However, I am more than happy to have had him at the helm of Doctor Who for these last five years.   His vision for the series seemed to start out delighting pretty much all of the established fanbase, but as mainstream acclaim increasingly became the series’ bedfellow, Davies pushed harder to break into the television heartland occupied by The X Factor and Ant and Dec, and in the process seemed to alienate at least half of fandom.

But not me, though.  I was well and truly swept along by the revolution, even when we were subjected to episodes that really tested our commitment (series two’s “New Earth” was in retrospect a real lurch in terms of how far the show was willing to go in an attempt to be all things to all men).  What held the whole thing together was that the beats of each series were so right: the separation of Rose and the Doctor in year two, the realisation that he was not alone in year three, and the return of Rose in year four.  These were great arcs that allowed the show to parade its many wonderful qualities.

And within all this were stories that were absolute gems.  Sometimes these acted as little microcosms of Davies’ grand plan (“Turn Left”, “Human Nature”), and sometimes – even more admirably – these were simply stories so brilliant that they had to make it to the screen, even though they were completely unconcerned with the then current trajectory (“Blink”, “Midnight”).

“The End of Time: Part One” certainly doesn’t deserve the description of a gem, it was flabby, plotless and an exercise in simply putting pieces into their positions.  So what of Davies’ (and of course Tennant’s) final hurrah?  It seems apt that it’s utterly polarised fan opinion.  For my part, I thought it was sensational.

Kicking off part two with a scene that sat entirely outside of the story’s previously established chronology was a brave move.  Here we witnessed the Time Lord’s dying moments at the heart of the much-spoken about Time War.  The proposed solution to escape their fate appositely stretched across the ages in both directions, reaching back into the Master’s personal timeline as well as forward into the episode’s here and now.

It was an elegant example of story telling, and in truth almost the only piece of plotting in the entire episode.  This Doctor’s final battle saw him do little more than disable a spacecraft, re-enable it, fire a gun at a piece of equipment and open a door.  Indeed, the much vaunted grand plan to bring about the return of Gallifrey looked in retrospect to have been constructed on incredibly shaky foundations. Would the newly reforming Time Lord world have been destroyed should Naismith’s house have suffered a power cut?

This was a story that seriously lacked verisimilitude, such that I couldn’t even believe in the door behind which Wilfred was sealed for much of the finale.  And if you don’t believe in a simple glass door, then what chance the supposed technological complex and the Immortality Gate, and the Time Lords and physics and – well – everything?

Well actually there was something I could believe in – or two things, rather – Wilfred and the Doctor.  The acting of Messrs Cribbins and Tennant, not to mention the thoughtful and humanising dialogue they were gifted, actually enabled this episode to transcend its shortcomings.  Who cares that in the end there was no real consequence to the Doctor’s actions in “The Waters of Mars”?  Who cares that no clear reason was given as to why the Ood world had evolved so quickly?  Who even cares that the appearance of a TARDIS in a church window was never properly explained, and that given it was Christmas Eve there was barely anyone in that church in the first place?

Of course, some loose ends were intentional – we were left to stew over whether that dissenting Time Lord was the Doctor’s mother, Susan, Romana or even a regenerated future Doctordonna?  And as for the other dissident whose face was forever hidden behind his hands, he was surely a muse for those fans who will now go away and write a thousand adventures to explain his identity.

That it was to all come down to saving the life of one old bloke was classic Doctor Who, as classic as Sarah’s return to Hillview Road in South Croyden or the oft referred to Yeti on the loo in Tooting Bec.  Yet it was also brilliantly unexpected, and the signal for Tennant’s long farewell.

As the tenth Doctor travelled through time for one last time to see his old friends, it was as if Davies was gathering up all of his creations he had strewn across the Whoniverse so he could put them away and set up a clean start for the next fellow.  A shame then, that during his time Davies was less able to consistently pull together the threads of some of his storylines.  Yet in the mess of his Doctor Whos he and David Tennant and the rest of the team crafted some of the Time Lord’s greatest adventures of all.

And if the next man is a little neater than he, and better able to make a pair of shoes safe for walking in, then he has been awarded the chance to let his plotting excellence shine in future years thanks to the fantastic bedrock of heart and character that his predecessor has put in place.

The press release, issued yesterday but embargoed till now, reads as follows…

Hit family fantasy drama Merlin, produced by Shine Television, has been recommissioned for a third series for BBC One.

