Mr. Pink's Twelve Posts of Christmas: Six

We're half way through my proposed Twelve Posts of Christmas, and I've decided to wait until a little closer to Christmas to reveal what I think is the best Christmas film ever.

This time round, it's what I think was one of the best things on television during 2007...

Russell T Davies is one of television's greatest creators. He's the man who's given us "Queer as Folk", "The Second Coming", "Children's Ward" and "Why Don't You" (who remembers those last two nostalgia fans?). Most recently, he has been responsible for turning "Doctor Who" from camp classic into one of the most successful programmes on UK television, only beaten in the ratings by soaps like "Coronation Street" or "Emmerdale".

Russell needs to watch his back though. Since "Doctor Who" returned in 2005, some of the most entertaining, moving and genuinely creepy episodes of the series have been written by Steven Moffat ("The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances" in series 1, "The Girl in the Fireplace" in series 2 and most recently the beautiful Children in Need special, "Time Crash" which united Doctor 10 with Doctor 5). During series 3, Moffat surpassed even his high standards with "Blink". A haunted house story for 2007, all the more remarkable for the fact that the Doctor hardly even appears.

If you didn't see it when it was originally shown or would normally refuse to watch "Doctor Who" because it's sci-fi or for kids, borrow the DVD or keep an eye out for one of the frequent repeats on BBC Three. And whatever you do, don't blink!

Honourable mentions: The "Doctor Who"/Children in Need special "Time Crash" mentioned above, "Heroes" series one on BBC 2, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip"...

Never Enough TV

Forget about making the ceiling support it. Don't worry about having enough room to walk around. Just use this:

Who's the Man: The Special Edition Part 1

Around this time last year I was given the opportunity to write regularly for the gay guide to Dublin, "Scene City". My first published piece (about "Doctor Who") appeared in the June 2006 issue. The magazine folded two months later!

As I'm feeling lazy and there seems to be quite a few "Doctor Who" fans within our little group who probably won't have read it before, I've decided to do a spot of recycling (albeit with a bit of topical spit and polish)...

On the 23rd November 1963, less than 24 hours after the assassination of American President John F Kennedy a television legend was born. Tucked between the football results and "Juke Box Jury", "Doctor Who" materialised onto British TV for the first time, but what is it about a 40-odd year old science fiction programme that makes it popular enough with gay audiences that the organizers of the 2007 London Gay Pride Fesitval, in an effort to not make gay Who fans choose between the annual celebration and the season finale of their favourite show, have come up with an interesting compromise: they plan to carry the live BBC broadcast of the episode at 7:10 p.m. on a big screen at the event's main stage in Trafalgar Square? First a history lesson for the uninitiated...

The Doctor is a 900 year old alien from the planet Gallifrey who travels the Universe righting wrongs, standing up for the underdog and generally saving the day. His spaceship, the TARDIS, is also a time machine, bigger on the inside than the outside (kind of like the Dragon bar on George's Street!) and looks like a police telephone call box from the 1950s.

The series was originally designed to be both entertaining and educational. Early installments found the TARDIS crew’s adventures alternate between pure sci-fi and historical romps set in ancient Rome, the French revolution or starting the Great Fire of London. However ratings quickly showed that audiences preferred to leave the history books in school and wanted more stories set in the far future. Especially if the stories featured the Daleks, evil robots (who look surprisingly like salt and pepper pots!) introduced in the second story who threatened to surpass the Beatles in popularity in the 60s!

A combination of ill-health and clashes with a new production team influenced the first Doctor, William Hartnell’s decision to retire from the role that made him a hero to a generation. Rather than end the show, the writers came up with a revolutionary idea. They decided to re-cast the lead role, explaining that the Doctor could regenerate when his body became old or injured. While this is now the norm in soap operas, back in the 60s audiences tuned in when he collapsed and his face blurred and changed.

It would be this idea that helped the programme to last until 1989 with six other actors making the part of the Doctor their own: Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Slyvester McCoy.

Due to falling ratings and unable to match the glossy production values of US imports, the TARDIS left TV screens in December 1989 after an impressive record breaking 26 years.
But the Doctor refused to go away. His adventures continued in a series of monthly novels, one of which was written by an up and coming television writer called Russell T Davies. Davies’ fan credentials would again came to light in his groundbreaking and controversial 1999 series “Queer as Folk” which gave us the character Vince...

To be continued...

Best TV Ever!

Russell T Davies is one of the great television writers. He's the man who's given us "Queer as Folk", "The Second Coming" and most recently has been responsible for turning "Doctor Who" from camp classic into one of the most successful programmes in the UK, only beaten in the ratings by "Coronation Street" and "Emmerdale".

Russell needs to watch his back though. Since "Doctor Who" returned in 2005, the most entertaining, moving and genuinely creepy episodes of the series have been written by Steven Moffatt ("The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances" in series 1 and "The Girl in the Fireplace" in series 2). This year Moffatt has surpassed even his high standards with "Blink". A haunted house story for 2007, all the more remarkable for the fact that the Doctor hardly even appears.

If you didn't see it on Saturday or would normally refuse to watch "Doctor Who" because it's sci-fi or for kids, do yourself a favour and pull the curtains, turn out the lights and watch the repeat on BBC Three on Friday. It is quite possibly not only the best episode of "Doctor Who" this series but the best piece of televison drama this year!

And whatever you do, don't blink!