It’s what you’ve all been panting for – it’s the trailer for the new series of Doctor Who. Enjoy!
Articles by Rob Buckley
UK TV
Torchwood 2×12 – Fragments
So there I am, bleating on about how you can always rely on Torchwood‘s show runner Chris Chibnall to produce an offensively bad piece of rubbish, when up pops Fragments, which can be described as lying in the "Okay" to "Pretty good" range of the writing spectrum.
¡Madre mia!
What’s up! Have I entered some sort of parallel universe?
No, no, dear friend. Although at first sight it might appear that something hitherto unexplainable has just occurred, further examination will reveal that the natural laws of physics and writing are still in effect.
UK TV
Torchwood 2×12 – Fragments
So there I am, bleating on about how you can always rely on Torchwood‘s show runner Chris Chibnall to produce an offensively bad piece of rubbish, when up pops Fragments, which can be described as lying in the "Okay" to "Pretty good" range of the writing spectrum.
¡Madre mia!
What’s up! Have I entered some sort of parallel universe?
No, no, dear friend. Although at first sight it might appear that something hitherto unexplainable has just occurred, further examination will reveal that the natural laws of physics and writing are still in effect.
Tuesday’s stupidly long news
Doctor Who
- Tom Baker would do cameo if ‘asked nicely’
- Trailers for the fourth series
- RTD defends Catherine Tate
Film
- Tin Tin to be played by Thomas Sangster?
- Supernatural’s Jared Padalecki to star in Friday the 13th remake?
- Stan Winston to work on Terminator 4
- James Gandolfini joins cast of The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3 remake
- Shekhar Kapur to complete Anthony Minghella’s last movie
- Hugh Jackman and Eli Stone creator collaborate on comic, movie
- Fans may not like Indy 4
- Quantum of Solace featurette
Technology
- iPlayer to use Blinkx to search for video
British TV
- ITV abandons latest Ant and Dec project
- Famous Five to return, but animated
- Planning for a Tucker movie?
- Five Life rebranding as Fiver
US TV
- Highlights of the Buffy-fest
- Kelly Preston to guest-star on Medium for four episodes
- Bones going overseas
- Joss Whedon considering Buffy alumni for Dollhouse
- Prison Break gets a fourth season
- CBS picks up two new comedy pilots
- David Cross to star in his own co-written HBO pilot
- Fox cancels The Return of Jezebel James after three episodes
- CBS cancels Jericho – again – while Canterbury’s Law gets a scheduling downgrade
- Jerry O’Connell to appear in Samantha Who?
- Michael Cassidy cast in How To Teach Filthy Rich Girls
- Smith’s Amy Smart cast as lead in Glenn Gordon Caron’s Meant to Be, while The Wonder Years‘ Fred Savage is to play a Single White Millionaire
- 90210‘s Jennie Garth to play My Best Friend’s Girl
- HBO orders pilots for Suburban Shootout remake and Darren Star’s Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl
- Will Sasso and Frederico Dordei join Fox’s Spaced remake
- David Eick working on pilot based on PD James’ Chldren Of Men
- Jane Seymour to play a TV host who solves mysteries for Hallmark pilot
- Sarah Connor viral marketing for a second season?
UK TV
The Big Experiment: What’s the message?
Feast your eyes on that. Hey? Hey?
Sorry about the poor picture quality – I had to scan it off the back of a DVD given away free with The Sunday Times a couple of weeks ago. It’s a publicity shot for The Big Experiment, a reality documentary on the Discovery Channel:
A flagship six-part series that takes a class of teenagers from East London and explodes their misconceptions about science. With the help of three of the country’s most passionate experts, the group of 13 year-olds will be fast-tracked through their GCSE science. No ordinary Science lesson, the series sees them undertake anything from leaping off a 40-foot scaffold, suspended only by helium balloons, to climbing into a phone box to be struck by lightening.
The Big Experiment speaks to them in their own language, challenges them to take risks with science and brings the curriculum off the textbook and into the real world.
But will these kids make it though their GCSE and find science has the power to inspire lives?
Yes, apparently, if you stick cameras on kids an under-resourced East London school (always East London, isn’t it? Never bloody Glasgow or Manchester, is it?), take them on trips and expose them to explosions and more, all financed with roughly the budget for the entire school year, they’ll be more interested in science than they were before. Wow. What an experiment.
Anyway, my interest here is the three hosts. Now, much as I hate to make personal comments, particularly about people’s appearances, I can’t help but note that, to put it leniently, the woman (Dr Laura Grant) is a good deal more attractive than the two men.
There are two ways to look at this, initially, with typical knee-jerky liberalness:
- This is a disgrace. Science is above looks, it’s only about truth. More importantly, now that the chains of patriarchy are being sloughed off, we shouldn’t go back to the old double standards of a woman having to look good to be paid attention to, while men can look how they like and they’ll still be respected.
- This is a good thing. More women are needed in science. By demonstrating that women can do science and still be attractive, more girls are likely to take up science.
Nevertheless, there is something that kneejerk liberalism will not automatically pick up on.