I did like Clyde and Rani testing the Serf Board with gloves, safety glasses and face masks. And them pretending to be married journalists working for a magazine aimed at old people.

I just liked how they all pitched in and did something to help save the world. And that the cleaner didn't die - I was convinced she was going to in that first scene.

The only thing that drove me mad the whole time (or would have done, had I not been enjoying the episode so much) was not being able to work out why I recognised Lionel whatsisname. I had to pause the credits, and then I realised why I recognised Harrison too. It is a peril of watching TV, recognising actors all over the place.

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I liked this episode. For a start there was Carla Langer, and that can never be a bad thing. I liked his friendship with Ellie, that was quite sweet. And seeing his friends that had left school. It was interesting to see that he has this other life that we don't get to see.

What I wasn't so keen on was Sky saving the day. It's just because she's new I think - if it had been Luke in her place that would have been fine. And the main trouble I have with it is that they never explained why she wasn't affected (unless they did and they missed it). Fine if you have a good reason, but it just seemed to me that they needed someone to not be affected and she got chosen.

I also hated that Ellie ends up leaving. I know it's probably more realistic, but I just really wanted a happy ending. I liked her, I wanted Clyde to come back and save her. And given that one person knows about the Night Dragon, I don't understand how the others don't.

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SJA is back! And I'm in on Tuesdays so I won't be so behind on it any more.

I enjoyed this episode on the whole. I loved that none of Sarah, Clyde and Rani knew what they were doing with a baby. Clyde was funny, trying not to make her cry. After seeing Sarah being comfortable around teenagers for so long, it was good to see her being uncomfortable with a baby. It just reminds you that she hasn't changed that much.

I also loved the woman with the wellies (I'm sure she had a name, I'm just rubbish with names) trying to run in wellies and pretending her lipstick is a sonic lipstick. She's totally a Sarah fan

What I wasn't quite so keen on was the teenaged Sky. She's clearly a Luke replacement and they were doing similar things that they did with Luke when he first arrived, with her not knowing what things were. I just felt that they were trying too hard to make her cute.

Mind you, I didn't like Rani when she first arrived either, because I felt they were trying too hard to make sure she got wrapped up in all this alien stuff and making her Maria's replacement. And I like Rani now, so I might warm to Sky. But I do really want to see Luke's reaction to finding out about Sarah adopting her.

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That CBBC logo moving is doing my head in - I keep thinking there's something ominous in the background and there isn't. But I only have myself to blame for not saving this for Thursday nights when I can watch the whole thing with no logo.

Anyway, I liked this. And I'm just too tired to be coherent any more. I liked that Gita had worked out that something was going on with between Rani and Sarah.

But it was obvious that once it was obvious Sarah was being really forgetful that it must be Ruby who was doing it. Although I initially didn't think that Sarah leaving the handbrake off was a symptom because I've done it. Although I've realised before I got out of the car. Normally I do the opposite - I put the handbrake on and put the clutch in neutral, turn the radio/fan/windscreen wipers/lights off, turn the car off, then remember that I don't need to have my feet on the brake and clutch any more. Although this is partly because when I'm dizzy I think the car is moving when it's not, so am paranoid I haven't put the handbrake on.

Despite the obviousness I did wonder how they were going to get out of the situation they were in once Clyde was stuck in space. Or how they were going to get Clyde out of there. Ruby complained about her spaceship being dark, but it had lights at least...

I also thought Haresh's comment about only seeing Sarah yesterday when Rani was upset was perfectly logical myself. He was only pointing out that it was a bit sudden. Rani and Gita were just under-appreciative.

They missed a trick by not having Mr White voiced by Ben Miller. But I did laugh the other week on Armstrong and Miller when they had a HAL-like computer called Sam who sounded awfully like Mr Smith...

The amazing thing is that I've liked every episode this series, unlike the previous two. And there was a Harry mention. There's just nothing else to ask for really.

