Martin Conaghan
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Martin Conaghan lives in the UK. He currently works as a Producer for BBC Interactive, and as a freelance journalist and writer. He also features regularly on BBC Radio Scotland's 'Sports Weekly' programme, and has been writing his personal blog, The Copydesk, for over four years.
Martin Conaghan
-
Martin Conaghan lives in the UK. He currently works as a Producer for BBC Interactive, and as a freelance journalist and writer. He also features regularly on BBC Radio Scotland's 'Sports Weekly' programme, and has been writing his personal blog, The Copydesk, for over four years.
Posted Nov 27th 2007 12:22PM by Martin Conaghan
Filed under: News, Programming, Doctor Who, Casting
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Good news for Doctor Who fans, in particular fans of actress Billie Piper, who played the part of Rose Tyler from the show's return in March 2005 until July 2006.
The British actress
will be returning in no fewer than three episodes in the forthcoming series -- set to air in 2008 -- giving the Doctor three companions over the course of series four.
Piper's character was stranded in an alternative universe (forever, it seemed) at the end of season 2, but she will now return for a three-part story arc -- and with a bit of luck, we'll see her team up with Martha Jones to vie for the Doctor's affections.
Before that happens, Doctor Who is set to return to our screens on 25 December in a Christmas special entitled 'Voyage of the Damned' -- so stay tuned to TV Squad for a review.
Posted Nov 17th 2007 11:02AM by Martin Conaghan
Filed under: Programming, Doctor Who, Episode Reviews
Last night on BBC One in the UK, the Corporation's annual charity telethon, 'Children in Need' raised £19million for underpriviledged kids around the country.
However, the highlight of the evening was a short Doctor Who segment, filmed specially for the telethon (as has become a tradition every year at this time), which bridged the final episode of season
four three, 'Last of the Time Lords' and the forthcoming Christmas Special, 'Voyage of the Damned'.
And it was a fantastic eight-minute segment of television, written by Steven Moffat, who also scripted the brilliant 'Blink' in season three, and featured none other than Peter Davidson, the fifth Doctor, playing the earlier version of himself alongside his modern-day counterpart, David Tennant.
Continue reading Doctor Who: Time Crash
Posted Sep 10th 2007 3:55PM by Martin Conaghan
Today, Monday September 10, 2007, TV Squad is remembering blogger Adam Finley who passed away tragically late last week. All front page posts will be staff picks of Adam's writing through the years.
I didn't know Adam personally, but he regularly sent emails to the TV Squad group, often simply forwarding on a funny news story, or commenting on a recent event. His TV Squad posts were invariably funny, witty and acutely observant. I said to my TV Squad colleagues when I learned the tragic news of his accidental death: it truly is A Wonderful Life. From all the way across the Atlantic ocean to my home in Scotland, Adam's life touched my own in ways I can't even begin to comprehend. This post was from June 4, 2007, and I feel it's one of the most appropriate, given the medium we comment on here at TV Squad, and what it does to all of us. Once more, Adam hit the spot with his simple analysis of another pointless study into the effects of television. Originally published on June 4, 2007.
According to a new study, people eat more when they're watching television they find entertaining.
Dr. Alan Hirsch, the neurological director for the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, conducted an experiment in which folks were given chips to eat while watching Letterman and Leno, and chips to eat when not watching any TV at all. As it turns out, they ate more chips while watching TV because they paid less attention to whether or not they were full while distracted by what was on the television.
Continue reading Adam Finley: Good TV makes you fat
Posted Jul 4th 2007 8:40PM by Martin Conaghan
Filed under: Programming, Doctor Who, Episode Reviews
(S03E13) It almost seems inevitable that a series finale doesn't quite live up to everyone's expectations, with a few minor exceptions (such as the recent series finale of
Lost).
I eagerly anticipated the series finale of
Heroes, and while I was significantly entertained enough to have enjoyed myself, I felt kind of cheated when it was revealed that Syler was probably not dead after all.
