Screen Two: Series 7, Episode 10 – Do Not Disturb (1991)

 

The way I understand it, Screen Two was a British series similar to Masterpiece on PBS:  self-contained TV movies featured on a weekly program.  Of course, the movies were made for/by Screen Two, whereas Masterpiece serves as a U.S. venue for U.K. properties.  At any rate, even though it’s technically an episode of the show, I’m calling Do Not Disturb a made-for-TV film. 

 

The story opens on Jenny and Bruce Coldfield, on their maiden trip of what Jenny hopes will be a regular business:  guided tours of the Norfolk village that served as the backdrop to a Victorian writer’s ghost stories.  With a van of eager tourists in tow, Jenny plans a few manufactured thrills to add to the fun.  But as the trip wears on, she starts to suspect not all the ghosts are fictional.

 

At first glance, PC’s Bruce Coldfield seems like a pretty bog-standard husband role.  The tour is Jenny’s brainchild, not his, and he spends the early part of the film begrudgingly herding the tour group around the village and trying to wear them out in hopes of having his evenings free.  However, there’s more to Bruce than meets the eye; Jenny confesses that she’s always loved “haunted men,” and her husband has a few ghosts of his own in his past.

 

The initial scenes of the film give us an amusing, if lightweight, performance of a man who can’t really be bothered with all this tour-guide stuff.  Later, Bruce shows himself to be observant and intuitive, with a fragility that he tries fastidiously to keep out of sight.  A pretty decent role overall.  He’s best in the scenes where he quietly begins opening up to one of the group members – really lovely exchanges of two banged-up people attempting to help one another.

 

Whovians will recognize Jenny as Frances Barber, who played Madame Kovarian, a.k.a. Eyepatch Lady, in series 6.  I was also amused to see Clive Russell, seen previously in Neverwhere and The Devil’s Whore (although not in one of PC’s episodes) – so if you’re playing Six Degrees, you now have at least two ways to connect Clive Russell with PC, three if your rules aren’t too strict.  And I’ve not heard of her before, but the screenwriter is named Timberlake Wertenbaker, which is one of the more fabulous names I’ve heard recently.

 

Accent Watch

 

A very nice-sounding RP.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Maybe.  I liked it a lot, but then, I love the premise of modern fans trying to connect with a long-dead author by visiting her inspiration sites and searching her texts for evidence.

 

PC-wise – Perhaps.  While it isn’t going to crack my Top 10 list anytime soon, it’s a good performance of a sympathetic character, and he has some nice material to work with.

 

Warnings

 

General spookiness, an instance of strong language, and sexual content, including a bit of nudity.

Modigliani (2004, R)

 

The theme this week seems to be “minor role in underwhelming biopic of a famous artiste.”  While ultimately a very different film than John and Yoko:  A Love Story, and I think a somewhat better one, Modigliani is definitely cut from the same cloth.

 

Rather than a bigger-than-Jesus rock star, our protagonist this time around is an artist struggling with art vs. commercial success, along with love and anti-Semitism.  Modigliani, an Italian-born Jewish painter, is every bit the starving artist:  brilliant, unappreciated, substance-abusing, romantic, and slowly succumbing to tuberculosis.  He spends the film angsting over his lover/muse and battling his rivals in the post-WWI Parisian art community (it’s probably so depressing trying to compete with frickin’ Picasso for patronage.)

 

The famous person PC plays this time is Jean Cocteau.  Cocteau is more of a writer than a painter, but he has a great love of art and holds a fair amount of weight in the art scene.  He runs in Picasso’s crowd and, as such, associates with Modigliani but isn’t really on his side.

 

It’s a small, background-ish role, but it seems like PC was probably delighted to play it.  His Cocteau is stylish and exuberant, reveling in the creative, artistic world he inhabits.  While a lot of actors can look anachronistic in certain period pieces, PC fits perfectly into the 1919 locale, which helps give Cocteau a genuine feel.

 

While I think Modigliani is better overall, its chief advantage over John and Yoko:  A Love Story, for me, is the setting.  I’m an unabashed Midnight in Paris fan, and this film is set only a handful of years before the ‘20s sequences of that one.  Figures like Picasso and Gertrude Stein appear in both, and it just seems like such an awesome, happening place to be.  If I had access to a TARDIS, it’s definitely a time and place I’d want to visit (and hopefully be immediately adored by Ernest Hemingway and the Fitzgeralds, a la Midnight in Paris.)