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I was disappointed that there wasn't more Cyril Nri because being a regular in The Bill means you're automatically awesome. The trailer was full of him, yet he barely appeared in it at all. Mind you, I didn't notice anything else in the trailer because I was trying to work out who he was. But I was very glad he wasn't a bad guy. Except for being rubbish and barely telling them anything and not telling them they had a time limit. Of course they went over it - if he'd said "you have half an hour" they'd have kept an eye on the time and worried if they were longer. And given that he had a case that fitted the three objects in exactly, how come he didn't tell them what they were? There was no reason for that at all. Bad Super, no biscuit.*

But I liked Rani with Lady Jane Grey, giving her the strength we know she showed at her beheading. And Clyde fighting Nazis and their prejudice. And Sarah and the girl had a lovely relationship. I loved the twist with her granddaughter turning up - I wondered how she knew where and when to be until she pulled out the newspaper article. Interestingly, it's now November 2010 - The Nightmare Man was September 2010. Which means Death of the Doctor was somewhere in between, so that must happen before Find and Replace, which is stated to be on 24th December 2010.

I can't believe it's the last episode next week! And is has whatshername in it. I can't be bothered to look up the actress's name, but she was the Commander in The Bill. But doesn't qualify for awesomeness because she was only in it for six episodes.

*Obviously I didn't work out what the name of his character was/

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This was clearly the Sarah Jane light episode, but I didn't notice her absence. It was good to give Clyde and Rani a chance to shine. Most excitingly, we got Carla Langer! Who hasn't been seen for two series. But less excitingly, she was only in a very short scene. There should be more of her in the series generally.

Those robots were very cool. OK, so it helped that one of them was bright red and I like red, but they looked like proper robots ought to. I liked Clyde and Rani bickering and trying to work out what was going on. And I liked how they accounted for there not being any crashes etc.

It did amuse me, Clyde saying that sixth formers looked big and scary to 13 year olds. When I started secondary school at 12 I didn't know how you told the difference between the sixth formers and the teachers because they were all tall and not dressed in uniform. Then I got to sixth form and pretty much everyone in Year 10 (aged 14) or above was taller than me. Some of the Year 8s were taller than me. There's just something not fair about the universe there.

So to sum up: I really enjoyed it.

But what is really driving me mad now: who is that bloke in the trailer for next week? I know I recognise him from somewhere, but he won't be in the credits until next week and if I search for his name somewhere I'll doubtless end up uncovering spoilers I didn't want to know (I'm liking not being spoiled). And that assumes I'll recognise his name when I see it - I might only recognise what he's been in.

Edit: I'm so glad WP stays on this page once it's posted the entry because I always remember about changing the icon after I press the publish button.

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Basically I really enjoyed this. When I first saw it, I spent the whole of the scene with Luke completely confused because I hadn't seen The Nightmare Man, so I didn't know Luke was at university and they only explained it afterwards in the panel.

I liked the blue Graske and Clyde calling them short, and Rani pointing out that he's one to talk. All the kids have got taller them him, I noticed this series. I liked Jo (who was credited as Jo Jones, I noticed) and Eleven. Although I thought that with those two extra characters they didn't really need Santiago - nothing would have changed if he hadn't been there.

I like that Jo's happy and still married. But the scene on the red planet where she complains at the Doctor that he didn't come back just made me sigh all over again, like I did with the people who decided that School Reunion meant that Sarah had done nothing in between leaving the Doctor and meeting him again. Which by definition, had to be untrue. I'm less convinced by her having all these kids. Her two Big Finish Companion Chronicles made it sound more like they didn't have any, and I liked her being Cliff's manager. When she left the Doctor Cliff promised to look after her, and now she's looking after/in charge of him, which was a nice change. It doesn't directly contradict SJA, but it doesn't fit together that well. But I did like that the Doctor didn't tell her about the Time Lords when she mentioned them, partly because Jo's better off living in blissful ignorance, partly because she really wouldn't leave the Doctor if she knew, but mostly because it's been brought up so many times with the Ninth and Tenth Doctors that I'm done with it now.

And then there was the companion mentions at the end! Which I alluded to in my write-up, but didn't want to spoil the surprise. But my TV guide did that. I think they managed to mention every Classic companion who went back to Earth in the present day. Although my TV guide seems to think that Sarah's mention of Dorothy means Ace, but that never occurred to me before I read that. I thought she meant Dodo because Ace's story isn't finished and it sounds more like Dodo anyway.

The Ian and Barbara Chesterton mention was the bit that got the applause. And the Harry mention was so sweet. Of course she loved him and of course he saved the world. And the only reason she said it in the past tense was because they can't bring Harry back and they're not contradicting the Sarah Jane Smith audio canon. But he's not dead.

