“From The Smell Of The Air..."

Is how Paul Cornell's Ninth Doctor determines where and when the TARDIS has landed in the Doctor Who webcast Scream Of The Shalka, he continues "...England, 2003."

This was the year that the war in Iraq began, the human genome was sequenced, the use of mobile phones whilst driving was made illegal in the UK, Beagle 2 attempted to land on Mars and the largest hailstone ever recorded fell in Nebraska.

In 2003, I was in Spa, WAR: RAW, e-Merge and Pyramus & Thisbe, and I directed Far Away whilst at university.

These are a few of my favourite things from 2003:

Film
The Station Agent
I could wax lyrical about this film here, but I already have elsewhere, so I won't. Here's the trailer.







The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King
The final film of the trilogy that redefined the meaning of the word epic is a worthy ending. Amidst the grandness of the battles and the destinies fulfilled, this film is about the four Hobbits turning the tide in their own ways. In my opinion the epilogue is justly earned by now. Here's the trailer.

A Mighty Wind
Christopher Guest's touching mockumentary follows folk music groups of yesteryear reforming for a concert and has such a great ensemble cast: Jane Lynch, John Michael Higgins, Paul Dooley, Fred Willard, Ed Begley, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Guest himself are all phenomenal. The 'six months later' coda is heartbreaking. Here's the trailer.

Anything Else
Jason Biggs and Christina Ricci star in Woody Allen's as a couple whose relationship is full of contradictions in a city full of character who are equally full of contradictions. Allen himself is great as Dobel, a Jewish Atheist comedy writer with an extraordinary vocabulary and a loaded gun in every room. Here's the trailer.


American Splendor
Lots of comic book adaptations try to feel like a comic book and fail. The movie version of Harvey Pekar’s autobiographical comic is a resounding success. This film is part drama, part documentary, but the result is a metafictional masterpiece. Paul Giamatti and Judah Friedlander are great as Pekar and Toby Radloff, but the presence of the real Pekar and Radloff is genius and gives the film a sense of authenticity. Here's the trailer.

TV
Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Showtime; Potential; The Killer In Me; First Date; Get It Done; Storyteller; Lies My Parents Told Me; Dirty Girls; Empty Places; Touched; End Of Days; Chosen
The beginning of the end. The Slayer, the Scooby Gang and the Potential Slayers go on the offensive against The First in Showtime. Giles and Anya's negotiations with Torg and the telepathic conference scene between Buffy, Xander and Willow are great. For a while Dawn is a Potential Slayer and then she's not, Michelle Trachtenberg conveys Dawn’s initial denial of her calling, acceptance, then disappointment at not being chosen and Xander's last speech is beautiful. The Killer In Me sees both Alyson Hannigan and Adam Busch playing Willow and once again the former's tears almost reduce me to the same. Never kill a boy on the First Date is a lesson that almost didn't get learned twice as Buffy and Principal Wood go on a date that reveals a bit of the latter's backstory and D.B. Woodside is great, and unlucky-in-love Xander's dating efforts see a return to the demon magnet days of yore. Buffy's eulogy to deceased potential Slayer Chloe in Get It Done is fantastic and the last shot is epic. Storyteller is astonishing. Tom Lenk's central performance leaves you wondering how they managed with out Andrew for as long as they did. His revisionist history and daydreams are hilarious and his commentary on Buffy's current tendency to make speeches is very welcome. James Marsters and Caroline Lagerfelt are phenomenal in Lies My Parents Told Me which sees the creation of the Spike we know and love and his mother's post-death epiphany is uncomfortable. Faith returns from stint on Angel (see below) to lend a hand in Dirty Girls, an episode which is disturbing in so many ways. For a series that is about feminine power, the misogynistic preacher Caleb is the Big Bad the series always deserved and Nathan Fillion's performance is outstanding, but it's still difficult to listen to his sermons and his killing of potentials and mutilating Xander makes for a terrifying debut. The aptly-named Empty Places is bleak as Buffy pushes her army too far while morale is at its lowest and they turn on her, Spike and Andrew's road trip scenes, the Willow visiting the now-monocular Xander in hospital and Anya's "lucky" speech are the highlights. With Faith in charge in Touched the First appears to her as the Mayor and it's great to see Eliza Dushku and Harry Groener back together. End Of Days sets everyone in motion for the finale but along the way gives Anya some great lines while nursing the mortally wounded, Dawn's reaction to Buffy's letter is so unexpected and Anya and Andrew's wheelchair fight is hilarious. And so to the last ever episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, it's fantastic: Caleb's death, the Buffy and Angel cookie dough scene that succeeds in having its cake and eating it too, Dawn's kick, Xander's "Party in my eye socket" line, Dungeons & Dragons, Spike's drawing of Angel, the army of Turok-Hans, Willow's spell, the closing of the Hellmouth, Wood's surprise, the last shot, the Grrr Argh monster, all of it. In short, Chosen is perfect.

