What Are You Currently Watching (on tv/dvd)?

[Ian]

The Bill: Call Waiting. The always tactless and thoughtless DC Rod Skase is on rare form in this very funny episode that sees him and DC Suzie Croft investigating a series of obscene phone calls being made to a houswife.

ROD: I can't understand why they do it. What's such a turn on about it? It's like those phone-lines where you end up talking to a hooker in Amsterdam or something... Bizarre... Cost me a fortune as well...

[Ian]

The Night Stalker/The Night Strangler. These two TV movies from the early 70s - and the subsequent short-lived full TV series called Kolchak - follow the exploits of dogged newspaper reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) who invariably seems to stumble on cases that veer into the supernatural. In The Night Stalker a real-life vampire is stalking Las Vegas, while in The Night Strangler Seattle is being stalked by a serial killer with an equally unnatural secret. Kolchak was not a big hit, but certainly gained a cult following and was a huge influence on Chris Carter's later creation of The X Files (Carter even cast McGavin as original X Files agent Arthur Dales in a couple of episode in seasons 5 and 6). I enjoyed both of the original TV movies, but preferred Strangler, as it was both a more interesting mystery story (and villain) and also considerably funnier. Strangler's plot was also a clear influence on the "Tooms" episodes of The X Files, featuring a 100+ year old villain who resurfaces every few decades in order to kill a string of victims to take something from them he needs to maintain his extended lifespan.
I've ordered the full series box-set.

[Santi]

I believe that I saw The Night Stalker, but The Night Strangler, and the subsequent short-lived full TV series called Kolchak, I don't know them.

[Ian]

The Bill: Spill. A tanker truck overturns in a busy London area, spilling a hazardous chemical onto the streets. As the police, fire and ambulance services deal with the disaster, Sgt Boyden uncovers a dangerous conspiracy of fraud that has led to the incident. This is a cracking double-length episode from 1996 with an epic opening ten minutes on the scene of the accident seemingly all done in one take.

[Ian]

Not so much watching as "listening to", in this case a few of the Big Finish Doctor Who audio dramas featuring Doctors 4-8. I heard the first two 15 years ago but was never really motivated to carry on but I thought I'd give them a go again (especially as the first 50 are now just $3 each to download).Heard:

Whispers of Terror. 6th Doctor (Colin Baker) story. One of the earliest the range, and rather boring.

The Romance of Crime. A recent release (and more expensive),this is actually an adaptation of a much loved original novel from the mid 90s, featuring the 4th Doctor (Tom Baker), the second incarnation of the lovely Romana (Lalla Ward) and K9. The book was great fun, and a great evocation of the era, and the audio adaptation happily lived up to it, with Tom and Lalla clearly having a ball.

The Fearmonger. Another early one, but pretty good, with the 7th Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and Ace (Sophie Aldred) hunting a creature that lives on fear and is using a general election featuring an extreme right-wing candidate to do just that in London. Enjoyable, with the leads recapturing their characters perfectly.

Storm Warning. The first audio to feature the 8th Doctor (Paul McGann), who only appeared onscreen in the (dreadful) 1996 US TV movie and in a 7-minute minisode during the 50th anniversary in 2013. I've never really seen the appeal of this Doctor, and this did nothing to sway me. Dull.

Land of the Dead. Average 5th Doctor (Peter Davison) and Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) story, with an arctic base under siege from prehistoric alien monsters. As is always the way. One that would have benefited enormously with visuals (like animation) but is a bit dull without.

The One Doctor. Silly 6th Doctor and Mel (Bonnie Langford) story with the Doctor answering a distress call from a planet under attack only to find the problem's been solved by "the Doctor" - actually an intergalactic conman masquerading as him. Mildly amusing in spots but a bit boring.

And I've heard the first half of The Holy Terror, another 6th Doctor story, this time accompanied by a companion that only featured in the 80s comics, the shape-shifting alien Frobisher (now permanently stuck in the shape of a penguin!), in a medieval-style world whose religious dogma is even more wacky than ours. This is actually very good so far, really bizarre and very funny with sinister undertones. Looking forward to finishing it tomorrow.

Kind of a mixed bag so far.

[Ian]

X Files: Dreamland. Experiments with UFO technology result in a rip in the fabric of reality that has a number of bizarre consequences - including Mulder bodyswapping with a Man In Black (special guest star Michael McKean)! This brilliantly bonkers story is a unique 2 parter in a couple of ways; for one, despite the UFO theme it really has no bearing on the series' ongoing mytharc which takes up every other 2-parter they ever did, and for two, it's essentially a comedy! And great fun it is too.

[Ian]

Kolchak: The Devil's Platform. Tom Skerritt guest stars as a sleazy politician (is there any other kind?) who's literally made a deal with the Devil to get into power. I'm really enjoying this 70s X Files, it's great fun.

[Ian]

Doctor Who - The Web of Fear. Only the second time I've seen this since its miraculous return from non-existence two years ago. The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria arrive in the London Underground only to find London evacuated and the army roaming the Underground - as are a terrifying lethal web/fungus and killer robot Yeti! This is a fantastic story with a wonderful atmosphere of claustrophobic menace at every turn. If I have a complaint, the ending does seem a little anti-climactic, but this is a six-parter that flies by at a cracking pace and is compelling stuff. One of Troughton's best.

[Ian]

The Bill: Old Codgers. A retired old policeman arrives at Sun Hill claiming to have found a man who brutally raped and murdered a young girl 50 years earlier back in World War II and escaped justice - standing next to him in the line at a chemist, waiting for his prescription. I can still remember this slightly eerie "justice delayed but not denied" episode. Doesn't seem like 19 years ago!

[DMt.]

It's like the first time you hear yourself say, "Oh, but that was thirty years ago..."; somewhere a great bell goes BONG, and you think, oh shit I'm getting old.

[Ian]

The Bill: Death of a Nobody. CID are baffled by the brutal, calculated murder of an utterly ordinary middle-aged man, for which there seems to be no motive - until they discover that the man just happened to share the same name as a supergrass about to testify in court against a powerful crime boss, and the investigation turns into a deadly race against time to rescue a woman and child being held hostage to prevent that same testimony. Gripping double-length episode with a shocking climax.

[DMt.]

The number of cop/government man shows on Brit TV every week is pretty shocking, too. Somebody is rendering a whole worldview there.

Still, good writing is good writing, I must admit.

[Ian]

The Bill: Hat Trick. Boulton and Skase investigate an assault on a cab driver/amateur football player. This is a very funny episode, thanks largely to Boulton's disdainful, disgusted bewilderment at the seriousness which some people treat the game.

BOULTON (on football): A bunch of prats in shorts running around in front of a bunch of prats in scarves.

[fish]

...A bunch of prats in shorts running around in front of a bunch of prats in scarves.

Just about sums it up really.

[Dahls]

In a nutshell.

Not sure if I like falling in the category of prats though.