Some additional things from the preview. There was a mention of Katy Manning's dirty mind and at the press preview (I think it was) she apparently said something about positions in the coffin. Which I'm sure was something perfectly innocent about fitting both Lis and Katy in the space, but Katy Manning can make anything sound dirty. And she said the blanket she was carrying was really heavy (so she didn't really like it) and she kept getting it caught in the TARDIS doors. She had to step out of it three times before she could keep walking and not get pulled back because the blanket was trapped.

The most annoying thing has been seeing websites talking about the Doctor now being immortal. They clearly hadn't seen the episode, because the Doctor doesn't say that at all and the number he does sau has clearly been picked out of the air.

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Overall, the whole episode is great, I loved it. But part 1 on its own is merely alright. All the good stuff happens in part 2. Out of curiosity I watched the part 2 trailer too and I'm very glad I don't usually do that. After seeing that I can't believe anyone needs to watch part 2 - they've given it all away! Maybe that's just because I know what they're hinting at, but now I'm very glad I stop the video before the trailer can manage more than a word.

I stopped watching SJA in two parts when there was a week between the two. I wondered if it wouldn't be so bad when there's only a day between them - I have time for one part of an episode on Tuesdays, but both is pushing it. Now I know - don't do it. And since Spooks is already making Mondays less bad, it'll be good to have SJA to make Wednesdays less bad (I hate Wednesdays, nothing good ever happens on Wednesdays).

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The trouble with this episode is it's the middle one between the excitement of SJA coming back and the excitement of next week's guest stars (and wow, there's a scene in the trailer that's really misleading). On the whole I liked it, the writer was clearly having fun with the Men in Black. And Mr Dread was fun. I thought as I watched it that I bet his name would be spelt Dread, I checked the credits and it was. I'm disappointed now. His walking hand really reminded me of Red Dwarf, although I don't know whether it was supposed to.

I do like Rani's parents. Her dad just being all embarrassed and sceptical and her mum totally OTT. I am so disappointed that they erased her memory, though. I can see why, but I quite liked her knowing and freaking out and panicking. It occurred to me that in SJA it's the men that do the cooking. Sarah can't scramble eggs without setting fire to the kitchen (now that's a special skill), Rani's dad does the cooking and Clyde cooks for his mum. This is not something I think is a bad thing.

I also liked Clyde and Rani accidentally holding hands and then realising. If it stays like that sort of relationship I don't mind. Sarah seriously needs a car with back doors - how they all got in it in time to escape from the Men in Black, I don't know. But I can see why Rani gets to sit in the front, since she's taller than Clyde.

I'm less impressed with Androvax, though. I don't remember being that excited by him the first time round. But just before I managed to stop the video on the first part and start the second the trailer had started and the parting shot I had was of him looming over Rani's mum, just before he takes her over. Now that's an image I find amusing.

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I enjoyed The Nightmare Man. Having heard last night about Luke going to Oxford uni, I wasn't sure about the idea at all. I understand they needed to write him out and it is the most logical way, but although he's clever, he's not so good at the social stuff. What am I saying, it's Oxford he's going to. He'll fit right in. I liked that he and Sarah had the discussion while strapped to a Slitheen bomb. Joe Lidster said last night he did that because kids would get bored if they're just having the conversation somewhere boring like the kitchen.

I hate that he got A*s. Bringing in A*s will make my A levels look so much worse now. But I did like the whole thing of how they all feel about him going away, which is just like how it is in real life really, even if you're 18.

But there was one major cock-up - they have Luke going up on 10th September. Without looking it up I can tell you that Oxford only has 8 week terms and from what I remember in my first year, they finished at the same time as we did, and I went up to uni the last out of all my friends. So Oxford's much more likely to start on 10th October. Also, Sarah giving him a car. (when did he learn to drive?) Has she never been to Oxford? It's not designed for cars. Even Jeremy Clarkson doesn't like driving round Oxford. A car is going to be the most useless thing Luke can possibly take. And that's assuming there is somewhere to park it. She should have given him a bike. Mind you, I do like that her idea of an old car is one with the reg at the end - given that her new car is a J reg, so must be getting on for 20 years old. But now he's gone off to uni and taken K9 with him, some stuff in the (third) episode I saw last night makes more sense now.

But I loved the old Sarah in a scooter and knitting and how all their nightmares fit them so well. And the Nightmare Man was a bit scary. Mr Smith was great, as per usual. Specially with him asking for a USB lead - they're just so universal!

