This and last week’s Doctor Who episodes were quite disappointing. The story was fairly good and you can see where they were going - taking the Daleks into uncharted territory. But it didn’t quite work. The human-Dalek looked plain stupid. The pig idea WAS stupid. And most of the Yank accents last week were awful.

The episodes were entertaining but nothing special.

The third new series of Doccie Who opened tonight with aplomb. Billie Piper proved to be an asset to the last two series, but I warmed far more quickly to Freema Agyeman tonight than I originally did with Piper. (Because we want to has a lot to answer for.)

I can’t say I’m massively looking forward to next week’s episode; its title is awful and it seems an obvious move after the Dickens episode previously. I’m sure it’ll cut the mustard though - just doesn’t look particularly enticing.

I’ve now seen all of the Doctor Who trailers for the upcoming series. I stand by what I said previously in that the previews thus far all feel flat, lacking of any substance. But the new full trailer on BBCi and red button services looks… wow.

It has definitely caused more of a stirring. In my pants.

I’ve now seen the first two teasers to the new series of Doccie Who and it’s looking better than the preview at the end of The Runaway Bride would have us believe. But still not massively exciting.
I’m really hoping that they’re holding back on preview material because they’re going to hit us with the last great Time War at some point this series and they don’t want to give the game away just yet.

Given the Gallifrey name-drop in the Christmas special it doesn’t sound too unrealistic a possibility, does it?

When it mattered, 2006 was a bit of a poo year; I’ve just neglected to mention the bulk of the bad bits on this here blog because - well, because I can.

Not that 2006 was without highlights, nay don’t be silly - there were loads of good things in 2006. It’s just the undocumented bad aspects far outweighed the good. And going on the goodness apparent in this post, you’ll see how bad the bad was.

Anyhow, being asked to stay on at Paramount for a second week, having dazzled them with my skills in the first, was definitely a high point of this year. That and Hob McD. saying that he’d actually seen the work I’d done there go to air. Fantastic.

English & Pockett was also a great company to work for, just sod’s law that I went for the one week of the year that supposedly saw very little work going on. ’twas a very insightful experience, and their name is perhaps the best for graphic design to have on your CV in the United Kingdom. So I’m not complaining.

My day in the Sky News studio was brilliant too, even if I did get trapped on the London Underground on the way there. Pirate’s motion control demonstration at their studio was also amazing, though I am a bit narked it wasn’t a week later when I could’ve had my photograph taken holding an Oscar. Bah.

Then, of course, there’s the vast amount of celebrities I saw at signings, live shows and generally walking about the place: Robert Llewellyn, Chloe Annett, Chris Barrie, Danny John-Jules, Russell Brand, Ricky Gervais, Sean Lock, Lee Mack, Stewart Lee, Robin Ince, Alan Carr, Matthew Holness, Richard Ayoade, Matt Berry, David Mitchell, Robert Webb and Shaun ‘Fat Baz’ Williamson. A ridiculously impressive list I’m sure anyone would agree. And let’s not forget bumping into fellow geek, Eugene Sully and the amusing - if not erratic - Nikki Grahame, both of which didn’t make it onto the previous list on account of not being proper celebrities. And perhaps even more impressive than all of that, I interviewed Peter Tyler for my dissertation. Boy did he come up trumps. Again.

Television, on the whole, wasn’t good. Life on Mars, which kick-started the year, was fantastic. Doctor Who was similarly splendid, though the Christmas special was a leetle bit disappointing - but generally a great episode. Torchwood was excellent - its series finale (apart from the rushed ending) beat the Doccie Who Christmas special hands down.

Not Going Out, Man to Man and Lead Balloon were superb new sitcoms; Pulling also being great, but not quite as funny as it could’ve been. Likewise Extras was hilarious in places, but in general wasn’t quite as sparkly as the first series. And That Mitchell and Webb Look, while funny, also disappointed, as so much of it was recycled material from their radio series.

Robin Hood was also thoroughly entertaining. And The Bill was as Billiant as ever. Oh, and I also fell in love with Firefly and Serenity having finally got around to watching the DVDs I’ve had of them for over a year. (Twat!) The Mighty Boosh and Nathan Barley also pleased me muchly having got them on a whim.

Film-wise, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Saw III were the only films I saw at the cinema this year - both of which were excellent. I was fairly keen to see Superman Returns, but I’m that fond of the originals, I didn’t mind waiting until the DVD came along - although I still haven’t seen it. I am annoyed I never got around to seeing Clerks II on the big screen, though, so am desperately awaiting its release on DVD in February.

Food opinions in 2006 were varied. I discovered that potato salad was “mmmmm”, and that KP crisps far outshine Walkers and Golden Wonder for both flavour & freshness. But I also found out that cheddar cheese popcorn is a definite no-no - an absolute disaster of food that will stink out your kitchen, reminding you each time you smell it of the horror actually consuming the snack was.

What else to say? Oh yes, I invested in an Xbox console *just* to play Halo, which didn’t disappoint - but again, I’m a bit behind in only doing this in 2006. And in health: the bruises underneath my two big toe nails have yet to fully grow out. So that’s something to look forward to in 2007, along with:

More Life on Mars, Doccie Who, Torchwood, Lead Balloon and The Billage on the box. And theatrical releases of Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End, Spider-Man 3, Hot Fuzz, Live Free or Die Hard, Shrek the Third, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Simpson’s Movie, Sunshine and the film about Guy Goma - purely because the whole fiasco is so amusing.

And here’s hoping the independently made The Legend of Zelda: The Hero of Time gets finished, and that Red Dwarf: The Movie finally gets funded too.

Doctor Who spin-off, Torchwood was excellent. Like Ultraviolet, only with aliens.

Love it.

I keep seeing the Torchwood Institute logo flash up on BBC television and it excites me.

Well that certainly was a gripping series finale, wouldn’t you agree?

That’s an understatement, clearly. But I didn’t write down my immediate thoughts after the episode aired as I had Atul K. round to watch it together in our pants.

I was livid when I accidentally stumbled across the biggest spoiler ever on the official Doccie Who site a week ago. It really was a biggie, giving away exactly what happens to Rose. But it turned out to be a TRICK - a fake line of dialogue planted to fool the world. Boy was I pleased when I realised I hadn’t ruined the ending for myself. And a fine ending it was too.

Wizard! Although the 3D specs do suit me much better.