An overnight average audience of 3.7 million watched Jodie Whittaker's final Doctor Who episode. A peak of over four million watched her regenerate, as it was revealed that former Doctor (and national heart-throb) David Tennant would return to the series next year. Which we knew anyway. Critics were, broadly, very positive about The Power Of The Doctor. The viewing figures are, of course, lower than they were for Whittaker's debut in October 2018, which saw an overnight average of 8.2 million viewers tune in. However, the ratings for her swansong will increase considerably when viewers watching on various catch-up platforms are added in the coming weeks. In BBC's popular long-running family SF drama's finale, Whittaker was seen regenerating (or, should that be degenerating) into Tennant at the end of the ninety-minute special. The BBC confirmed that the popular actor and national heart-throb, who previously played the role between 2005 and 2010 (you knew that, right?), has returned as the fourteenth Doctor - and, that's a tale all of its own (see below) - and will appear in three episodes next year before Ncuti Gatwa takes over at the TARDIS controls.
Most critics did not reference Tennant's return in their initial reviews because the closing minutes were removed from preview copies, but still praised the finale. The Torygraph's Michael Hogan described Whittaker's final episode as 'an electrifying thrill-ride of non-stop surprises. The Power Of The Doctor was perhaps the best episode of [showrunner Chris Chibnall's] patchy five-year stint as supremo,' he wrote, adding that the series 'got its sense of fun back. The programme's past was honoured. Its future was launched. Only the "present" part of the equation suffered. The frenetic story threw in so many playful bells and fan-pleasing whistles, it became nonsensical, as if Chibnall painted himself into a plotting corner and didn't know how to escape.' The Gruniad Morning Star's Rebecca Nicholson wrote: 'This episode is bombastic and so stuffed with Easter eggs and nods to the past that I doubt I even caught half of them, but it rolls through this meaty story with Whittaker's trademark energy and a just-right lightness of touch. Considering this is a super-long episode, it trots along at a decent speed and the pace rarely dips. Fans old and new should find plenty to delight them,' she added. 'It is a great send-off for Whittaker, focused and full of feeling, which makes this an apt welcome for Gatwa, too.' The Times was more lukewarm on the episode, suggesting the show was 'too busy' to be properly digested by viewers. '[The episode] reminded us that actually you need one or two dull bits for drama to be dramatic,' they said. 'Moments where what's happening, however intergalactic, however epoch-hopping, however sassy, has time to register. Instead it was an action-packed pageant in which almost anything could happen at any turn. As a result little of it felt as if it mattered all that much, even with an incarnation ending, but at least the ideas kept coming. So if you looked at your phone - in fact, if you blinked - you probably missed one of umpteen plot twists, cameos, fans-only callbacks.' Quite why anyone should be 'looking at their phone' when they're supposed to be watching television, they didn't explain. The Independent also struck a note of scepticism, suggesting Whittaker 'deserved more for this end of an era. 'The first female actor to play the Time Lord brought the show up to speed with modern times ... but the scripts have often let her down a little,' they said. Referring to the finale, the paper added: 'Among the nostalgia and Easter eggs, the relationship between The Doctor and Yaz - the thing I expected this episode to really be about - is sidelined.' The Radio Times review was full of praise: 'The Power Of The Doctor does not disappoint. It excites. It surprises. It confounds. It confuses. It brings an erratic four-year chapter of this constantly evolving saga to a satisfying close. Despite an abundance of distractions, Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill remain the throbbing heart of the story, as the Doctor and Yaz breeze through a rollicking adventure but must prepare for a sorrowful parting ... the composition of the duo, perching on top of the police box gazing at planet Earth, is gorgeous.' Elsewhere, Metro concluded: 'The callbacks and reunions warmed the heart without dominating the story (a spin-off series of the companion support group would be a treat), the villains were truly diabolical and it looked terrific. If the resolution never quite lived up to the build-up, no matter. This was frightening fun in the show's best traditions.' This blogger, for what it's worth, thought it was great.
Speaking of Doctor numbering, some brave person has had a go at providing a handy - chronological - list for anyone that is struggling to keep up with which Doctor is whom as it were. And very good is is too. Although the position of Jo Martin's Fugitive Doctor in the timeline is, legitimately, open to debate and, they missed out two further aspects of the First Doctor (Richard Hurndall and David Bradley), The Watcher (Adrian Gibbs) and The Valeyard (Michael Jayston). But, otherwise, a jolly decent effort.
