WATCH: Impossible

One of my Christmas presents last year was a complete DVD box set of Mission: Impossible, the original 1960s series.

I’d seen a lot of episodes, but I’ve wanted to see it right through from start to finish – plus it stops me going mad while tailor jackets and coats!

So imagine my surprise when I’m watching The Freeze, an episode from series three. There is a tense moment while Jim Phelps and the team are watching their target over CCTV. Up against time, Jim looks nervously at his watch, and we see it in a close-up insert shot.

And it’s near identical to The Doctor’s current timepiece!

It’s an distinctive face, with the 2-4-6-8-10-12 in numbers, where most watches only have 3-6-9-12

If you look closely the logo under the 12 has been removed, but it would have been Buler, the makers of the watch.

And here is a screengrab from The Lodger, showing a good close-up of The Doctor’s wrist watch.

The Eleventh Hour photoshoot

The new series of Doctor Who started this week, and I thought I’d bring you some more pictures from my massive Cardiff photoshoot earlier this year.

After finishing in Cardiff Bay where we visited Eddie’s Diner as seen in The Impossible Astronaut; and The Millennium Centre as featured extensively in The Girl Who Waited as well as New Earth, we packed up and headed towards Southerndown Beach.

Literally on the way to the beach is the village of Llandaff, which has popped up several times in the new series.

In 2006 it was used in Human Nature and Family Of Blood where it was the setting for the Farringham School for boys; in the same story the cathedral was where John and Joan get married; the cathedral was used again in 2010 as the church in Vincent And The Doctor.

But its most recognisable appearance was in The Eleventh Hour, when it was used as the principle location for Amy Pond’s home town of Leadworth.

So we thought we’d have a bit of fun.

We already had our superb Eleveth Doctor look-a-like, Matt Elliott; plus our Amy Pond, Lisa Baxter - so the obvious thing to do was to recreate the scene where The Doctor tries to placate an irate Amy Pond!

Lisa has her own Amy Pond kissogram outfit, so that was easy; I was able to quickly pull together the Doctor costume by providing the tie and a pair of genuine GAP trousers. Matt supplied a cheap shirt from Primark, which Lisa appropriately distressed.

Shooting with a sports setting on my camera, we did half a dozen takes of the pair walking up the hill away from the cathedral.

We attracted a small audience, wondering if it was the real thing!
They soon realised it wasn’t, but a couple of school girls asked if they could have their photo taken with our look-a-likes, which was fun.



Our plans for some further shots had to be curtailed, as we realised the Olympic Flame - as referenced in Fear Her - was due to come right through the village on one of its early stages. (The following day Matt Smith carried it a few hundred yards in Cardiff city centre).

Xmas Special to Pond Life costume index

The first half of Series Seven is due to start soon, so it’s time for a Costume Index to catch up on various mini episodes leading up to the new series!

The Doctor, the Widow
and the Wardrobe

Jacket Shetland Tweed jacket, with three-button fastening

Shirt Window pane dress shirt with mitred cuffs and tabbed collar

Trousers G-Star RAW Broncho jeans in black (matt look)

Bow Tie Self-tied burgundy with twill

Braces Narrow burgundy with small silver clips

Boots Black, custom made

This is the last episode appearance of the window pane shirt before its sale on eBay in aid of Comic Relief.

Good as Gold
viewer-written Blue Peter minisode

Jacket Shetland Tweed jacket, with three-button fastening

Shirt Blue dress shirt with mitred cuffs and tabbed collar

Trousers G-Star RAW Blade jeans in Spark Denim (waxy look)

Bow Tie Self-tied burgundy with twill

Boots Black, custom made

Notes The Doctor also wears an Olympic Gold medal, though not a accurate version as the design for the London 2012 medals had not been revealed when the minisode was shot

Pond Life
5-part red button minisodes 

Episode one
Jacket Shetland Tweed jacket, with three-button fastening
Trousers G-Star RAW Blade jeans in Spark Denim (waxy look)
Boots Black, custom made

SONTARAN and TARDIS SCENES
Shirt Blue dress shirt with
Bow Tie Self-tied burgundy with twill
Braces Wide burgundy with leather connectors and brass clips