The announcement comes as the second series of the Saturday evening show continues to enthral audiences, pulling in a peak of over 6 million viewers and a 31% share.

Ben Stephenson, Controller Drama Commissioning, says: “With its mix of magic, adventure and humour Merlin is perfect Saturday evening family television, and we are thrilled that Shine Television will be creating a new series for BBC One. I’m looking forward to seeing what adventures our popular young wizard, and his friends in Camelot, will go on in series three.”

Johnny Capps, Executive Producer, Shine Television, says: “Merlin is ready to burst back onto BBC One with more action, romance and, of course, magic to delight fans of all ages. After the thrilling finale of the current series audiences will be left wondering what happens next – and with so many of Merlin and Arthur’s adventures yet to unfold, we can’t wait to continue the story.”

Merlin stars Colin Morgan as Merlin, Bradley James as Prince Arthur, Anthony Head as King Uther, Katie McGrath as Morgana, Angel Coulby as Gwen, Richard Wilson as Gaius, and John Hurt as the voice of the Great Dragon.

Series two has seen a host of high-profile guest-stars including Mackenzie Crook, Emilia Fox, Sarah Parish, Charles Dance and Adrian Lester, and continues on Saturday evenings on BBC One until the final episode on Saturday 19th December.

Merlin is executive produced by the award-winning Johnny Capps and Julian Murphy for Shine Television, with Bethan Jones executive producer for BBC.

The show has been recommissioned by Ben Stephenson, Controller Drama Commissioning, and Jay Hunt, Controller BBC One.

The first series is a worldwide smash hit and has been sold to 52 broadcasters in over 180 countries; to date series two has been sold to more than 40 broadcasters in 165 countries, and counting.

The Doctor being helpless to intervene as history obliterates a nascent colony makes for a great character study, but left you wondering whether this was to be a real story or just a sequence of events observed, and in this respect “The Waters of Mars” could be said to partially revisit the Schrödinger Cat analogy used in the Steven Moffat episode “Blink”.

Tenuous thematic connections aside, Davies and Ford’s script for “The Waters of Mars” seemed to owe other debts to Moffat, most obviously taking an everyday phenomenon and turning it into a source of terror.  We’ve had light (or lack thereof) and now water – can we expect air and time to be the next microscopic predators to come after the Doctor?

But this is not a criticism, the extrapolation of H20 as a foe was expertly done, in particular the Doctor’s line about water being able to fell a mountain was chilling.  Indeed much of the dialogue in this episode crackled, in particular those exchanges between Tennant and the always brilliant Lindsay Duncan.  The moment in which she refuses to allow the Doctor to escape until he has fully appraised her of her imminent death was perhaps the most mature and complex scene Doctor Who has given us.  While the moments after when the Doctor is able to hear the colonists’ desperate screams was Who at its all time grimmest.

It was also the point, when the Doctor’s personal future, appears to have pivoted and set off towards this incarnation’s demise.  We can’t be sure, but it does appear that the Doctor’s reckless actions on Mars, have triggered everything that will now follow, as the Time Lord comes to learn that no one is bigger than time itself.

In the cold light of day, one might question why it would be this small band of space explorers that has finally pushed the Doctor over the edge, rather than – say – Pompeii, or the countless other events he has witnessed, and although the production worked hard to sell us the atrocity of these events, the Doctor’s motivation to act in this way and at this time still felt a little unclear.

But that aside, “The Waters of Mars” was brilliant television, a fantastic fillip to much of current weekend TV, willing to be bold and dark, as well as stupid and fun.  Adelaide’s brush with a Dalek was poetic and affecting, the Doctor’s descent into a kind of madness, thrilling and scary, and the battle with the waters of Mars a visceral, cinematic tour de force.

We’ve seen such work from Davies’ Doctor Who before, but here it was all the better for not feeling in the least bit grandiose or operatic, this was hardcore, something we haven’t experienced before.  And by the end of the story the Doctor had become a figure that we would no longer run to, but run from – now that’s definitely something new.

Barry Letts (right) with Jon Pertwee and Dalek

Like all major figures involved with Doctor Who, producer Barry Letts seemed to have his own personal anecdote about working on the show, one which  got endlessly trotted out to the benign bemusement of fans.