Angel: Habeas Corpses; Long Day's Journey; Awakening; Soulless; Calvary; Salvage; Release; Orpheus; Players; Inside Out; Shiny Happy People; The Magic Bullet; Sacrifice; Peace Out; Home; Conviction; Just Rewards; Unleashed; Hell Bound; Life Of The Party; The Cautionary Tale Of Numero Cinco; Lineage; Destiny
The fourth season of Angel spring cleans as The Beast massacres Wolfram & Hart in Habeas Corpses and the bodies that litter their offices become an army of zombies. Everybody loves zombies. The Beast takes Los Angeles on a Long Day's Journey into perpetual night and Jack Kehler's Manny is very endearing. Awakening completely had me fooled and makes fascinating watching second time around. After three and a half years of alluding to the possibility, Angel is finally Soulless and it was worth the wait. Even from inside a cage he still manages to divide if not quite conquer the rest of Angel Investigations. Calvary has a lot going for it: Angelus impersonating Angel, the sight of apocalyptic Los Angeles littered with bodies and the ending is so shocking. After a great scene between Wesley and Lilah's corpse, Salvage sees the welcome return of Eliza Dushku as Faith, Angelus versus The Beast and builds toward another in a series of great shock endings. The supernatural soap opera continues in Release as Cordy manipulates Connor, Wesley tortures a witness for information and proves to Faith she can beat Angelus, yet another surprising cliffhanger ending and Andy Hallett is finally in the opening titles, about bloody time. Orpheus drags Angelus and Faith through flashbacks of previously unseen parts of Angel's past, the Angel versus Angelus fight is great and Willow's visit is delightful. Hope Shin is wonderfully sarcastic as Players almost makes Gunn an accessory to her kidnapping, and allows Team Angel to catch up to the audience that Cordelia is evil in a very theatrical scene. Inside Out drives a bigger wedge between Connor and the gang, leaves you questioning the events of the previous 82 episodes and destiny versus free will, brings back Skip which is always good and sees Cordelia give birth in another great cliffhanger. Cordelia's child, Jasmine, turns everyone into Shiny Happy People in an interesting variation on the apocalypse and when Fred becomes immune to the effects, her friends turn on her. Jasmania grips Los Angeles, with Fred as the only dissenter, The Magic Bullet is astounding, a view into a quiet revolution, Lorne's open mic night is hilarious and the reactions to the come down as Jasmine's true face is revealed to each member of Angel Investigations. They go on the run in Sacrifice, but Jasmine's eyes are everywhere. The Jasmaniacs speaking with her voice is very creepy and Jeff Ricketts is great as the demon. Peace Out sees Jasmine vanquished and it's interesting that since returning free will to the people prevents world peace, does that make Angel the villain of the piece? The Jasmine storyline has been a refreshing attempt at dramatising a philosophical argument. Wolfram & Hart is back in Home which feels like the pilot episode for a new show entirely as Angel Investigations debate whether or not to accept an offer to take over the LA branch of the law firm. Each member of Team Angel is tempted in a different way and Connor gets a fresh start. It's such a great idea that gives Angel a maxim. If Buffy was ‘High school is hell’, the new Angel paradigm asks: ‘can you stay true to yourself within the belly of the beast?’
The fifth and final season begins with Conviction and reveal show each of the former members of Angel Investigations is settling into the shades of grey of Wolfram & Hart. The teaser opening shows how much life has changed for Angel himself, Harmony's scenes are great, as is Fred's “work the problem” speech, but Gunn's legal downloading is a great development and J. August Richards makes the courtroom drama a joy to watch. Spike returns as a ghost and fits in remarkably easily as Just Rewards makes he and Angel a definite double act. James Marsters does a great job of showing his fragility in the light of his non-corporeal form. A werewolf is Unleashed in Nina and Jenny Mollen plays her uncertainty beautifully, John Billingsley is great as Royce and his comeuppance is harsh, if deserved. Hell Bound sees Spike haunted by Wolfram & Hart’s past while only Fred is fighting his corner, Marsters and Acker are great as usual and what is probably the most horrific episode of Angel ends with Angel making another very harsh call. Andy Hallett is wonderful as the put-upon Lorne who is the Life Of The Party, it's all too much for him and the rest of the company acting out his wishes are all very funny. The Cautionary Tale Of Numero Cinco is a lot of fun and Los Hermanos Numeros are a very distinctive and endearing Mexican wrestling (and crime fighting) team with references to El Robotico Diabolo peppered through out are a lovely touch. Alexis Denisof gets another chance to shine in Lineage and Roy Dotrice is formidable as Wesley's father Roger Wyndam-Pryce. Destiny recorporealises Spike with a brilliant lack of fuss, sets both Spike and Angel vying for the Shanshu prophecy's attention and have a truly epic fight about it, the flashbacks are wonderful and ends with a great reveal.