 

Accent Watch

 

French, making it the first non-U.K. accent I’ve heard from PC.  It’s harder for me to tell if it’s any good, but PC is so enthusiastic with it that I’m giving it a thumbs-up anyway.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Not necessarily.  While I like the scenes of the art community goings-on, it’s a pretty standard artist biopic.

 

PC-wise – Again, not necessarily.  PC looks like he was born to play a post-WWI French poet and art lover, but he doesn’t have a lot to do.

 

Warnings

 

Drug references and some language.  Sexual content, including paintings of nudes, and a scene of violence.

John and Yoko: A Love Story (1985)

 

An early project today; we’re going back in time to when PC played one of the Fab Four in what I think is pretty middling made-for-TV film.  Despite some good performances (and of course some good music,) it’s too long and too much of a by-the-numbers biopic.

 

The film begins shortly before John Lennon meets Yoko Ono and depicts the ups and downs of their relationship until John’s assassination.  There’s art and music, there’s religion and politics, and there are drug-hazed love nests and family outings.  Events just sort of meander by, with the songs and the hair letting you know where we are in history.

 

PC plays George Harrison, who obviously doesn’t need an introduction.  George seems concerned chiefly with the music, and more importantly, with the quartet’s camaraderie that comes from their music.  He’s the first to side-eye Yoko and the first to complain when the group starts drifting from their center.

 

It’s a role that’s nice to have on you résumé, but there’s not a huge amount for PC to do.  All non-John Beatles are essentially window-dressing for the first part of the film and pretty much disappear for the latter part.  PC’s main jobs are as follows:  pretend to sing/play guitar, wear all sorts of fake wigs and mustaches, and look dissatisfied.  Not really a tall order.

 

John Lennon, I should tell you, is played by Mark McGann.  I don’t think I’ve seen him in anything else, but he looks so much like his older brother, Paul McGann, that I had to run to IMDb and make sure I wasn’t watching the Eighth Doctor.

 

Accent Watch

 

What could generously be called a Scouse accent.  I can tell he’s shooting for that Scouse cadence, but it’s pretty rough.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Nah.  Overly long and not terribly exciting.

 

PC-wise – Not necessarily.  Even though he has an okay amount of screentime, PC just doesn’t get to do much.

 

Warnings

 

References to sex and drugs, brief violence.

Giving Tongue (1996)

 

Today's entry is an ultimately interesting little film that, in its own unexpected way, reminds me just a little of The Thick of It.  I suppose maybe anything dealing with British politics is bound to draw that comparison for me in the near future, especially something that features PC.  I don't know though, something about the way huge issues conflagrate from such tiny sparks.

 

Jessie Fielding, a newly-elected MP in the House of Commons, sets out to make her mark with an anti-hunting bill.  The measure starts a storm of controversy, particularly in the House of Lords, where the peers love a good old horses-'n'-hounds foxhunt.  As Jessie is riding high on her success, someone from her past returns to her life, a woman who knows more than a few secrets about Jessie that could jeopardize the bill.

 

PC plays Duncan Fielding, Jessie's husband.  Practical, legal-minded, and slightly hypochondriac, Duncan comes across as a generally nice guy who's at least as much of a political advisor as he is a spouse.  As rumors and whiffs of scandal start appearing around Jessie, he steps up to face the challenge head-on.

 

I don't have a ton to say about this role.  PC does well enough; Duncan is sort of blandly likable, which it seems he's supposed be, and the small, almost fussy mannerisms that crop up from time to time flesh him out beyond a mere “loyal husband” archetype.  Still, there's not much meat here.

 

I have to say – one of the best parts of the movie, for me, is a pair of House clerks who are evidently the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of Parliament.  Their entire professional day consists of carrying bills between the Houses of Commons and Lords, but from the way they talk about it, you'd think England would fall without them.  Love it!

 

Accent Watch

 

I'm going to say Scottish.  It was hard to tell – I thought I was picking up hints of something else, maybe RP, but if it was, there was way too much Scottish bleeding through for it to work.  I'll give PC the benefit of the doubt and say it was meant to be Scottish.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Maybe.  It's very small and extremely British, but I liked it.  

 

PC-wise – Not necessarily.  While he does a fine job, there's just not a lot to it.