In his case, it was a bizarre story about recieving a letter containing a poem advising him of the proper pronounciation of ‘chitinous’. Yet that, and several other similarly prominent anecdotes about eyepatches and ‘Katy’s fella’, belied the fact he also had a great many fascinating stories to tell about the years he spent working on a fascinating programme, many of them relating to a pivotal moment in television history.

Originally an actor, Letts took a directing course in 1967, and one of his first professional engagements in this capacity was the Doctor Who story ‘The Enemy Of The World’. Two years later, he was offered the job of producer on the show, then in the throes of one of its many brushes with cancellation. Though it was in fact outgoing producer Derrick Sherwin who both devised a new format ( The Doctor attached to a military unit and battling Earthbound threats in the hope of countering the ratings slump) and had cast Jon Pertwee in the title role, it was Letts and his script editor Terrance Dicks who made it into such a huge success, even despite the additional headaches caused by the move to colour production.

And, if the various tales of strobing trousers and misjudging model sizes are anything to go by, they were headaches indeed.

The story of Letts’ hugely successful five-year stint on Doctor Who has been endlessly told elsewhere; suffice it to say that, with the arguable exception of the early ’60s  Dalekmania and the slightly later flirtation with Gothic Horror, the exploits of The Third Doctor, The Master (a character created by Letts and Dicks), UNIT and gaudy alien races like the Axons – famously forming part of a legendarily solid block of BBC scheduling – are the reason why Doctor Who has long been associated with Saturday evening thrills.

His skills as a producer, however, went way beyond creating ratings-grabbing edge-of-the-seat excitement; many stories had thought-provoking environmental themes, influenced by his own beliefs, and he was always ready to accept responsibility if it was thought the show had gone a little too far for younger viewers. He was also adept at creating headline-grabbing showpieces – such as negotiating the rights to use the Daleks after a five year absence, and coming up with the idea of combining all three Doctors to date for an anniversary special – without them ever seeming forced or contrived.

Most notably, all of these positives combined to impressive effect on ‘The Daemons’, a fondly-remembered tale that a far-sighted Letts specifically asked the BBC VT department not to erase; a plea, needless to say, that fell on unlistening ears.

In the early ’80s, he was again called on to oversee a reinvention of the show in the face of declining ratings, acting as Executive Producer while his younger counterpart John Nathan-Turner instigated an initially highly successful overhaul of the series as “intelligent sci-fi”. Right across his work on Doctor Who, it’s clear that Letts had a flair for combining action and imagination, which is perhaps why, by his own admission, his extra-curricular attempt at a realistic adult-orientated futuristic drama Moonbase 3 didn’t work quite so well.

After leaving Doctor Who, this flair was again exploited to its full potential as he spent over a decade at the helm – again with Terrance Dicks – of the BBC’s ‘Sunday Classics’ serials. Though seldom mentioned anywhere these days, it’s surprising how well-remembered many of these productions are, from countless Dickens and HG Wells adaptations to the award-winning Beau Geste, an infamous attempt at casting Tom Baker as Sherlock Holmes for The Hound of The Baskervilles, and a notorious re-imagining of Pinocchio with macabre overtones and a grotesque shrieking puppet interacting with live humans.

Though these productions were subject to much the same restrictions as Doctor Who, Letts would often use the limitations of studio space and primitive special effects as an advantage, taking the opportunity to create a deliberately unreal atmosphere or or stuffily claustrophobic historical world.

Though semi-retired by the late ’80s, Letts still occasionally undertook directing work (including a stint on EastEnders) and kept up his professional association with Doctor Who. The requests to give interviews and pen reminiscences gradually gave way to invitations to write new material, especially after the television show was cancelled in 1989, and Letts went on to write several radio plays and spin-off novels. While these latterday efforts didn’t always meet with a positive response, they were still a then-rare example of straightforward storytelling at a time dominated by fans turned writers gleefully breaking taboos.

That  he remained a well-regarded figure is testament to the fact he put a great deal of care and attention into his work on what could easily have been just another assignment. This was later repaid by similar attention from fans who appreciated his efforts; it’s rumoured he was recording DVD commentaries for old stories right up until weeks before his death. Quite simply he understood how to make an ambitious yet accessible family show more than most, and while that letter writer presumably had their reasons for wanting to ensure obscure scientific terms weren’t mispronounced in front of Saturday evening viewers, they were one of the few people who ever felt the need to correct him.

James Buckley as he appears in E4's The Inbetweeners

Here’s the full press release.

