome Back

SPOILER WARNING if you haven't watched Partners in Crime yet!

I’ve been a bit lax with the blogging this week. Mainly because I’ve been out every night until last night (not quite as much fun as it sounds, as at least half of it was work, but the bits that weren’t, were good!) And last night, of course, the new series of Doctor Who started.

The trailers started the excitement building a few weeks ago. Yes, I’ve had my reservations about Catherine Tate. I quite liked her as Donna in the ‘The Runaway Bride’, but will she be a bit much for a whole season? For the moment, I’m reserving judgement, though I know I should learn to trust Russell*.

I enjoyed last night’s opener. Donna didn’t need a detailed introduction, so there was the chance to play it for comedy, as she and the Doctor kept missing each other. The aliens were cute, even though the idea was a bit gross (though I wouldn’t mind a pill where you could lose a pound or so of fat while you slept!)

I loved the mimed conversation when they eventually saw each other – though DT was much better at it than CT. Sarah Lancashire was a superb icy villain, though all bluff I thought, as she could easily have got rid of the journalist, so she probably didn’t deserve the ending she got.

Ah, the ending. The one moment when I forgot to breathe, as the blonde woman turned to the camera. Yes, we all knew that Rose would re-appear this series (though we don’t as yet know how), but to see her in the first episode was a shock.

Good old Russell, he still manages to surprise us.

*Yes, I'm referring to Billie Piper!

Alone Again

Spoiler alert for Last of the Time Lords

I was told last week by Director Boy* that my blog sometimes can’t be read because I talk about Doctor Who, but I did point out that I always start with a spoiler notice. So, there it is, be warned.

And so, the series has come to an end, and I’m trying to reflect on what I thought about the three part finale.

The good – a wonderfully manic performance from John Simm as a deranged Master, Martha Jones saving the world with a word – and didn’t that just hark back to The Shakespeare Code! DT breaking his heart over the one person whose death would leave him truly alone once again. Lucy Saxon – there seemed to be such a lot going on in that relationship that couldn’t be developed in a ‘family’ show. The fact that some very clever plot points had been littered throughout the series and finally made sense. I love it when a show trusts the intelligence of its audience.

It seemed fitting at the end that there should be a parting of the ways for the Doctor and Martha. She has a road to travel which is different to his, (and in my head, is going to hook up again with the dishy Dr Milligan).

The not so good – DT as a CGI character in a cage - though I could see why the idea of keeping the Doctor as a 'pet' appealed to the Master - and wasn't that just what the Doctor was going to do to him at the end? The contrived explanation at the end that Jack is the Face of Boe. I mean, really! I felt Jack was rather wasted in the final two episodes, after his great return in Utopia, but I'm looking forward to his return to Torchwood. After all, this time, he chosen to return to them, and has addressed his issues with the Doctor.

Overall, it hasn't been my favourite series of the three, but it's had some great high points. But it remains the best drama on tv, and, we still have DT's Doctor to look forward to.

How long is it till Christmas?

* He does have another name, but thanks to Corinne, this is how I think of him for blogging purposes.

Jack's back

Spoiler alert - just in case you're waiting for the repeat on Friday

Yes, Captain Jack has finally found the right kind of Doctor, and what we never realised was that he’s been looking for him a lot longer than we thought. Nearly 150 years in fact, having arrived back on earth in the 1860’s. It was lovely to see the banter between him and DT’s Doctor, and to explore just why he had been left behind. It was also the Jack from Season 1, rather than the more moody Jack from Torchwood, flirting with everyone, and everything he met.

I haven’t said much about Doctor Who recently, and I have to admit that some episodes this series have been a bit disappointing (the Daleks in Manhattan two-parter, and 42), but recently we’ve been on a roll of good episodes. I loved the Human Nature two-parter. Oh how I cried for John Smith and the life that he could never have, and what a fantastic performance it was from DT. I could have written a great deal about that one, given the time. Blink was as good as I expected from Steven Moffat, who wrote the brilliant The Girl in the Fireplace last season.

And so we moved on to Utopia, and what a red herring that turned out to be. It’s been probably the worst kept secret that the Master in the shape of John Simm was returning at the end of the series, and we’ve had trails all through for the mysterious Mr Saxon. What I wasn’t expecting was that The Professor (oh, how clever that was) had also used the chameleon arch to hide his Time Lord identity, and that he would then, as the Master, regenerate into John Simm and steal the Tardis. So the two-part ending is really a three-parter, and I can’t wait to see where this ride takes us, as we now have three brilliant actors* in the show.

*which is not to diss Derek Jacobi at all, who is also brilliant. I loved DT commenting on Confidential that he'd gone to the stage door to get his autograph when he was at drama school. We have so much in common!

And finally...

For today at least. It's the very last Life on Mars tonight. What will happen, what has been going on all this time, will Sam get back to the future, and was he ever really in the past anyway? And what was the creepy test card girl all about?

Whatever happens, it's been a fab series.

A theatre's magic, isn't it?

Spoiler Alert - in case you haven't watched 'The Shakespeare Code' yet

And so, the Doctor met Shakespeare, and possibly for the first time met a human with an intellect to match his own. There were some lovely in jokes, but I have to admit the only one that made me laugh out loud was the allusion that Shakespeare was bi-sexual ’57 academics just punched the air’.

I was waiting for the quotes, you see. It was pretty obvious that the Doctor would give Shakespeare some of his best lines, and some of them felt shoehorned in, in an ‘ooh, aren’t we clever’ way. The bits I liked best were the less obvious references; the Doctor saying that a skull he found backstage looked like a Sycorax; a reference to ‘a winter’s tale and a ‘blasted heath’.

As Martha said, you should never meet your heroes, and certainly Dean Lennox Kelly wasn’t my idea of Shakespeare (I prefer the Joseph Fiennes version, in Shakespeare in Love), but then I have to acknowledge that the target audience here isn’t the Shakespeare snob*, but families, including all those kids who perceive Shakespeare as boring. Hence the Harry Potter references (but I did love the comment about Book 7). But why, oh why, with the whole works of the Bard at your disposal, did the final word that rid the world of the carrionites have to come from JK Rowling?

Bits I loved, DT pacing around the Globe Theatre, the bedroom scene, Love’s Labours Won (though, from the snippets we heard, it wasn’t one of his best!!), the theatrical jokes.

Things I wanted – more of Shakespeare’s actual words, DT to stand on that stage and speak them, Martha to actually snog Shakespeare – well, you wouldn’t wouldn’t you, just to say you’d done it?!

*Which I am, I freely admit it

Such stuff as dreams are made on

The best bit in a pretty dreary Comic Relief night on TV – David Tennant as an English teacher trying to teach Shakespeare’s sonnets to Catherine Tate’s stroppy schoolgirl.

Not very realistic though – I mean, if you had him teaching you, well, you’d pay attention, wouldn’t you?