Crash log of the Singularity

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Jane Campbell

11 Comments

  1. ScarvesandCelery
    December 22, 2015 @ 10:03 am

    Happy Christmas to you too. Thanks for an insightful reading of The Feast of Steven
    A couple of things.
    The opening police station scene was, I understand, was originally intended to feature actors from the BBC’s then current other hot show – early evening police procedural
    Z Cars much like today’s Children in Need and Red Nose Day specials mash up popular shows and their stars. The ‘Northern accents’ line then makes sense as a reference to the many London trained British actors adopting, with varying degrees of success, northern accents for the show which was innovatively set in a fictionalized area of Liverpool called Newtown. Unfortunately the cop show’s producers vetoed the plan.

    ‘The Feast of Steven’ is a phrase which would have been familiar to British viewers, particularly children, from the first line of the popular Christmas Carol ‘Good King Wencaslas’ I quote –

    Good king Wenceslas looked out
    On the Feast of Steven
    When the snow lay all about
    Deep and crisp and even

    Reply

  2. Anton B
    December 22, 2015 @ 10:07 am

    That was me Anton B. Sorry Scarves, I seem to have accidently hijacked your identity.
    What is going on with the captcha and comments?
    Also sorry for weird unnecessary italics and dodgy editing.
    Tee hee hee.

    Reply

    • Jane Campbell
      December 22, 2015 @ 2:02 pm

      Oooh, thank you Anton! I knew that about the police show, but not that it was set in the North.

      Also for the Christmas Carol from which the episode’s title derives. So, does this make the Doctor good old Wenceslas? He is Father Christmas, of course. Oh, and that’s carol that the cops in the car are singing at the beginning!

      Reply

    • ScarvesandCelery
      December 22, 2015 @ 3:42 pm

      Not a problem! I was slightly confused as to how I’d managed to comment without knowing about it.
      But for the record, I agree with the sentiment that this is a delightful post

      Reply

  3. Holly
    December 22, 2015 @ 4:45 pm

    There’s another joke in Steven’s Northern accent, which is that Purves’ natural accent is a Blackpool one.

    Reply

  4. StuartP
    December 24, 2015 @ 3:24 am

    Of course, Steven doing a Northern accent of any description falls completely flat because absolutely NO ONE else is doing one – so his comment is ridiculous and this is clearly just a hangover from the idea that this would be a Z Cars/Doctor Who mashup. Plus the whole thing is rubbish on any level!

    Reply

  5. Anton B
    December 24, 2015 @ 9:52 am

    I’ve always suspected the “everybody else is doing it” line to be a snarky sideswipe at the, then contemporary, penchant in the arts for gritty drama from the north of England. Post Beatles, post Liverpool poets Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Room at the Top, Billy Liar, A Taste of Honey, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, (Featuring William Hartnell!) etc. Z cars was merely latching on to a trend. The British stage and screen of the early sixties was awash with Northern accents.

    Reply

  6. Anton B
    December 24, 2015 @ 9:53 am

    I’ve always suspected the “everybody else is doing it” line to be a snarky sideswipe at the, then contemporary, penchant in the arts for gritty drama from the north of England. Post Beatles, post Liverpool poets Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Room at the Top, Billy Liar, A Taste of Honey, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, (Featuring William Hartnell!) etc. Z cars was merely latching on to a trend. The British stage and screen of the early sixties was awash with Northern accents.

    Reply

  7. Anton B
    December 24, 2015 @ 9:56 am

    Aaaaagh! bloody captcha! Sorry for repeating myself.

    Reply

  8. Roderick T. Long
    December 24, 2015 @ 10:53 pm

    Where it says “Crosby pic,” was there supposed to be a Crosby pic?

    Reply

    • Prandeamus
      December 25, 2015 @ 10:50 pm

      Perhaps it’s bing and gone.

      Pause.

      Why yes, I have been reading Christmas cracker jokes today.

      I’ll get me coat.

      Reply

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