Little Storping-in-the-Swuff

The king is dead. Long live the king.

Thank you, Russell T., saviour of Doctor Who. Hurrah for script writer Steven Moffatt, best Who scribe ever and now show runner elect.

Besides enjoying Murray Gold’s original score for Doctor Who, I’m quite a fan of the recorded music used in the soundtrack. I’ve made myself an iTunes playlist, and I use these two excellent websites to track down the records featured, right back to ‘63.

I’m quite thrilled to have recognised, before it appears on either of these sites, a track used immediately after the credits in The Unicorn and the Wasp. That’s Kenny Baker’s terrific cornet playing you can hear wrapping up Cryin’ All Day with Frank Ricotti and his All Stars. Bizarrely, it’s from another soundtrack, for excellent ITV series The Beiderbecke Affair by Alan Plater, with James Bolam and Barbara Flynn, and used as the theme for that series and its two sequels.

And now we’ve enjoyed Felicity Kendall, isn’t it time Barbara Flynn did (a TV) Doctor Who?

Free what?
A new free to air platform via satellite, a sort of dish based equivalent to Freeview run by BBC and ITV (though carrying some other channels) and another plank in the digital switchover plan.

So what?
It’s going to have some HD channels (BBC HD tomorrow, ITV HD soon followed by C4 HD). You can get reception in places where you can’t get Freeview. These are the two reasons I’m interested, anyway. More reliable reception would be terrific, HD would be a bonus, and it’ll cost about the same as an aerial upgrade.

Doesn’t Sky already do Freesat?
Yes. Freesat from Sky includes some free to view channels (ie no charge) as well as free to air (ie no encryption). The main differences are

• Sky’s version relies on Sky’s electronic programme guide (EPG) and Freesat will have its own (perhaps simpler) EPG (a bit like the Freeview one maybe - not much is known about it yet).
• Also, Freesat equipment has ethernet, so it’s possible it will integrate the BBC’s iPlayer.
• Some FTV channels on Sky aren’t available on Freesat, notably Channel 5 and also E4 and More4 (yet). Channel 4 and Film 4 are already FTA (and so will be on Freesat).
• Finally ITV HD will be Freesat only.

On the downside, that’s now two incompatible systems, so old Sky boxes can’t use the new EPG and Freesat boxes can’t upgrade to paid for Sky packages. You can use the same dishes with either, though.

How do you know it’s launching tomorrow?
Strangely there’s been very little publicity. I can’t find anything official to say tomorrow, but it has been stated on a number of websites and forums. Meanwhile, shops such as Dixons and Argos are stocking the new boxes (both SD and HD flavours) and offering dish installation for around £80.

It still says launching spring 2008 on the website
Yeah, but I bet there will be a new website at freesat.co.uk tomorrow.

Can I get a Freesat PC card?
To get the new EPG bits, you’ll need software that’ll support it. I’m not aware of any now. To get the new HD channels, you’ll need DVB-S2 compatible hardware. There’s some of that available. Alas, for Mac users like myself, there’s nothing yet to use with EyeTV. Damn. I’m going to have to wait a bit longer after all.

For the first time since the new series came on, we’ve had references that in no way advance the plot or could possibly mean anything the viewers unfamiliar with the old series. I love them.

The curse of the first two parter also seems to have been broken. Perhaps its time for a return to the old new Who contest…

Round one: The New Person
Rose vs. The Christmas Invasion vs. Smith and Jones vs. Partners In Crime
Result: I particularly enjoyed The Christmas Invasion though all of these are stories I like. One point to series 2.

Round two: This is the Future
The End of the World vs. New Earth vs. Gridlock vs. Planet of the Ood
Result: I adored Planet of the Ood and The End of the World, but Gridlock is a truely outstanding episode. Indeed, the only one here that I don’t care for is New Earth. That’s one point to series 3.

Round three: Earth History
The Unquiet Dead vs. Tooth and Claw vs. The Shakespeare Code vs. The Fires of Pompeii
Result: Pompeii was weak, the other stories are good, but only the Unquiet Dead really stands out. One point to series 1.

Round four: The First Two-Parter
Aliens of London/World War Three vs. Rise of the Cybermen/The Age Of Steel vs. Daleks in Manhatten/Evolution of the Daleks vs. The Stonaren Statagem/Poison Sky
Result: The first double of the new series was the first real let-down. With series two it became clear that this double was going to suck, and series three confirmed it. Perhaps I’ve been brainwashed to have low expectations, but I loved the first double of series four. I’m not a Sontaran fan (I prefer stories with the Rutans, me) and the story was full of holes but all the same I loved it. Kudos to Helen Raynor (author of the previous’ series Dalek dud) for writing an all out brilliant double. Bernard Cribbins and Catherine Tate are great. The curse is broken. One point to series 4.

So, there we have it. One all, to each series, and all to play for…

But not in a film. Radio 4 are adapting Dr No. Bringing Bond to the radio is a great idea, let’s hope this is successful enough to guarantee a series.