“Welcome to my new empire, Doctor!”

Catching up with the Day 8 of 24 over recent days and I was very amused to find that the guy who played Eugene Tooms in the X-Files (and also Horace of the Dharma Initiative in Lost) was now portraying none other than Davros! Actually it was someone other than that Davros because Doug Hutchison, for that is he, was pretty good in his role as a hired assassin for the first four episodes until, as is usual in 24, he met an untimely demise. When I was a kid I always thought that one of Kojak’s co-workers was also called Davros but I got that one wrong too. So, are there any other circumstances where a Davros has turned up in unlikely places? Comments in the usual place please. [While I have your attention, don't forget to vote in the February poll (over on the right) of your most anticipated US import for the coming months]

Tags: 24, Doug Hutchison, Eugene Tooms, Jack-Bauer, Kojak

Keep Calm and Carry On

Here we are, two-and-a-half weeks into 2009 and it’s been a quiet one on the TV viewing front. There have been quite a few nights of late when the telly has remained stubbornly switched off. A quick glance at my Sky Planner shows a meagre capacity of “29% free” so I will have to start watching soon.  BSG returns on Tuesday and Lost cannot be too far away either and both of these HD shows will eat into that at a pace. I have five parts of Neil Fergusson’s The Ascent of Money and

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Tags: 24, Ascent of Money, Battlestar Galactica, Jack-Bauer, James-May, Lost, Oz Clarke, QI, Royal Institute, Sky

Four new people on the Island… Five new episodes

The strike is over and all the US networks have all announced plans for how they intend to have the curtailed series of their favourite shows produced.  ABC were one of the last to get their proclaimations ready but they delivered the goods as series four of Lost seems to be getting another five doses of island shenanigans, making a respectable 13-episode season and means that only 3 have been, erm, lost.  Over at The Watcher (a great blog I only recently discovered) you can track

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Tags: 24, ABC, Jack-Bauer, Lost, writer's strike

24 meets Alien meets Red Dwarf meets….

It seemed to me that Torchwoood’s head honcho and first time Doctor Who writer, Chris Chibnall’s introduction to the bigger stage of the Whoniverse was a somewhat derivative storyline. Any genre fan worth his salt (never understood that phrase… answers on a postcard) would be able to spot at least a dozen similarities between this story and many other movies and programmes of a similar ilk. However, if you flip between either using the phrase “rip-off” or the phrase

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Tags: 24, 42, Alien, Anthony-Flanagan, Chris-Chibnall, David Tennant, Doctor Who, Freema-Agyeman, Graeme Harper, Jack-Bauer, Michelle-Collins, Ripley, Saxon, Torchwood

Morris Hits Hides The Bottle

There is something wierd about 24 this season. We have now seen up to 5pm (after kicking off Series Six at 7am) and I’m starting to get the distinct impression that I’ve seen it all before.  Jack is alternating between following the rules and going completely off piste, inside CTU there is much back-stabbing and people being vaguely ridiculous as the lie and cheat to their bosses while trying to save the world, the president is off letting any old Tom, Dick or Unabomber into the

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Tags: 24, CTU, Jack-Bauer, Modern Drama

Not…. The Family

So, we’re getting to meet more of Jack’s family now. It’s generally a sign that the people behind the camera are running out of ideas when we have to be burdened with various bloodties of the main characters to string out the stories a little and add a little more angst to proceedings… as if thwarting conspiracies, overthrowing presidents and preventing global catastophes wasn’t enough to contend with.  Anyway, here we are, six hours in to day six and we’re re-introduced to the

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Tags: 24, Doctor-Romano, Donald-Sutherland, Jack-Bauer, James-Cromwell, Modern Drama, Paul-McCrane, SkyOne