It’s the Doctor Who series finale tonight!

Today marks the end of the seventh series of Doctor Who, and promises to reveal not only who Clara Oswald really is, but also the Doctor’s name (spoiler: the latter most likely isn’t actually revealed). Whether or not the question of all questions (Doctor Who?!) is answered, it promises to be a brilliant episode, one that will change the show forever. I certainly hope it does, because most of Series 7 has been quite disappointing. The first half was ok, but with only five episodes not much could be developed. The second half has been a bit longer, but apart from The Bells of Saint John and a couple of others, the writing hasn’t been at its best. Without the mystery of Clara, it might be the worst series in the recent years. I’m hoping that next year we’ll have a full thirteen episode run with no long breaks, a great story arc and two part episodes. One part episodes are good, but especially for finales they don’t allow writers to develop the story much.

So, make sure you’re watching BBC One tonight at 7pm! There’s going to be a clip from the 50th anniversary special featuring both the tenth and eleventh Doctors posted online straightaway afterwards, so head to the Doctor Who website once the episode is over.

Watch the TV trailer now!

Oh, and yes I’ve changed the theme of my blog. Thought it could do with a bit of a new look.

Merlin to end after the current series

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s53/merlin/news/a440704/merlin-to-end-after-series-five.html

Still in shock! What are they going to do next, cancel Sherlock?!

Autumn TV is going to be very quiet from now on, especially as it’s rumoured that the current series of Young Apprentice will be the last. At least The Apprentice has been confirmed for two more series…

A dramatic poster from series 4. Good times. (Click to enlarge)

Young Apprentice – episodes 1 and 2 song

This is awesome.

New Doctor Who video shows what happened to Brian…

A new video on the Doctor Who website (and on YouTube) shows how Brian finds out about the Ponds being stuck in the past and how they’re doing. Unfortunately, this was never filmed so the video consists of a storyboard with some text and a narration by Arthur Darvill, who plays Rory. You can watch the video below:

Merlin Series 4 episodes 1 & 2 – review

So, Doctor Who has finished for the time being (until Christmas), and populating Saturday evening TV is now Merlin. It’s becoming very successful, with a fifth series confirmed even before the fourth series aired, so that means we’ll probably get the now-not-surprising “Merlin Will Return” at the end of the series, which is not a bad thing.

If you’ve read my review of series 3, you’ll know I wasn’t too impressed with the last series, many because Morgana became a repeating ‘enemy’, as such. A repeating enemy isn’t a bad thing (like with the Daleks in Doctor Who), but Morgana was the bad guy in almost every other episode. I hoped that wasn’t the case in series 4, but it is. And, surprisingly, it’s very good.

I plan to review each Merlin episode separately for series 4 (like I did with Series 6b of – guess what? – Doctor Who), but this is a double review because of the fact that there was both Doctor Who and Merlin last week. On to the actual review now (yes, wake up, I’ve stopped going on about random things now)…

The two episodes, titled The Darkest Hour and The Darkest Hour – Part 2 focus on Morgana opening a link between two worlds, and all the bad things (think creepy ghosts) come into Arthur’s world. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Uther isn’t well at all, there’s a bad guy who people trust at the palace and Arthur plans to sacrifice himself to sort it all out.

You could tell from the promo. poster for this series that it was going to be a lot darker, and it certainly is. My and my brother were on the edge of our seats as we watched the episodes, which is quite unusual for the normally light-hearted Merlin. That isn’t to say it’s not suitable for younger viewers, just be warned.

Overall rating for the episodes? 10/10. That’s more than I’d give to most episodes of series 3. That said, this series wouldn’t quite make sense without series 3, so do watch it.

Next week (well, today by the time this post is published): Arthur spinning around… (?). And Merlin as an old man. Ok, then…

Just an interesting point: I seem to have said “Doctor Who” almost as many times as I’ve said “Merlin” in this post. And Merlin doesn’t really have anything to do with Doctor Who…

Doctor Who Confidential – Axed

Just a quick (sad) post to say that the amazing Doctor Who Confidential, which showed the making of Doctor Who, has been axed as part of the BBC budget cuts. Doctor Who will remain.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/sep/28/doctor-who-confidential-axed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/news/bulletin_110928_01/Doctor_Who_Confidential_The_Finale

It’s a big shame because Confidential is a big part of Doctor Who. It’s in its sixth series now! A lot of people involved with the show, including Neil Gaiman, have petitioned against it, but there seems to be no hope.

