A Fond Farewell

I have just sniffed and gulped my way through the last ever episode of Lark Rise To Candleford. In true Lark Rise fashion, all loose ends have been tied up, but nevertheless I will miss it sorely. Being an Oxfordshire girl (albeit the other side of the county), one descended from Agricultural Labourers to boot, it resonated strongly.

Rose's Comfort and Donna's Tragedy

So.

It's over.

And I'm washed out by the whole experience.

Again.

This happens every year. I get so involved in the development of the companions' characters that the end of a series of Doctor Who usually involves a box of tissues along the line somewhere. Maybe for the silent tears that roll down my face, like last year. Maybe for the heaving sobs that heralded the end of Series 2. Maybe even for tears of joy, like last night's episode, when I really though it might be alright and that Donna had fulfilled her destiny without a sacrifice.

That misconception lasted for a full minute until I realised there was still 10 minutes to go and the whole team had already saved the Universe and this is Russell T Davies, after all.

So, Rose has a comfort for her old age, who does actually seem capable of loving her back, but who isn't actually the Doctor while the amazing Donna is cruelly left in the state we first found her in 18 months ago - shallow, shouty and with absolutley no idea of the feisty, brainy, compassionate woman she could be, with a mother who doesn't seem to mind and a Grandad* who actually noticed the difference and will mourn it for the rest of his days.

Oh bloody hell, even as I type, I'm welling up.

Let's hope the departure of RTD doesn't mark the end of an era.

*Bernard Cribbins deserves a BAFTA

What an episode...

The Stolen Earth.

OMG.

Surely they can't be about to exterminate Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures?

Surely he can't be regenerating?

Can't wait until next week.....

Farewell...

So another series of Doctor Who ends with tears streaming down my face…

Russell T. Davies. Genius.

Very funny...

If you missed Jonathan Ross tonight, you might be advised to watch tomorrow's repeat, unless you have a delicate disposition. I haven't laughed so hard since, ooh, last week, when R,S and I wrapped the Deputy Head up in toilet roll...

But seriously, Eddie Izzard makes me laugh anyway, then follow it with mad model Janice Dickinson and top it off with John Barowman and Andrew Lloyd Webber camping it up and the tears rolled down my cheeks. Sadly A was so cream-crackered that he didn't even stir through the howls.

What is that woman on? I need some of it to get me through the week!

Oh.My.God.

John Barrowman is gay.

Criminal...

You have to watch this!

Last night I caught a bit of Graham Norton before crawling off to bed. He showed a clip of a panda cub which is so cool, you have to watch it!

Au Revoir ... and Goodbye

So it's au revoir to L, who went on maternity yesterday. We started at the same time last September. How will I cope without her? She is my Key Stage 1 and Literacy bible!! Good job I have her email address ;-)

And it's goodbye to Raymond Baxter*. I don't really associate him with Tomorrow's World; to me he was, and always will be, the voice of Farnborough Air Show. What a lovely voice he had. I didn't realise until today that he'd been a Spitfire pilot in WWII.

*I can hear A now,on the other side of the Atlantic: "I didn't realise he was still alive..."

Doctor Who v. His Dark Materials???

What a fab finale in last night's Doctor Who. I loved it. But today, I was struck by something startling. I was trying to re-tell it to my Mum - the void, the parallel worlds, the "void stuff", the final separation (including that heart-wrenching part when the Doctor and Rose both put their hands on the wall where the breach was) and I was suddenly struck by all the similarities to parts of The Amber Spyglass, the final book in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy (fantastic, if you haven't read it. A great story and beautiful prose)

Now it's about four years since I read it and I'm too lazy to crawl over the tip that is the office to check finer details, but this is how I see it.

The Doctor used the 3-D specs to see the "void stuff", which was a bit like energy from the void that attached itself to anyone or anything that had crossed it. The woman (Mary? I think so anyway) used the Amber Spyglass to see lots of gold coloured particles that were invisible to the naked eye - I can't remember if it was coming from the holes between the worlds or disappearing into them, but the holes needed to be sealed, because everytime someone traveled between world it weakened the whole fabric of the worlds. (sounds familiar?)

The Doctor was the only one who could seal the breach forever, but to do so, he had to do it from Earth and therefore needed to separate himself permanently from Rose (okay, she had other ideas, but you know what I mean!) In HDM, Will was the only one who could seal the holes, but he could only do it from his world and had to leave Lyra behind in hers.

After the breach was sealed, the Doctor and Rose each stood on their side of the wall, trying to feel the connection still. Meanwhile, Will and Lyra try to keep their connection alive (to themselves at least) by sitting on the same bench in their own Oxfords.

Am I imagining all this?

Doesn't detract from either Doctor Who or His Dark Materials though - both were utterly brilliant and I sobbed piteously at the end of both of them...