 

Warnings

 

A little swearing, brief nudity, and a disturbing scene of hunting violence.

Judge John Deed: Series 3, Episode 3 – “Conspiracy” (2003)

More crime, this one with a legal bent.  The eponymous judge is of course our main character.  The episode’s court case has the lion’s share of the plot, but there’s also personal stuff – apparently, John used to sleep with one of the barristers, and guess who’s prosecuting the case he’s currently hearing?

To their credit, they put their issues aside when they’re actually in the court room.  The case – an MP charged with the attempted murder of his blackmailing ex-boyfriend – is much more complicated than it first seems.  It appears sometime is trying to manipulate the outcome.  But is it to stitch up an innocent man or acquit a would-be murderer?

 

PC plays Alan Roxborough, the possibly-law-breaking MP.  He’s recently created some trouble for himself in his crusade to uncover the truth about a string of mysterious deaths.  Prominent figures could be responsible, and they’d have the influence to frame him.  Still, his brutalized ex-boyfriend had threatened to publish letters Alan had sent him, letters that showed an unflattering side of him.  The episode does a nice job of making either alternative seem equally plausible.

 

PC’s performance has a lot to do with that.  I spent most of the episode wavering between guilt and innocence.  He’s by turns commanding, outraged, and backed into a corner.  As a closeted politician with a wife and child, his discomfort at the public discussion of his private life is ever-present.  His scene on the stand is excellent, as is the scene of him watching his ex-boyfriend give testimony; his face shows each of his many emotions in the slightest ways.

 

As an aside, I like that Alan’s sexuality is only part of the story.  He doesn’t want people to know he’s gay, but it’s not what worries him most about the letters.  Rather, they include some callous remarks about the families of the dead men he’s investigating.  Bizarrely, it’s his own barrister that makes it an issue.  He has a tendency to add “homosexual” to his pejoratives about the ex-boyfriend – calling him a homosexual sponger, for example, as if it does more to discredit him.

 

Accent Watch

 

Light Scottish, I think.  I thought he was doing RP at first, but when he’s on the stand and has longer sections of dialogue, the Scottish OO’s and OW’s are pretty apparent.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Maybe.  I don’t know about the series as a whole – the main characters don’t grab me especially – but the story is very interesting and kept me guessing.

 

PC-wise – I would.  Though a good part of PC’s screentime is just him watching the court proceedings, he’s great in all his meatier scenes.

 

Warnings

 

Brief violence and discussion of violence.  Sexual content, including references to solicitation.

Passer By (2004)

And so we begin our eight-month-minimum wait to see our new Doctor in action.  Let's see how far into the interim PC's filmography will take us.

Today’s entry is a made-for-TV film, a one-off drama about inaction and regret.  It’s kind of a frustrating movie, not because of its quality or anything, but because of the way it captures its protagonist’s feelings of impotence.

 

The respectable everyman at the center of Passer By is Joe, a doctor, husband, and father.  With a promotion on the horizon, a suburban home, and 2.5 children, everything is A-okay for Joe.  Until, that is, he sees a woman being harassed on the train home from work.  Despite the flashing “THIS IS A BAD SITUATION!” signals, he gets off at his stop without intervening.  Before he knows it, the police are asking for information about a sexual assault, and coming forward will mean acknowledging his earlier desertion of the woman.

 

With a character name like “Defence Barrister,” it’s not a shocker that PC doesn’t have a ton of screentime or characterization.  He’s only in one long scene, cross-examining Joe when he testifies as a witness.  Since no one saw the actual crime, the barrister puts forth that the sex was consensual, and in the midst of the he-said-she-said, Joe’s observations could rebut that.

 

Naturally, anyone defending a pair of rapists isn’t really a person to cheer for.  But it can’t be denied that the barrister knows exactly what he’s doing.  He zeroes in on Joe’s non-intervention, arguing that an upstanding citizen – a doctor, a healer – wouldn’t have stood by if there had been anything truly untoward happening.  The scene is uncomfortable in an unblinking, dramatic way, with the barrister essentially daring Joe to admit to his moral and civic failure.

 

This film also features Bryan Dick, who I previously saw as Adam in the Torchwood episode of the same name and Freddie in the BBC version of The Old Curiosity Shop a handful of years ago; evidently, “reprehensible” is the go-to move in his wheelhouse.  Plus, Joe’s wife is played by none other than Siobhan Finneran, O’Brien in Downton Abbey.

