CHAPEL END CHARLIE

I was greatly disappointed the BBC choose to rehash Day of the Triffids (yet again) when this story bares close comparison to the rather good 'Survivors' which was only broadcast this year and the recent film '28 Days Later' for that matter . Part One of this two parter failed to retain my interest to the extent that I'll not even bother to see the conclusion - unusual as I'm a big Sci-Fi enthusiast . However strong the cast , however generous the production budget a hackneyed script tends to leave the audience wanting less rather than more . If this is a ratings success I fear an equally unimaginative production of 'The Midwich Cuckoos' lays in wait for the long suffering audience next Christmas . The shame is there are any number of novels and short stories from the greats of Science Fiction that have never been filmed , I'm thinking of the likes of Ray Bradbury , Issac Asimov and Arthur C Clarke (read 'Childhoods End') for instance - a veritable goldmine of fantastic and completely unexploited material which sensitively handled could have produced something both wonderful and original for us all to enjoy .

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/portsmouth/6911863/Portsmouth-face-bankruptcy-as-HMRC-issues-winding-up-petition.html

On the contrary , JG Ballard's 'Empire of the Sun' is perhaps one of the very best (semi-fictional) works to emerge from WWII . The Spielberg film version is excellent and underrated but the novel upon which it is based is truly exceptional in its brutal exposure of the darker truths of human nature when striped of the veneer of civilisation - all as seen through the eyes of a confused and desperately traumatised child . On reflection quite possibly the best book I've ever read . I might add the late great Neville Shute's 'A Town like Alice' as another example of fine writing to emerge from the Pacific war . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv9rirLk2kA

I too have been watching and greatly enjoying The Orson Welles Sketchbook . This little programme has as simple a premise as you could possibly imagine - a talking head basically - but when that talking head belongs to a man of Orson's wit and intelligence then the end result is something that is quite wonderful . Inspired I saw a fascinating programme by Simon Callow 'Orson Welles Over Europe' on that BBC i-player thing , among the many gems uncovered was OW's magnificent performance as Falstaff in his Shakespeare adaptation 'Chimes at Midnight' - looks like I'll need to borrow the Tardis to see the full film because I can't find a DVD version available anywhere .

Poor recent form (not results) has caught up with us as it was always likely to . To the many who say that they don't care how we play as long as we win this result might just give them pause for thought - playing good football and getting good results (more often than not) go together . I'm sure we'll all be looking for a positive reaction from our team and management to this set back in upcoming games .

I think most fair minded observers will agree that while our recent results are still good in the main we haven't actually being playing very well recently - should that trend continue sooner or later it'll catch up with us and we'll drop points when you wouldn't think we should . That 7 point gap to the play-off places is tantalisingly close , just over the horizon as it were but it'll be the work of weeks (probably months) before we close that gap completely . If and when we do make the play-off places then the real pressure will be on the team for the first time this season - and we'll all see just how good we really are .

You may find this diagram useful :

New financial director at Pompey has difficult first day .

Your depiction of Mycroft Holmes is of course exactly as Arthur Conan Doyle described him but my idea of a Mycroft Holmes series - I will call it 'The Reluctant Detective' - is that the characters idleness and well known fondness for never leaving the comforts of the Diogenes Club become the main thrust (indeed the 'unique selling point') of the script . What fun we could have dragging this fundamentally aloof and unwilling curmudgeon away from his stuffy little world and out into the fight against crime - a fish out of water offers some real comedic potential . You'd have to invent some pretext to get Mycroft to engage in real work obviously , perhaps MH's shadowy HM Government connections might suite him to a counter-espionage as much as a crime fighting role (he could even found the precursor to MI5) and a less astute 'sidekick' would ensure that the Holmes family's insufferable tendency for showing off could be well catered for . Steven Fry may well be all wrong for Sherlock but he'd make a wonderful Mycroft . Detectives are seldom if ever portrayed as inactive establishment types (quite the opposite) so I'd hope The Reluctant Detective might provide something that is all too rare on modern television - a new experience . PS - I fear I may just have reinvented Inspector Morse !

Absolutly right this youngster could go far , you can see the talent there if you only have eyes to look . All those on here stating he's rubbish clearly don't know what they're talking about .

I didn't like Rupert Everett very much either (yes I know I'm being too hard) I thought they strayed too far from the ethos of the original work - almost CSI Baker Street at times . It's interesting to speculate on how Holmes would have coped with modern crime forensics - he would have loved the pure science involved but hated the reduced role for deductive reasoning that would have resulted from it . I did rather like that series the BBC made on Dr Joseph Bell a few years ago - more of that would have been most welcome . As I say The Blue Carbuncle is special for me (especially at Christmas) but as a child reading ACD for the first time it was 'The Red Headed League' that probably captured my imagination , while no great feats of mental gymnastics are required from our hero the mystery of the story is quite wonderful to my mind and outrageously unlikely . I think modern TV producers are missing out on a trick - instead of trying to endlessly reinvent Sherlock why not write a original story around the really bright member of the Holmes family - Mycroft .

