What a fabulous evening we had when LOUISE JAMESON (Leela) and Nigel Friars (Big Finish) appeared at Pride Of Our Footscray Nightclub and Bar as part of the Sirens of Audio weekend.
Louise performed some of her favourite Shakespeare scenes, along with fascinating explanations, ably assisted by her “Gay Best Friend”, Nigel, and two surprised Audience Volunteers. Also sharing stories from other parts of her career and some of her own amazing work. Over an hour of captivating, funny, moving, heartbreaking, inspiring entertainment.
The Venue was perfect for it. Intimate, personal, just the right size for the audience. Great food and drinks were also available. Afterwards, Louise and Nigel “worked the room” as only professionals as they are could, as those with VIP tickets to the Sunday Event gathered in the Cocktail Bar after the show. This event replaced the usual VIP Dinner that comes with each visiting Doctor Who personality.
If you were not already in awe of these two amazing people, you certainly would be after such a magical evening!
I called the evening, in promotions on Gay pages, “Invasion Of The Geek Daddies”… 😊
Had a fabulous day in November with KATY MANNING (Jo Grant/Jones) and a bunch of enthusiastic fans at the SIRENS OF AUDIO event at the the Treacy Centre, in Parkville, Melbourne.
So many people there who hadn’t been in the same space for a long time and the energy was amazing. Familiar faces including many former Presidents of DWCV, and Sonic Editors, and also people that I’ve written about as I’ve gone through the history for the DWCV/Sonic timeline articles in this year’s Sonics. Great to see some for the first time in ten years and meet many others with brilliant stories from the past.
Katy Manning, at 77, is more sprightly, energetic and fired up than I am. She always brings a kind of full-on energy. She tells a story about how she shared an apartment in New York with Liza Minnelli when she was younger and they were the best of friends, and it shows. When she was introduced and came into the main room to talk to everybody, her energy is just like Liza Minnelli walking into the room… “Here I am, Hello, how are you,” a full-on the stage performance energy. In contrast to that, I arrived at the event early, wasn’t sure where to wait, there seemed no one around, then I turned around and there’s Katie and her good friend that was with her. Katie straightaway walks up, she says, “hello, darling”, gives me a great big hug, and we start chatting about things. Just a friendly, everyday person. Wonderful.
Katy was an absolute Star! Entertaining and delightful throughout the entire day. From the photo shoot, the interviews, the trivia session, the commentary on the last 10 minutes of The Green Death, to coping with the slowly rotating chair and finally the long signing session at the end.
I was fortunate to be in the front row so was able to take some video of her stories which I have uploaded to my Youtube Page for all to enjoy!
KATY MANNING: Moments In time! Is a Video Playlist at:
I’ve just watched The Daleks – Colourised… Well, about half of it so far… I had to take a break!
Now, I’m not a Purist who thinks that the old episodes should ONLY be in Black & White; in fact, I love the Coloured Animations that have been done. But this??? Oh dear! Oh dear, oh dear! Oh my!
The Colour, for a start, is like an overdose of candy… too sugary, and bright, and pink, and green, and purple, and blue… basically like one of us had done it at home for fun… definitely not the professional standard that is achievable these days. Maybe an explosion in a Candy Factory? Sadly, I found it a bit sickening to watch.
The seven episodes have been cut up and rewritten into 75 minutes. The pacing is weird, the performances look bad because of the way it has been re-edited, the Daleks have been revoiced (at least some) and words changed. The music is updated with new music that just sounds all wrong.
All of this because Russell and Disney+ think that kids won’t watch the old episodes in Black & White! They have imaginations, don’t they? Why care if they watch old episodes or not… apart from making money! Nothing justifies this half-baked butchery of classic television. I am starting to think that this new incarnation of Russell T Davies and Disney+ are proving a bad move for Doctor Who!
Don’t rush to see it, or to buy it!
1 out of 5. (The look on Barbara’s face in the attached pic sums it up well! And why does her shirt have to be such a horrible shade of pink?)
I’ve been fortunate to see The WAR BETWEEN The LAND And The SEA before it was made available on Disney+ in Australia. I was expecting to be disappointed, as I had been with most of the past three years of Doctor Who, but instead, I was astounded!
It is Epic, Powerful, Stunning… Utterly Magnificent!
This Doctor Who spin-off, basically a UNIT show, and long overdue, is the last adult part of the Whoniverse to come from the Disney+ deal, and it has been a very long wait to see it. There has been much online criticism and hatred directed towards this show, but I say, those critics have all lost their minds! Or they are just desperate for excuses to be ‘controversial’ and get Views and Likes.
