I think they should have a re-think and then scrap it instead because it has got a bit tired now. It was good when it started, but we have all had that behind-the-scenes look now and the novelty wore off ages ago. There are only so many times we can listen to somebody saying how difficult it is to act against a green screen, and how long they have to spend in make up getting their prosthetic head fitted, and now it is just full of gushing third assistant directors saying how exciting it all is to fetch tea while carrying a walkie-talkie.

The same applies to a lot of DVD extras for films, where there is no assumption made that we might have seen how similar effects were acheived many, many times before.

I just get confused by it all because I’m sure that when I was young all the effects were done with a blue screen. When did it change to green?

Capture from the Guardian's twitter feed, 16 Nov.

I saw this on Monday on the Guardian’s twitter feed, totally misread it and then went to all the trouble of making a screen capture and forgot to do anything with it.  Here it is, better late than never…

At his first cabinet meeting his own ministers admit that even they do not know what the government’s policies are, and the new PM goes on to totally and deliberately ruin the country, indeed the whole world, with no opposition at all.Yes – I have been watching the end of series three of Doctor Who on the DVD box set…  well what did you think I was talking about?

In that programme we saw him being dragged along the floor of a warehouse and strapped into a harness before getting hauled up the side of a building.  At one point I think he actually said something about ‘this can’t be good for my back’.   I hope he kept a copy of the programme in case he needs it for an injury claim against the BBC…

Still not sure about that special though.  Was the giant cyberman just magnificent or was it a bit of shark-jumping?   I think they got away with it because it was a Christmas special and they always are a bit OTT.  Clever twist to continue the theme of London getting trashed at Christmas but to take it back in time.

DOCTOR:  So you’re a Dalek are you?  And what do you do?

DALEK: Exterminate!

Neither Perkins nor Campbell were really big household names but being in the mainstream spotlight is not everything.  Geoffrey Perkins’ work behind the scenes brought us such varied delights as the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Father Ted, Mornington Crescent and Drop The Dead Donkey.  He was a dedicated comedy professional. Ken Campbell, on the other hand, was one of those maverick, genius, eccentrics that crop up from time to time – like Malcolm Hardee or Spike Milligan.

I was most familiar with Ken Campbell for his odd guest appearances as Alf Garnett’s neighbour and a few TV appearances with his science fiction theatre, but he did so much more.  For me he was one of those people who, like Tommy Cooper, could make me laugh without necessarily doing anything.

Just have a look at Campbell’s obituary in the Guardian, or his Wikipedia entry. What a life story!  You know that bit in Austin Powers where Dr. Evil gives his abbreviated life story?

My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a 15-year-old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would drink; he would womanize. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes, he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy…

…and so on.  Ken Campbell’s life story reads like that, except that nobody could invent something so weird.  My favourite detail is that he was for a time a professor of ventriloquism at Rada.  As for influence, just look at some of the people he worked with and in some cases gave a first job to: Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Chris Langham, Sylvester McCoy…

Interestingly, he auditioned for the role of Doctor Who in 1987 when the part eventually went to McCoy.  How different things would have been if he had got that part.  For a start, I wouldn’t have stopped watching it then.

Coming on stage singing Wonderwall was just hilarious, and the whole set was bloody marvelous. I still think that Busta Rhymes has the edge on technique, but Jay-Z puts on a good show.  I was already prepared to enjoy it after seeing him interviewed by Jonathan Ross on Friday.  He seems like a really nice bloke.

Nostalgia fans will be glad to see that it was a ‘classic’ model Dalek that was on the seafront guarding the washed up timber¹ from light-fingered locals and tourists.

The story also contains the magic quote:

We managed to scare the earthlings present, patrol the wood in case of vandalism, and buy ice creams and obtain tourist information too

Perhaps the Daleks can be persuaded to visit the Liquid/Envy club in Crawley next time there is an under-18s disco…

The full story is here and includes a YouTube clip of the Dalek doing its thing.

1. Yes – it *is* still there