RUSSELL TOVEY’S SHORT FILM
"DROP"
DIRECTED BY
GAVIN TOOMEY
IS NOW IN HD
JoolzeTheGeek: @russelltovey Hello Russell, any chance of a birthday tweet? I am feeling very old...! Ta x
russelltovey: @JoolzeTheGeek happy B Day Oldie x
Above: Russell Tovey from Being Human season three.
Below: Russell Tovey in a deleted scene from Being Human season three.
Being Human figures: George (Russell Tovey) &
Nina (Sinead Keenan)
(from Rad Arangorin)
RadArangorin: @russelltovey Hope this gets your day off to a good start! My 12" Being Human figures
A small video of Russell Tovey & Sinead Keenan at the Memorabilia weekend Birmingham 26-3-2011.
Press play:
russelltovey: Looooong day finished by a very very hard session at the gym... Gonna sleep well tonight me lovers x
ColemanRJD: @russelltovey i feel your pain!
Jonathan_M_Bell: @russelltovey is there a missing "with" in there, which would make it even more awesome?
Marvo_Arni: @russelltovey Good on you, young buck. Btw, that Dialing Tone video was very cute & catchy. Turning friends onto it here in the states.
MummyMillts: @russelltovey I must be tired, totally misread that!!
Tom_in_Oz_: @russelltovey so that was “a long hard session with Jim your lover”....did I read that right ???????
imjustanerd: *giggles* @russelltovey just called me his lover.
Tom_In_Oz_: @imjustanerd @russelltovey stand in line Jami!!! A line of 40,000 by now...
imjustanerd: @Tom_In_Oz_ stop trying to burst my bubble, Tom! @russelltovey
gugibufugi: @russelltovey You deserve it! & may I be so bold as 2 include myself in ur "lovers" group? Cuz that would pretty much be the best thing ever
Are we still speaking?
Tom_In_Oz_: @MatthewCainC4 @will_young31 well it's nice to know someone is still speaking to you after the Dr Who rant. That is all!
(The rant is included at the bottom of the blog chapter)
Tom_In_Oz_: @MatthewCainC4 Matt BTW in @boydhilton's reply on ur blog there is no point #8 did u censor it, or did Boyd just skip past it by accident??
WhoGuru: @Tom_In_Oz_ @MatthewCainC4 @boydhilton #8 slipped out the TARDIS door and got lost in the time vortex. :P
WhoGuru: @WhoGuru @Tom_In_Oz_ @MatthewCainC4 @boydhilton or was kidnapped by Stormtroopers. *shrug* :P
Tom_In_Oz_: @WhoGuru @MatthewCainC4 @boydhilton well it proves that nobody read it on Matt's blog but I've had inquiries about it on the Tovey blog. lol
Tom_In_Oz_: @boydhilton @WhoGuru @matthewcainc4 so lost in the vortex...just one of those cyber thingies...x
Sam_Foxton: @russelltovey its my birthday :D Can i get a tweet? Best bday present ever if you do xxx
russelltovey: @Sam_Foxton happy Sam day Sam x
I PROTEST
russekktovey: RT @iancorcoran: A kiss-in is being organised at Jon Snow pub in Soho where yesterday a gay couple were thrown out for kissing. April 20, 5pm, #kissin
Tom_in_Oz_: RT @Stef_Han: Right, I'm off to eject a gay couple from my bar for 'heavy petting'. Dirty gays.... Oh wait. I'm not the manager of the John Snow pub
He's in New Zealand and acting in his first feature length movie The Hobbit.
TVChoice: Just back from Twickenham visiting set for Russell Tovey's Him & Her. Big reveal - he can now fart on command!
INSPIRATION
PeteLordAardman: Here I am, back in rehearsal, wearing the manky old tricorn hat. In the zone.