Firefly: Trash; The Message; Heart Of Gold
Cancelled long before its time, the last three episodes of Firefly leave you wanting more. Christina Hendricks returns as Saffron in the aptly-named Trash. It's another great ensemble piece with a twist on the standard heist movie story. Nathan Fillion and Gina Torres are as great as ever as Mal and Zoë deliver The Message. From its bovine alien opening scene, to Jayne's cunning hat to a wonderful performance by Jonathan M Woodward as Tracey, this episode is touching and funny throughout. Heart Of Gold is Firefly at its wild westiest and it speaks to the morals of the show. I can't recommend this show highly enough.

Enterprise: Cease Fire; Future Tense; Judgment, Regeneration; Twilight; North Star; Similitude; Carpenter Street
The situation between the Vulcans and Andorians heats up and Cease Fire places humanity in the middle, but this is another chance for Jeffrey Combs, Gary Graham and Suzie Plakson to shine. Future Tense features a time travelling ship that is bigger on the inside, sound familiar? Everyone is fighting over the ship, time is ‘hiccupping’ and then it all turns out to be for nothing. Judgment is a slice of Klingon justice, sees a return to Rura Penthe and J.G. Hertzler being bloody fantastic. From a prequel to Star Trek VI, to a sequel to the eighth film as Enterprise takes on the Borg in Regeneration, darker in tone than most episodes and successfully turns the cybernetic organisms back into the implacable foe that they were before their over exposure on Voyager. The search for the Xindi superweapon begins and the series spends a lot of time in macho posturing. It's difficult not to see this as a reaction to 9/11 and feels like Enterprise trying to be 24. Strangely things pick up when all is lost and we get a glimpse at a future after Earth has been destroyed, sort of, in Twilight. Another episode which bucks the trend is North Star which concerns humans abducted from the wild west confronted with the truth of their existence three hundred years later. Similitude is an allegory for human cloning for medical reasons and stem cell research. Archer and T’Pol visit their most depraved planet yet and it turns out to be Earth in 2004. Prostitution, onscreen hypodermic injections and the wonderful Leland Orser as an American with a very casual attitude to getting paid by what he presumes are terrorists: Carpenter Street is definitely not what Gene Roddenberry had in mind when he started it all, but this is Star Trek at its grittiest.

Farscape: Terra Firma; A Constellation Of Doubt; Prayers; We're So Screwed; Bad Timing
After showing us how aliens react to us, Terra Firma and A Constellation Of Doubt show how we react to them. The optimism of Farscape's first episode has been replaced by post 9/11 paranoia while John has been away and we don't come off well. The search for Aeryn takes Crichton and Scorpius back to an unrealized reality in Prayers and then into Scarran territory in the We’re So Screwed three-parter which raises the stakes higher and higher until Bad Timing comes along and boldly ends the series on its best ever cliffhanger.

QI
The Quite Interesting quizzing begins with a series that takes in Astronomy, Arthropods & Alans among others.


Peep Show
The first series of the sitcom made up entirely of POV shots is a real breath of fresh air. Highlights include Jez's tirade at his uncle's humanist funeral and Mark convincing himself he's “not a paedo”.

