Proms and Exhibitions

Wow!
What a great day we've had. We took Luke to the Royal Albert Hall today for the Doctor Who Prom. It was wonderful, really wonderful. The orchestra sat with the TARDIS behind and Bad Wolf written on the plinth of the statue of Prince Albert.
There was a great atmosphere, as the RHA was full of families, and there were gasps of amazement as Odd, Cybermen, Judoon, Cybermen, Daleks and most wonderfully of all Davros all turned up at various points to add to the excitement. The Dalek/ Davros cameo were a big highlight (and the music played then was extra wonderful too).

Freema was there to present and was as enthusiastic as ever, and there were huge cheers for Camille Cadouri and Noel Clarke and a really huge (and much deserved) ovation for Catherine Tate who turned up by surprise. Wonderful!

The music was well chosen, especially so the Non-Who bits. They certainly held Luke's attention- Ride of the Valkeryies had him humming along and he liked the jolly Jupiter from the Planets Suite too. The Doctor Who bits were again well chosen- the most iconic incidental music, the big ones, the atmospheric and Song for Ten, which had the whole audience clapping along (which always sounds great at the RHA). The Dalek Suite was a highlight, as was the music from Journey's End when they're towing the Earth with the TARDIS. That came across as really joyful and lovely.

Great stuff but it wasn't half hot in there! My only regret was that I didn't get to say thanks to Murray Gold himself who was sat in the row in front of us. That would have been nice, but I did as I was told and went to sit down. Ah well.

From there we had a quick trip to the Natural History Museum, where Luke refused to eat anything (I'd forgotten how fussy he is with his food) and we had a quick look at the dinosaur gallery, which is as impressive as always. We'll have to go back sometime and have a proper look round I think. It's been a long time.

From there we headed to Earls Court to go the Doctor Who exhibition there. That was great too. Lots to see, some great exhibits (K9 was there. Hooray!) and well laid out, with a busy, overpriced tat store at the end. We got away with just buying Luke a Slitheen/ Space Pig figure, which wasn't too bad really. Could have been far, far worse! I was very impressed, but it was probably a little overpriced really. We probably got some good pictures there though.

Really good day. Luke fell asleep in the car on the way home. I think we all felt really tired- the sun was really strong all day and all the places we visited were really warm. Actually that's an understatement really!

Heist!

It's out there, at last!

I'm been really pleased with the reception it's got so far. The few people who have posted about it have been really complimentary about the play. Considering I've never made a whole play before I'm incredibly chuffed that people think it stands up OK (depsite some hiss in places).

It's always a bit nerve wracking waiting to hear what people think of your work. I'd put so much into this, from the writing, directing and making of it, that I'd probably have been a bit hurt if no-one had liked it, especially so because I'm really rather proud of it. There are some things I'd do differently if I did it again, for sure (mostly removing too many footsteps) but on the whole I'm happy.

So anyway, if you wish to hear it, you can do so here: http://www.planetskaro.org.uk/creative/audio/heistindex.php

And if you do, please let me know what you think!

Busy days!

I seem to be perpetually tired at the moment. I don't know why. I suspect we do too much and never quite have enough time to catch up, or else it's the getting up on my days off to have a driving lesson. Though I don't suppose I can use that excuse at the moment as my instructor is on holiday. Oh well. It's all worth it.

We had a lovely weekend with Paul and Jody, Tabby and William. It's good having friends with kids, even though it means for most of the time you're not really chatting with them, just helping to entertain the kids. Fortunately that's something I enjoy (and I'm quite good at- as is Steve) so it wasn't a problem at all. Who'd have thought that pretending to be asleep and then being woken up with a clap would keep them so entertained? I suppose it's often the simplest things that work best.
Paul and Jody are good friends. I'd forgotten, as it's been a while, how Jody likes to find things out when she's drunk. We got questioned at length. I'm not sure that we gave her the answers she wanted though. Never mind. In many ways her curiosity reminds me of Chris who asks us similar things when he's drunk. They could get together and pool their knowledge. That'd cut out the middle man, so to speak. It was good fun nonetheless. And Steve made a good tiger. Hopefully there will be pictures soon.
Oh and I'm definitely not posh. Though I think Jody still suspects that Steve is.

Things are busy at work at the moment. We're coming up to the summer holidays and it's time for this years reading scheme- The Team Read. We've got to up our take up and completion rates by 10% on last years figures, and all the staff are really fired up about it. We're already half way there at Great Hollands and the holidays haven't even officially begun yet. It's good to have working to the same goals. Just imagine what it'd be like if the whole library service was like that... Oh what am I saying? That's just a dream!

The new season of PS audios are going down well so far. We've put Heart of the Haniad up now and Steve has had some splendid reviews for his script. I'm up next, as at long last Heist! goes public from Saturday. I can't wait to see what everyone makes of it. I'm rather proud of it as it goes. We'll see at the weekend.
There is a rather splendid interview with of all us to be found here. Thanks again to everyone who helped collate it.

And at the weekend we're taking Luke to the Albert Hall for the Doctor Who Prom. I'm really looking forward to it. The music should be great, and on this visit to the Albert Hall, we're not sitting up high, so I'm not going to suffer with vertigo like when we saw the Finn Brothers there a while back. Hopefully, we're off to the Earls Court exhibition afterwards too- have to make the most of taking Luke out for the day, after all.

Oh and Jeeves and Wooster is going down well here at the moment! What Ho!

Flippin' 'Eck!

I've just finished watching one of the many lovely shiny DVDs I got for my birthday. It's shockingly rare that I ever get through anything so quickly and yet this one has had me gripped from the first episode. I've been watching Grange Hill from the start, thanks to my brother and Laura and I've loved it.

Yes, it may be a little creaky now, the filmised picture a little bit smeary and yuck, but the quality of the storylining, characters and acting has been top notch. That's why it stands the test of time OK. It's been a real pleasure to get to know the characters all over again, and I understand why the Tucker years are held in such high regard- the characters are so good, and it must have been really shockingly realistic at the time, compared with the rest of Children's TV. It certainly feels grittier and more down to earth than some of the later years I watched when I was a kid (no arsing around with donkeys for a start) and the characters are great- especially as these were the originals. How many times did they try and work the same characters in in later years- Doyle the bully, Tucker the cheeky chap, Trisha the right on feisty girl? We saw several versions of them all...
My favourite period was probably the Zammo and then the Gonch years, as those were the ones I watched when I was the right age, but these ones were really rather good. Especially, the often forgotten Mr Mitchell, who was played to perfection by Michael Percieval, who was brilliantly convincing as first form tutor (showing my age there, opps!).

Oh and who could ever forget the iconic theme and titles? Flying sausage! Hooray! Brilliant stuff!

Now just Jeeves and Wooster, Mr Benn (at last), Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Kenny Everett's Naughty Bits, Fawlty Towers, A Hard Day's Night, A Cup O' Tea and a Slice o' Cake to go... well we've got time now there's no Doctor Who on!