So, national heart-throb David Tennant made a 'surprise' appearance in Jodie Whittaker's final Doctor Who story. Or, not a surprise if you'd been reading any number of publications (including this very blog) for the last six months. The BBC has confirmed that the popular actor, has returned as the fourteenth Doctor (see above) for his second (or, technically, third), run in the role (if you count the regeneration into himself in Journey's End). Tennant told BBC News: 'What a lovely thing to get to revisit something that was such a wonderful, happy, significant time in my life.' It was announced earlier this year that the actor had been filming 'scenes' for the popular, long-running family SF drama's drama's Sixtieth anniversary, next November. Now, it's been confirmed that he's playing more than a brief cameo and that he's taken over from Jodie to, once more, play The Doctor for three anniversary episodes next year. 'You move on from it with a whole mixture of emotions,' said Tennant. 'And one of those is sadness and regret. So to be able to revisit that and to get another another shot, it was a total joy from start to finish. Doctor Who runs through my life, as if through a stick of rock really. It's a show that I loved as a small child, I grew up obsessed with it. I went to get Tom Baker's autograph in Glasgow, John Menzies. I thought it was something that I would certainly never be as involved in again ... it's like being given the loveliest present. And I'm very, very excited. I'm thrilled and I hope people will enjoy the stories we've got to tell.' In the world of TV, it's certainly not the first time that a well-known character has returned to a show, after what seemed to be a fairly permanent departure. And some never quite manage to achieve their previous level of popularity. 'It didn't really feel like a risk,' he said. 'It felt in a way that the pressure was off. But also I knew that Russell Davies was in charge. And I love working with him and I love receiving a script with his name on the front. So that just felt like it was a bit of a no-brainer.' With the special episodes still over a year away, he is understandably reluctant to be drawn too much on what might happen. But he knows that there are many questions that viewers will be asking. One of them being his relationship with Catherine Tate's Donna, who is also returning. 'Of course, there's a big mystery there,' he confirms. 'Because she's, as eagle-eyed viewers will know, when we last left Donna Noble, she could not remember The Doctor's existence, or her brain would melt. So there's a bit of an issue there.' Those same eagled-eyed viewers will also, perhaps, have noticed from his brief appearance and from the short teaser shown immediately after The Power Of The Doctor, that his costume isn't quite the same as they might remember it. 'To a sort of casual viewer, I look like I'm dressed in the same way as I used to be. But, actually, we've gone for something that's sort of the same but different. That has echoes of the past but it's also a bit something of the now as well.'
Jodie's final story was filled with characters from The Doctor's past. You may have noticed. The first, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth Doctors - David Bradley, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann - all made brief appearances. As did former companions Ace, Tegan, Jo and Mel, played by Sophie Aldred, Janet Fielding, Katy Manning and Bonnie Langford. Ninety seven-year-old William Russell, one of the companions of the first Doctor, William Hartnell, also appeared in the story. Which, as noted on this blog, is almost certainly a record for all television with an actor playing the same character in a TV series fifty seven years, four months and three days after his last appearance. Beat that Coronation Street.
After the three Sixtieth-anniversary David Tennant specials, Ncuti Gatwa, who also appeared briefly at the end of the trailer, will take over as the fifteenth Doctor. Or, you know, pick a number, add thirteen, take away the number you first thought of and .... So, how does David rate his, latest, successor? '[He's] ... scarily good, brilliant. I think the world has got a very exciting new Doctor to look forward to. Once you've enjoyed this one for a little while longer.'
USA Today has announced that the next series of Doctor Who will be streaming on Disney+ in America starting in 2023. Of course, this won't affect the production of the series which will still be co-produced by Bad Wolf Productions and the BBC in Britain. Ncuti Gatwa revealed that the popular, long-running family SF drama would be moving to Disney+ Stateside during an appearance on Live With Kelly & Ryan.
Russell Davies, of course, will return along with Tennant. We've known that since September last year. 'I love this show and this is the best of both worlds - with the vision and joy of the BBC and Disney+ together we can launch the TARDIS all around the planet, reaching a new generation of fans while keeping our traditional home firmly on the BBC in the UK,' Big Rusty said.
Kate Tully Ellsworth's article also commits that dreadful, heinous crime of using that hateful 'W' word in the opening line. For her and for any other hacks who might happen to be reading this blog, a bit of advice which you can chose to ignore if you wish (it's a free country). 'Whovian' (this blogger can barely manage to type it without retching) was a word created in the late 1970s by a bunch of American student Doctor Who fans who'd decided, without asking anyone in the UK (where the show is made, remember) that since Star Trek fandom had a name for itself, Doctor Who fandom should have one as well. No one in the UK had ever heard about this until November 1983 when the then Doctor, Peter Davison, who'd just returned from a convention in the US, mentioned it during an interview with Terry Wogan immediately after the broadcast of the Twentieth anniversary story The Five Doctors. 'I believe they [fans] call themselves Whovians' Peter claimed. Which was followed, one second later, by about eight million viewers around Britain looking, blankly and open-mouthed, at the TV and then saying, simultaneously, 'I don't think we do, you know, Peter.' It is a hateful, horrible, puke-inducing word and you will not find a single Doctor Who fan in the UK (and precious few in the States, either) with an ounce of dignity or self-respect using it. Although, admittedly, dignity and self-respect are two words one doesn't normally associate with Doctor Who fandom, this blogger very much included. So, journalists, just for your information, that's the score. We're actually serious about this; it gets on our collective tit end. Next ...