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I learnt some interesting things I didn't know, like America gave us aid during the war, on the basis that we'd pay them back later. And the minute the war was over they stopped and we have to convince them that actually everything hadn't immediately gone back to normal and we still needed it. I knew children were evacuated right at the start in 1939, then when no bombs were dropped on London, some of them went back. But then they ended up getting evacuated again, and they went in schools - they had to turn up at school to be evacuated. Some people who were sent to the South Coast then had to be moved again because that wasn't safe. Some children were sent abroad to America and Canada and Australia, and some had their ships hit and sunk and they all died. Some of them were treated as skivvies and the families that took them in did it just for the money. If all that wasn't bad enough, the children that arrived on the Kindertransport were stuck on the Isle of Man as enemy aliens! But I was amused by the photo of children crowding into a sweet shop when sweet rationing ended in 1953.

I took some photos in the museum.

After that I walked up to Waterloo via the river the opposite side of the Houses of Parliament. Which was a pretty, if long way round. I met my best friend and her boyfriend and his friend, where we had undercooked chips in the pub in the station. They promised on the menu to serve them within 13 minutes of ordering - it took them more like 3. Handily, the boyfriend knew where I was going because my plan was to go to Festival Hall, as I knew where that was, and wonder around until I found the BFI.

Once there I met cosmic_llin, carawj, silly_cleo, Karen, Alistair and Jenny. I think. The BFI turns out to have horrid seats. I thought the spaces between your legs and the seat in front was wide, it turned out that's because the backs of the seats go back when you lean on them. So then your neck is really unsupported and it's just so uncomfortable. I had a headache by the end.

They started by showing us the end of The Green Death and the end of Hand of Fear. It was great to see them with an audience because everyone laughed at Mike Yates saying "That's marvellous" in a voice that suggested it wasn't at Jo getting married, and the Brig telling Mike to have a drink. And Cliff stopping off in Cardiff. And the Doctor promising Sarah he's landed in South Croydon. They did a short quiz, then we had the main event.

I enjoyed the episode, although with SJA at the moment I'm never sure about the first five minutes and then I like it. Some of it didn't make sense because I hadn't seen The Nightmare Man and was avoiding spoilers. I couldn't help laughing as soon as Mr Smith spoke because I was remembering all the videos I'd watched with Alexander Armstrong in the morning. And the minute Rani's Dad popped up all I could think was that he tortured Harry (because Spooks is on at the moment).

I'll say more about the episode once it's been on, but I really enjoyed it. I would say I liked it more than the other SJA episode the Doctor's been in, but since I think that might be the worst episode SJA has had, that wouldn't be saying much. I loved the Doctor in it and I loved Jo in it and there's a great bit at the end which did get a round of applause, but I'm not going to say why because it would spoil the surprise.

Afterwards they had a panel (of which I have blurry/dark photos depending on whether I had the flash on or off). There were a lot of general questions and Lis Sladen was asked to repeat the story of how she came to be back on Doctor Who. Katy Manning told the story of how she came to be on SJA, which mostly consisted of people ringing her/her ringing her agent and no one telling her anything, except that she couldn't tell anyone! Katy Manning turns out to be as mad in real life as I've heard. She turns everything into innuendo, including something as innocent as a roving mike (for the audience to ask questions).

The panel agreed the Trickster was scary because he had no eyes. Most of the panel grew up with Jon Pertwee/Tom Baker being the Doctor they saw as children, except Joe Lidster, for whom it was Sylvester McCoy. Katy Manning said she watched Doctor Who before she was in it and she's been watching the new series. But not SJA because it's not been on in Australia. She also said she knew the cartoon K9 series would fail when they rang her up and asked her to do the K9 voice for them because they didn't know what he was supposed to sound like...

Given that they had the Brig on last series, and now they've had Jo Gary Russell said they had no plans to bring back any more old companions, but they hadn't ruled it out. They filmed the first half of series 5 at the same time as series 4, so they just have to go back and film the second half. And hopefully a series 6 too. Lis Sladen, for some inexplicable reason, wants to do an episode set on a health farm.