 

Accent Watch

 

RP.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – I might.  It starts to stray in the second half, but it’s an interesting, compelling subject – definitely a thinker.

 

PC-wise – Toss-up.  PC does excellent work here, but considering what his character is doing… If you’re interested in him and not the film itself, an enterprising Capaldian has uploaded his scene to youtube.

 

Warnings

 

Though the initial train scene doesn’t include any violence or sexual content, it’s still pretty uncomfortable to watch.  There’s also language and sexual discussion.

Doctor Who: 2013 Christmas Special – “The Time of the Doctor” (2013)

 

O Doctor!  My Doctor!  It’s goodbye to Matt Smith and hello to Doctor PC.  I really don’t know how I can explain the premise.  It’s just… first questions and monsters and Trenzalore, oh my!  If you took snippets from every Eleven episode and stuck them in a blender, this is what you get.

 

I’ll do what I can to keep my remarks spoiler-free.  Grumbles first, so we can move on to the sweeter stuff.  I have no great love for flippant flirtyness/kissyness from the Doctor, and those elements are positive out of control for chunks of the episode.  Too many bad guys in my opinion, especially since not much new is done with any of them.  I’m still not quite sure what I think of the plot – parts of it knit together well, but it seems there’s a lot of sloppiness.

 

And now, for the good.  Eleven’s exit (yes, he’s Eleven to me, whatever his technical number may be) is absolutely lovely.  For new Who regenerations, I think Nine’s remains my favorite – this one was drawn out maybe a bit too long – but it’s miles better than Ten’s.  It reminded me in a way of “The Big Bang,” where Eleven believes he’s going to die and approaches it with grace.  Really nice.  Beyond that, there’s a truth field that’s good for some fun (although the Doctor seems remarkably adept at managing to lie anyway,) and Clara has some good moments.

 

So where do I stand on it?  Emotionally strong, narratively shaky.  Some great heartfelt stuff, and Eleven’s final moments are a beautiful tribute to a wonderful Doctor, but I feel like Matt Smith deserved a tighter, more cohesive swan song that doesn’t bend the rules to get where it needs to.

 

And of course… new Doctor!  The post-regeneration scene feels very short, but maybe it’s just because he doesn’t say as much as Ten or Eleven do after regenerating (Eleven in particular was all over the place.)  So it’s hard to get much of a feel for him.  He has a Tennish intensity in his eyes, and he has one of the most original new-body complaints I’ve ever heard.  It seems there might be some big-time regeneration crisis going on, so we may have to contend with that when series 8 begins.

 

Accent Watch

 

The Scottish is pretty light, I think.  Maybe an even softer version of his own accent.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – If you’re a Whovian, obviously.  If you’re not, this would make a terrible virgin episode, since it incorporates basically every Eleventh Doctor plot ever.  Start with “The Eleventh Hour” and work your way up.

 

PC-wise – Less than a minute at the end of an hour-long episode may be a hard sell, but it’s the beginning of amazing things to come.  I recommend not missing a moment of PC’s Doctor.

 

Warnings

 

Sci-fi violence, general scariness, and implied nudity (don’t ask – seriously.)

Final Christmas Wishes

Apologies for the late update – for the past twelve hours, I’ve either been driving a car or with family members, neither of which make for optimal blogging conditions.  But we’re a day away from Christmas, and that means final additions to my post-regeneration Christmas list!

Okay, so let’s talk personality…

Good Balance of Serious and Silly

I’ve heard rumblings that PC’s Doctor will be more “intense,” which a number of Whovians are taking to mean dark or angry (granted, some of that is probably a reaction to Malcolm Tucker.)  I’m okay with the Doctor having some edge to him, but at the same time, I don’t want him to lose his sense of fun and whimsy.  Once again, the Doctor’s the same man regardless of how old he looks, and PC does comedy so well. 

A mixture would be best, I think.  Nine struck a good balance – he had the “intense” thing down pat, but he also had that enormous grin, and he was a huge Dickens fanboy.  This ties back to having a good relationship with Clara.  It won’t be much fun traveling with him if he’s being intense and humorless all the time; it’d be like Peri getting stuck with Six after Five regenerated.

