The Zygon Invasion.

The premis is that there are a couple of million shape-shifting aliens living amongst us, peacefully co-existing, their true forms locked out of sight. Only now the fragile alliance holding the peace is tottering, drunk, and about to collapse. Almost certainly plunging the world into a war it had believed itself to have avoided BBC books have done a lovely job as presenting this novelization as carrying on the look and feel of Taget books of old. And why not, those books sold millions back in the day. Right down to the energy thrown off by book cover designs that mirror those by Chris Acheleous back in the seventies, giving them a cosmic epic quality. Peter Harness adapts the script from this fondly recalled two-parter from Peter Capaldi's second season as The Doctor. Its a story now best remembered for the "war speech", or perhaps more accurately his "anti-war-speech"which was powerfully deivered by Peter Capaldi and stands as one of his tenures defining moments. The set must have felt electrified the day he delivered that speech. Actors love moments like that, it demonstrates their super powers as performers and love to lean into them.Its not all apocalyptic covert alien invasions, theres some cracking humour here such as Capaldi's iteration revealed his first name is actually Basil. The Doctor's sense of humour warmed throughout Capaldi's time. His reflexive stabs at humour came across cold and even alien, which off course he is. I think it took a while for the actor to look in the mirror and see The Doctor looking back. Well, thats how Peter Capaldi put it in an interview. An interview with a Time-lord. He did get there and that journey enriched his time, to the point where when the Doctor fell we felt the pain off it. His final season proving his performance was mesmerising and haunting. I enjoyed Peter Harness fleshing out of his own script. Actually wish he had a broader template to show us what he can do. As Peter Capaldi demonstrated so admirably in Twice Upon A Time. But thats a story for another day. .

The Mummy's Shroud.

Just watched this amazing mummy yarn on Bluray. Blimey,what a treat. I had vague memories of having watched this as a boy. I remembed poor Michael Ripper being wrapped in a curtain and thrown out a window to land in a horse trough. I remembered The Master as played by Roger Delgado lurking in the mummy's tomb spitting curses. ( I said I remembered it, I did not say I remembered it with any precision.) And I remembered Andre Morell ( My favorite on screen Professor Bernard Quatermass.) having his head crushed by a heroic mummified slave. I also remembered that ancient Egypt looked very similar to the planet Exxilon from Doctor Who and Death To The Daleks. As an adult I am able to reason those scenes were probably filmed in the same quarry. Archeologists beware, they could be nearer than is safe to one of the great wonders of the universe. Its a fast paced well acted pulp horror loaded with mummy movie tropes with a quite powerful soundtrack which lends the film an epic quality the production budjet alas could not. Its all ancient curses and archeologists who pry where they are not wanted. With the finacier of the tomb robbing British expedition discovering too late that money cannot buy everything. Michael Ripper really puts in the stand out performance in this film as the down trodden factotum of the sleazy and dishonorable expedition leader. Andre Morrell and his team, who get knocked off brutally one by one, had all the best intentions in the world trying to rediscover the splendour of Ancient Egyypt , but the fact the expedition is bank rolled by dirty money dooms them almost as much as the ancient curse.Theres some very nice character acting from the assembled cast, in major and minor roles, bringing their best game to proceedings. Although some of the ancient Egyptians do look as though they would be more comfortable behind the counter of the mens wear department in Grace Brothers. Heartily recommend this pulpy horror tale from a lost age.

On The Beach.

You know, that really long tracking shot which opened The Leisure Hive showing a snoozing Doctor on the pebbly off season Brighton Beach, with Romanna and K9 playfully, yet thoughtfully, dandering along in a melancholy mood, always made me imagine that the travelers were allowing them selves a breather from some epic experience. Who really knows, I just found the sight of them all wind tossled and Edwardian finery touching. Gave me goose bumps watching it. The last time I had seen them they had been seeing off the Nimon in a splendid tale of inter-galactic shananigans. Something had changed....

The Quatermass Memoirs.

Old Bernard Quatermass had some amazing memories and stories to tell, which is exactly what this audio recording does. The three stories which had different lives on television and on the big screen. Andrew Kerr narrates the three tales although he played Bernard Quatermass in only one of them; Quatermass And The Pit which is one of Hammer Films very best hours. The different actors who played the role brought different qualities to their stories but each embodied a fierce intelligence. One not afraid to face the unthinkable, facing off against entities which were at times hard to put into words. Yet here we get to share that struggle as Andrew Kerr speculates on the horrors seen and overcome. All the victories achieved by Quatermass and his friends were close to not suceeding but the fact that he means "We Still Get To Hear Birds Sing In The Trees". Doubly interesting is we get to hear Nigel Kneale bookend the tales with the cutural events surrounding the writer and it is truly sobering to consider that so many of the things which threatened humanity are still unfolding about us.The more things change the more they stay the same, even as the the hands on the Doomsday Clock hover trembling just before midnight.Any one of the chapters in Quatermass Memoirs could have stretched to an epic length so its the brevity of the audio which is its only drawback, which is truly no bad thing. Its also quite poignant that the young reporter who has tracked Quatermass down in his retreat from a world that was becoming increasingly difficult for him tells the aging professor that life in the bigger cities is getting harder and harder with social order beginning to break down. Nether is aware that something truly apocalyptic is drawing close to Earth and the great scientists darkest adventure lies just ahead as his stories conclude.

