Arachnids in the UK

*Spoilers*

Armed with my retro sausage sandwich, I snuggled down on the sofa for a 1970s-style Doctor Who experience, and it didn't disappoint.

Evil businessman, toxic waste down a coal mine, giant creepy-crawlies: this was The Green Death for the 21st century. I'm not a huge spider fan, so this episode was definitely scary.  It may be a while before I can face having a bath again.

There were some echoes of the Russell T Davies era as well.  The suspicion of Yasmin's Mum Najia about her daughter's new 'friend' was very similar to that of Jackie Tyler, Francine Jones and Sylvia Noble. 'Why is it always the mothers?' the Tenth Doctor wondered, after having his face slapped by Francine in The Lazarus Experiment. There was also an Aliens of London/World War Three moment with Chris Noth's evil businessman who seemed extremely like a certain American president. It didn't come quite as close to the bone as the 'massive weapons of destruction line' as it was made clear that he intended to challenge Trump (perhaps the lawyers made them put that bit in) but the reference was hardly subtle.

I have a few niggles though.

I spent quite a lot of time worrying about Yas's dad and his terrible pakoras. He'd gone to all that trouble and the guests had vanished.  How rude! I hope the food wasn't wasted.  

The resolution seemed rushed. The final scene in which 'Team TARDIS' signed up was good, but we never learned who is going to clear up the spider web and carcass, to say nothing of the toxic dump in the mine. What happened to the spider in the flat?

Still, 10/10 for the title.

Doctor Who Day

Sunday 28 October 2018

The clocks have gone back, I have had a lie-in to celebrate my extra hour, it's cold outside and the evenings are getting dark.  It feels like a proper 'Doctor Who' day like we used to have in the 1970s.

So much so, that I watched an episode of Inferno earlier - the news stories about small earthquakes caused by fracking somehow brought it to mind, as did an interview with John Levene in Doctor Who Magazine.

To round off my 1970s Doctor Who experience, I'm making sausage sandwiches for tea, to be consumed whilst watching the Doctor battling with spiders.  I just hope we don't experience that other feature of early 70s TV watching - the power cut!