It's the manager prerogative to select the team and as we won the game you can't really argue that he got it wrong - but at the very least it can't have done this young players confidence any good can it ?

I would never claim or argue that Dr Watson was written or should be portrayed as a buffoon - far from it (although Nigel Bruce played the fool rather well in retrospect) but to me a young looking 30 something actor looked entirely out of place in this key role . I see the original Strand Illustrations as the best guide as to how ACD envisioned the characters appearance . As for the BBC not making Brett's Holmes I tend to agree but they obviously must still have thought pretty highly of them because they bought the series off Granada after all and broadcast it a few years ago - a most singular event in this corporations long history I'm sure you will agree . I have no memory of SH taking drugs during a case and certainly not while he was investigating the Hounds , but if you say he did then I'll take your word for it . You criticise JB for portraying Holmes in a 'too emotional' light - for me far from being a weakness Jeremy Brett's ability to find the humanity underlying Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's apparently 'cold fish' was the mark of his genius and a object lesson in the true actors craft . I revisited the Granada Hound of the Baskervilles only a few months ago as it happens and for me while it's most definitely not my personal favorite ('The Blue Carbuncle' by the way) it easily outranks all other recent versions in its sense of period menace and threat , but 'each to his own' as they say .

I enyoyed it to a degree but to be frank I found Roxburgh's performance rather anemic and the actor playing Watson was at least 15 years too young for the part . This adaption also annoyed me by portraying Holmes as a habitual drug user or addict even while investigating an intensely interesting case such as Hound of the Baskervilles - any fan blessed with even the most basic grasp of Conan Doyle's wonderful creation will know that the worlds first and foremost consulting detective would only ever partake of his notorious '15% solution' during periods of extreme boredom between cases ("the dull routine of everyday life" as he called it) and never while at his work as it were . While this version of 'Hounds' may have its problems I fear they will pale into insignificance when compared to the new film - portraying Holmes as a Hollywood action hero just about misses the point on every possible level - I refuse to watch it on a point of principle . I must confess I may not be the best judge of modern Sherlock Holmes productions as I'm still in awe of Granada TV/Jeremy Brett's definitive Holmes from the 80's . Rather like previous generations for whom Holmes and Basil Rathbone were synonymous I just can't see anyone even getting close to Brett in the subtlety and intelligence he brought to what was to prove the greatest role of his all too short life . If the formidable Irene Adler was always The Woman to Holmes then Jeremy Brett will forever remain The Sherlock Holmes to me - I can accept no substitutes unfortunately .

I saw A Christmas Carol on xmas eve (how appropriate) and I must say I was very impressed with it . This well known Charles Dickens pot boiler still retains its old power to move the viewer to a surprising extent and couple that with the very latest 3D cinematic effects and you end up with a memorable 2 hours of family entertainment . I think in many ways this is a better (but less hyped) film than James Cameron's much vaunted Avatar . While Jim Carrey may not be everyone's cup of tea his vocal talents are splendidly used here and don't let any preconceived notions put you off seeing Robert Zemeckis's wonderful work . I saw my first 3D movie around 6 months ago (some forgettable kids film) and even in that short space of time the technique of employing this amazing technology to the full seems to have progressed significantly . Make sure you go to a 3D screening and then I'd avise you to sit somewhere close to the screen - the depth of view is quite amazing (some scenes reminding me of being inside one of those flight simulator machines) - snow seems to fall right into your lap and even long standing CGI problems such as 'rubbery' human skin effects now seem to have passed into film history . See this if you can - you won't regret it .

First of all I'll repeat that I speak as a massive and long standing Doctor Who fan but I felt last night's story was poor frankly , and sadly typical of the ridiculous overblown story-lines that occur when Russell T Davis takes over the writing and no one else has the authority to tell him that this king has no clothes . Last nights episode is an object lesson of the perils of combining the roles of Executive Producer and Screenwriter , too much power vested in one man and not enough detached oversight . Using the prime time Christmas night slot to air an episode that was little more than a confusing set up for the real climax of David Tennant's Doctor next week was an indulgence that surely no other BBC series could/should have been allowed to get away with . Jon Simm is a fine television actor but I can't be alone in finding him badly miscast as The Master . A character that is supposed to be the very embodiment of evil needs a actor that can convey that to the audience - sorry Jon but Rodger Delgardo you ain't I'm afraid . This role needs a performer with the gravitas to carry of that sense of profound menace the Master must possess , a modern Christopher Lee type for instance rather than a personable and (too) likable Leading Man . The programme had deeper problems than its casting however , foremost among them being what the hell was the plot about ? It is accepted that Sci Fi has by its very nature to stretch the boundaries of fiction but how plausibly does the Master turn all humanity into copies of himself - and why should he bother in the first place ? It was all nonsense really I'm sorry to say . We still have the second half of this two-parter to come and lets hope its more successful than the first , David Tennent (and more importantly the audience) deserve much better than this .

