Ten Things I Hate About Who is clearly going down very well, as over the past couple of days Out On Blue Six has picked up almost five hundred new readers! Hello to all of you, especially the ones who were kind enough to link to it from ‘Bellal’s Best Blog’ and its contemporaries, and I hope you’re enjoying the countdown (which will continue tomorrow), though some of you are probably wondering what in the name of sanity is going on around here. Well, nothing in the name of sanity, frankly. But since you asked so politely…
I’m a writer and occasional broadcaster, mostly about films, television and music, and am one of the people behind the popular nostalgia website TV Cream. Out On Blue Six is a blog that I set up partly to promote my writing and occasional broadcasting, and partly as a way of having a bit of fun with ideas – like Ten Things I Hate About Who – that didn’t quite work out or that I couldn’t find a suitable outlet for or what have you. You can find an Amazon list of some commercially available stuff I’ve been involved in here, though if you’re looking for a couple of quick recommendations, there’s the DVD booklets for Sapphire & Steel and Children Of The Stones, the ultimate guide to toys and games of yesteryear TV Cream Toys, and Well At Least It’s Free, a book collecting some of my fanzine and web writing, which is only available from lulu.com. Well At Least It’s Free will probably be of particular interest to Doctor Who fans, as it contains a number of lengthy pieces on the show including an overview of the entire Russell T. Davies era, a look back at the black and white historical stories, and my spirited defence of The Underwater Menace. Which is better than you thought. Honest.
Or, if you’d rather have a nose at some of the ‘free-to-air’ stuff that I’ve done, here’s a couple of further recommendations…
The TV That Time Forgot - a series on TV shows that were huge in their day but have since been completely forgotten, for the brilliant This Way Up blog. Click here for the first part.
The TATP Years - a series of ‘audio collages’ I do with the great Ben Baker, highlighting less well-remembered pop hits and TV/film clips from a particular year, as a kind of antidote to those nostalgia shows that always wheel out the same old illustrative sounds. Series 1 has just finished, and you can find the whole lot here, but if you’re looking to try one or two first I’d recommend starting with 1969 (click here to download) or 1979 (click here to download).
Talk About The Video Nasties - a documentary Ben Baker and I made about the strange world of early home video. Click here to download, or click here for my rundown of The Least Nasty Video Nasties.
The Top Ten TV Characters That Time Forgot - a rundown of regular characters that mysteriously disappeared from famous TV shows and were never mentioned again, which you can find at The Fan Can (click here).
They Could Have Been A Bit Like The Beatles – a roll-call of the curious number of mainstream pop acts who tried to get a bit ‘psychedelic’ in 1989. Click here for the first part.
…and there’s loads more out there too! Anyway, hope you have a look around and enjoy yourselves, and do have a look at the other blogs linked to on the left… and see you tomorrow for #5 of Ten Things I Hate About Who!
