Presumably there was no tardis parking available in London Below's Earls Court. Must have been floating market day.

While I can't stand either River Song or Andrea and would not miss either, I think there are different reasons for their continued presence and for whether they should be written out. River was an interesting character for an episode or two but her recurring presence has illustrated a creeping lack of creativity and…

Two. Peter and Observer.

Didn't know Kurt Sutter was buddies with the guy behind Breaking Bad. Hopefully they'll team up to develop a TV series sometime - would be mindnumbingly amazing. Happy New Year to you too. Have a good one!

Yes, I think a big difference is that AMC and FX (Sons of Anarchy, Justified) are actually trying to narrate a story over the course of several episodes, likewise many of the BBC's series. As you say, the length of most of the broadcast TV series makes this very difficult, even if they start out with the intention of…

Surely companies can get patent protection or exclusivity on the diagnostic tests they develop, rather than the genes that the tests are designed to detect. Just as drug developers are granted patents on the drug, rather than the gene targeted by the drug. As far as I'm aware, Pfizer was never granted patent…

I loved The Fades and had it in mind when I was thinking that brit TV made better dark drama, though there are many other examples not only in the sci fi arena, e.g. Ultraviolet, but also in other genres - Wire in the Blood a bit darker than CSI! Your point about quality v. quantity rings true for many examples,…

The brits always seem to do dark and mysterious drama better than the americans, or to put it another way, dark and mysterious drama is more accepted by the brit TV viewership than the american viewership. Does this suggest that brits are more mysterious than americans? Or just that they're miserable bastards?

"Its smaller on the outside." She's going to be good. Very good.

and diamonds and saltpetre.

If it makes you feel any better, my sell by date is apparently even earlier than yours (slightly!). Great story, evoked memories of when I watched the show as a child - hadn't fully appreciated that my memories of Troughton are in b&w, while those of Pertwee are in color, but both were a huge presence in my childhood.…

Wonderful post Charlie Jane, explains why you consistently write with such remarkable passion and understanding about Dr. Who. For myself, I have few childhood memories - it was a long time ago - but among those few are memories of being terrified on a weekly basis by the adventures of the second doctor. Images of a…

I agree, its clearly offensive. But I'm perhaps more shocked that so many people reading a post on philosophy don't know about the history and connotations of a pink triangle symbol.

I didn't realize it when I saw the movie, but looking at that pic from Skyfall, Q is clearly modelled on Maurice Moss. Have you tried turning it off 007?

I really hope that Neil Gaiman breathes some life, or variation thereof, back into the cybermen. The clunky reimagining of the cybermen in the modern episodes never really captured the menace they possessed when i watched them, mostly from behind the sofa, as a kid.

And when you're done with the excellent Death Note on Hulu, watch Noir on Netflix. (But don't watch the live action Death Note movies).

Thats a pretty good assessment of Torchwood - Children of Earth was brilliant, but season four was, for me, bizarrely awful. One of the most inconsistent shows ever.

Ultraviolet was probably my most enjoyable unexpected find on Netflix - along with Intelligence from Canadian TV - not genre, I know - very dark, very addictive but way too short. Plus, if you like musical show SMUSH! the brit guy from that show plays the lead character. But, then again, if you like SMUSH! you…

Much as I love Shatner, if the Master were ever to be played by a non-brit I'd like to suggest Meryl Streep in her role as Margaret Thatcher.

If you're happy, then I'm happy too and hopefully no world ending events will shatter this shared happiness.