Filming is commencing on BBC One’s Sex, Drugs & Rock’n’Chips, the new comedy drama which focuses on the early years of South London’s most famous family, The Trotters, with Nicholas Lyndhurst returning to Peckham to play ‘art connoisseur’ Freddie ‘The Frog’ Robdal and Inbetweeners star James Buckley stepping into the teenage shoes (1960s winkle-pickers) of the nation’s favourite wheeler-dealer Del Boy Trotter.

Also joining the cast are Kellie Bright (Kinky Boots, Bad Girls, Jericho) as Del Boy’s glamorous (certain neighbours might say “tarty”) mother Joan Trotter and Shaun Dingwall (Soldier Soldier, Above Suspicion, Doctor Who) as her work-shy husband Reg Trotter. Phil Daniels (Outlaws, The Long Firm) appears as Del’s granddad, Ted Trotter and Robert Dawes (The Royal, Roger Roger) features as Joan’s boss, the sleezy Mr Raynor.

“Sex, Drugs & Rock’n’Chips hurtles us into the rough and unglamorous world of London in 1960 to discover the circumstances that led to Del and Rodney Trotter turning out the way they did,” says writer John Sullivan.  “Nick Lyndhurst is a comedy genius and I can’t think of anyone better suited to bring the shady but charming Freddie Robdal to life and James Buckley has a tough act to follow but is sure to do for leather bomber jackets and winkle-pickers what David Jason did for camel-haired coats and cocktail umbrellas!”

Shooting entirely in London from October 5th, Sex, Drugs & Rock’n’Chips picks up the Trotter story in 1960 as Peckham’s answer to Brigitte Bardot, Joan Trotter, is not-so-happily married with bone-idle Reg and her teenage son, Derek. But the reappearance of ‘art connoisseur’ Freddie ‘The Frog’ Robdal, fresh from a ten year stay as a guest of Her Majesty, is set to ruffle some feathers in the Trotter household.  Centering on the relationships between Joan, Reg, safe-cracker Freddie and teenage Del, the comedy drama will also feature the teenage versions of Only Fools and Horses faves Boycie, Trigger, Denzil and Roy Slater.

“It’s nearly 30 years since Only Fools and Horses first hit our screens and we’ve taken great care to pull together a mixture of exciting new faces and highly-experienced talent to do justice to a fantastically-popular and iconic series and bring this bittersweet new chapter of the Trotter story to life,” says Mark Freeland, Head of Comedy at the BBC.

Sex, Drugs & Rock’n’Chips is written by Only Fools and Horses creator John Sullivan, will be produced by Gareth Gwenlan, directed by Dewi Humphreys and executive produced by Mark Freeland for BBC Comedy. A co-production between In House BBC Comedy and John Sullivan’s production company Shazam Productions Sex, Drugs & Rock’n’Chips was commissioned by Jay Hunt, Controller, BBC One and Lucy Lumsden, former Controller, Comedy Commissioning.

Sarah Jane and friends

So what links The Sarah Jane Adventures to The One Show? Answer below.

As Dave Golder’s already reported on the SFX website, last night saw the press launch for series three of the excellent Doctor Who spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures.

The opener, ‘Prisoner of the Judoon’, is most notable for Elisabeth Sladen’s truly brilliant, and slightly bonkers, performance as an evil Sarah Jane. It’s a two-parter packed with thrills and gags, although, as Dave points out in his piece, the Chandra parents do come across as superfluous to the action… but they are nicely played.

The Judoon are never better, portrayed as bureaucratic, blustering plods, with no regard for humanity. Watch out as one commandeers a police car, and pulls up an anti-social motorist.

Introducing the screening, producer Nikki Wilson said: “This series it’s even bigger, bolder, funnier and deliciously scary. We also filmed in HD, so it’s really vibrant and really comes to life.”

In the Q&A season following the screening – slightly delayed while Lis popped to the loo (“It’s just too exciting!”), children took centre stage with the questioning. One asked if Russell T Davies still has an involvement in the show. “I had a text from Russell today,” revealed Lis, “saying,  ‘I’m sitting in LA, watching Sarah Jane defeat the Mona Lisa. It doesn’t get better’.”