I felt the same way with this last part of the current
Doctor Who series; it was great to watch, but the inevitable cop-out at the end left me feeling a little bit like I'd been pick-pocketed.
Warning: Spoilers after the jump.
Continue reading Doctor Who: The Last of the Time Lords (season finale)
Posted Jun 27th 2007 7:26PM by Martin Conaghan
Filed under: Programming, Doctor Who, Episode Reviews
(S03E11 / S03E12) I've decided to combine the first two episodes of this three-part finale in to one review, partly because it's only a few days until the finale itself, but mostly because I really don't know where to start with this totally explosive storyline.
When
Doctor Who returned to our screens a few years ago, everyone was anticipating the return of old favourites, like the Autons, the Daleks and the Cybermen -- and, sure, those guys notched up the fear factor and excitement when The Doctor faced them down -- but there's one guy we've all been waiting for, and he finally turned up in the strangest of places.
Well, make that two guys...
WARNING: Spoilers after the jump. Continue reading Doctor Who: Utopia/The Sound of Drums
Posted Jun 26th 2007 6:27PM by Martin Conaghan
Filed under: Programming, Doctor Who, Episode Reviews
(S03E10) Apologies for the lack of
Doctor Who reviews recently, but I was sunning myself in Italy, and returned home to find a bumper hoard of episodes waiting for me on my Sky+ box.
Before I begin, let me ask you a question: how many times in recent years have you watched a stand-alone episode of a big sci-fi show and walked away from it thinking, "Man, that was brilliant"?
Seriously -- it can't be more than once or twice. Maybe a few episodes of
X-Files, or
Star Trek:TNG - possibly some
Babylon 5 or
Battlestar Galactica.Continue reading Doctor Who: Blink
Posted Jun 7th 2007 7:01PM by Martin Conaghan
Filed under: Programming, Doctor Who, Episode Reviews
(S03E08 / S03E09) Haven't I always said that the best episodes of
Doctor Who are generally set in the past?
I deliberately waited until the second part of this two-part episode had aired before making any judgments on it, partly because the first episode promised so much, but left things hanging in the balance -- but also because it was a sharp turn away from the recent filler episodes which had found me falling asleep on the settee.
But this was a different beast altogether; classic
Doctor Who with sinister villains, a curious plot, some romance and a whole heap of adventure and emotion.
Continue reading Doctor Who: Human Nature / Family of Blood
Posted May 30th 2007 8:16PM by Martin Conaghan
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, News, Industry
It looks like the US version of the BBC's hit sci-fi show
Life on Mars is getting off to a good start.
David E. Kelley has drafted in the directing talents of Thomas Schlamme to direct the pilot for his ABC version of the time-travelling cop drama. (If you haven't managed to catch any of the first and second series of
Life on Mars, you should -- it's fantastic).
Schlamme previously worked on
The West Wing and
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip in addition to directing the pilot for
Boston Public and some episodes of
Ally McBeal and
The Practice.
Rachelle LeFevre has already been cast in a female lead role in the remake, but it's not yet known who will take on the Sam Tyler role.
Posted May 24th 2007 8:40PM by Martin Conaghan
Filed under: Programming, Doctor Who, Episode Reviews
(S03E07) I'm starting to get the feeling that Russell T. Davies and company are filling time for a big run-in towards the end of series three of
Doctor Who.
Last week's episode, 'The Lazarus Experiment' was almost an exercise in filler TV, and this week's roll of the dice (die?) took us into the far reaches of outer space, some time in the future, where a crew of humans were plummeting headlong towards a Sun-like star.
The '42' in the title referred to the 42 (or so) minutes duration of the episode, and the 42-minute countdown until the ship exploded in the corona of the burning sphere.