The last ever episode of Confidential will air on Saturday on BBC Three, straight after Doctor Who.

Is everyone leaving Doctor Who?

I have some bad news. Bad news indeed. Two of the three executive producers of Doctor Who are leaving/left.

Recently, executive producer Piers Wenger announced he was leaving for (shudder) Film 4:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/news/bulletin_110526_01

And then, even more recently, Beth Willis, another executive producer, announced she was leaving:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/news/bulletin_110707_01/Beth_Willis_On_Leaving_Doctor_Who

Not only are these people leaving Doctor Who, but they are also leaving the BBC. And one of them has gone to the dark side. It is crazy…

At least Matt Smith is staying on until at least 2014…

By the way, for those of you who are on Facebook, Doctor Who’s on there. Search for it. They’re doing a Doctor a week a moment, visiting the best of each one…

What do you think about the people leaving?

The team back in action in Series 6.

Outcasts (TV series) – my thoughts

It isn't on this channel

Recently, I have been watching a TV series titled Outcasts on BBC One and BBC One HD. Today I’m going to tell you my thoughts on it.

The plot is quite simple, but complicated in some areas. Basically, some humans escaped from Earth to a new planet. In the series they struggle to live on the planet. But that isn’t all. The new planet has whiteouts, other creatures, ACs and more.

The 8 episodes are quite well constructed, though at some points it can be a little boring and/or repetitive – for instance, there always seems to be problems on the planet.

All of the characters are different, and you feel very sad if any are hurt/die.

Overall, I really like this series. Unfortunately, the ratings were low (2.6 million for episode 4) so episodes 6, 7 and 8 were broadcast on Sunday nights at 10:25pm. Not good.

This means there won’t be an Outcasts – Series Two. That is why, in this post title, I didn’t put Series One – I did that for Come Fly With Me (and the chances of that having another series were slim, but there is going to be Series Two), but Outcasts? No chance. It is a shame really, considering the BBC spent a lot of money on it, and hoped it would be enjoyed….

What are your thoughts on Outcasts?

So long, Outcasts...

Doctor Who Series 7 news – no full series in 2012

Recently, Doctor Who was commissioned for a seventh series, with 14 episodes (one is expected to be the confirmed 2011 Christmas special). Now some more news has come: not all of the 14 episodes will air next year, in 2012. BBC One controller Danny Cohen has now confirmed at the Church and Media Conference that Doctor Who will not be back for a full-length series. It was later clarified that some episodes will still go out in 2012 while others will be aired in 2013, potentially as part of a “special run” of anniversary episodes.

2013, for those of you who don’t know, is Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary. True, no new episodes were broadcast for 16 years, but the show has still lasted a long time, and the anniversary is a big deal.

Matt Smith has been confirmed to reprise the role of the Eleventh Doctor in Series 7. The companions have not been confirmed as of the publishing date.

Doctor Who is expected to return in the Autumn of 2011 for the remaining 6 episodes of Series 6, starting with the intriguingly titled Let’s Kill Hitler.

Information sources:

• 
  http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s7/doctor-who/news/a323875/steven-moffat-unsure-of-doctor-who-air-date.html
  
•  
  http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s7/doctor-who/news/a324905/doctor-who-wont-return-for-full-series-in-2012.html
  

Clarifications:

• Series 6 is also known as Season/Series 32 (if you include ALL the past series), Series Two (if you restart every time there is a new Doctor, or you count Series 5 as a reboot), or 11.2 (Eleventh Doctor, second series)
• Series 7 is also known as Season/Series 33, Series Three and 11.3
  

  The team back in action in Series 6.

A Good Man Goes to War

On Saturday 4th June 2011, A Good Man Goes to War. It’s the mid-season finale (basically, you’ll have to wait two months for the second part of the story, and the other episodes of Series 6). Oh, and this is Doctor Who I’m talking about.

Watch the trailer:

And the online prequel:

I recommend you watch it this Saturday!