Tom_In_Oz_: @PeteLordAardman My g grandfather worked on HMS Warrior at Plymouth & HMS Trincomalee at Hartlepool...if ya need inspiration go for a visit
PompeyDockyard: Fantastic! RT @tom_in_oz_ @PeteLordAardman My g grandfather worked on HMS Warrior & HMS Trincomalee ...if ya need inspiration go for a visit
HMSTrincomalee: @Tom_In_Oz_ @PeteLordAardman HI Tom, thanks for thinking of us here in Hartlepool. Ship's in good shape, you'll be pleased to know!
Tom_In_Oz_: @HMSTrincomalee Is Bryn still working in the office there? Met him in 2006-7
HMSTrincomalee: @Tom_In_Oz_ Hi Tom, Bryn retired last October - after 12.5 years here. He'd earned his retirement
PeteLordAardman: Ah, that's more like it. A lovely shot of our Pirate Ship sailing into harbour. Well - - - into green-screen anyway.
Tom_In_Oz_: @PeteLordAardman reading your tweets without accompanying pics is like trying to decipher Braille with sandpapered fingers...x
PeteLordAardman: @Tom_In_Oz_ Fair point. My day is full of very weird events loosely linked by piracy!
The art of Lindsay Peebles
Tom_In_Oz_: @ThePeebs @russelltovey hope it is OK to blog your pic at Russell Tovey Blogspot?
ThePeebs: @Tom_In_Oz_ Aye sure mate. It's fine with me.
russelltovey: @ThePeebs woooooooowwwww!!!! :-) x
Sheep views
russelltovey: Look at this... Discuss... By an artist called David Brian Smith x
kylelehane: @russelltovey baaa
Tom_In_Oz_: @kylelehane @russelltovey Good one and it's nice to see you talking on Twitter. No need to be sheepish next time!
SassyJP10: @russelltovey Woah I love it! Does it have a name?
russelltovey: @SassyJP10 "My soul hath them in remembrance and is humbled in me" beautiful right? X
johncconnell1: @russelltovey the farmer only has one of his sheep left (white), yet still feels the presence of all the others, who have sadly passed... X
russelltovey: @johncconnell1 nice... X
a_silver_story: @russelltovey Excellent use of colour and perspective, wonderful interpretation of movement and sense of composition. That what you're after?
russelltovey: @MatthewCainC4 good choices my twin x
Departure eminent
mrchrissullivan: Nearly done - one more day of rehearsals and cos we rock - we have been given 2 days off!! Then on Sunday embark the ship!! Bring it!!
Tom_In_Oz_: @mrchrissullivan don't forget to send me some blog snaps of show...the punters like to see boys dancing and singing! Speedos is a bonus!
mrchrissullivan: The singers with our vocal coach Phil
mrchrissullivan: My next ship!
Tom_In_Oz_: @mrchrissullivan when you go past Newcastle we'll walk out front and wave from the balcony...xx Best of British and "Break your sea-legs"
russelltovey: RT @ElijahGesinski : @russelltovey can you RT, I'm trying to raise $100,000 for Red Cross Japan Fund with this song.
MatthewCainC4: Here's my long-threated blog post on why I just don't get Doctor Who. Feel free to add comments by clicking link at bottom...
Tom_In_Oz_: @MatthewCainC4 smack your bottom more like it xxx
Wednesday 13 April 20119:39 am
Matthew Cain
Culture Reporter C4 News UK
Later this month Doctor Who returns to our screens. Geeky viewers and nerdy critics all over the country are already salivating at the prospect. But I for one won’t be tuning in. Because I just don’t get it. I really don’t get it. And believe me, I’ve tried – many times.
My main issue with the show is that the graphics and special effects are flimsy, cheap and embarrassing. As a child obsessed with Star Wars, I never understood how anyone could take Doctor Who seriously. I certainly couldn’t switch from watching The Empire Strikes Back or The Return of the Jedi on VHS to watching Doctor Who on the same small screen. I just couldn’t suspend my disbelief when the world portrayed looked shoddy and unbelievable.