The Writing is powerful, Pete McTighe’s work is particularly brilliant. The Direction is stunning, beautiful. The performances are powerful, breathtaking, and deeply moving. Russell, Gugu, and Jemma are magnificent. The message is far greater than the trendy Woke agenda that it has been accused of pushing.
1975 – The year I discovered Doctor Who, the year I discovered ABBA, the year I discovered I was Gay. Now, 50 years later, those three life-changing moments collide in what is for me, “the perfect storm” of The Interstellar Song Contest! The Eurovision Song Contest, on which this episode is based, has also been a yearly viewing tradition for me for almost as long.
Although this episode may be lost on most American and non-European viewers, Eurovision has always been an obsession of many in Australia, even leading to us competing in the contest in recent years, although we are a long way from Europe! It began in 1956, a very small affair, and has now become an internationally watched extravaganza viewed by millions. They usually say, “May the best song win!” and in this episode, they said, “It’s not about winning, it’s about the joy of each other,” but the truth is that it has always been very political, and the best song often doesn’t win. Well, one exception was when ABBA won in 1974!
The Doctor and Belinda stop off to take another Vindicator reading. It turns out they are in the Harmony Arena, a Space Arena where the 803rd Interstellar Song Contest in 2925 is just beginning to be broadcast to 3 trillion viewers. (The 2025 Eurovision, not one of the best years’ shows, I thought it was more of a freak-show, had 166 million viewers,) They become immediately captivated by the event and decide to stay, not knowing they have stolen the booth from Gary and Mike, the gay couple who become essential to the action of the episode. We also see Mrs Flood in the audience, pleased to see that the Doctor has taken his final reading, which means that her plans are about to come to fruition.
40 worlds are competing in the contest, which is hosted by British celebrity Rylan Clark, who is defrosted from his cryo-chamber when he is needed to make a public appearance. Sponsored by Poppy Honey, the show begins, and the Broadcast Control Room is hijacked by Kid, a Hellion from the planet where the poppies were harvested for the sponsor corporation’s honey product, to take revenge against their destruction of his home world. As the rehearsal recording is transmitted to the viewing worlds instead of the live feed, Kid unleashes Hell. It results in most of the arena audience, along with the hosts and the Doctor, floating in space, frozen.
The sudden appearance of Susan, the Doctor’s granddaughter, still played by the wonderful Carole Ann Ford, blew my mind as she calls into his mind to come back and find her… I screamed when she appeared. Things escalate, including the Doctor losing control as Kid’s attempt to kill 3 billion viewers triggers him over the destruction of Gallifrey. This all culminates in Mrs Flood being revealed as the Rani, or A Rani, setting up a major part of the final episode of this season.
There was an abundance of Eurovision references and nods in this episode.
The doctor’s comment, “I was there in 1974 when ABBA won, and Olivia Newton-John came fourth,” made me cheer, as did his later comment, “I thought it was my Waterloo, but it was my Rise Like The Phoenix,” which referenced both ABBA from 1974 and the brilliant winning song from 2014 by the Austrian bearded Drag performer, Conchita Wurst.
The track Making Your Mind Up by Bucks Fizz, 1981 winner from the UK, who were two girls, two guys, modelled on ABBA, was heard.
In the Museum section we had a hologram of Graham Norton, the commentator of the show for the UK for many years. Dana International, an Israeli Trans performer who won in 1998 with her hit, Diva, was playing on the TV screen. The costume worn by the Australian entry, Sheldon Riley, in 2022. A copy of the Eurovision 1975 record release. The list goes on…
The songs created especially for this episode by Murray Gold and others were also outstanding.
I Love You But My Heart Says No by Liz Lizardine from Lizardo was a brilliant example of the perfect Eurovision song.
My Big Feet by Cora from Trion was a typically wacky Eurovision song.
Cora’s Hellion Anthem at the end of the show moved me to tears, even though I didn’t understand the words; that is also something that happens with some Eurovision songs.
Dugga Doo… what can I say, it sticks in your head and tortures you, another typical type of Eurovision song. It reminds me of Dustin The Turkey’s song Irelande Douze Pointe for Ireland that was in the 2008 Semi-Final… yes, a song by a glove-puppet. Dugga, dugga, dugga, doo… I loved it! 😊
Susan’s return was a wonderful surprise, despite the constant suggestions that she would. Archie Panjabi as the Rani (“…the definite article, so to speak…”) is perfect. Writer Juno Dawson did an excellent job of capturing the spirit and history of Eurovision as this episode’s setting. For me, this was the gayest/campest Doctor Who episode ever… glitter cannon to the rescue, topping it all off! This was my favourite episode of the recent two seasons and specials; however, there were a few small things that I was put off by, so I give it 4.5 out of 5 Jelly Babies! 😊
MICHAEL YOUNG 