We also learned Daniel Anthony (Clyde) was genuinely scared filming in a ‘haunted’ house; shooting in the attic is incredibly hot (Lis: “The worst place is in the back, where all the books are… if you survive the scene you get a Mivvi”); writer Phil Ford’s highlight this series is the aforementioned haunted house story (“It’s one that I’ve been talking about doing for ages”); and they got their money’s worth from David Tennant in his upcoming two-parter  (Lis, again: “Once we knew we had him, we worked him so hard. I think he was a bit sorry he came!”).

And the link between Bannerman Road and Ade ‘n’ Chris? Incredibly, it’s the same press officer working (very hard, it has to be said) across both shows.

Following Philip Glenister’s remarks  during the production of series two last year – “I think the thing about Gene is you are restricted in terms of what you do with him – people want to see him for what he is, and although that’s fun to play I need new challenges now, I want to move on.” – it’s always been clear Gene Hunt’s days were numbered. And the Kudos are making a virtue of this. Here’s the press release, issued this morning.

London, September 2009: It’s time to get your shoulder pads out of storage, start crimping your hair and get into the 80s mood for the very last time.  The award-winning BBC One drama, Ashes to Ashes, is back as filming begins on the eagerly awaited final series.

The highly-anticipated finale sees Philip Glenister and Keeley Hawes reprise their roles as that most un-PC of policeman, DCI Gene Hunt and his sassy partner DI Alex Drake, along with Dean Andrews as DI Ray Carling, Marshall Lancaster as DC Chris Skelton and Montserrat Lombard as WPC Sharon ‘Shaz’ Granger.  As well as the much loved regular faces, Daniel Mays (The Street, Plus One) will also appear in the series as Discipline and Complaints officer, Jim Keats, adding an exciting twist to the team dynamic.

With last series’ cliff-hanger leaving audiences with the frightening image of Alex lying shot on a hospital gurney, the questions on everyone’s lips are “will Alex survive?”  And “how will her colleague and accidental assassin Gene Hunt dig himself out of that hole?”

The smash hit drama, made by Kudos Film and Television in association with Monastic Productions, finally unravels many of the mysteries from the previous two series of Ashes to Ashes, as well as those first experienced by the initial time-travelling copper, Sam Tyler, in the groundbreaking BBC One series Life on Mars some four years ago.  Will Alex finally discover why she’s been sent back to the 80s? Does anything tie Alex and Sam Tyler together?  And who exactly is Gene Hunt…?

Jane Featherstone, Executive Producer, Kudos Film and Television says: “Everyone has their own theory about who Gene Hunt is and why Alex Drake, and Sam Tyler ended up in his world. Alex’s journey is nearing its end and Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah have planned a fabulous finale.  We’re now at the point where we can finally reveal some of the answers and we can’t wait to hear what the fans think about it all.”

Ashley Pharoah, co-creator, writer and Executive Producer for Monastic Productions adds: “Gene Hunt has delighted fans for almost five years.  Matthew and I have loved writing the adventures of Gene, Alex and the rest of the team and will be really sad to finally have to say goodbye to characters that have become a great part of our lives.”

Piers Wenger, Head of Drama, BBC Wales also says: “Series three of Ashes to Ashes will have the same combination of thrilling crime drama, outrageous 80s outfits and cutting one liners. We’ll be sad to see Gene and the gang go but the journey that will take us to that finale will be one of the most exciting, compelling and edge-of-your seat rides on TV!”

Ashes to Ashes is written and created by Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah, two creators of the award-winning Life on Mars.  It is produced by Kudos Film and Television, in association with Monastic Productions and was commissioned by Jay Hunt, Controller, BBC One and Ben Stephenson, Controller, BBC Drama Commissioning.

Executive producer duties will be split between Jane Featherstone, Simon Crawford Collins and Alison Jackson for Kudos Film and Television, Ashley Pharoah for Monastic Productions and Piers Wenger for the BBC.  The producer is Howard Burch.

“This is the latest ridiculous decision by the BBC – proof that something is going wrong at the broadcaster”. Is it someone swearing again, or BBC Worldwide getting too involved in commercial activities? Of course not – it’s about Strictly vs X Factor.