That's all I can remember. It didn't finish till 10.15, so I was struggling a bit by then with the amount I'd done that had made me dizzy and headachy. So I thought when I got to bed at 12.30 (having got the second to last train) that I'd sleep late last night. Bearing in mind my alarm goes off at 7.45am, I woke up at 7am this morning. Today I have the day off as I'm going back to London to see Chris Addison and doubtless have the same bedtime. Just tomorrow I'll be back at work and expected to have more of a brain than I currently have...

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I almost don't quite know what to do with my morning, but I have been distracted watching Armstrong and Miller videos on their website (and then discovered they have a whole load more on their youtube page). But I am not going to see them until November.

But I have finished the first draft of my ficathon walks into a bar story, which has Elrond and Maria from SJA meeting. Although not in a bar. After effectively taking September off writing it was so hard to get started - I spent the whole of the weekend procrastinating about it. But I feel much better now I have a first draft, even if it is awful and without any actual emotion. I have a few weeks to get it finished in.

I lay in bed this morning, refusing to get up before 9am after I slept for a whole 15 minutes later than I would have done if I'd been going work. I was trying to decide what to do in London. I remembered my sister told me there are lots of second hand bookshops in Tottenham Court Road, but the trouble with those is they involve spending money, carrying round books and standing with my head on one side looking at bookshelves makes me dizzy. So instead I googled London museums and upon seeing the list it came up with I immediately remembered one I wanted to go to: the Imperial War Museum.

I was working through London museums, but it got put on hold a bit while I've been ill. At least they're free, so it doesn't matter if I don't finish any of them in one go. I originally had no interest at all in this one until I went to the War Museum in Ottawa as I had a day left and had run out of other places to go. And I unexpectedly enjoyed it. I didn't know much about wars between Europeans and the natives and hearing about WWII from the Canadian perspective was so different to what you hear here. The Imperial War Museum is just down from Westminster, which is near where the BFI is and I have two hours between the museum closing and the screening starting. Even I can't get that lost that it'll take me that long to get between the two. And the BFI is next to the place where I saw ISIHAC back in the summer. Tomorrow I have to find the Bloomsbury theatre to see Chris Addison, which will be a whole new adventure as I've never been to that area at all...

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I meant to post a few times this week and then it just didn't happen... Mostly because I've been spending my time working my way through the Commonwealth swimming. I tape what's on BBC1/2 during the day, then watch it in the evening. So then I can fast forward through everything that isn't an actual race, which is a vast improvement. Although sometimes I miss bits and only discover which stroke they're doing and how far they're going once they've started the race. It just makes it more exciting!

I got very excited this morning when I went up the road to Sainsburys and discovered the old Woolworths is turning into a Currys/PC World. Playing with an iPad is only ten minutes walk away!

This week I'm off to London to see the third Sarah Jane Adventures episode (ie the one with Jo Grant in). And then back again the next evening to see Chris Addison, which I'm really looking forward to. I will definitely write up the SJA thing, and depending on whether I can make it spoiler free or not, I'll either post it next week or in a couple of weeks time.

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I am enjoying The Bill at the moment, despite its lack of theme tune and pullover, and I am getting used to the incidental music. I can even name some of the new characters. Not that I can necessarily recognise them first off, mind you, even though they have their names on their uniforms these days...

I stopped watching in June 2005, I discovered from looking through my blog. And started again in October 2009. Thanks to the magic of YouTube I've been watching some old stuff and I can honestly that what I've missed has been utter rubbish, for the most part. And it's obvious from the synopses too, which consist of a lot of sentences about the character's personal lives back then. These days it's a couple of sentences about the crime, which is what I'm watching for. I don't mind them having personal lives, as long as it's a background to the crime and isn't the main focus.

Now I might go and put on an early half hour episode from the Volume Two DVD I got for Christmas and see who I recognise...

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There were some good bits: Mr Smith and K9, treating K9 like a dog, Rani and Clyde dealing with the CGI alien. Actually, that was it really.

I disliked the Doctor being in it a lot. I mean, I liked him in it, I liked his reactions, I liked their reactions to him, I liked the explanation of what's going on with Sarah's name, I liked that it's Sarah who saves the day, which is right because it's her show. The trouble was that the Doctor felt superfluous. He didn't actually do anything. You could argue that he gave her a clue as to what to do, but the trouble is she points out that appearing to people who nearly die is what the Trickster does, yet there's been no evidence of that until now.