Continue reading Doctor Who: 42
Posted May 15th 2007 8:00PM by Martin Conaghan
Filed under: Programming, Doctor Who, Episode Reviews
(S03E06) It's almost inevitable for any good series to hit a slight dip when it reaches the half-way point in a series, and
Doctor Who isn't immune to a lull in pace.
I honestly wasn't expecting much of
"The Lazarus Experiment"
, and even though the special effects were of a reasonably high standard, the whole story was somewhat disjointed and hurried.
A few weeks ago, I made a point of suggesting that someone would soon have to start explaining why the Doctor bumps in to trouble everywhere he goes (apart from driving TV viewing schedules), and this episode finally started to indicate that something might be causing our favourite time-traveller to wander in to the path of out-and-out trouble everywhere he goes.
Continue reading Doctor Who: The Lazarus Experiment
Posted May 2nd 2007 8:21PM by Martin Conaghan
Filed under: News, Programming, Doctor Who
(S03E04 / S03E05) There's nothing like a good villain, especially one that won't just lie down and die.
The Cylons, the Borg, Moriarty and Blofeld -- they're what make our heroes tick, and without them, any classic fiction formula would be miserably incomplete.
And so it is with
Doctor Who and his timeless nemeses, the Daleks.
Continue reading Doctor Who: Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks
Posted Apr 20th 2007 4:21PM by Martin Conaghan
Filed under: Lost, Video
If you caught the recent episode of
Lost (
'Catch-22'), you may have already started scouring the web in search of clues regarding the little ditty Desmond sang during a flashback, while supping down copious amounts of wine.
The key to the song lies in Desmond's nationality. In case you hadn't noticed, he's Scottish (by the sounds of his accent, probably from Glasgow, possibly Paisley).
Henry Ian Cusick, the actor who portrays Desmond, isn't actually Scottish himself -- he was born in Trujillo, Peru. His
father is Scottish, but he spent most of his early life in Trinidad and Tobago and moved to Scotland when he was 15.
Continue reading Lost -- Desmond's little ditty explained - VIDEO
Posted Apr 18th 2007 10:41AM by Martin Conaghan
Filed under: Doctor Who, Episode Reviews
(S03E03) It's still early stages in the new series of
Doctor Who, so it's understandable when the writers re-visit old story arcs, and introduce new viewers to old themes.
It was like that this week, and whilst it wasn't a high-ranking episode in terms of story, it was still a good bit of fun.
And, as with previous weeks in the recent series, when Martha learned something new about the enigmatic time-traveller, so did we.
Continue reading Doctor Who: Gridlock
Posted Apr 11th 2007 6:21PM by Martin Conaghan
Filed under: Sports, Programming, Doctor Who, Cancellations
According to a press release from the BBC, this coming Saturday's episode of
Doctor Who could end up being postponed because of live coverage of the FA Cup football (soccer) semi-final encounter between Watford and Manchester United on BBC One.
The match is scheduled to finish in regulation time just before
Doctor Who is scheduled to start on BBC One, but if extra-time and penalties (aka over-time and a penalty-kick shoot-out) ensue, the third episode of the new series will be held over for a week, throwing out the BBC's schedules for BBC One and BBC Three.
However, based on
Man United's 7-1 thrashing of AS Roma in the Champions League last night at Old Trafford (8-3 on aggregate), and the fact that Watford have only won a single match from their last four, it's highly unlikely that The Doctor and Martha will be replaced by Wayne Rooney and Ronaldo.
Posted Apr 11th 2007 12:14PM by Martin Conaghan
Filed under: News, Programming, Pickups and Renewals, Standout Episodes, Episode Reviews
(S02E08) "My name is Sam Tyler. I had an accident, and I woke up in 1973.
"Am I mad, in a coma, or back in time? Whatever's happened, it's like I've landed on a different planet."Now, maybe if I can work out the reason, I can get home."Well, did Sam Tyler get back home?
Warning: spoilers after the jump. Continue reading Life on Mars: Episode 8 (series finale)
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