Along the same lines…

Don’t Forget the Warmth

In my tour of PC’s past Doctor-ish roles, I mentioned how much I appreciate the Doctor’s warmth and kindness.  Again, a lot of people think Malcolm Tucker when they think PC, and some have hoped his casting means the new Doctor will be like a non-sweary Malcolm.  In my opinion, that’d be a big misstep for the character.  And beyond that, it just seems it’d be a waste of PC.  He’s so talented and has so much range; I want him to be able to show off both on Who, not riff on something he’s already done.

Now for something that’s just fun…

A Little Bit Rock ‘n’ Roll?

Knowing PC’s history as a musician, I would love an episode that put the Doctor anywhere near the ‘80s punk scene and contrived to have him sing a little.  The Doctor is so weird and alien that it’s fun to have him suddenly do something “cool,” like Eleven playing footie in “The Lodger.”

And of course…

Scottish!

This is a cheat, since Moffat has already mentioned the accent.  I like having Doctors with regional accents, so I’ll be happy to get another.  Plus, it’s no secret that I’m not always wowed by PC’s accent work.  Keeping him Scottish will be less distracting for me – I won’t be thinking, “Hmm, more Scottish OO’s.  Is it supposed to be Scottish, or is the RP just not working out?”

Finally…

Strong Writing, Please

I think Moffat has written some great television, and he’s written some great Who episodes, but I’ve not been bowled over by his time as Who’s showrunner.  There’s been too much sloppiness on the show the last few seasons, and some of the writing has made feel bad for Matt Smith.  He doesn’t deserve it, and neither does PC.

So, let’s have fully-developed ideas with strong themes.  Timey-wimey plots and continuing arcs are fine, but make sure they hold together.  (More importantly, resolve them in a satisfying way!)  And remember:  just because a line is clever, that doesn’t mean it makes sense.

And please, please, lay off the misogyny!  Especially from the Doctor – he’s not even human!  There’s no reason antiquated quips about gender roles should be coming out of his mouth.

Now, bring on Christmas!  (Note – I’ll be posting tomorrow, but since the Christmas special won’t be airing until evening, it’ll be late.)

Christmas List

Speculating about the new Doctor is a time-honored tradition of Who, especially when we have a full year between their appointment and their first proper story, with nothing but an end-of-Christmas-special teaser to tantalize.  I didn’t come to Who until Eleven’s tenure was already in full swing, so this is my first long wait for a new Doctor and my first chance to ruminate over what I’d like to see post-regeneration.

Let me preface my geek-wishes by saying that I really love Eleven and I’ll be sorry to see him go.  Matt Smith’s performance on this show has been made of win, and even though he’s been saddled with some less-than-desirable writing, his Doctor has always worked for me.  That being said, to everything a season, and all Doctors have to go sometime.  Since he’ll be regenerating regardless, why not have some fun thinking about what I’d like to see born out of the ashes?

Fewer Romantic Overtones

Okay, I adored Nine and Rose’s thing, whatever it was.  Their relationship carried me through the shakier episodes of series 1, and they were gorgeous together.  Then there was Ten and Rose, Martha’s crush on Ten, and River with both Ten and Eleven.  Even though Eleven and Amy wound up as best friends, the show was constantly teasing the “which one does she really love?” angle, which got old fast.  There was Jack and Reinette and Astrid and Christina.  And now, there’s Eleven and Clara; while there’s nothing overt between them, the references to snog boxes and tight skirts (sigh – really, Doctor?) are a bit much.

Frankly, I’m tired of it.  I don’t want to see Clara and the Doctor making eyes at each other.  That’s not what a Doctor-companion relationship should be about.  Hopefully, when the Doctor looks 50-something instead of 20- or 30-something, the show will remember that he’s over 1,000, and he doesn’t actually have to kiss all his female companions. 

That being said…

Strong Friendship Between Twelve and Clara

Naturally, it’ll be different for Clara when the Doctor regenerates, but I don’t want a lingering sense that she’s disappointed to have lost the “young, cute one.”  Even though our new Doctor will look a lot older, he’ll still be the same man, and I’d like he and Clara to remain close.  Maybe more of an avuncular relationship, like what Three and Jo developed?