I hated all the lovey-dovey stuff. To the extent that I fast forwarded through it, otherwise I'd have needed a sick bucket. The trouble with romance is that I have to be introduced to it gradually, so it would have only worked if we'd seen it over a perioud of time. I know the story is set over a couple of months, but between me starting watching and finishing wasn't much more than an hour. It probably doesn't help that Nigel Havers just comes across as being a bit shady anyway.

I was amused that they went to an Italian restaurant. I did like the bit where Sarah was curious about what they'd been saying in her absence. The trouble with that bit is that it's supposed to show how well Nigel Havers knows her by that point, but no one wouldn't be curious after you say "We were just talking about... never mind" because it's clearly something they don't want you to find out about.

I was disappointed by the episode as a whole, but I was also disappointed that they cut out the Harry reference. I hope it'll be on the DVD, but given the lack of interesting extras on them so far, I'm not holding my breath.

I really enjoyed the first two episodes of this series and it looked like it was going to be better than series 2 (which I didn't like much overall), and then this was the worst episode yet. Hopefully it'll pick up again next week.

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There are going to be spoilers here for Prisoner of the Judoon, The Mad Woman in the Attic, The White Wolf and The Shadow People in that order.

Prisoner of the Judoon
I struggled a bit watching this because I'd woken up far earlier than I would have liked for a Saturday morning. But it wasn't SJA's fault. Probably. I found it quite forgettable really.

I loved the Judoon and their strict adherence to the law and the Judoon pulling so hard on the handbrake he pulled it out completely. I just liked that they weren't the bad guys. I mean, they weren't necessarily being terribly helpful, but they were on the good guys side really.

The Chandras were great. They don't know that anyone else knows about the existence of aliens, but I wonder how this will change things in the future. Hopefully the answer won't be 'not at all'.

I was quite bored of Androvax in Sarah. Possession is all a bit obvious and I just found it less convincing as the episode went on.

Overall it was alright, but nothing special.

The Mad Woman in the Attic
I really enjoyed this one. Especially Mr Smith's "Oh, good" at K9's reappearance. It suddenly made me want to see scenes with just the two of them - they definitely look like they're going to have an interesting relationship.

I liked how it was Rani's episode (and how her email makes exactly the same sound as Dad's does) and that what looked like the bad guy wasn't bad at all. Clyde and Sarah were really funny together.

I would have quite liked Harry, except for him being called Harry. Well, that's not the reason precisely - it's a common enough name (especially nowadays) - it's the way Sarah called his name that made me wish for Harry.

Although I liked the eventual solution to Rani being alone in the attic, it does raise the question of why she was there. I mean, she wasn't alone, she only wished for Sarah, Luke and Clyde to leave her alone, not her parents. I'm sure they could have explained that easily, but it bugs me that they didn't. I did like how her wish had power, though - I had a feeling that would be a bad thing for her to say.

The White Wolf
I was predisposed to like this before I listened since it's set in Dorset. OK, so it's just audio but they talked about things like the Cerne Abbas giant, which I know all about.

I liked the references to Aunt Lavinia and Sarah's childhood and I liked the solution too.

The Shadow People
I don't like this one as much as the other audio - I just found it a bit weird and the ordinary stuff a bit unlikely. I mean, the bus breaks down so they just pitch their tents just like that? Sarah manages to magic her tent despite having not packed it.

I liked the reference to the audios. If Romania happened then therefore all the rest happened too. Which presumably means Harry's still missing, but would it kill them to mention him?

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Now, I don't know if I ever knew the story of Peter Pan because I feel like I knew bits and not other bits. But now I understand why people say Wendy had a crap deal - who in their right mind would want to be mother to a load of Lost Boys when still a child herself? That's the sort of thing children don't really notice, but given they can get the credit crunch into the panto you'd think they'd update that bit too.

There were some other famous people in it, but I'd never heard of them.

In general, it wasn't a great panto. I think the local amateur one is better. Peter Pan was played by a man, not a girl, which I'm sure isn't right. There was a scene with Ice the Dog and some girl doing tricks, although I don't think anyone had told the dog that. Lis's mermaid scene mostly involved her waving her arms around and looking like a bit of a prat, frankly. Her last scene as Mrs Darling mostly seemed to involve making sure the kids were in the right place. But she was great, obviously.

But the highlight of the whole thing was the pantomime Dame and the comedy bloke and two pirates doing an alternative 12 days of Christmas, which mostly involved them throwing each other's props around. They had to hold their props up when they sang the words, for every fourth present for each of them. Buy the end they were scrambling round the stage and having to get the audience to throw them back to them!