Star Wars: Clone Wars Chapters One to Ten
Genndy Tartakovsky's traditionally animated series of the events between Episodes II and III is better than the rest of Star Wars put together. It has a sense of style and humour. Highlights include Kit Fisto's underwater lightsabre duel and everything the Banker does.

Futurama: Kif Gets Knocked Up A Notch; Less Than Hero; Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles; The Why Of Fry; The Sting; The Farnsworth Parabox; Three Hundred Big Boys; Spanish Fry; Bend Her; Obsoletely Fabulous; Bender Should Not Be Allowed On Television; The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings
Amy struggles with the commitment when Kif Gets Knocked Up A Notch and the holo-shed scenes, Motherhood mode and the Grand Midwife are all great. Less Than Hero sees Fry, Leela and Bender becoming superheroes in an episode that is a lot of fun and features another great song. The Planet Express crew are youthasized and keep getting younger in Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles and Farnsworth, Zoidberg and Bender de-ageing is real highlight. The Why Of Fry is a brilliant sequel to The Day The Earth Stood Stupid and draws together several strands of series continuity to create another really touching episode. The Sting is an astonishing piece of work, a beautiful episode with a great twist. The many and varied parallel universes that The Farnsworth Parabox are fantastic. Nixon gives everyone Three Hundred Big Boys as a tax rebate and the ensuing and interweaving spending sprees are all brilliant. Spanish Fry gives us a great public information film about Bigfoot, another great instalment of The Scary Door and some great nob gags. Robonia’s National Anthem and Coilette’s soap opera goodbye to Calculon are fantastic when Bender switches gender in Bend Her. Bender’s downgrade in Obsoletely Fabulous is great and there’s another great twist in the tale. The almost prophetically-titled Bender Should Not Be Allowed On Television is fantastic, the metafictional announcement, the caption underneath a flaming Bender and his final speech to camera are hilarious. The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings, the opera Fry dedicates to Leela is wonderful as is the Robot Devil musical plea to get his hands back. The first last ever episode of Futurama was a beautiful send off until thankfully it wasn’t.

The Second Coming
Christopher Eccleston, Lesley Sharp and Mark Benton are all excellent in this story about the return of the son of God to Earth. As the unwitting messiah convinces the world with his Maine Road miracle in Manchester and asks for humanity to write a third testament, the forces of the devil move to stop him. Russell T. Davies’ script is bold and deals with such massive questions in such a convincing way.

Marion & Geoff
The second season of in-car monologues from Rob Brydon is as good as the first. Brydon's character Keith Barret works as a chaffeur, finds himself on the edge of an extra extra-marital affair and gives up on one happy ending for another.

Music
The Polyphonic Spree: The Beginning Stages Of…
The relentlessly upbeat nature of Tim Delaughter’s cultish robed band is impossible not to like. The feel good factor of this twenty-something piece band is extraordinary.
Stand out tracks: 'Have A Day/Celebratory', 'It's The Sun', 'La La', 'Hanging Around The Day' parts 1 & 2, 'Soldier Girl', 'Light And Day/Reach For The Sun'

Relaxed Muscle: A Heavy Nite With…
The sound of young Doncaster has arrived. Darren Spooner and Wayne Marsden’s only album (so far) is brash electro-rock with a Jarvis Cocker-like talent for deceptively subtle lyrics.
Stand out tracks: '3 Way Accumulator', 'Billy Jack', 'Rod Of Iron', 'Tuff It Out', 'Sexualized', 'B-Real', 'Battered', 'Mary'

Placebo: Sleeping With Ghosts
A rocky and electronic sonic landscape with bleak lyrics predominantly concerning relationships in different stages of failure.
Stand out tracks: 'English Summer Rain', 'Sleeping With Ghosts', 'The Bitter End'


Eels: Shootenanny!
The fifth album is a beautiful slice of Americana that gets its title from a phrase coined by E defined as "a social gathering at which participants engage in folk singing and sometimes dancing, but mostly the shooting of guns." The influences lean more towards blues than the folkiness that the title implies, but the lyrics are as cynical as ever.
Stand out tracks: 'All In A Day‘s Work', 'Saturday Morning', 'Love Of The Loveless', 'Dirty Girl', 'Rock Hard Times', 'Restraining Order Blues'

Books
The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time by Mark Haddon
A murder mystery seen through the eyes of a fifteen year old boy with Asperger's Syndrome. A portrayal that is both very funny and very touching.





