Don't get me wrong, Doctor Who is brilliant, but the plots confuse ? and scare me
So it's a brand new series of Doctor Who (BBC1, Saturday). The Doctor sends invitations to Amy and Rory and River Song, with just a date and a time and a map reference: 37�0'38''N 110�14'34''W. Monument Valley, if I'm not mistaken. I'm not, and here he is, Stetsoned-up and draped seductively on the bonnet of a classic Edsel station wagon parked up by the side of Route 163. "I've been running my whole life, now it's time for me to stop," he tells them. "And tonight I'm going to need you all with me."
What's up? A picnic! Brilliant, where? "Space, 1969," says the Doctor. Well, first by a lake, and Amy sees an alien up on the ridge. No she doesn't. That's the thing with these aliens as we later find out ? they edit themselves out of your memory the moment you look away. How do you know you haven't just seen one yourself? You don't . . .
But then a spaceman ? The Impossible Astronaut of the title, presumably ? comes out of the lake and kills The Doctor. Damn! So they give him a proper Viking burial (why, is he even a Viking?) and go to the diner to talk things over. "I don't understand," says Rory, when the Doctor shows up there. I know how you feel, mate.
They go back to the past, to 1969, to try to save the Doctor, or the human race, or meddle with the future. It's dangerous though ? bad things happen when you interact with your own past.
And so to the Oval Office, where President Nixon is getting nuisance phone calls from a child. There's an alien in the restroom, like the one Amy saw/didn't see on that ridge, like Munch's Scream. Arrrrrhhhh!
But where's the child? In Florida, near the Space Centre. And Amy's pregnant! I knew it. Please don't make it an alien that bursts out of her, like in Alien. Is River pregnant too? Her past is the Doctor's future, they're travelling in opposite directions; every time they meet she knows him more, he knows her less. There's an idea that takes a little getting one's head around.
River goes down to a network of tunnels under the ground, where more of the look-away-and-forget-me aliens live; they're everywhere, under the entire surface of the world, under where you are right now . . .
Poor Rory goes down there with River. I identify with Rory more and more. We're both frightened (this one is proper scary), in love with Amy Pond (even in jeans and a cowboy shirt), jealous of the Doctor, pleased to be there but also a bit left out, not really part of the club. I really enjoy it, don't get me wrong. I marvel at the imagination and wit, I even get some of the jokes. It's just that I find it increasingly hard to know what's going on. Maybe it's an ageing thing. I'm sure the kids are totally on top of everything. And probably less scared too.
In United (BBC2, Sunday) the previous Doctor, David Tennant, travels back a further 11 years, to the Munich air disaster of 1958. He plays Jimmy Murphy, the coach at Manchester United, Matt Busby's number two. It's a brilliant portrayal, of a Welshman by a Scot. His prematch motivational team talk, before a game against Charlton is a joy. "Anyone in today from Doncaster? What about Salford, any Salford lads in? What about Barnsley?" The young players cheer their home towns. He then asks if there's anyone in from Charlton, which gets a big stamping of studs on wooden floor. "Good, because I bloody hate Charlton," says Murphy. "Apples and pears, jellied eels, pearly kings . . . shut up, you south London sods!"
I'm not sure Sir Alex could get away with it today, before a Chelsea game, say. Anyone in today from Portugal? Yay! What about Ecuador, any Ecuadorian lads in today? Yay! South Korea? Yay! What about Ivory Coast? Big boos and foot stamping. Good, because I bloody hate Ivory Coast ? civil wars, coups, shut up you West African sods.
There are lots of nice little differences between football then and football now. Can you imagine any of today's lot feeling that kind of connection not just with the club but with the whole area? Or living with a landlady? Or telling a girl they were a plumber because plumbers had better prospects than footballers? Or smoking a pipe on the way out of the tunnel, as team captain Mark Jones did? Lovely.
But, of course, at the heart of Chris Chibnall's poignant drama is the tragedy that claimed eight of the Busby Babes. It's beautifully done ? powerful, haunting and very human. And if you didn't shed a tear, then you're harder than I am.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/apr/24/sam-wollaston-doctor-who-united
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