R for Restoration

In 2006 the kind folks at 2 Entertain released The Andromeda Anthology, a DVD set collecting all surviving material from the early 60s sci-fi serial A For Andromeda and its sequel The Andromeda Breakthrough. Following in the footsteps of the exemplary Quatermass serials of the 50s the series is interesting for a number or reasons, chiefly for launching the career of future international star Julie Christie who takes the role of the titular Andromeda.

Like so many TV shows of the time the master tapes of A For Andromeda were destroyed after it was felt that they had outlived the chance of overseas sales and repeats. Consequently only one full episode survives today (an overseas film print recovered in 2005) with a handful of film inserts (some in stunning condition) from the rest of the serial also remaining. Luckily included among these film inserts are the serials climatic final scenes.

For the DVD release 2 Entertain reconstructed the show by utilising the complete set of telesnaps (photos taken directly from the TV by photographer John Cura) held by director Michael Hayes. While commendable, the reconstruction is somewhat flawed as the telesnaps are accompanied only by subtitles to describe the action, making the 2 hours+ running time something of a hard slog. A narration would have made the whole project a lot more watchable, and with a little creativity could have been cleverly linked to the original episode introductions, in which one of the surviving characters is interviewed about his involvement in the Andromeda Project.

It’s with a sigh of relief that the viewer reaches the sixth episode, Face of the Tiger, and is reminded that there are such things as moving pictures! Here, understandably it is Julie Christie’s performance as Andromeda which holds the most interest for film fans and it’s easy to see why she went on to such success and acclaim. However with the move to sound and vision the production's main flaw becomes apparent; the show's protagonist John Fleming (played by Peter Halliday) lacks any discernable charisma. Scenes such as the one where he 'teaches' Andromeda about human emotions by kissing her are heavy handed and more than a little creepy. This reviewer couldn't help but feel that if he's the best defence humanity can muster maybe the aliens have a point in wanting to wipe us out!

Companion Idol – part one

With all the rumour mongering and speculation surrounding the casting of the 11^th Doctor for the 2009 series of Doctor Who (my hopes are pinned on Chiwetel Ejifor or Richard Coyle) most commentators have overlooked the fact that when the show returns there will also be a new lady in the Doctor’s life. So to fill this void of comment, I give you Companion Idol in which the finest ladies in television will battle each other for the role using those big sticks off Gladiators (...or more accurately, in which I suggest a few possible candidates for the vacancy in the TARDIS).

Now predicting the next companion is a rather harder exercise than predicting the next Doctor as we don’t know what form the character will take. I think it’s pretty safe to assume that the character will be a) female b) British and c) attractive. Now it’s been observed (primarily by Scott Grey in his excellent 'Destrii pitch') that Doctor Who Companions usually fall into two main categories: ‘Girls Next Door’ or ‘Mrs Peels’. This first post will look at ‘Girls Next Door’, characters like Rose, Sarah Jane, Tegan etc, characters who are pretty and brave but who are grounded in ‘realism’ and serve as audience identification figures.

Michelle Ryan

As Seen In: Bionic Woman, Jekyll, Eastenders

Former Eastender Michelle Ryan was by far the best thing about the ill-fated Bionic Woman remake and is rumoured to have been close to getting the part of Martha Jones in Season Three (and frankly would've been better in the role than Freema Agyeman). She also has links with new showrunner Steven Moffat, having appeared in his series Jekyll. Unfortunately she may be tied up with that other BBC Saturday Teatime drama, Merlin, but hopefully it will be axed soon, being an utter pile of dirge.

Olivia Hallinan

As Seen In: Sugar Rush, Lark Rise to Candleford, Torchwood: Out of Time

Olivia Hallinan has starred in a number of poplar dramas, specifically Sugar Rush and Lark Rise to Candleford, but she’s still not exactly a household name. Doctor Who would be a great opportunity to break out of the ‘bonnets and corsets’ trap that many British actresses fall into. Incidentally Hallinan is no stranger to the Doctor Who universe having excelled in the Torchwood episode Out of Time.

Sheridan Smith

As Seen In: Jonathan Creek, Two Pints of Lager, Doctor Who (BBC7 Radio Series)

It’s high time there was a northerner in the TARDIS! Having featured in David Renwick’s Love Soup Sherridan Smith has been cast as the new assistant in Renwick’s Jonathan Creek. Although as Smith also plays Lucie Miller, companion to Paul McGann’s Doctor on BBC7 it’s unlikely that producers would choose to transplant that character (or a similar one) to the TV show as it would show a lack of originality.

Down the Rabbit Hole

First broadcast on BBC1 in 1966 (and released on DVD in 2003 by the British Film Institute) Jonathan Miller’s Alice in Wonderland is quite simply the best adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s masterpiece ever committed to film. Rather than offering an assortment of slightly embarrassed actors in unconvincing animal masks, Miller instead opts to depict the bestiary of creatures Alice meets in human form. Here the viewer has the fun of spotting familiar sixties faces from the panoply of superb actors involved including Peter Cook, Peter Sellers, Wilfrid ‘Steptoe’ Brambell, Michael Gough, and Leo McKern and Angelo Muscat from The Prisoner. By having the animals depicted as human Miller plays upon the interpretation of the book as a satire of the absurdities of Victorian society, with various characters decked out in military regalia and aristocratic finery.

The stand-out achievement of the film is its treatment of Alice herself. Alice is an incredibly difficult character to bring to the screen as so much of her personality depends on how the reader interprets her actions. Here Alice is an vacant oddly detached figure, rarely even looking at the bizarre characters she is engaging with. Anne-Marie Mallik excels at delivering Alice’s deadpan reactions to the insanity surrounding her, standing out as a voice of reason in a world of madness, yet also as one who is drifting, and never quite there, emphasising the dreamlike nature of Wonderland.

Miller obviously had a great understanding of the source material and weaves many aspects of Alice-mythology into the design of the film. Alice herself looks remarkably like the little girls who feature so prominently in Dodgson’s own (slightly unsettling) photography, as does the world of country gardens and bearded men she inhabits. Miller also adds the lovely touch of having Dodgson’s own, rarely seen, illustrations accompany the film’s end credits. So although the visuals are far removed from the familiar Tenniel illustrations they are deeply indebted to other less known, but just as important visual Alice motifs.

The programme benefits greatly from being shot entirely on film, rather than the disconcerting mish-mash of location film and studio-bound videotape familiar from many BBC productions of the period. Despite being made for television Miller’s Film is incredibly cinematic and the DVD benefits from a crystal clear print. The BFI have also dug out another interesting oddity from the archives to bolster their DVD release, an eight minute silent version of Alice in Wonderland from 1908. Although not in the greatest condition (which is entirely forgivable for footage nearly 100 years old) the film gives a fascinating insight into early cinema’s camera-trickery much of which, for example Alice’s shrinking and growing, still stands up today.

Also languishing in an archive somewhere is Dennis Potter’s 1965 Play for Today Alice which tells the life of Rev. Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll), and stars Doctor Who’s Deborah Watling as Alice Liddell. Given the enduring appeal of both Carroll and Potter it’s high time this film saw the light of day, either as a BFI DVD release or on BBC FOUR, c’mon…pretty please?