Since we’re on the age thing…

The Doctor’s Reaction to His Older Face

I’m really curious about what the Doctor will think of his new body.  Will he be disappointed, like when Two regenerated into Three (even though Three went on to have quite a high opinion of himself?)  Or, conversely, maybe he’ll like looking older; I can imagine something to the effect of, “Finally!  A face people will take seriously!

I have a few more wishes, coming tomorrow.

Three Days to Christmas

And here’s part two of my case for PC as the Doctor.  We’ve talked Danny, the British Ambassador, Islington, and Rory.  Now, I submit the following:

 

 

Mark Collins, Psychos

 

Ah, everyone’s favorite bipolar mathematician.  The Doctor’s I’m-clever-and-I-know-it-ness is a big part of who he is.  With Mark, PC shows he can deliver intelligent, cascading monologues with speed and precision.  Adding in some technobabble shouldn’t be a problem.  Plus, Mark’s manic state has him pin-balling from topic to topic; sound familiar?  It’s easily reminiscent of the way the Doctor’s mind races four steps ahead of everyone else in twelve directions at once.

  

 

Malcolm Tucker, The Thick of It

 

Amusing, sweary youtube mash-ups aside, there are similarities between the Time Lord and the foul-mouthed spin doctor.  For starters, the Doctor has boundless energy.  Like with Mark above, this is no problem for Malcolm.  Whether he’s threatening the life of a junior advisor or running frantically across Whitehall, the man has energy in spades.  If you think PC is too old for the physical demands of Who, think again.

 

And of course, there’s the anger.  While the Doctor gets up to plenty of lighthearted antics, he’s also a powerful man who combats a lot of evil.  Anger is a well that different Doctors draw from to different degrees (Six, anyone?,) but all employ it from time to time.  Malcolm is best known from his shouty anger (think Seven taking on Davros in “Remembrance of the Daleks,”) but there are also times when he goes scary-quiet (Ten destroying the Rachnoss in “The Runaway Bride,”) or when he gets in someone’s face and the gangly man suddenly becomes intimidating (Eleven confronting Ambrose in “The Hungry Earth” about his stance on weapons.)

 

And come on – if Malcolm’s business cards don’t refer to him as “The Oncoming F***ing Storm,” they really should.

 

 

Dr. Pete, The Field of Blood

 

True – a depressed alcoholic isn’t the first thing that springs to mind when I think of the Doctor.  There’s a sadness to the Doctor, but it isn’t the ragged type of sadness that clings to Dr. Pete.  The Doctor’s sadness presents itself in different ways (Nine was a raw nerve, Ten was all about the emo, and a lot of Eleven’s ADD-ness masks his pain,) but he never seems defeated by it.

 

No, it’s not the sadness I’m interested in here; it’s the weariness.  The Doctor has lived long and seen a great deal, and sometimes that weighs on him, cutting through his usual mad exuberance.  Dr. Pete has that same sort of quiet weariness.  Now, he basically lives in the state while the Doctor only shows flashes of it, but it’s still an important part of the character.  It’s the accumulation of his experiences, travels, and losses, and PC’s performance as Dr. Pete proves he can deliver there.

 

 

Randall Brown, The Hour

 

Randall is just one of many highly-intelligent characters PC has played.  I’ve already mentioned wise Islington, clever Rory, smart-as-a-whip Mark, and shrewd Malcolm.  But Randall’s special talent is his perceptive nature.  He sees into people, understanding their pain and motivations.  More importantly, he sees himself reflected in them, and he proves capable of great empathy.

 

This is crucial for the Doctor, especially in his relationships with his companions.  I think of how Two connects with Victoria in “The Tomb of the Cybermen” over losing her father, or Eleven’s intuition that Amy is drifting from him in “The Power of Three.”  Though Randall can seem stiff, there’s such warmth in him, and I think the Doctor’s warmth is another of his best traits.

 

There’s also Randall’s tendency toward recklessness.  He frequently breaks the rules, either because he believes it’s the right thing to do or because his curiosity is driving him to see what will happen.  To crib from C.S. Lewis, the Doctor is good but unsafe, and the show frequently sees him diving headlong into dangerous situations.  The overlap with Randall is strong here – sometimes the Doctor dives because he believes in its rightness (like Five searching for Peri’s antidote in “The Caves of Androzani,”) and sometimes he dives because he simply has to see what he’ll find if he does (like Ten lowering himself into the abyss in “The Satan Pit.”)

