In Which We Discuss Handsome British Actors

Gentle Readers,

Tonight I came home from work to find the family watching the 2008 version of the Agatha Christie’s Murder Is Easy. It is chock full of some of our favourite character actors: the evil Bingley sister from the A&E Pride and Prejudice, the brother from My Family and Other Animals (incidently, he’s in some Doctor Who as well!), that one brother from Notting Hill, and Benedict Cumberbatch.

Now, now, stop laughing at his name. Because, in my opinion, this man is singlehandedly changing the face of British book adaptations. Namely, Sherlock Holmes. He plays a stunning Sherlock, brilliant and true to the original character even though the show is set in the modern day. He is edgy, sharp, brilliant, funny, nuanced, and just the right amount of “off.”

To be honest, he’s good in pretty much everthing I’ve seen him in. Take Murder Is Easy as an example. He doesn’t have a huge role, but when he is on screen you notice. Not in an annoying way, but in an “I have presence and know how to use it” way. He’s good! Awesome! Great!

So, what’s the takeaway here? What’s the moral? Here it is: if you haven’t already, watch Sherlock. If you’ve seen Sherlock, watch is again. Revel in the awesome Cumberbatchyness of it all! You’ll be glad you did.

Until tomorrow,

Miss W

(Photo Credit Unknown)

Ladylike List

Top 10 Things I Love About Downton Abby, Season One:

10. The horses. So graceful!

9. The shots in the library. Oh, to have a room like that one day!

8. Anna and Mr. Bates. They make me smile.

7. Mrs. Patmore’s flutter of kitchen activity and the food she sends upstairs (10 second rules and all!).

6. The setting. Starting with the sinking of the Titanic is historically brilliant, and the physical estate is breathtaking.

5. Mrs. C. I admire her spunk, fortitude, and kindness.

4. Matthew. He’s been dealt an odd hand, but he is willing to make the most of it.

3. The Dowager Countess. Her dry, biting humour is just what the show needs most of the time.

2. Sybil with her new frocks and radical political ideals. But I love how she is still more mindful of other’s feelings than her own wishes.

1. Those costumes! Those lovely, detailed, vintage, classic costumes. They honestly don’t make clothes of that beauty and quality anymore. Some of the costumes really are 100+ years old!!!!!!

What do you like about Downton?

(No spoilers, please! I’m still in season one!!!)

A Mad Man In A Box

Gentle Readers,

Looking over the past few years of posts, I’ve noticed a horrifying lack on one subject. A subject near and dear to my heart…s. No, just heart. A subject that is timeless…or is it? A subject…oh, I’m too excited to keep this up.

Today, we are going to talk about Doctor Who!!!!!!!!

For those of you who are still staring at your screen blankly, allow me to explain. Doctor Who started in England 50 years ago as a children’s fun, sci-fi show. It has super humble beginnings – cardboard and tinfoil sets and aliens put together with string and rubber cement. Even with these obvious setbacks, the show became quite the hit. In fact, it is rare to find a British character actor who has not appeared in at least one Doctor Who episode.

One of the things that has kept Doctor Who around for all these years is the great back story to the show. First of all, the main character is not “Doctor Who,” like a name or a title. His title is The Doctor, his name is known only to a select few. You and I are not yet in the select few. When you have a character who is over 900 years old, it takes longer than 50 years to build up enough trust to reveal his name. Oh yes, I said that the Doctor is over 900 years old. See, the Doctor looks like a human, but he’s actually a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. Time Lords are complicated to explain, but basically they control/influence/move limitlessly through time and space.

They do this through Time and Relative Dimension in Space machines, acronym-ed TARDIS. The Doctor’s TARDIS is a blue phonebox from London, but that’s a whole story for another time. However, you should know that she looks like this on the outside:

(By the by, I found this awesome image here!)

Cute, yeah? Oh, but you have to watch the show…she’s so much bigger on the inside.

So, back to the Doctor himself. When you are 900+, the body can sustain a bit of wear and tear. When you’re constantly throwing yourself into battles with alien forces (usually in an attempt to save the Earth), then you *really* put some mileage on the old body. So, Time Lords have this awesome power: when they die (or come super close to dying), they regenerate. Same person, same mind, same memories, same knowledge, but different bodies. So far the show has tracked 11 regenerations, but only three since the reboot in 2005. (A reboot is when an old show comes back with a fresh start. Doctor Who didn’t air new episodes from the late 1980’s until 2005.) Oh, and Time Lords have two hearts, which comes in handy more than you would imagine. They are also super smart, quick witted, and brave.

The last three actors to play the Doctor were Christopher Eccleston (Nine), David Tennant (Ten), and Matt Smith (Eleven). Since I don’t have nearly enough time to rave about them, they will each get their own post in which we will chat about what I think they bring to the character of the Doctor, and standout episodes from their seasons.

We also need to talk about bad guys, good guys, worlds, companions, Christmas specials, and some all-important story arcs. But no worries, we will take this a step at a time! So, the important things to learn from this post? Here we go:

1. This is a 50 year old British sci-fi show.

2. The main character is called the Doctor, not Doctor Who.

3. The TARDIS is a time machine.

See??? So easy. I can’t wait to share my next Doctor Who post, because it will get us closer to me being able to share why I love this show so.

Until tomorrow,

Miss W