The broadcast of The Power Of The Doctor, of course, occasioned the last From The North bloggerisationisms update with a very brief - and, mostly, spoiler-free - review of the episode. As usual, this blogger put up a link to the blog update on his Facebook page and, also as usual, made a heartfelt little plea for tolerance, patience and kindness with regard to comments about this episode in Keith Telly Topping's sight. 'Contains some (very) minor spoilerettes for The Power Of The Doctor so, as they say on The News before Match Of The Day, "if you don't want to know the score, look away now"' wrote this blogger, continuing: 'Let us, please, keep any discussions about the latest Doctor Who on this page positive. If you wish to say anything negative about it or those who sail in it, there are - literally - dozens of places across the Interweb where you'll be welcome to vent your considerable spleen ... Note, I did ask nicely and say "please" without, I hope, needing to resort to "an instant dumping into my Block File may offend." Though, it may, so, you know, it's best to avoid that if you can.' This blogger has been doing a variant on that statement for a few of years now on Facebook. Partly because he's committed to making the world a better place but, mainly, because he was sick and tired of having his Saturday or Sunday nights ruined by a fight breaking out online over whether the latest Doctor Who episode is, you know, 'Worst! Episode! Ever!' or, otherwise. So, this blogger is always polite, he always notes that if anyone has anything negative to say, he doesn't want to stop them feeling it or saying it it but he'd like them to do it somewhere other than on his Facebook page. Which, as a consequence, often resembles a bit of a love-in with many of this blogger's fiends agreeing with Keith Telly Topping that they, too, though that particular episode was great. Of course you do get the occasional plank who thinks the House Rules apply to everyone else except them. There will, for example, sometimes be people who, for sheer devilment, decide to try and push it as far as they can go by saying things like 'oh well, I suppose I'd better say nothing then.' Yes. Except you've already said too much. Goodbye. In the case of The Power Of The Doctor, sadly, there were a couple of cheb-end heed-the-baals (one in particular) who'd decided to prick a bubble of sheer joy that was taking place following William Russell's surprise appearance with, again in one case, some genuinely nasty comments about what a right pile of old shite this character thought the episode was. The outcome was swift, merciless and involved the question 'which part of "positive comments only here"' did he not understand and a very public exclusion order to leave the gaff and never darken our door again. A bit Old Testament, you may feel dear blog reader but, hey, this blogger doesn't make the rules. No, actually, that's untrue, he does. And he expects them to be followed. Especially after he said 'please' first!
Also mentioned in the last bloggerisationism was that one of the aspect of The Power Of The Doctor which this blogger most enjoyed was the conceit about some of The Doctor's former companions gravitating towards each other as a kind of support group once their time in the TARDIS concluded. After all, as Graham says in the episode, who else can one talk to about having walked on other worlds, without finding yourself in a secure location, except others who have shared the experience? It is, indeed, a brilliant idea ... and, it was a brilliant idea back in 1992 when this blogger pitched it as part of a submission to Virgin Books for a New Adventures novel, potentially to be called Back To The Old House. It was rejected. Rightly. 'Extended fam? Far too fannish' considered this blogger's then-editor, Peter Darvill-Evans (quite correctly, given that this blogger was then and remains, to this day, a fan).
So, congratulations are due to That There Chris Chibnall for having the same idea as this blogger did thirty years ago, considered that it wasn't 'too fannish' and used it in an episode of Doctor Who. A great episode of Doctor Who at that. This blogger was, therefore, surprised to get at least three - count 'em, three - contacts from old fiends saying, essentially, 'is it just me or did That There Chris Chibnall just homage your fan-fiction from the early 1990s?' Which proves that some people have far better memories than this blogger gave them credit for. And, to which the answer is: No, he did not, we had the same, basic, idea at different times. It's called 'convergent evolution' and it's ... a thing, apparently. So, this blogger congratulates That There Chris Chibnall on, like this blogger, having a brain the size of an Adidas Telstar and using it wisely. On the, separate, matter of animated scarecrows being used as an alien-controlled Doctor Who enemy in Human Nature just as they were in The Hollow Men, however, that one is going all the way to the High Court. Or, maybe not.
This blogger caught up with the final three episodes of the first series of House Of The Dragon earlier this week. It's still not, quite, rocking it like Keith Telly Topping hoped it would pre-series. It's okay - it's full of very good actors - but, by this stage in Game Of Thrones (when this blogger eventually started watching it) he was deeply addicted. This is more 'yeah, it's okay. Is there going to be another series? There is? I may watch.' Don't get this blogger wrong, he liked it (you should, dear blog reader, have heard the little 'whoop!' this blogger let out when From The North favourite Phil Daniels turned up in episode nine). And the story's fine too - it's The First World War, essentially (a minor inner-family tiff that ends up in total bloody carnage). It's just it's not quite as ... immediate (this blogger thinks that's the word he's struggling for) as Game Of Thrones was. This blogger is sure it'll get there eventually, it's just taking a while to fully grasp his knackers in a vice and say 'you ain't goin' nowhere!' Keith Telly Topping believes what he is struggling to articulate is that his emotional investment is still, currently, in the waiting room expecting the train to get rolling shortly.
Memorably Daft Lines from Blockbuster War, Espionage & Heist Movies of the 1960s and 70s: Number Fifty One: David Warner: 'I don't know why I can't use my own tailor in London.' Stanley Baker: 'One can't be too careful.' David Warner: 'You can't possibly understand what an ordeal it is to wear clothes made by a stranger.' Perfect Friday.
As previously mentioned in this blog's David Warner obituary, Perfect Friday is one of this blogger's favourite movies ever since he first stumbled across it one evening on ITV sometimes circa 1980. Possibly this one.