Comics
Y: The Last Man: Cycles; One Small Step; Comedy & Tragedy 1
The Amazons catch up to Yorick and friends in the idyllic town of Marrisville and the last man has a confrontation with his sister in Cycles. Yorick may not be the last man on Earth much longer as One Small Step concerns two more in orbit around the planet and changes the landscape. The first part of Comedy & Tragedy concerns the writing of a play about The Last Man and reveals that times may change but tastes remain constant.

Doctor Who: Oblivion 4-6; Where Nobody Knows Your Name; The Curious Tale Of Spring Heeled Jack; The Land Of Happy Endings
The TV show's ruby anniversary year is a tumultuous one for the comic strip, beginning with the latter half of Oblivion, which compares Izzy and Destrii's lives, notably in a beautiful double page 'telepathic conference'. This strip returns Izzy and Destrii to their own bodies and gives them both a great sendoff as Destrii and Jodafra head off in their own time machine, while Izzy is honest with Fey about her feelings and asks the Doctor to take her home in a beautiful ending for the longest serving comics companion. Where Nobody Knows Your Name is a nice little strip in which two old friends who’ve changed appearances sit and chew the fat without ever realising who the other one was. The Curious Tale Of Spring Heeled Jack is brilliant as it addresses the expectations of the reader and repeatedly confounds them. Dr Who and his grandchildren, John and Gillian, visit The Land Of Happy Endings with a script and art that evokes the TV Comic strips of old, very funny with a beautifully sad ending.

Fray: The Gateway; All Hell
The big showdown for Joss Whedon’s futuristic Slayer is every bit as epic as a TV season finale. Buffy Summers may have lived and fought demons above a hellmouth, but Melaka Fray is faced with a colossal demon whose womb is itself a gateway to a hell dimension. The emotional fallout of the manipulation of Melaka is huge and I look forward to seeing more Fray in the future.

Games
Futurama: The Game
Play as Fry, Leela, Bender and briefly Zoidberg as you attempt to foil Mom’s latest evil scheme in this enjoyable 3D platform game with great cut scenes that really feel like an episode of the TV show (see above).

Online
Doctor Who: Shada; Scream Of The Shalka
The fortieth anniversary of Doctor Who inspires a burst of creativity. Paul McGann is no longer 'the George Lazenby of Doctor Who' as the Eighth Doctor returns to complete Shada, the unfinished (and fantastic) TV script by Douglas Adams from 1979 as a webcast and the result is wonderful. McGann's performance is positively gleeful. Romana and K-9 are reunited with the Doctor and both Lalla Ward and John Leeson are marvellous. Andrew Sachs is delightfully evil as Skagra, Melvin Hayes is wonderful as Wilkin, Lee Sullivan’s illustrations are beautiful and the animation, although simple, really does make the most of them.
With the return of Doctor Who to TV screens looking unlikely, BBCi decided to regenerate the Doctor and make a fresh start. Richard E. Grant is the Ninth Doctor, albeit briefly, in Scream Of The Shalka, Paul Cornell’s dark and brooding Earth invasion story and the description of Kim’s demise is one of the most horrific things in Doctor Who dialogue. Sophie Okonedo is great as Alison and Derek Jacobi's Master is fantastic and I suppose the legacy of what turned out to be false dawn for the Doctor.

Star Trek - Fables And Folklore: The Young Hunter
A Klingon child on his first hunting trip and his grandfather recounts The Legend Of Gorath. On face of it, this parable is simply the Klingon equivalent of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, but it paints a larger picture of Klingon mythology. The animation is simple, but the design is great. It's a shame this didn't lead to more of these Starfleetless tales.

Art
Cockaigne by Vincent Desiderio
Named after a mythical land of plenty Vincent Desiderio’s Cockaigne beautifully illustrates the effects of a genuine land of plenty and the tangled webs we weave in clutter and stuff.



Recommendations welcome.

"To Take One Breath In 2007..."

"...and the next in 1920 is a strange way to start a new life, but a new life is exactly what I've always wanted" so says Kathy in Doctor Who's Blink (see below). Continuing my countdown: on to 2007...