What a pointless dicussion this has become, but Hunt isn’t the only one who’s been lured in to commenting on it (although he’s definitely the one who should be most ashamed of himself, as you’d think he had more important things to discuss). Here comes national speaker of common sense and, it appears, Controller of ITV Simon Cowell, who under the not-at-all-melodramatic headline ‘The BBC has let Britain down’ writes in The Sun to say, “I’m happy to chair a meeting with someone from the BBC and someone from ITV and I genuinely think we can solve this within twenty minutes.” Thank God Simon’s here to sort things out. And for shame, here’s Declan Donnelly, who you’d hope would have the wit and perspective not to treat some scheduling issue as the end of the BBC, making an almighty leap of logic by suggesting, “This whole  business is sickening… the BBC are supposed to be a public service broadcaster and I don’t see much of the public service going on at the moment, which is a real shame.” That’s exactly what it is, Dec. Because Strictly has replaced Panorama and all news bulletins and… oh, hang on. No it hasn’t.

What a shame Dec has fallen for some shameless ITV spinning. It looks like the BBC is being blamed for all of this, when nobody’s pointed out that in previous weeks, The X Factor has begun at 7pm. This week, it was abruptly moved to 8pm, where the clash with Strictly has therefore become more pronounced. This is, of course, the same ITV that’s so concerned about what’s best for the viewer that it spent much of the last two years scheduling Emmerdale up against EastEnders every single week.

The Beeb have rightly pointed out that the two shows have actually gone up against each other on forty previous occasions. Sadly, because they didn’t do it last year, ITV have now been able to get away with muder because they don’t think anyone’s boring and pedantic enough to remember this, let alone go through old listings and point this out. But there’s nobody more boring and pedantic than me, so let’s take a look at some Saturday nights from 2005…

Saturday 22nd October – Strictly 6.15pm, The X Factor 6.15pm

Saturday 29th October – Strictly 6.35pm, The X Factor 6.15pm

Saturday 5th November – Strictly 6.35pm, The X Factor 6.15pm

Saturday 11th November – Strictly 6.20pm, The X Factor 6.50pm

Then we can also look at 2006…

Saturday 14th October – Strictly 5.50pm, The X Factor 5.50pm

Saturday 21st october – Strictly 5.45pm, The X Factor 5.45pm

Saturday 28th October – Strictly 5.40pm, The X Factor 5.45pm

Saturday 4th November – Strictly 5.45pm, The X Factor 5.45pm

And just to really hammer the point home, in 2007…

Saturday 6th October – Strictly 6.15pm, The X Factor 6.45pm

Saturday 20th October – Strictly 5.45pm, The X Factor 5.45pm

Saturday 27th October – Strictly 5.45pm, The X Factor 5.45pm

Now I don’t recall a grandstanding publicity-hungry MP feeling moved to comment on any of those occasions, possibly because ITV weren’t quite so desperate for ratings and publicity and feeding the papers a load of rubbish about the Beeb.

Regardless, the general point is that Strictly remains by far the better programme than The X Factor. For all the idea that Strictly‘s audience is elderly and boring compared to the hip young gunslingers watching ITV, Strictly is way more daring and innovative in terms of musical choices – they danced to the Kings of Leon on Friday night, after The Gossip and The Killers have been on the soundtrack in previous series, while The X Factor won’t feature anything that’s not on heavy rotation on Smooth FM. And in Brucie, we’ve got the most compelling and anarchic presenter on telly – whether it’s egging on the audience in an impromptu Vera Lynn singalong or repeating jokes (and letting the running order go to pot) until they get the laugh he feels they deserve, you can’t take your eyes off him. He really doesn’t give a toss. And, of course, he’s been in this business long enough to know that this type of scheduling war is not a new thing – what about when his Big Night went up against the Generation Game in 1978?

Funnily enough, The X Factor managed to beat Strictly in the ratings, after all ITV’s bleating, so what’s the betting we’ll see these arguments about “serving the public” quietly fade away over the next few weeks, and Cowell stop being quite so concerned about his mum, who apparently loves both?

Regardless of all the arguments, though, one thing is for certain – Jeremy Hunt is a complete idiot who has got far too much time on his hands and had been taken in by some complete guff from the ITV press office. Do some bloody work, man!

This lesser level of the beautiful game used to be my preferred viewing due to the team I follow, but a recent (surprise) elevation to the top flight meant that my interest in what fans of Morecambe and Walsall call ‘proper’ football waned instantly, as their results no longer affected my mood or hopes. So, as if to apply some punitive self-flagellation for ditching the game’s grass roots, I tuned in.