MARTA HARI and RAPPING SCENES
Shirt Pale mauve striped shirt
Bow Tie Blue bark effect
Braces Narrow blue with metal clips

Episode two
Jacket Shetland Tweed jacket, with three-button fastening
Shirt Blue dress shirt
Trousers G-Star RAW Blade jeans in Spark Denim (waxy look)
Bow Tie Self-tied burgundy with twill
Boots Black, custom made

Episode three
The Doctor does not appear in Episode three

Episode four
Jacket Shetland Tweed jacket, with three-button fastening
Trousers G-Star RAW Blade jeans in Spark Denim (waxy look)
Boots Black, custom made

WHEN IN GOOGLES
Shirt Pale mauve striped shirt
Bow Tie Blue bark effect
Braces Narrow blue with metal clips

WITHOUT GOGGLES
Shirt Window pane dress shirt
Bow Tie Blue bark effect
Braces Narrow blue with metal clips

Episode five
Jacket Shetland Tweed jacket, with three-button fastening
Trousers G-Star RAW Blade jeans in Spark Denim (waxy look)
Boots Black, custom made

EXTERIOR SCENES
Shirt Window pane dress shirt
Bow Tie Blue aztec key
Braces Narrow blue with metal clips

INTERIOR SCENE
Shirt Window pane dress shirt
Bow Tie Blue bark effect
Braces Narrow striped blue with metal clips

Asylum Of The Daleks - spoiler-free teasers!

I’ve see a few other reviews do a list of spoiler-free teasers, so I thought I’d have a go too!

But for those who really don’t want ANY hints - I’ve put it under a spoiler tag!

Asylum Of The Daleks -
TEN SPOILER-FREE TEASERS

The Daleks’ catchprase takes on a whole new meaning

There are shades of Dalek from 2005 at one point

Where DOES the milk come from?

The Doctor meets yet another Prime Minister

Spiridon, Exillon and Demons Run all get a namecheck

Swat up on your Bizet before watching

Rory plays with fire

Someone forgets WHO The Doctor is

Remember that periscope Daleks eye in the trailer? You’ll never guess WHO operates it!

Who killed all the Daleks?
NOT quite who you think

Asylum Of The Daleks - BFI Q&A session

As if having the chance to see an amazing preview of Asylum Of The Daleks, we also got to see a question and answer session with matt Smith, Karen Gillian, Arthur Darvill, Steven Moffat and Caro Skinner!

It was hosted by Richard Bacon - an ex Blue Peter presenter who now has an afternoon show on Radio 2.
Earlier the same day he had Steven Moffat in his studio chatting about the new series as a prelude to tonights screening.

The first things he did was reprimand Steven for lying  to him about certain details of the season opener! He had categorically stated one thing - which when you see the episode is totally untrue!

Here is a selection of photos I took from our near front row, but far left position.

Asylum Of The Daleks - BFI preview

Last night was pretty bonkers - almost as bonkers as the Daleks in the Asylum itself!

When I heard they were holding a preview of the episode, I HAD to get along to see it.
The box office opened back in July and was initially for BFI members only. Knowing it would sell out in a matter of hours, I renewed my membership and decided I would go and buy my tickets in person.

I got there for when the BFI opened that morning and then queued for over two and a half hours before they finally started taking books.
It was touch and go, as their computer system seemed to crash as soon as it was online and when it was up and running the four seats I choose were sold before the button could be pressed to buy them! Luckily an alternative set were found and I had my prize!

Tonight was the night we had been waiting for and I met up with Matt Elliott and his girlfriend outside the BFI before going in.
While waiting I was approached by a couple of people who recognised me from Cardiff. I had minded their bags in the Blue Box Cafe before seeing the TARDIS set, and they were still grateful for my gesture, which was sweet.

After an age hanging round, it was time to go in. It was allocated seating, and our seats were over to the far left. Pretty quickly the auditorium filled up.
Projected on the screen was a spoof poster for the episode, in the style of a feature film. Nice.

I realised the front dozen rows at the centre had been reserved for the press, as this was technically a press preview. Behind them remained an empty couple of rows.