Memorably Daft Lines from Blockbuster War & Espionage Movies of the 1960s and 70s: Number Fifty Two: Charles Gray: 'You know what it is about you that fascinates them, don't you? It's the hair on your chest. Japanese men all have beautiful bare skin.' Sean Connery: 'Japanese proverb say, "Bird never make nest in bare tree."' You Only Live Twice.
Still one of this blogger's first choice Bond movies (the use of yellow-face, aside, obviously) despite the fact that perceived wisdom by lots of men in their fifties with strokey-beards is that Connery looks 'bored' in it. And, therefore, it's not as good as Thunderball (a film which this blogger admires but finds rather dull). Keith Telly Topping always says that every Bond movie should, like Live & Let Die, feature 007 escaping from certain death by walking over some crocodiles. Similarly, every Bond movie should also feature a supervillain's lair in a hollowed-out volcano. That's The Law!
Memorably Daft Lines from Blockbuster War & Espionage Movies of the 1960s and 70s: Number Fifty Three: Nicky Henson: 'I hope you brought your driving licence with you.' David McCallum: 'What for?' Nicky Henson: 'If you fly this thing any lower, you're going to need it!' Mosquito Squadron.
Memorably Daft Lines from Blockbuster War & Espionage Movies of the 1960s and 70s: Number Fifty Four: Daliah Lavi: 'Are you on a vacation?' Stella Stevens: 'Oh well, I was on a sight-seeing tour. But, the man in charge of our group kept taking me places that weren't in the brochure.' Dean Martin: 'Where was that?' Stella Stevens: 'His room!' The Silencers.
The best of the Matt Helm films by a considerable distance (with Deano on properly fine form). Plus, an Oscar Saul script, an Elmar Bernstein score, Vicky Carr's title song and Cyd Charrise in a state of some undress. Respect.
Memorably Daft Lines from Blockbuster War & Espionage Movies of the 1960s and 70s: Number Fifty Five: Maximilian Schell: 'I will show you how a true Prussian officer fights.' James Coburn: 'Then I will show you, where the Iron Crosses grow.' Cross Of Iron. Masterpiece.
Memorably Daft Lines from Blockbuster War & Espionage Movies of the 1960s and 70s: Number Fifty Six: George Peppard: 'If your chute doesn't open, change it for a harp!' Tom Courtney: 'I'm not musical!' Operation Crossbow.
Memorably Daft Lines from Blockbuster War & Espionage Movies of the 1960s and 70s: Number Fifty Seven: Lee Marvin: 'He's deformed!' Roger Moore: 'He's a girl!' Shout At The Devil. Wilbur Smith, another regular on Keith Telly Topping's dad's reading shelf!
As you may be aware, dear blog reader, via Keith Telly Topping's recent essays on British post-war B-movies, The Corpse, The Yellow Teddy Bears, Saturday Night Out and The Black Torment, The Pleasure Girls, Hell Is A City, Cup Fever, Face Of A Stranger and Yield To The Night, Hell Drivers, The Day The Earth Caught Fire and Game For Three Losers, Hammer Films, Blood Of The Vampire and Good-Time Girl, Beat Girl and, most recently, The Earth Dies Screaming, Radio-Cab Murder, Seven Days Till Noon, Murder In Reverse, The Gelignite Gang and Dead Man's Chest, From The North has started seeming like a film blog which, sometimes, discusses TV. Rather than the other way around which is, in theory, this blog's raison d'être. C'est la vie, chers lecteurs du blog. This blogger remains happy to report that there still seems little or no reason to stop such movie-related malarkey.
Here, therefore, are the latest batch of movies to engage this blogger's attention. Starting with The Narrowing Circle (Charles Saunders, 1956). This starred the sometimes rather wooden Paul Carpenter, From The North favourite Hazel Court (and her astonishing cleavage) and Russell Napier. The supporting cast included the likes of Paula Byrne, June Ashley, Ferdy Mayne, Basil Dignam and, in his film debut, James Booth. It was based on a 1954 novel by Julian Symons with a screenplay by Doreen Montgomery and the film's sets were designed by the art director Wilfred Arnold.
'Let me come too, I've always wanted to be a girl-sleuth!' 'To think, I've always tried to steal clear of clever women!' Crime writer-turned-journalist (and certified sexist git) Dave Nelson (Carpenter) is accused of a murder that, of course, he did not commit. Helped by his colleague (and, soon, girlfriend), Rosemary Speed (Court) the plucky duo finds the real murderer and prove, to a doubtful Chief Inspector, that Dave never done it in the first place, guv'nor. Standard stuff, you might think and, most of the obvious tropes of the British B-movie are present and correct. Made as a programme filler by Fortress Films (distributed by Eros), at sixty six minutes, it's quick paced and never outstays its welcome. The narrative isn't helped by the fact that the actual murderer doesn't appear until about ten minutes from the end but, that apart, it's a more than respectable entry into the genre and has some nice location work in Central London. Watch out for one really obvious mistake. Hazel and Paul are seen in the back of a taxi which has a curtain across what appears to be a very small rear window. Paul gets out, then a short journey later Hazel is seen getting out of a standard London taxi which has a normal-sized rear window. Careless.