 

 

Peter Capaldi

 

Finally, PC himself is proof of his ability to bring the Doctor to life.  The picture above is from a letter he wrote to Doctor Who Magazine after he was announced as Twelve.  PC is a Whovian from the early days who has a genuine love for the show and wants to do it, and us, justice.

 

Furthermore, he just gets it.  I’ve grown wary of Moffat playing with classic series continuity, because his penchant for leaving his mark often feels like he’s writing “STEVEN’S – DON’T TOUCH” on the show in a big black crayon.  But PC seems to understand that Who belongs to everyone who loves it.  It’s his Who, Moffat’s Who, the cast/crew’s Who (past, present, and future,) and it’s our Who as well.  I have every confidence that, for his time with the series, he’ll be its steward and look after it for us.

Countdown to Christmas

With Christmas fast approaching, we’ll soon be getting our first substantial glimpse of the Twelfth Doctor (or Thirteenth, or Fourteenth, or whatever Moffat’s done to mess with the Whovians’ Doctor-numbering system.)  In anticipation of that glimpse, I’ll be taking a few days off from my Capaldi Winter reviews to post all manner of eager-Whovian scribblings.

First, let’s look over some of the PC roles I’ve reviewed so far and mine them for Doctory potential.  I think PC stands to be a fantastic Doctor, and the proof is in the filmography pudding.  Off we go!

 

Danny Oldsen, Local Hero

 

No place to start like the beginning.  Though PC was still developing his actor chops at this time, there’s a quirky zest to Danny that’s terribly watchable.  The Doctor is an ancient Time Lord, he’s frequently the smartest in the room, and he can stare down a Dalek with the best of them, but he can also be loveably, winningly awkward.  Eleven’s attempts to pass as human in “The Lodger” spring to mind, and Danny’s unique brand of oddity fits that aspect of the Doctor.

The British Ambassador, Rosie the Great

One of my favorite things about Doctor Who is its joy.  It delights in the universe’s infinite supply of beauty and adventure, and the Doctor frequently embodies that unbridled happiness.  Don’t get me wrong – the Doctor has more than his share of darkness, and we’ll be addressing that later, but the joy should never be discounted.  I think of Four’s delight at the wonderfully violent butler in “City of Death,” Eight dancing around in his borrowed shoes in the TV movie, and any instance of Nine uttering the word “fantastic.”

In other words, there’s a reason an actor’s smile is one of the things Whovians discuss whenever a new Doctor is announced.  That exuberance, that lust for life, is paramount.  From One’s knowing smirk to Eleven’s warm grin, we need a Doctor to deliver on the sense of fun.

The British Ambassador isn’t PC’s only happy role, but he’s the one that best embodies that side of the Doctor.  His buoyant optimism is irrepressible, no matter what happens to him.  He could easily fit in with Ten’s giddiness at the thought of being hunted by a werewolf.

Islingnton, Neverwhere

 

Islinton is an excellent show of two important Doctorish qualities:  age and alien-ness.  I don’t know if anyone can truly rival Matt Smith’s phenomenal portrayal of a 1,000+-year-old alien in a 20-something’s body, but PC’s performance in Neverwhere ably demonstrates his abilities.  When Islington remembers Atlantis, when he talks of how long he’s been on earth, you believe it entirely.  His are old eyes that have seen fathoms, when he looks at other characters, he makes them seem so new and young.

Of course, Islington is an angel rather than an alien.  Still, the fact remains that he’s not human, and PC never lets you forget it.  From the first shot of Islington, it’s clear that he’s otherworldly, and even in a strange, fantastical place like London Below, there’s no one out there like him.

Rory McHoan, The Crow Road

Doctor Who is a family show, and children have played a number of important roles in Moffat’s Who especially.  Eleven’s interactions with them, from Amelia to Kazran to Stormageddon, are important.  And beyond Eleven, Moffat’s episodes during the RTD reign include a gaggle of London street rats in series 1, young Reinette in series 2, and Cal in series 4.  For as long as Moffat is in charge of Who, kids will definitely be a fixture.

PC has worked well with children several times, but he’s at his best here.  Rory’s flashback conversation with young Prentice in the last episode is everything a Doctor-child dynamic should be.  Rory is both a protector and a playmate, and he discusses complicated matters without talking down to Prentice – perfect.


To be completed tomorrow – so much PC, so little time…