Steven Taylor

Carole Ann Ford

Day of the Triffids (1963)

* Now obviously I love Carole as much as the next person, but I don't mind saying that I'd never considered her the world's greatest actor. So take heart that she's really good in this, as a blind girl—which won't shock anyone familiar with the source material, and isn't a spoiler to those who aren't. The film itself isn't great, and I wonder if something went wrong in the digitisation, because the colour can be physically difficult to look at at times. If not for Carole I'd recommend just reading the book. You should probably read the book anyway.

William Russell

Above Us the Waves (1954)

* Very good war film. Nothing else to add really, but Russell makes a more than decent fist of his character's Scottish accent.

The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (1956-57)

* Rejoice: this series is on YouTube. (In fact so is the film above I believe.) It's quite fun.

Superman (1978)

* To be completely honest it's a bit sneaky putting this on here. I've seen it loads of times and never spotted him—but turns out he is there, and it's worth mentioning anyway just because it's the best superhero film ever made.

Blackadder (1983 episode)

Jacqueline Hill

The Blue Parrot (1953)

Maureen O'Brien

Casualty (1987, bits)

Victorian Scandals (1976 episode)

Peter Purves

Blue Peter (bits)

* I wouldn't normally include this either, but it gives me an excuse to share this delightful clip.

Jean Marsh

The Ghost Hunter (various episodes, 2000)

The Twilight Zone (1959 episode)

* Aside from Doctor Who (natch), this is my all-time favourite TV show. It's classic Doctor Who (black-and-white, slow-moving) in a modern Doctor Who format (standalone, half-hour episodes), and if it isn't terribly consistent, it does have a mighty selection of sensational, A+ episodes. Jean's is one of the middling ones: "The Lonely".

Haven't watched since it's missing.

Mine: That annoying song that happens after something happens like Johnny Ringo accidentally killing that bartender.

Mine: None.

Mine: The main setting. Why?

Mine: Haven't watched because It's missing.

Mine: It's a 12 part. Why...

Mine: Same as MTTU.

Mine: Same as TTM, this is a marvellous serial!

Mine: None. It's a marvellous serial. I love the actors performances.

Companion Steven Taylor and also a presenter on Blue Peter.

A nice Christmassy bit of absurd fun, this. I'm fairly fond of this one, and the fourth wall break I find endearing as opposed to irritating. Though this episode is fairly confusing (and you get the sense that it would have been less confusing upon broadcast, when you could actually see the pictures), that's all part of the fun, and the bit where the Doctor and co. think that the movie being produced was real was great. (And the actor who played that producer was wonderful.) It's a fun Christmassy romp, a welcome break from the epicness of the Daleks, and lots of fun. What more could you want at Christmas?

I.e. the bit from where Katarina dies to just before the bit where they go on a comedy romp and break the fourth wall a bit for Christmas.

Isn't it lovely to see a bit of Nicholas Courtney, eh? And Jean Marsh as Sara is very well-acted too. The death of Katarina is certainly very well done, and from what we can see of it looks fabulous. The mice are suitably silly, and that mind-bending sequence where they travel between the places (I think they got the actors to jump up and down on a trampoline or something) I very much like as well.

A perfectly serviceable three episodes with some good moments, overall.

Yes, I'm splitting Daleks' Master Plan, get over it.

(1-3 is the bit until just before Katarina heroically sacrifices herself, but you can also just give general praise for the serial here)

It's very interesting to see something that is very purposefully epic, and despite the first episode's title seeming very apt at the time, I think it's fairly enjoyable. The Daleks are at their most epic than we've ever seen them, and it's great fun. The Varga plants and those invisible beasts are great ideas, pulled off very well, and the story keeps a good pace by jumping about the place a lot.

Altogether, a strong start to a good serial.

Love love love this one. Immaculately acted by all involved, Donald Cotton delivers a masterpiece. The eschewing of historical accuracy in favour of comedy really works well here, and then when the comedy is turned off at the end in favour of horror just [chef's kiss]. Although arguably The Gunfighters does this serial but better, this works really well too, and it's very hard not to wish that the Ark or something like that had been thrown to the waves instead. The scene where the Doctor realises that he's going to have to build the Trojan Horse is a particular favourite of mine, and all that time when he's pretending to be Zeus. It's a pity about Vicki though, though at least her leaving was written and acted really well. We know when she takes on the name Cressida in this that it's the end, which I think is really clever. Arguably it's better than having Katarina's fate be hers, because that would have been incredibly sad, but it's hard to wish that she hadn't got a better send-off. But really good story nonetheless. (Love Donald Cotton.)

The Drahvins and the other ones were really interesting villains, I thought. Slightly anti-feminist, maybe, but still interesting. Oh, and I do like the Chumblies. They're lots of fun. And the cliffhanger where Steven's going to suffocate was quite tense, I thought, and well-written. Overall, a fairly fun sort of a story.

This one's really clever. It plays on the audience expectations of a pure historical (although, like with The Massacre, our modern-day title spoils the premise somewhat), sets up everything for one, then reveals a sci-fi premise. The writing is very good here, and Peter Butterworth is lovely as the Monk.

I like the bit where Hartnell proclaims that he isn't a mountain goat, and I enjoyed the patently ridiculous viking helmet on the beach. Peter Purves and Maureen O'Brien are lovely here, and ditto Hartnell when he's up against Butterworth. All in all, great fun.