Danger By My Side was another movie from the prolific B-movie specialist Charles Saunders, in fact it was his last before retirement. This starred Anthony Oliver and From The North favourite Maureen Connell. It was an original script written by Ronald Liles and Aubrey Cash, produced by Butcher's and was made a Shepperton and on location in Soho and around the small town of Hanworth in Middlesex.
'Don't sound so stuffy, you sound just like my father used to.' 'It's a good job I'm not your father, you'd be given a good smacked bottom and sent home to bed!' Lynne Marsden (Connell) sees her undercover detective brother (Lawrence James) killed by a speeding hit-and-run driver. With the help of the Metropolitan Police, Lynne starts to track down the gang who had her brother murdered. The trail leads to Nicky's club in Soho and to diamond smugglers (including Alan Tilvern and Bill Nagy) who are not averse to a bit of murdering on the side. It once received a genuine stinker of a review from Radio Times but, again, it's a fun little time capsule of early 1960s London and, at sixty three minutes, is short enough so that something happens often enough to keep even the most fidgety of viewers interested. It's also got a really cool jazzy theme song (by Martin Slavin and Abbe Gail, sung by Kim Darvos and mimed-to by Sonya Cordeau in the open club sequence). And, the riverbank climax is really rather good.
Also made in 1962 by Butcher's, Francis Searle's Night Of The Prowler starred Patrick Holt, Colette Wilde and John Horsley with Bill Nagy also turning up in this one and smaller roles for the likes of Benny Lee (who sings the opening tune, 'Let's Kick It Around') and Jo Rowbottom. Paul Erickson wrote the screenplay, it was shot at Shepperton Studios with some location work around Hammersmith and South Kensington. The film's sets were designed by the art director George Provis.
'The way things have been going, we might as well celebrate.' When the director of a successful racing car company is shot the other directors have reason to believe that their own lives are at risk. Suspect number one is an ex-employee just released from The Slammer who was sent down on their evidence. Another sixty minute special designed as a supporting feature, Night of The Prowler charges along with some quite impressed racing car action as well as a tense scenes of Colette Wilde and Mitzi Rogers being menaced by Patrick Holt's duplicitous husband/lover.
Peter Maxwell's Impact (1963) was star vehicle for TV's William Tell, Peter Conrad and a written by the director and the star. The pair obviously got along well as they subsequently formed a production company, Arriba Productions, but Maxwell left for Australia to shoot the Whiplash TV series and never returned to the UK.
'Sooner or later somebody's going to take this crusading reporter seriously. Like the police, for instance.' Seeking vengeance for newspaper articles written about him, crooked Soho nightclub owner 'The Duke' (George Pastell), kidnaps crime reporter Jack Moir (Phillips) and frames him for theft. Busted by The Fuzz (Mike Pratt) and banged up for a two-stretch, Moir plots some revenge of his own and, upon release, embarks on a scheme to clear his name. He is aided by his girlfriend, Diana (Linda Marlowe) and, unwittingly by The Duke's moll, Melanie (the former Blue Peter presenter, Anita West). Impact has never had much of a reputation (it's Wikipedia page includes three reviews, two of them highly dismissive). But, it's actually quite a smart, lively little B-movie (again, made by Butcher's) with some clever conceits and really well-acted by cast that also included the likes of Ballard Berkeley, Richard Klee and Desmond Cullum-Jones. It was filmed in London and Hertfordshire, specifically Bricket Wood Railway Station (which was also used in Night of The Demon) and was released in the UK on the Rank circuit as the supporting film to Father Came Too.
Smokescreen (Jim O'Connolly, 1964) has already been covered - in passing - in Keith Telly Topping's B-movie essay. O'Connolly wrote and directed the movie which starred the great Peter Vaughan and was, yet again, made by Butcher's. The opening scenes were filmed in London, but much of the rest of the movie was shot on location in Sussex, mainly in the Brighton area. The scene featuring Deryck Guyler as the station master was shot at Hellingly Railway Station, which has since been closed.
'Strange, for a car to get out of control and catch fire. Surely it must have hit something?' Mister Roper (Vaughan), an insurance investigator, travels to Brighton to assess the apparent death of a businessman after his burning car was seen crashing over a cliff into the sea. The company is suspicious, as the man had only recently taken out life insurance for a very large sum. The car is recovered and no body is found. Roper and the police have to find out whether they are dealing with an accident, an insurance fraud or a murder. Smokescreen has an excellent cast, besides Peter Vaughan, including John Carson, Yvonne Romain, Gerald Flood, Glynn Edwards, Sam Kydd, Penny Morrell, Jill Curzon, Derek Francis and Damaris Hayman. According to the Radio Times (when it was run by adults): 'This above-average programme filler has a passable plot (involving a little bit of skulduggery in suburban Brighton) that's kept moving swiftly and painlessly by director Jim O'Connolly ... Vaughan plays with a dogged determination that is efficient, engaging and quite at odds with the more sinister characterisations he would essay later in his career.' BFI Screenonline admired 'its arresting pre-credits sequence of a blazing 1953 Hillman Minx Convertible hurtling over Beachy Head and the off-beat promise of Johnny Gregory's minor key theme' and described the film as 'an utterly charming B-film comedy-thriller that emphasises character as much as plot and makes full use of extensive location footage.'