This is the year that former prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto was assassinated, the Writer's Guild of America went on strike and a 2,100-year-old melon was discovered by archaeologists in western Japan.

Workwise I was in General Strike 1926, the Autism ads, Dickens Of A Christmas 2007 and wrote and appeared in the first of the Behind The Bike Shed shows and Train Of Thought.

Film
There Will Be Blood
Epic. A film about conmen. The oil man, the evangelical preacher and the long lost half brother are three men all trying to blag their way into money, with mixed success. Here's the trailer.





Juno
I was not expecting to love a film about teenage pregnancy. I was expecting a movie-of-the-week-style cautionary tale, but this film is different. It sets up a set of characters you assume you've seen countless times elsewhere: the disapproving stepmother, the quirky best friend, the apparently ineffectual boyfriend. You then assume you know how they'll react. You are wrong. Here's the trailer.

Sicko
Following the Great Fire of London, several insurance companies set up their own fire brigades to mitigate future losses. Naturally they would only put out fires that affected buildings that they insured, presumably watching many a structure burn to the ground. So it is with the US Healthcare system. To the outside eye, it's terrifying. I should point out that there have been many criticisms of the information presented in this film, but even if only 10% of it were true, you would still have a problem. Universal healthcare can't come to the USA quickly enough. Here's the trailer.

Hot Fuzz
After the success of Shaun Of The Dead, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg could have simply given us a sequel, but instead we have a police procedural in which Britain's best kept village meets The Wicker Man with very funny results. Here's the trailer.




The Darjeeling Limited (and Hotel Chevalier)
Hotel Chevalier is a short film which precedes the main feature, a vignette of relationship awkwardness. Followed by The Darjeeling Limited, Wes Anderson's tale of three brothers on a journey of forced spirituality across India which references the former throughout. Colours are heightened, the soundtrack is fantastic and the use of Anderson's 'repertory' company is oddly reassuring. Here's the trailer.

This Is England
With a uniformly great cast and soundtrack, Shane Meadows' portrait of skinhead culture in Thatcher's Britain is fantastic. Here's the trailer.


World Of Wrestling
Despite never having seen old school Big Daddy versus Giant Haystacks-style wrestling, Tim Plester's short film tribute to professional wrestling (and night buses) still had me in stitches. Here's a trailer.

TV
The Sarah Jane Adventures: Invasion Of The Bane; Revenge Of The Slitheen; Eye Of The Gorgon; Warriors Of Kudlak; Whatever Happened To Sarah Jane?; The Lost Boy
Sarah Jane Smith gets her own TV show. Again. This first series is the most consistent yet. Invasion Of The Bane shows the series arriving with a bang, the relationships between the characters are almost fully formed already and features great performances from Elisabeth Sladen, Yasmin Paige, Thomas Knight, Joseph Millson and Juliet Cowan. It takes the arrival of Daniel Anthony as Clyde in Revenge Of The Slitheen to give us the series proper. Slitheen in school and a wonderful turn from Ian Midlane. On the face of it, Eye Of The Gorgon and Warriors Of Kudlak are slight tales about killer nuns and aliens using children in to fight their war respectively. Both deal with the consequences of some adult themes in the perfect way for the target audience, namely Alzheimer's syndrome in the former, and the Iraq war and the families left behind in the latter. As the series gets better it gets darker, with the first appearance of the Trickster in Whatever Happened To Sarah Jane? The story deals with an alternate reality in which Sarah died at 13 year old and the chaos that ensues without her to protect the Earth. Crucially the price of getting Sarah back is still the death of a 13 year old girl, something that seems unlikely in Doctor Who itself. The season finale, The Lost Boy, systematically takes the Bannerman Road gang apart and makes their world a little bleaker. The TV appeal of Luke's real parents is a horrific sight on children's television, but with Alan wanting to move Maria out of harms way, Chrissie informing on Sarah, Mr Smith turning on Sarah and imprisoning Clyde, it seems like just as they are on the verge divided they fall K9 saves the day. I cheered.

