Pleasant music from the Proms dominated BBC 2 last night, with a varied programme ranging from Gerswhin to Sibelius. STV once again was best ignored unless you fell for the lure of Joan Collins in Sins.
The remaining two channels offered plenty of variety, but nothing you could really get your teeth into. BBC 1 led off with a new series of that timeless Time Lord Dr Who, oddly programmed at 7.35 on a Monday evening — surely all good children are getting ready for bed by then? Anyway what was wrong with Saturdays? You knew where you were when Dr Who was on on Satudays; some people just can't leave anything alone. Presuming that this later timing meant that grownups were invited to watch, I did so, to find out what Sylvester McCoy was like as the seventh in line. I was sorely disappointed both with the characterisation and the whole atmosphere of this new series. Somehow it just didnd't take awn seriously enough — fantasy and science fiction can be treated as spoof, but the flippant intention must be obvious. I'm sure children were as irritated as I was by the clowning of Mr McCoy, and the creatures looked boringly similar to some of those in Star Wars. A poor start.
Disclaimer: These citations are created on-the-fly using primitive parsing techniques. You should double-check all citations. Send feedback to whovian@cuttingsarchive.org
