Easter Weekend; The festival of Geek| New RED DWARF & DOCTOR WHO

OK geeks of Britain. This weekend was made for you… well and as it is Easter, looking for chocolate eggs as well!

Last night we saw the return of Red Dwarf after 10 years lost in space! And it was just like it had never left our screens!

Don’t worry though if you missed the first episode, there are two more, and I am sure you will be able to catch-up!

Part-two of this three part return in on Dave tonight at 9pm

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And if the return of Red Dwarf is not enough for you out there in geek land, tonight 6:45pm, the Doctor returns, in a one-off special Doctor Who; Planet of the Dead, and not only is it going to be one of David Tennant’s last outings as the Doctor, but Outside the Box favourite Michelle Ryan will be there to sex-up the screen a bit!

DOCTOR WHO returns this Easter. View the trailer!

The trailer for the new Doctor Who special, Planet of the Dead aired last night before The Apprentice, and I am excited. Not only is the doctor returning but he is bringing the gorgeous Michelle Ryan with him! What more can one ask for?

Faces: MICHELLE RYAN

I can remember about a year ago having the following conversation with my mate and fellow telly addict Lenny:

“hey guess who is gonna be the new Wonder Woman on telly’”

“ahh… don’t know…”

“that bird from Eastenders… Zoe Slater!”

***fits of laughter from me***  “you’re kidding me ain’t ya… that will never work!”

Later of course I discovered that it wasn’t Wonder Woman it was the Bionic Woman, but the fits of laughter were still there… Zoe Slater  is going Bionic, you must be joking!

So here I sit a year later still scraping the egg from my face. Not only did Michelle Ryan pull off the transformation from Eastender’s cute little loud-mouthed girl screaming “you ain’t my muuuutha” every five minutes into the Bionic Woman, via a stint as a sexy psychologist hanging with Jekyll, she did it in an even sexier, Americanised style then I could have imagined… In fact Michelle Ryan was probably the only good thing about the Bionic Woman after the first episode, and I think that even though the Bionic Woman was a seriously let down by the writers of the show, (I mean come on who wasn’t going to notice that Jaime Summer’s sister was an entirely different girl and character in the second episode) Michelle Ryan showed enough to merit her a role in a better show, and when she gets her shot at some decent telly I am sure she will shine!!!

Update 29/09/2008

• Fans of Michelle Ryan can find her on your telly box this weekend in the new BBC1 family-drama Merlin as the sorceress Nimueh .

Autumn Viewing Guide – Part One Drama

Having survived the weak summer television offerings it is time to rejoice and celebrate the new autumn television schedule. In this first part I will be looking forward to some of the planned Dramas that have caught my attention coming soon to your telly boxes.

BBC:

Survivors – people with good memories may recall this cult TV show from the mid-1970s in which a virus decimates most of the human population. This re-vamp features Max Beesley and ex-Doctor Who babe Freema Agyeman.

Merlin -a new 13-part drama series on BBC Onewhich updates the story of the infamous sorceror of Arthurian legend for a new audience.

Apparitions – Starring Martin Shaw (Judge John Deed, George Gently), Apparitions was originally produced as a two-part special for transmission in early 2008. However, the two-part drama will now form part of a longer series.

Shaw plays Father Jacob, a priest working to promote candidates for sainthood who becomes drawn in to exorcism as he discovers a dark battle between good and evil – a battle that threatens the future of the human race itself.

Heroes- the third season of everybody’s favourite sci-fi, superhero soap opera returns to BBC2.

ITV:

The Last Van Helsing – Philip Glenister (aka Gene Hunt) shows no mercy as he rids London of it’s vampire (bastards). Mackenzie Crook who looks like the undead, is suitably cast as a vampire.

Place of Execution – dramatic tale of the mystery surrounding a missing thirteen year old girl is adapted from Val McDermid’s best selling novel.

Caught in a Trap – Sound of Music (the stage musical not the film) star Connie Fisher will make her TV drama debut as a woman obsessed with Elvis Presley.

Wired – Laurence Fox (Lewis), Jodie Whittaker (St Trinian’s), Toby Stephens (Die Another Day) and Charlie Brookes (EastEnders), star in Wired, a fast-paced three-part thriller which delves into the murky high-risk world of bank fraud.

Mr Eleven:  bionic babe, Michelle Ryan, is back on British TV in a touching new romantic comedy.

Did you know that the average British woman will marry their 11th sexual partner? But does Mr Eleven always equal Mr Right?

Channel 4 and E4:

The Devil’s Whore – John Simm (Life on Mars) travels even further back in time to star as a Puritan soldier who plots to kill Cromwell in an epic English cival war mini-series.

Dead Set: In a nightmare world the Big Brother house has become the only sanctuary… a new zombie horror is also a satire on reality TV. Outside the Box favourite Jaime Winstone stars.

Bionic Babe is back… for now at least

A friend of mine is dying to know what I thought of the new Bionic Woman series which made it’s UK debut here last night. He knows I was very excited by the prospect of seeing the woman who was once Zoe Slater, Michelle Ryan not only playing a Yank but also playing a Yank who is part cyborg.

Let me start by saying that I was not a fan of the original series of the Bionic Woman that came on in the mid-70’s, but I was a huge fan of the Six Million Dollar Man, but then who wasn’t… that show was cool. The Bionic Woman on the other hand was just, for want of a better word, shit! I mean a woman with a gigantic blond head of hair, wearing silly disguises running around saving people is a silly concept, but when you throw in her bionic dog Maximilian… come on!

Despite this I was still excited about The Bionic Woman returning to the small screen… the excitement is still with me, but it is waning a bit, replaced with thoughts of how could Americans not like this show??? It is a million times better then the original Bionic Woman which ran for three years… how could they cancel this show after eight episodes. The budget is bigger meaning the effects are better, and it is darker then the original… and well just better in all ways. Not only that you tune in to watch one bionic woman and get another one thrown in for free, a blond one. And if you watch them fight, I think they fancy each other, which means that if the show wasn’t cancelled after eight episodes we could have had some girl-on-girl bionic loving in the future.

I will admit that the dialogue is pretty bad, but in my opinion it is so bad it was good… if you know what I mean. Also, Michelle Ryan looked fabulous, so good in fact that I didn’t even notice that her acting is still a bit unpolished. (OK, I did notice, but I didn’t care.)

So to answer my friends inquiry about the show; I liked it! It is good stupid television fun, and I pray that some television exec somewhere liked it as well and brings it back, because what the world needs now is more Bionic Woman, and less X-Factor, American Idol, Big Brother type crap!

Please let it be good!

I am so excited, after months of hype the much delayed debut of the new Bionic Woman series hits the UK tonight, on ITV2 at 9:00pm. Now I just hope that the show is worth the wait, and I hope the new ’stronger, faster, better’ Michelle Ryan is also a better actress then she was when she appeared in Eastenders…

Unfortunately though my excitement will be short-lived for this series because as I just Googled Michelle, I found that the series was cancelled. Damn!

Hopefully though the fate of the Bionic Woman won’t fall on ITV’s new action/drama The Fixer  which made it’s debut last night, and features Michelle Ryan’s fellow Eastenders cast member Tamzin Outhwaite.

The Fixer is the type of watchable nonsense that is perfect for a Monday evening. It is based on the silly concept that the government takes convicted murderers from jail to turn them into assassins for the state, but once you get past that it was pretty good fun.