Most memorably, the film historians Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane in their book The British 'B' Film selected Smokescreen as one of the fifteen most meritorious British B films made between the Second World War and 1970. They describe it as an 'uncommonly neat little insurance racket-cum-murder thriller' and praise the way that its comic relief is 'built into the fabric of the film's main narrative action.'
Michael Truman's Girl In The Headlines (1963) was also known as The Model Girl Murder Case was based on the 1961 novel The Nose On My Face by actor Laurence Payne. Its script was written by Patirck Campbell and Vivienne Knight who married Campbell two years later.
'Was she a call-girl, or something?' 'I think she did the calling.' Inspector Birkett Ian Hendry) and Sergeant Saunders (Ronald Lacey) are called in to investigate the murder of a glamorous model. It becomes apparent that the girl had led a chequered life and her acquaintances included drug dealers. Jordan (Jeremy Brett) and Hammond Barker (Peter Arne) are reluctant to help but when the police finally make an arrest, another murder occurs in a seedy Soho jazz café. But are the two murders connected?
With a splendid support cast (including Natasha Parry, Kieron Moore, Jane Asher, Rosalie Crutchley, Zena Walker and James Villiers), Bryanston Films' Girl In The Headlines about the search for the killer of a party girl and model, is a rather effective period social study. Like an unwanted ghost the titular murdered girl haunts the film and no one really grieves for her. London and its trendy new fashions and lifestyles are just beginning to, if you will, swing like a pendulum do. In this springtime of a new era, a gallery of characters - each with their secrets and mainly empty lives - are included, assessed and discarded. Promiscuity in sexuality, a prurient media and drug filled lives revolve around all of them. In many ways, it's a film about a changing world and it's well worth a visit.
This blogger's favourite line in From The North's favourite podcast, Kermode & Mayo's Take this week, came in the middle of a, broadly supportive, Mark Kermode review of Ruben Östlund's Triangle of Sadness. Simon: 'The superrich and arms dealers, how difficult is that as a target?' Mark: 'Not difficult at all, turns out they're hateful. And, in other news, Jacob Rees-Mogg is an arse!' They'd never have gotten away with that when they used to be on the BBC.
How do you slap a Tory down into the gutter along with all the other turds, dear blog reader? Simple. You just slap a Tory down into the gutter along with all the other turds.
Although sadly, like mice, every time you get ride of one, another pops up in its place.
Fifty nine years ago on Wednesday evening (at around 7.30PM, right in the middle of an episode of Wells Fargo on BBC1) in the General Hospital on Westgate Road this appeared. Of course, that being a Saturday, this blogger's father almost missed the birth having been at St James' Park watching his beloved (and, even then, unsellable) Magpies lose three-two to Northampton Town.
Also that day, queues had begun to form at The City Hall as tickets were going on sale the following day for a forthcoming rock and/roll jigg featuring popular beat combo The Be-Atles (you might've heard of them). To take place on 23 November. Few of those queuing knew than that those attending this rock and/or roll jig would, as a consequence, miss An Unearthly Child.
It was raining in Newcastle that particular day under grey and leaden skies, as this picture of The Be-Atles queue (custody of the Evening Chrocodile) proves. Some things, it seems, never change.
This blogger wishes to say a big thank you to everyone whose posted birthday felicitations and the like to him on Facebook. Keith Telly Topping tends not to bother to much with birthdays personally (when you reach his age, it's just another day closer to death, you know) but the thought was very much appreciated. This blogger would have loved to reply individually to them all but, as it happens, he was a bit 'out of it' on the day itself through a combination of fatigue (usual), back pain (usual), very hard - legal, over-the-counter - drugs (usual) and doing a bit of work on the forthcoming annual From The North 'Best & Worst TV of 2022' bloggerisationism. This blogger usually starts that task far earlier each year (normally, the start of October) and then addd a two or three entries per day until, around the last week of November each year, he discovers that he's still only three-quarters of the way towards completing the page and panic ensues. On Wednesday, he thought 'I'd best crack on with Keith Telly Topping Presents ... The From The North TV Awards (2022) I'm a couple of weeks late in starting' and, four hours later, he'd managed to write the reviews of the first twenty three of the fifty 'Best Of' list. This blogger is, sadly, kind of proud of himself over such trivia. The blog update itself will, as usual, go live around the end of November or the start of December but this year it will, at least, be a little less rushed than it usually is. And, please note, this blogger did all of that whilst having to stop about every twenty minutes or so to rub more ibuprofen gel onto his throbbing coccyx. A good trick if you can do it. Anyway, thanks you all once again, dear Facebook fiends who also happen to be dear blog readers. You're all very nice people. Well, except for that plank who whinged about The Power Of The Doctor when this blogger had specifically asked him not to. And said please.
For reasons that are far too complicated to go into here but, necessity made it so, this blogger had to go to the bank, the post office, Morrisons, Wilkinsons and Boots on Tuesday morning (which may, in part, explain he lack of energy and back problems the following day). Thankfully, all of those establishments can be found on Shields Road within about a hundred yards of each other so it only involved one bus journey, there are back. But carrying this little lot back to The Stately Telly Topping Manor Plague House, needless to say, made this blogger so tired he needed to hibernate for a while. Suffice to say, a bit of bloggerising aside, that was Keith Telly Topping most definitely done for the week!