Torchwood: Captain Jack Harkness; End Of Days
The first season draws to a close with this double bill. You might expect an episode called Captain Jack Harkness to enlighten us about Jack's past. Instead it sees Jack and Tosh travel back to 1941 where they meet the real Captain Jack Harkness, the man whose identity our Jack has appropriated. They have more in common than a name and there is a touching romantic encounter between the Jacks. Back in the present all hell breaks loose in End Of Days as the Rift splinters, Cardiff is the epicentre of the apocalypse and everything but the kitchen sink attacks. Murray Melvin's Bilis Manger is the making of these two episodes and it is bizarre that we haven't seen him since.

Doctor Who: Smith And Jones; The Shakespeare Code; Gridlock; Human Nature & The Family Of Blood; Blink; Utopia; The Sound Of Drums & Last Of The Time Lords; The Infinite Quest; Time Crash
David Tennant's second season begins with a trio of what could justifiably be described as brilliant romps. Smith And Jones ably introduces Freema Agyeman as Martha as very quickly asserts her as the new companion, The Shakespeare Code features some great Shakespearean references without excluding a mainstream audience and Gridlock eases us into more thoughtful territory. A run of six of the best episodes of television ever made begins with Human Nature and The Family Of Blood, Tennant, Agyeman, Harry Lloyd, Thomas Sangster and Jessica Hynes née Stevenson are fantastic in these beautiful Paul Cornell scripts about the Doctor living the life he could never have. Blink is a locked room mystery and a Chinese puzzle box of an episode with a great script from Steven Moffat, a lovely central performance from Carey Mulligan and capitalises brilliantly on something kids can be scared of in everyday life. Derek Jacobi is captivating in Utopia as Professor Yana and as...I did not see that coming. After fleeting mentions, Mr Saxon finally steps onto the world stage in The Sound Of Drums and Last Of The Time Lords and it brings out the best in Martha. Another season finale, another epic, but "the year that never was" is replete with great moments, from the reveal of the identity of the Toclafane to John Simm's absolutely priceless first reaction to the wizened old Doctor with his regenerations suspended. Fantastic. Meanwhile The Infinite Quest is a lovely animated treasure hunt/road movie. Time Crash is a gift to the fans, a multi-Doctor story with paradoxy wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimeyness.

The Thick Of It: The Rise Of The Nutters; Spinners And Losers
No one knows what's going on but no one wants to admit it. People position and reposition themselves as the political winds blow them around. The Rise Of The Nutters sees the espionage between the parties at its height and Malcolm Tucker risks becoming the story, but he finds himself usurped by the events of the cliffhanger ending. Spinners And Losers sees the posturing reach its height in the wake of the Prime Minister's resignation.

Life On Mars
To get the job done Sam Tyler finds himself acting a lot more like Gene Hunt than he did in series one, the will they, won't they? romance between Tyler and Annie Cartwright and Tyler's training of Chris continue, while the 'real' world impinges on Tyler in more surreal ways than before, Camberwick Green, and the test card girl. The last episode is nothing short of spectacular.

QI
The 'E' Series takes in Eating, Espionage, and Everything, Etc and sees panellists searching for the Elephant-In-The-Room.


Family Guy: Blue Harvest
Now this was a really great idea. Recasting Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope with the Family Guy characters and somehow managing to ably tell the story of a two hour movie that I have seen several times in 45 minutes without me noticing any omissions.

The Worst Journey In The World
Mark Gatiss wrote and starred in this outstanding adaptation of Apsley Cherry-Garrard's memoirs of the Terra Nova expedition to the South Pole. As part of the scientific remit of the expedition, they collect penguin's eggs for the Natural History Museum. The tone of Barry Lett's narration is beautiful. The cost proves so high, that the epilogue is heartbreaking.

Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives
E's documentary about the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics of his father, Hugh Everett. His theories were unappreciated in life, but are now almost universally accepted by physicists.

Party Animals
Andrew Buchan, Raquel Cassidy, Shelley Conn & Matt Smith are fantastic in this story of the grubby business of oiling the wheels of government.


Summer Heights High
Chris Lilley's controversial mockumentary follows him playing a trio of characters throughout a year in high school.


Radio
Doctor Who: Blood Of The Daleks, Part Two; Horror Of Glam Rock; Human Resources
The Eighth Doctor and Lucie's adventures continue apace. The Daleks show that they make even deadlier friends than they do enemies in the second part of Blood Of The Daleks. They endure the Horror Of Glam Rock in a 1974 motorway service station on the M62 with Aunty Pat. The Headhunter follows them through time and space giving the season an overarching storyline which culminates in the two part finale to the season, Human Resources. It shows the strengths of juxtaposing the mundane with the extraordinary with fantastic success. It turns out that there is nothing scarier to the listener than the Doctor with a job. The real strength of this season has been the chemistry between Paul McGann and Sheridan Smith.