This is so very , very true . I have no problem exposing my inner nerd on here yet again , indeed I've learnt to embrace my nerdhood over the years . Both Doctor Who and yours truly were born in 1963 so I've grown up with this and hold it close to my heart , although I'm more of a Jon Pertwee/Tom Baker man myself I still find the better episodes of the modern Doctor Who (but not OTT end of season nonsense) to some of the best drama the BBC has made in recent years . I challenge anyone to offer a convincing argument as to why stories such as Blink or The Satan Pit for instance aren't family entertain of the very highest order . As my 3 year old Godson is currently obsessed with Daleks to a unhealthy degree (my fault ) I can assure you all from personal experience the programme still retains its power to capture a new audience . Put simply DW represents the battle between good and evil - the eternal story . The runaway critical success of Russell T Davis's (bless his cotton socks) recreation of Doctor Who and the substantial audience it's built both in the UK and internationally surely prove that its creators must be doing something right .

Any art lovers out there (or even those with just a passing interest) would do well to catch BBC 4's 'The Private Life of a Christmas Masterpiece' - a fascinating look at a famous 'old master' painting and its (often remarkable) history . Last night featured one of my personal favorites - Pieter Brueghel's wonderful Census at Bethlehem . I can ask for no more really . Highly recommended .

With work finished until the new year I had time to revisit two of my very favorite films today . An eclectic mix of Sidney Lumet's 1964 cold war masterpiece 'Failsafe' - combined with Henri-Georges Clouzot's magnificent 'The Wages of Fear' makes just about the perfect lazy day in front of the DVD Player for yours truly . I am the Matador .

Ross Brawn - top bloke .

I once shared a lift with Pam Ayres - true (but unspeakably dull) story .

A Vanguard Class SSBN and its associated Trident D5 Missiles is surely (whether you approve or not) a fearsome beast , just think of the responsibility resting on the shoulders of those charged with wielding this mighty weapon . With unstable countries (such as Iran) developing their own nuclear weapons I for one sleep a little easier at night knowing we have them . They won't stop terrorist attacks upon us or assist a infantryman in some Helmond ditch but any State tempted into a bout of nuclear blackmail with the UK/NATO has to deal with the knowledge that the we process the ability to inflict terrible (& unstoppable) destruction upon our enemies . If we are to remain a nuclear power (I suspect a future UK Government will conclude that we should) then in my view a much cheaper ground (ICBM) or air launched system should replace the 'Vanguards' when the time comes , time will tell of course . Let us all hope such power is never called into use .

Very sad news , a talented young actress I remember her fine performance in Sin City with particular fondness .

I've studied history all my life and if there's one lesson it teaches you it is that the enormous power of the state when compared to the individual must be contained by law . In many ways this is the story of this islands long history - you Sir may have no concerns that the liberties of the individual are under threat , I would beg to differ . Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have. ~Harry Emerson Fosdick

1- So you've no problem with parents being forced into having intrusive criminal record checks undertaken for daring to undertake perfectly normal everyday tasks such as sharing the 'school run' responsibilities for instance ? The legislation in question (we're not talking about school staff here - they were already covered) is by no means limited to actual convictions - even a unproven allegation or mere rumour can be taken into account by some unelected bureaucrat . Does that seem reasonable to you and if so I'd be most interested to read your defence of the concept of 'Guilt by allegation' . Do you think a piece of paper will actually make any real difference anyway ? 2- You wait unnecessarily on a closed motorway for 6 hours if you please , I'd rather get on with my life . It's all a matter of risk , our public bodies are far too risk averse (or specifically litigation averse) in nonsense situations such as my gas cylinder scenario but far to cavalier in situations of real danger - the awful 'Baby P' case for instance . 3- Fine then , lets abandon Habeas corpus & 1000 years of the English Civil Law tradition and allow the government of the day to lock up without charge anyone they please for months on end (as they planned) or even indefinitely . As long as its not you eh ? 4- I'm not terribly interested in your stereotyping but the Government has specifically issued guidance that State prosecutors should charge men as rapists whenever possible in this situation . I put it to you that most reasonable people would view that as a injustice , either both parties are guilty of some Orwellian 'sexcrime' or neither is surely .