Wednesday's Stately Telly Topping Manor Plague House online purchase was a Habitat Brass Floor Lamp (self-assembly) with a 6W LED lightbulb from Argos; basically because these days this blogger is often getting out of his pit at, like, 5.30AM due to the never-ending insomnia and it seemed sensible to get something to negate the need to put all The Stately Telly Topping Manor Plague House lights on when one would do. Thirty two quid plus a Deep Sea Diver for same-day-delivery but this blogger already had sixteen quid credit on his account so, call it just under A Pony in real terms. This blogger is always a bit wary of self-assembly-anything, what with him being the most cack-handed clot that ever there was in all the live-long day when it comes to putting things together (these are artists hands, Keith Telly Topping don't do manual labour). But, he managed reasonably easily, as this very photo proves. Let there be light! And, indeed, there was light. And yer actual Keith Telly Topping saw that it was good. Light. Although afterwards his back started hurting really badly again (despite all the pain-relief gel) from having to bend over whilst assembling the fekker!
Incidentally, if you're wondering - as this bloiger's most excellent fiend and former editor, David did - what was on The Stately Telly Topping Manor Plague House tellybox when that image was grabbed, it was the movie version of Colonel March Of Scotland Yard (Cy Endfield, 1953), on, of course, Talking Pictures TV.
All of which leads us, with the awful inevitability of the awfully terribly, to that part of From The North dedicated to this blogger's on-going medical doings. For those dear blog readers who haven't been following this on-going fiasco which appears to have been on-going longer than someone including 'pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism', 'floccinaucinihilipilification' and 'hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia' in one sentence whilst suffering from 'hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia' (the fear of long words!), it goes like this: Keith Telly Topping spent some weeks around New Year feeling rotten; experienced five days in hospital; was discharged; received B12 injections; then more injections; somewhat recovered his missing appetite; got a diagnosis; had a consultant's meeting; continued to suffer fatigue and insomnia; endured a second endoscopy; had another consultation; got (unrelated) toothache; had an extraction; which took ages to heal; had another consultation; spent a week where nothing remotely health-related occurred; was given further - painful - B-12 injections; had an echocardiogram; received more blood extractions; did another hospital visit; saw the insomnia and torpor continue; returned to the hospital for more blood-letting; had a rearranged appointment to get a sick note from his doctor; suffered probably his worst period yet of the fatigue. Until the following week. And, the one after that. Oh, the fatigue. The depressing, ceaseless fatigue. Then, this blogger returned to hospital to have a go on the Blood-Letting Machine; was back at the doctor's for another sickie, had an assessment, received his fourth Covid jab and received interesting news related to his recent assessment.
This week saw this blogger having telephone conversations with his local medical centre on Wednesday and Friday. Which was a good job as he would have really struggled to get down to the surgery on either day him being tired, worn out and limping like limping member of Limp Biskit due to his chronic psiatica. The former was merely a pharmacy check to make sure that this blogger's medication isn't having any nasty side effects (which, thankfully it isn't). The later was from the delightful Nurse Heather to give this blogger the result of Keith Telly Topping's six monthly diabetes check, which he had last week. Apart from his previously mentioned weight-gain (the last check was artificially low in March due to the anaemia-related loss of appetite, of course), the results was mostly (and happily) in order. Blood sugar levels, kidney functions and calestarol were all fine (a couple of these were a little higher than usual but were still well within acceptable limits). The only slight worrying note was the this blogger's blood pressure when taken last week was a little on the high side. Again, nothing drastic but a touch higher than either Keith Telly Topping or his medical advisors would prefer. A repeat check has been arranged for the week after next.
This blogger's beloved (and now, thankfully, sold) Magpies had Callum Wilson scoring twice as they continued their impressive form by thrashing Aston Villains and their fickle Second City support four-nil at St James' Park. With England boss Gareth Southgate in attendance, World Cup hopeful Wilson converted from the penalty spot six minutes into first-half injury time after Villains defender Ashley Young used his arm to block a goalbound Miguel Almirón effort. Wilson beat Villains' substitute goalkeeper Robin Olsen from the spot after he replaced Emiliano Martinez, who was withdrawn following taking a blow to the head from team-mate Tyrone Mings. In the second half, the striker doubled his side's lead when he headed home from close range, with Joelinton and the in-form Almirón, who now has six goals in the last six games, wrapping up a fifth win in six games for Eddie Howe's side, who were only denied a move into third place in the Premier League table by Stottingtot Hotshots' late winner at Bournemouth.