The second funniest bit was when they had some kids on stage and the comedy bloke couldn't understand that one of the girls was called Ferrari!

But it didn't really matter what the panto was like because I still had fun with ladyvivien, cosmic_llin, Sasha, revolutionaren, carawj, sarah_janesmith, thesjaadventures, sneakyangel and her friend.

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They didn't mention Harry! Two series they've had and the only mention of his existence has been his photo and his name and those don't count because they included a whole load of other people too. There have been so many occasions they could have fitted it in - like when Sarah talked about old friends when Maria left, for example. And the Brig couldn't have mentioned him at all? I suppose the only comfort is that the Doctor didn't get a mention in this episode. And they haven't killed Harry off, I suppose, but frankly at this point I'll go for that and then just completely ignore that they ever said it.

OK, so that rant over with, onto the rest of the episode. I did think they overdid the sickly sweet a bit in this one. OK, so it was all a front and did they keep it up just long enough that you couldn't be sure, but I don't want to spend the whole of SJA feeling the need for a bucket, thank you very much.

But Mrs Wormwood had all the best lines! 'The battle of the costume jewellery counter.' That Wormwood and [insert Sontaran's name here] would sound like a solicitor's. I laughed about that first one for so long I missed the rest of her speech. Samantha Bond is great (although she's looking quite old these days), but I did laugh at how she had on high heels and a really tight skirt. NO wonder she got the Sontaran to do her work for her.

The Brig was amazing, of course he was. I wasn't sure at first because he didn't do that much, but he did shoot the Bane (who was clearly a Bane by that point) and he was quite cool at getting Sarah and Rani into the Black Archive. But seriously, UNIT need to do something about their naming and their storage. And about them just generally, I think. I'm having trouble working out the difference between them and Torchwood these days. Did RTD just create Torchwood because he didn't think he could use UNIT and wanted to or something?

I quite enjoyed this one, but on balance I think last series was better.

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There are spoilers in here for last week's SJA.

Overall I liked it, but I hated the first half. I was so glad that I only watch it every other week so I can see a whole episode at a time because I might never have watched the second half after that. Well, ok, so this is SJA and of course I would have, but I'd probably have not bothered with it till after Spooks.

I can understand her being all emo about her parents etc, but I think they just overdid it. So it didn't help that they just jossed the official bio that says that Sarah was five when her parents died (although the site has died, I had to go and find it off the Wayback Machine) and wasn't even thought of in 1951 (neither was she a Taurus, incidentally, she was born too late in May for that).

I did like that Sarah and Luke teamed up because there needs to be more of them together. I liked the explanation of how come everything's still so similar even in an alternate timeline. And I liked that Sarah's parents dying wasn't a big major turning point for the world, but rather just a way for the Trickster to do whatever he wanted.

But is it me, or is there now a portal through to 1951 that Sarah can open whenever she gets the watch out?

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Look who I met yesterday! Well, first I met cosmic_llin, revolutionaren, carawj in a coffee shop and ladyvivien in the queue. Given that I got there at 11am and wasn't on my own till 5.30pm there was a lot of chatting going on. And a lot of queueing. We joined the queue a bit before 1pm, since the signing was scheduled to start at 1.30pm. It was 3.45pm by the time we got through. it was supposed to finish at 4pm, but judging by the size of the queue behind us, I don't think it did somehow.

Borders is, of course, the world's hottest bookshop. So now my left arm actually hurts from carrying my coat over it for most of the queue. cosmic_llin gave out badges, some people gave out a sample chapter of a book and the official BBC people gave out some wristbands. Which it turns out I'm allergic to.

Daniel Anthony (who plays Clyde), Lis Sladen (who plays Sarah) and Tommy Knight (who plays Luke) were all really nice. The two boys were taking the post-it notes off the stuff to be signed and having a competition over who had the most.

Afterwards he went back to the world's hottest coffee shop. After all that I was quite happily walking around with no coat or jumper on, I was so hot. But it was a good day. It was mostly just good to discuss all manner of things with people who knew what you were talking about.

Edit: I'm quite impressed I can post this from flickr to my blog, which then gets crossposted to my LJ and it can still cope with the lj user code, which is converted using a plugin in WP!

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