Dr Who Christmas Special.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

My mother bought me this book (10 Little N B), complete with its non-PC title. She was very anti-racist, but did not seem to think there was a problem, as the title did not reflect the content of the book.

[salymap]

Sorry to start the rush off topic. Personally Iam known for it, both on this and in conversation. It makes life interesting, for me at least as I am often the only one [at home] who knows what I am talking about.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

John Pertwee was the best Doctor Who.

[Chris Newman]

Hi, EA,
I think there were three great early Doctors: William Hartnell (wonderfully grumpy), John Pertwee (amazingly cheerful) and Tom Baker (very cheeky). The three most recent ones (Christopher Ecclestone, David Tennant and Matt Smith continued the anarchic cheerfulness of Pertwee and Baker. After Baker and until Ecclestone the Doctors were awful. I agree that the present day shows are not quite what they were but we are getting older and are harder to please. The CGI these days is often very good.

[2LO]

Sorry to start the rush off topic. Personally Iam known for it, both on this and in conversation. It makes life interesting, for me at least as I am often the only one [at home] who knows what I am talking about.

Creative discourse always involves digressions - take Tristram Shandy for example.

I thought Patrick Troughton was the best Doctor, but as I remember his son David being at school with me I'm probably biased.

[salymap]

I liked Peter Davison because I like most of the things he has done. Particularly his Albert Campion in Margery Allingham's marvellous detective stories which are well worth reading, if you don't know them. Not just whodunnits but novels in their own right.

[Chris Newman]

2LO, I meant to mention Patrick Troughton as one of the better Doctors. I was impressed many years ago by his son David as Edmund in King Lear at Bristol with Graham Crowden (Waiting for God) as Lear.

[2LO]

Yes Chris, he's a good actor - it obviously ran in the family. A good start helps of course; I think he had a spear-carrying part in Dr Who when he was still at school! David T. was a good artist as well - I still have school magazines featuring one or two of his drawings. Somehow, he knew how to draw FEET convincingly. Now THERE'S a useless piece of information for you!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I liked Peter Davison because I like most of the things he has done.

He was good, but I couldn't keep a straight face as I always associated him with Tristan Farnon of "All Creatures Great and Small"

[BetweenTheStaves]

Gosh...William Hartnell. How many of you remember the BBC doing the 'almost unheard of' in those days and rebroadcasting the first ever Dr Who the following week as a double bill as so many had missed it and wanted to share the enthusiasm?

Both of us thoroughly enjoyed the Christmas Special. Excellent all round entertainment. And may even dip our toes in the water with the normal series.....

[Chris Newman]

Yes, William Hartnell playing a straight part (the first Doctor) was quite a shock. We kids had got quite used to him pretending to be a comical Cockney nasty martinet as Sergeant Grimshaw in "Carry On Sergeant" and equally funny as Sgt-Major Percy Bullimore in the "The Army Game". Suddenly he became this long-haired, very tetchy intellectual with two hearts and absolutely no humour. There are moments when he was as frightening as the plots. A few years later (when I was old enough to see Adult rated films) I saw "Brighton Rock" and realised Hartnell really could play a nasty.

[Ian Thumwood]

I felt that this Christmas Dr. Who was a let down and having been in the living room when the film "Scrooged" was on (blink and you miss it appearance by Miles Davis as a busking musician) and was in no mood for a second "Christmas carol" re-hash.

I think David Tennant was always going to be a difficult act to follow but Matt Smith has surpassed him and the departure of Russell T Davies has rid the programme of it's campness that has been a consistant flaw since the programme's reintroduction. Some of the Davies' episodes were a bit weak and lacked the degree of menace sufficient to make the stories compelling. Lets not forget that the most sinister adversory the Dr has faced have been the weeping angles which were the creation of the current writer. The writing is now sharper and far more Gothic. In addition, Amy Pond has got to be Dr. Who's most attractive assistant for a long while. Matt Smith is both eccentric and has a compelling presence. I love the long-running gag about the bow tie. For me, his is almost as good as Pertwee even though I feel that Baker and Tennant have both really defined this character very well in the past. Matt Smith has the potential to be the best Doctor. Certainly he is the best at football!

All in all, I was hoping for something a bit more scary and thought re-hashes of Dickens are no longer quite as original as they might have seemed.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Gosh...William Hartnell. How many of you remember the BBC doing the 'almost unheard of' in those days and rebroadcasting the first ever Dr Who the following week as a double bill as so many had missed it and wanted to share the enthusiasm?.....

I remember it. My parents told me what rubbish it was, but they never missed an episode.

[StephenO]

Tom Baker was always my favourite Doctor. I had my poor, long-suffering aunt knit me a Doctor Who scarf which I wore everywhere I went for years. It had a tendency to trip me up, get itself wrapped round everthing and end up covered in mud but my scarf and I were inseparable. I still have it carefully preserved to this day.

Matt Smith is probably the best post-Baker Doctor and Karen Gillan is unmissable - worth watching for her alone.

[salymap]

I think I will give it a go. I am too old to hide behind the sofa now. Do they still have the telephone box and the round metal things?