An artwork by the abstract Dutch painter Piet Mondrian has been hanging upside down in various galleries for seventy five years, an art historian has said. Which might well be the funniest thing this blogger has heard since Eric Morecambe told Andre Previn that he was playing all the right notes but not, necessarily, in the right order. Despite the recent discovery, the work, entitled New York City I, will continue to be displayed the wrong way up 'to avoid it being damaged.' Which might be the funniest thing this blogger had seen since Tommy Cooper did 'the duck trick'. Curator Susanne Meyer-Büser noticed the longstanding error when researching the museum's new show on the artist earlier this year, but warned it could disintegrate if it was hung the right side up now. The 1941 artwork was first put on display at New York's MoMA in 1945. It has hung at the art collection of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Düsseldorf since 1980. 'The thickening of the grid should be at the top, like a dark sky,' Meyer-Büser told the Gruniad Morning Star, about the unfinished and unsigned red, blue and yellow striped lattice artwork. 'Once I pointed it out to the other curators, we realised it was very obvious. It is very likely the picture is the wrong way around,' she added.
The UK's only partial solar eclipse of the year has taken place this week. Solar eclipses occur when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, casting a shadow. One of the best views was in Lerwick in the Shetland Isles, with twenty eight per cent of the Sun obscured at mid-eclipse. The Royal Astronomical Society reminded people to never look directly at the Sun, even during an eclipse. But, of course, some people did. With hilarious consequences.
Spiralling production costs could drive up the average price of a pint of beer to seven quid in some cities, a Scottish brewer has warned. Brewgooder chief executive Alan Mahon said that the price of raw ingredients, such as wheat and barley, were rising faster than the rate of inflation. He also pointed to energy prices soaring to 'eye-watering levels.' Mahon added that carbon dioxide was now costing three thousand per cent more than it did this time last year. He said: 'I used to think "perfect storm" was a cliché until we found ourselves slap bang in the middle of what the industry is facing right now. It is perhaps a greater long-term challenge than that created by rolling Covid lockdowns.'
The price of pasta, tea, chips and cooking oil has soared, according to new data, with vegetable oil going up by sixty five per cent in a year. Overall, the price of budget food in supermarkets rose by seventeen poer cent in the year to September, the Office for National Statistics said. It comes as a separate ONS report sheds light on the cost of living crisis. Almost half of adults who pay energy bills and thirty per cent paying rent or mortgages say these are 'difficult' to afford. No shit? Inflation - the rate at which prices are rising - is at a forty-year high. Food prices drove the latest rise in living costs in September, along with energy bills and transport costs. The official inflation data measures the prices of seven hundred goods, but since May this year the ONS has started releasing a new data set, which measures the change in price of thirty everyday grocery items across seven supermarkets. This is the second time it has released this data. It found 'sharp increases' in the price of some household staples in supermarkets. Pasta prices rose by sixty per cent in the year to September 2022, while tea prices went up by almost fifty per cent. Other everyday items such as potatoes, bread, biscuits and milk also recorded large increases. But some other items fell in price during the period, including orange juice and beef mince. The rise in the cost of groceries has been accelerated by the war in Ukraine, which has disrupted grain, oil and fertiliser supplies from the region. Plus the fact that the Tory government appears more interested in giving people who've got loads of money anyway more whilst making sure the poor get less.
Pig Vomit Toxin Key To Martian Meteorite Mystery according to BBC News. And if that isn't a contender for From The North's Headline Of The Week award then nothing is.
That's, obviously, the winner of this week's award; other nominees included North East Mum 'Barred' From Local Pub After Complaining About Sunday Dinner Delivery On Facebook. In which the Evening Crocodile tell us the sad, sad story of a lass from Stockton who whinged about the food and now, has been told she's not welcome back. One imagines, if it was as bad as she makes out, that might be considered a result.
Also, what is it with complaining 'mums' and local newspapers? Is that all they have to print? Take STV News's epic 'scoop', Mum 'Forced Out' Of Village After Being Judged Over OnlyFans page. And, for anyone who doesn't know what sort of clientelle OnlyFans usually attract, check it out and see for yourself. Though, it might be an idea to delete your browsing history afterwards.
The Doncaster Free Press alleges that Doncaster Village 'Terrorised' By 'Horrible' Bird Called Derek. You think that's 'horrible' guys? Wait till his mate Clive turns up for the party, talking about the time he had to clean the lobsters out of Jayne Mansfield's cleavage.
It's the Birmingham Mail which really has its finger on the pulse of the nation and asks the question that we all wish to know the answer to. Mystery As Twenty Boxes Of Craig David & S Club7 CDs 'Dumped' In Codsall Road. Because, of course, it's a well known fact that there ain't no party like an S Club party. Well, let's face it dear blog reader, if you had twenty boxes of Crayyyyyyyg Dayyyyvid and S Club7 CDs, wouldn't you want to dump them somewhere? You haven't got twenty boxes of Crayyyyyyyg Dayyyyvid and S Club7 CDs have you? Because if you have, you either need to find a dump site, quickly (and, don't use the one in Codsall Road, that's already occupied) or, you need help.
And finally, dear blog reader, thanks to everyone on the entire Interweb with more than two brain cells between their ears who pointed out that anyone trying this 'simple trick to cut electric bills' which, VoltMod (whomsoever he/she/they and/or it are) claims is 'taking the UK by storm' are likely to cut their energy bills, quite dramatically, if they try this 'trick.' Because they dead don't usually pay fuel bills. Chewing live writes whilst standing in a tub of lukewarm water is also 'a good trick' with, pretty much, the same likely outcome.