The issue the BBC always has, when it comes to any coverage of sport, is that the action on the pitch, the bread and butter, is never quite going to be enough for them. Sky did a fine job when it came to non-Premiership football – they put out the Football League Review every Sunday evening which showed every goal, red card and spicy incident with a hasty voiceover and nothing more. ITV, with the dependable Matt Smith at the helm, went a step further by doing one documentary feature in the midst of all the goalmouth action. Neither required a studio set, neither were live, neither felt as if the viewer was missing out through being so.

The BBC, however, are doing their coverage live, as if to prove that their commitment to the lower leagues is equal to that of the Premier League, on which Match Of The Day has cosily focussed in a live and livid manner for many years now.

Live coverage means, however, that dreaded BBC word – interactivity. I’m not certain just how many of the millions of fans from Carlisle to Torquay, Hartlepool to Gillingham, are going to be especially bothered about sending a text saying “Brian (sic) Gunn was always the wrong man, get Strackan (sic) in now” when all they ultimately require is the goals they observed at their game earlier in the day, especially as reduced coverage on satellite sports news services means that it represents the first time many will get a second look at the very dubious penalty decision or controversial red card which transformed their team’s match. But presenter Manish Bhasin, a likeable host but with absolutely no gravitas whatsoever, was charged with flogging the interactivity card as much as possible, while a rolling dot matrix trundled away above his head, reminding the tipsy or sleepy audience of the text number and email address (an email address which, being footballleague@bbc.co.uk, will be misspelled by almost everyone thanks to the presence of three ‘l’s in a row).

The texts and emails, for what they were worth, were read out by Jacqui Oatley, the skilled BBC staffer whose previous status as Match Of The Day‘s first ever female commentator brought out the execrable chauvinism in the older, almost unemployable managers of today such as Dave Bassett. They’ve glammed her up for the cameras (one assumes she is still doing matches on Five Live during the afternoon though?) and made her read out the inarticulate snippets of correspondence that sound and impact no better than when similar nonsense goes to 606 on the radio. It’s as obvious an example of televisual turd-polishing as you could possibly muster. She’s also hindered massively by having no mic attached to her outfit, but instead one of those hideous ear-to-mouth gismos that, when in line with bright studio lighting, casts an oval-shaped shadow that makes her look like she has an unsightly wart on her bottom lip. Why she must wear this while Bhasin and his cohort Steve Claridge don’t is anyone’s guess.

The programme has to be careful not to concentrate on the ‘big’ clubs too much – it was notable that Bhasin introduced the first action of the day by rattling on about Newcastle United’s varying troubles, prior to announcing the commentator’s name at St James’ Park. Cue the action. However, for those of us with an interest that was no more than idle, we genuinely had no idea who Newcastle were actually playing until the first goal went in and the consequent scoreline graphic appeared on screen. This is because neither Bhasin, nor his autocue writer, nor the commentator, nor the in-vision person, had chosen to tell us, demonstrating an appalling but predictable focus on the ‘big’ club that too many media outlets are guilty of at the highest echelon of the game. Unlike the highlights on its elder sibling immediately before, even the featured games had no tiny scoreline in the top of the screen for latecomers to digest. Fans of Reading, for ’twas they, must have been mightily annoyed (although given that they lost 3-0, may even have been unusually grateful for the oversight).

The best thing by a mile about The Football League Show is Claridge, the great wanderer of English football who made more than 1,000 appearances for 20+ clubs, scoring goals with his socks rolled down everywhere, while laying bets at half time and brawling with his more idiosyncratic managers. Claridge, as Five Live listeners will know, provides a refreshing earthiness and fearlessness to his punditry, unafraid to criticise heavily in sharp contrast to most pundits resorting to inconclusive, uncommitted soundbites, while also proffering credit where it is due. He has clearly learned that his unique brand of stop-start punditry, which works so well on the radio as it humanises him, simply won’t wash when he is in vision, and so he speaks concisely and with brevity and it works an absolute treat. The presence as the roving reporter of the magnificent Mark Clemmit, a truly superb communicator on Five Live on the lower divisions for many a year, is also a major plus for the programme.