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency,
The 'other' character from the pen of Douglas Adams makes it to radio for the first time here and Harry Enfield, Olivia Colman, Andrew Sachs, Felicity Montagu, Jim Carter and Toby Longworth all give great performances in a story featuring electric monks, missing cats and almost prevents the beginnings of life on Earth.

Toby Hadoke's Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf
The story of my childhood, written and narrated by Toby Hadoke, but set a few years earlier, featuring things that may not have happened to me in the future and swapping my name for his own in an attempt to protect the innocent. Featuring Louise Jameson, a very literal minded continuity announcer and no less than five Doctors, but sadly not John Abineri.

The Chain Gang: Picture This
Rob Shearman wrote the first and last episodes with listeners encouraged to resolve the cliffhangers and write the next episode themselves in about 300 words. To say this took surprising twists and turns does not do it justice.

Music
The Hoosiers: The Trick To Life
The public perception of this band probably comes from the jaunty nature of their singles, but tracks like 'Everything Goes Dark' and 'The Trick To Life' reveal a level of depth and complexity which sets them apart.
Stand out tracks: 'Worried About Ray', 'Goodbye Mr A', 'Cops And Robbers', 'Everything Goes Dark', 'The Trick To Life'

The Polyphonic Spree: The Fragile Army
The life affirming choir shun their robes and don black militaristic uniforms. The sound is a little darker but the core message of the Polyphonic Sprites remains the same.
Stand out tracks: 'Together We're Heavy', 'The Fragile Army', 'Younger Yesterday', 'We Crawl', 'Mental Cabaret'

Books
Charlie Brooker's Dawn Of The Dumb
The second collection of The Guardian's Screen Burn column by Charlie Brooker is wonderfully acerbic and takes in a great many TV shows I didn't see at the time and it doesn't matter in the slightest. Brooker's style more than makes up for my missing out on Big Brother or Celebrity Love Island, but it's great to read his palpable joy at the 2005 return of Doctor Who.

Comics
Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home, The Chain Season Eight picks up after the TV show. The Long Way Home acts as a pilot episode setting up the new premise. Xander is co-ordinating an army of Slayers, Dawn is a giant, Willow is forced to use dark magic, Giles is one Watcher among hundreds of Slayers and Buffy needs decoys to protect her identity. Not afraid of referencing the continuity of the TV series and featuring many of its great supporting cast. This is epic in its scope as forces of evil gather in the name of something ironically called 'Twilight'. The Chain concerns the fate of one of Buffy's unnamed decoys and features a beautiful script from Joss Whedon.

Jump Leads: Training Day
The webcomic hits the ground running as Meaney and Llewellyn's journey starts here. Ben Paddon's script sets out the stall well with just the right amount of exposition and the style of Jjar's artwork is already confident. The use of diagrams within speech bubbles is a lovely device.

Doctor Who: The Warkeeper's Crown; The First
It's wonderful to see the Doctor and the Brigadier reunited in the comic strip in The Warkeeper's Crown. The Brig's characterisation is absolutely spot on, pairing him with the Tenth Doctor changes their dynamic as they are both old soldiers, the strip sees them both save the day and ends with a last panel that has taken on a new poignance since the death of Nicholas Courtney. The First sees the Doctor and Martha meet Ernest Shackleton during an Antarctic expedition and encounter the crystalline Skith. The Skith are both beautiful and hideous, complex and simple. They also succeed in feeling starkly alien in a way that many attempts in comics do not and the panels of the 'Skithself' Doctor are terrifying.

Sugarshock!: Battle Royale With Cheeses
Joss Whedon and Fábio Moon's first strip about a band sets up a great premise. Plus the robot wears jeans.




Online
The Thick Of It: Opposition Extra
The events of Spinners And Losers (see above) as seen from the perspective of the opposition. Peter Mannion's contempt for his situation is wonderful and Roger Allam is fantastic.

Somegreybloke
The YouTubings of Graham Murkett on a myriad of subjects are always worth watching:



Recommendations welcome.