It wasn’t long before we found out why - a door down the front opened and Matt Smith, Karen Gillian, Arthur Darvill, Steven Moffat and a whole entourage of people paraded to the the warm welcome of everyone present, and they took their seats - right in the middle of the audience!

We later found out there was a large contingent of Doctor Who crew in attendance, plus Nicola Bryan, who played Peri alongside Colin Baker!

The screening was presented by the controller of BBC1, who laid praise and plaudits on The Moffat and Matt Smith, making them sound like the saviours of British television.

After an extended trailer for upcoming BBC drama programmes (excluding Doctor Who) it was finally time to see Asylum Of The Daleks!

I really want to keep this spoiler free - for reasons you’ll understand later and when you get see it for yourself on or after the 1st September.

But trust me - it’s a corker of an opening episode!

By the way - are those more NEW braces The Doctor is wearing ...?

Destination: SKARO!

So, I’m off out tonight - to the National Film Theatre on London’s South Bank to see the special preview screening of Asylum Of The Daleks.

To say I’m excited is an understatement!!!

Bow ties are cool (blue)

I often get emails asking me about the bow ties worn by Matt Smith.

The problem is that early on in series five Matt’s bow ties were hand made from specially sourced silks, so finding one off the shelf made in the exact fabric is impossible, though there are some similar ones out there.

Series six proved to be even more of a challenge with the introduction of a couple of blue ties in very unique woven fabrics.

By far the most fan-popular of these is one with a form of aztec key design.
It has raised I shapes in blue, against a black background.

One of my readers recently sent me a link to a website which has a bow tie that is not dissimilar to the aztec key design, having a parquet pattern (like the wooden flooring) instead.

It’s by no means perfect, but it is the closest thing I’ve seen for a long time.

As usual I would include the link here, but it appears to have been a limited item and is now already discontinued.

Typical!

This is getting silly

Photo © Ryan Farrell

The Doctor Who crew have been out filming on location again this week, and despite having already shot two adventures with the new companion, this time it’s for her debut adventure, the Christmas special.

And being a new adventure - it seems The Doctor has ANOTHER new costume!

So far he has been dressed in a stylish new purple-colours cashmere frock coat; and then a fetching three-piece brown tartan number.

Photo © Ryan Farrell

This time it’s the weirdest one yet, making him look like the Mad Hatter from Alice In Wonderland.

The smoking jacket is reminiscent of something Jon Pertwee would have worn, and that coupled with a frock coat of the same cut (but not style) as Peter Davison, has me wondering if these are a hinted reference to the long history of Doctor Who as it enters its 50th anniversary.

As ever with The Doctor - TIME WILL TELL!

Photo © Ryan Farrell

Series seven preview

The new series is getting closer and closer, with it likely to premiere before the end of the month.

I’ve got my tickets for the BFI preview of Asylum Of The Daleks on the 14th August, and today we got the first full-on BBC publicity for the new series - both photographic and video.

Overnight a fantastic promotional image from Asylum Of The Daleks was released, showing an injured Doctor carrying an unconscious Amy Pond, surrounded by seven Daleks.

The image has been created by Lee Binding, who has done a number of the covers for the classic series DVD releases.
You can find him on Facebook under Tea-Lady Design, where today he posted about doing the image.

So proud to have done this. Huge thanks to Edward Russell for his brilliant guidance - and nipping down to the Cardiff basement to photograph the Special Weapons Dalek when we ran short of pictures. We like to think that the SW Dalek has been trundling around various BBC corridors since 1963. Photoshop users may like to know the final file was over a thousand layers, and 4.9gig in size. Phew!

If I’m right, the Daleks on show originate from (left to right) Planet Of The Daleks (1973); Remembrance Of The Daleks (1988); Victory of The Daleks (2010); Dalek (2005); The Daleks (1963); and The Stolen Earth (2008).

‎Download 16 x 9 version

Download 4 x 3 version

As if that wasn’t enough, the new trailer for series seven was also launched today. It’s a 90 second roller-coaster ride of action adventure!

I don’t know bout you, but I can’t wait!