Smith.

"He was called Smith and he was twelve years old, so far Smallpox, gaol fever and the hangman's rope had'nt been quick enough to get him, but they might anyday" so began this Leon Garfield book and I thought "Blimey, they certainly credited kids with more intelligence back in the day", at least they did so when it came to historical novels and adventure tales. "But Mal," I hear you say "They also make them go up chimneys to clean them" affecting Sharon eyes rolling heaven ward at my credulity. Hmmm, I think,"good point." perhaps I am a Victorian Waifaphobe. Damn, you think you get to my age and you know yourself. This was a beautifully wrapped little Puffin paper back from the 1970s. The cover artist was Anthony Maitland. Take away the book title and the author's name and you would assume you had lifted a book of tales by Sheridan Lefanu.And this would not be too far away from an appropriate description of what the tone of the book felt like. Although I dont think Lefanu wrote anything which crackled along at the pace this book did. With breatless twists and anxiety inducing turns, poor Smith was driven along at a scary pace, first finding safety from his would be killers, then losing it and finding himself friendless, only one step ahead of murder,betrayal and the wicked ambitions of others. And all written in an entirely plausable fashion, there is nothing in the text which could not have taken place in the real world. From the filthy labyrinth of the warren like streets of Olde Londone Town to the even filthier environs of Newgate. Brutality and cruelty are commonplace in this location, in this era. The poor are crushed by the indifferent forces of societal oppression by virtue of their poverty. Leon Garfield creates a gallimorphery of finely observed Dickensian characters. Newgate prison and those who occupy its walls are rendered so realistically I itched with sympathy. With the spectre of Tyburn looming large over the lives of Smith and his murdered-for "dockiment". It is this story maguffin Smith pickpocketed moments before its owner waws stabbed to death, resulting in Smith now becoming the object of the killers base intentions. I have to stress the quality and artistry of Anthony Maitlands line drawings which come married to the text. The artist and writers collab makes for an impressive team producing a small but perfectly formed body of Victorrianna. And to think this book was aimed at younger readers. Adults rarely had it so good.

Devil In The Fog.

Just had to try another Leon Garfield. I enjoyed SMITH so much. Once again I found myself gripped from the start; "It is the story of fourteen year old George Trent, eldest son of a family of strolling players. They seem a family with a golden future; actors of genius who represent happiness is only marred by the twice yearly visits of the stranger in black, with his cold uncanny stare and the feeling he conveys of some devilish and unwholesome bargain eating away at his soul."Oh my giddy aunt , Leon Garfield did it to me again as he majestically drew me in, the paperback cover as enticing as the one before, fog shrouded and mysterious, the stuff of Sheridan Lefanu or Wilkie Collins. It is another dark tale of devious plots and uncanny characters, with a young protagonist thrust into a tale where no one is who they seem and thus there is no one to trust or turn too for support. One more Anthony Maitland provides a series of interior illustrations that do much to drive the narrative forward. As though you have entered a haunted house you thought was empty only to find it stuffed to the gills with antiques and Victorrianna. This is a formidable creative team and I wish I had discovered them when I was twelve years old, or so. As I was in the last century.They could have shared shelf space with my beloved Doctor Who novelizations. Devil In The Fog confronts class divisions with a blunt clarity you rarely find in the media anymore. Tackling subtlely notions regarding nature versus nurture in a mature and even quite moving fashion. I found myself caring and drawn to the plight of George Treet and his bohemian family. An adventurous family of actors and performers who share close and loving bonds in a world which will shatter such notions in a heartbeat. This was a family who had experienced the highs and lows of a life performing in venues which were physically dangerous places to be should their act fail to entertain. They had honed their many talents in open air performences and before tavern audiences, basically anywhere they could set up stage. Yet they are out of their depth when confronted with the moral ambiguitiews of their so called betters.Cruel plans are revealed and put into practice, the innocent flounder while the criminal flourish. Ah, t'was ever the way. A superb tale full of engaging and interesting characters wrapped up in a foggy curtain that allows us glimpses of a world long passed.

Ghost Busted.