It was helped also by the large controversy at Bristol City, where an evident Crystal Palace goal was chalked off due to considerable incompetence form the officials, leaving the media-friendly but ever-hateful Palace boss Neil Warnock jumping up and down like Yosemite Sam on the touchline prior to a fudged, impromptu live interview with Bhasin “live from Cornwall” (according to the map of the UK taped to the camera which generously reminded us where Cornwall was) to tell us all again how unfair it all was. It made great television because a) Warnock is at his most entertaining when he has been hard done by; b) it was done with remarkable calmness by Bhasin, presumably on the basis that even a known outburst merchant like Warnock wouldn’t behave like a complete arse on national television; and c) you could almost hear fans of every club Warnock has managed to insult or alienate over the years laughing with great heartiness at their television sets.

There won’t be a controversial incident like this every week to discuss; indeed, many weeks it’ll have the air of Fantasy Football League‘s satirisation of the lower divisions, entitled Saint & Greavsie Talk About The Nationwide League – As If It’s Important, which will see Bhasin and Claridge gamely trying to find talking points from three dozen largely ho-hum matches. To fans gluttonously supporting Premier League teams, only the sponsors have altered since Skinner and Baddiel took the piss, but the lower reaches are still very important to those whose teams play in it, and the BBC should realise that by concentrating more on the action, making best possible use of their personalities, and reducing the gimmickry.

Karen Gillan and Matt Smith in costume

A new era of Doctor Who gets underway today as filming began on the show’s 2010 series. And to beat the spoilers, Matt Smith’s new, pleasingly boffinish costume was revealed on this morning’s edition of Breakfast at 8.55am.

More than that, the press release attached to this event is the first issued by Premier PR – who also work on Ashes to Ashes, Hustle and Spooks – since they won the contract from Doctor Who‘s long-standing publicists Taylor Herring earlier in the year (although Taylor Herring will still be dealing with all press for the remaining David Tennant episodes). And here’s what it says…

Cardiff, 20 July 2009: Production started today on the new series of Doctor Who in which viewers will meet the Eleventh Doctor and his companion for the very first time.

The latest incarnation of the iconic character is played by Matt Smith (Party Animals). Upon arriving on set in Cardiff, for his first day of filming, Smith commented;
“I feel very privileged and proud to be part of this iconic show. The scripts are brilliant and working alongside Karen, Steven and the rest of the crew is an inspiration because their work ethic and passion for the show is so admirable. I’m excited about the future and all the brilliant adventures I get to go on as the Doctor.”

Accompanying The Doctor on his further adventures in time is a new companion, Amy Pond, played by Scottish actress Karen Gillan (The Kevin Bishop Show) who will first meet The Doctor in episode one of the new series.

New showrunner and long-running Doctor Who fan Steven Moffat has developed this series and, as Lead Writer and Executive Producer, will be responsible for the overall creative direction of the show, as well as plot and character arcs. Moffat’s previous episodes of Doctor Who, including the BAFTA-winning episode Blink, have garnered widespread acclaim from critics and fans alike.

About the series Moffat commented;
“And here it is, the big moment – the new Doctor, and his new best friend. And here’s me, with the job I wanted since I was seven. 40 years to here! If I could go back in time and tell that little boy that one day all this would happen, he’d scream, call for his Mum and I’d be talking to you now from a prison cell in 1969. So probably best not then. Matt and Karen are going to be incredible, and Doctor Who is going to come alive on Saturday nights in a whole new way – and best of all, somewhere out there, a seven-year-old is going to see them, fall in love, and start making a forty year plan…”

Piers Wenger, Executive Producer and Head of Drama, BBC Wales added;
“The scripts for the new series are every bit as funny, thrilling, scary and imaginative as you’d expect from the man who brought us The Empty Child and Blink. There’s a strange and perfect alchemy between Steven and Matt Smith and the next few months are going to be riveting as that relationship starts to emerge on screen. Steven always says he’s been waiting to do this job since he was seven. But it’s actually the Doctor who has been waiting for him.”

The new series follows on from three Doctor Who specials starring David Tennant which will transmit later this year.

Ben Stephenson, Controller, BBC Drama Commissioning says;
“I am thrilled that a whole new generation of children will forever say that their Doctor was the wonderful Matt Smith.”

The series was co-commissioned by Ben Stephenson, Controller, BBC Drama Commissioning for BBC One and Jay Hunt, Controller of BBC One and will be produced by Tracie Simpson (Doctor Who) and Peter Bennett (Torchwood). Steven Moffat is Lead Writer and Executive Producer (Jekyll) with Piers Wenger, Head of Drama, BBC Wales and Beth Willis (Ashes to Ashes), also Executive Producing.

Filming is taking place in Cardiff until March 2010.