Raven

I think the thing for me is that a lot of other shows have walked similar ground and done it a lot better (Buffy, Angel, Ultraviolet, Being Human etc). They didn't really seem to know what they wanted to do with this series, and as a result it just lurched from episode to episode; it just didn't seem very coherent. ITV got it right with Primeval, but they got it wrong with this.

Gotta love Winona more!

Dear Diary, on BBC Four - very interesting, and moving, stuff.

Personally, I thought it was pretty dreadful! Story, not myth. There is, of course, the Hugh Jackman film Van Helsing, but that is pretty dreadful as well - and the somewhat better Bram Stoker's Dracula, where VH is played by none other than Anthony Hopkins. Yep. Whatever possessed him to do an American accent should have been exorcised. Panned, it got canned by ITV!

Judging by the number of copies Meyer has shifted, there are a lot of un-cool kids out there reading it as well!

Most of the Doctor Who and Torchwood books currently available (and Star Trek, for that matter) are original stories, not adaptations of TV episodes, and both their quality and the readership they are targeted at can be very variable. I started out reading Star Trek books back when I was sixteen, and over the years I've read quite a few of them (and quite a few Star Wars and Doctor Who books as well). In recent years I've tended to only read one or two a year (if that) because my taste in literature has changed over the years and I know there are better stories/authors out there to be read. The Doctor Who books that are currently being published are targeted, like the show, towards a generally audience - in other words they are written so that children, or at least teenagers, can read them as well as adults. The two I've read from the current range (Sting of the Zygons and Prisoner of the Daleks) have both been okay, but they were both generally light-weight reads. The New Adventures range of Doctor Who novels, published during the nineties by Virgin, and the BBC range that followed, had some cracking stories, written by the likes of Mark Gatiss and Paul Cornell who have both written episodes of the new series (in fact the series three story Human Nature/The Family of Blood was originally a New Adventures novel written around the seventh Doctor). These books were aimed squarely at adult readers, and were generally a lot more complex than the novels they publish now (they also only feature the first eight Doctors). When Doctor Who returned to our screens in 2005 the BBC dropped this range of books, which was a shame, but they wanted to push the new series and make it more child friendly, so the more adult books had to go. In summary, I would say there is some very good stuff out there, if you are willing to put in the leg work to find it (don't read Doctor Who sites for book reviews by the way, they don't tend to be terribly subjective!), but the most I think you can expect from the current range is an enjoyable read. Michelle may be able to comment on the Torchwood books, I

This may be a bit on the late side, but the Francois Truffaut film version of this book in on ITV1 at 2:05, just over an hour from now!

I'm waiting for the paperback. I read Starter for 10 a year or two ago and was really enjoying it - right up to the last fifty or so pages (which completely ruined the book for me). The film, which I think Nicholls wrote the screen play for, was a lot better.

One for your diaries . . . Sir Terry Pratchett to give Richard Dimbleby lecture.

Vernon God Little, good book! Welcome and all that!

I've not read them myself, but I know several people who like Tolkien who also like the Shannara series by Terry Brooks.

More new wallpaper! I like that the Astronomy Picture of the Day site are slowly going back and reposting larger versions of previously posted pictures, it helps when you have a monitor running on a 1920 x 1200 resolution!

You really should have spoiler tagged that - it's not news to me, but CB has already said - a couple of times - that she is trying to avoid spoilers! Personally, I don't think it will happen, at any point. Tennant has left the series. I can see him returning for some multi-Doctor epic in 2013, but not in the immediate future, and I don't think that is something Moffat would entertain either. But Doctor Two is half gobby-Donna! Rose got lumbered with the bobby prize! Why in Gods name would you want him back?! A big NO! to Tennant coming back in the short term, Smith HAS to be given the time and space (no pun intended) to prove himself. I personally think he will, in buckets!

I hope so.

I like the 60's film - I'm a bit of a fan of old 50's and 60's B-Movies - it is a good update of the story (much better than the more recent version, anyway!). It's just the book I didn’t really enjoy!

There's nowt wrong with Colin Baker! There are some very poor stories during Colin's reign as the Doctor, but they are rarely bad because of his acting. Come across them regularly, do you?!

Very fast dialogue, lots of wizz-bang action and the character say "I'm still not ginger". If you didn't know he wanted to be ginger that could easily be taken as "I'm glad I'm not ginger".

I think, to a point, the comment was possible to take out of context as it hinged on the viewer knowing about - and remembering - Tennant's comment about wanting to be ginger from the Christmas Invasion, four years ago!

Granted, but you have to go and visit Dallas as part of your duties. I wish nice things will happen to the next poster.

I've actually gone back to using this one, because the eclipse picture wasn't big enough for my main monitor!

Abba duo linked to Torchwood musical. Thank heavens that never happened!

Yes, that was the same set of people I saw. I felt sorry for the girl who was cooking the final meal; she seemed to be enjoying the whole thing immensely - and had put a lot of effort in - only to have two of the guests start taking pops at each other.

The Moff is already on the record as saying the mix of episodes will be broadly the same as it is now - it won't be an episode like Blink every week.

Did anyone see the "set" they had on yesterday afternoon? The woman who was giving one and three point votes in an obvious attempt to win the cash for herself - what a bitch!

They never used to be, the Doctor does make the comment that they became that way because of the Time War. I don't think there are many who do believe it, to be honest, it just doesn't fit their characters. I must admit to being one of those who has given RTD a rough ride at times over the past five years, but after reading The Writer's Tale I gained a better understanding of what he was writing and why. Having said that, this last two-parter made very little sense to me, and the fault for that has to be laid squarely at his feet. With respect to CB's list above, I'm not sure about Boom Town, but I would add the excellent Midnight, as I think it was genuinely the best episode of series four, and is one that has me on the edge of my seat every time I watch it!