But this isn’t my only issue… For me, the Doctor as a character is irritating and his supposed eccentricities nothing short of infuriating. The whole premise of him being some kind of time lord who can jump from one period of history to another is ludicrous, unoriginal and not explored in any interesting way whatsoever. And baddies like the Daleks and Cybermen are laughable rather than frightening.
The first rule of fantasy or science fiction is that the imagined world can be as different to ours as possible but it has to make sense in itself. Unfortunately though, for me Doctor Who has never made any sense. For years I was too nervous and lacking in confidence to express this view but now I don’t care. I might not be the most intelligent person ever to have watched it but when I do I just can’t tell what’s going on. It’s utterly nonsensical.
And on top of all this, I’m completely unmoved by the drama. Compared to something like Battlestar Galactica or BBC3’s excellent Being Human, which is centred around the equally implausible situation of a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost sharing a flat, the drama at the centre of Doctor Who is cold and utterly lacking in human emotion. In Being Human, the strength of the storylines, scripts, characterisation and acting means that even a sci-fi and fantasy phobe like me can forget about the ludicrousness of the proposition and fully engage in the human (for want of a better word) drama at the heart of the show. Not so with Doctor Who – despite repeated attempts. I just don’t care about any of the characters, the relationships between them or their emotional journeys. I’m left totally unmoved.
Over the last few days I’ve been voicing my feelings about the show in person and on twitter. And yes, while I’ve been rebuked by more than a few obsessive fans, I’ve also been told by far more people that they’re happy and relieved that someone feels the same way as they do and isn’t afraid to say it. One of my followers on twitter expressed their hatred of the show’s mediocrity, another derided its ‘atrocious acting’ and ‘abysmal writing’, while yet another tweeted that it’s ‘smug, utterly derivative and sterile’. My favourite reaction was from one follower who criticised its ‘overly clever postmodernist take’. It seems that so many people have been suffering in silence, torturing themselves for not enjoying what a characteristically self-congratulatory BBC constantly tells us is a major landmark in popular culture.
But let’s be honest – it’s not. It’s rubbish and just plain embarrassing. And I refuse to accept that it’s had any major cultural impact in Britain. It has a niche appeal that doesn’t transcend the genre of science fiction. The Star Wars trilogy, like all real cultural landmarks, had (and continues to have) an impact that easily outstrips the boundaries of sci-fi. Doctor Who just doesn’t. I mean, can you spot its ongoing cultural influence? I certainly can’t.
So I won’t be watching the new series of Doctor Who when it starts airing on April 23rd. In previous years I’ve given it second, third, fourth and even fifth chances to win me over. But now that Series Six is approaching I’ve finally given up. And I feel utterly empowered to make that admission.
Follow Matthew Cain on Twitter @matthewcainC4
My reply to Matt:
Take 5 seconds to think about how the show started roughly at the same time the Beatles made their first recordings...and go back and see the original Dr Who movies starring Peter Cushing.
Totally!
Follow Tom in Oz on Twitter @Tom_in_Oz_
If you would like to reply to Matt's blog piece click here
boydhilton: @MatthewCainC4 I've responded to your blog but it "awaits moderation". Zzzzzzz....
Tom_In_Oz_: @boydhilton @MatthewCainC4 I hope you slapped Matt around the head with a frozen salmon...How very dare he!!!
A reply from a Tovey Blog follower to Matt:
Not the first time I’ve heard such active dislike and I’m sure it wont be the last. I would ask though that you attempt to not obliquely insult those of us who do “get it” next time you rant. LOL That you don’t understand how we can enjoy it does not make us wrong. Just different.
Doctor Who has always been aimed at children. I began watching when I was six. My first episode was Tom Bakers first episode and I have been hooked ever since. Some thirty+ years later and I still love it.
For me, as for many Whovians, it’s never been about the special effects. We started watching in the sixties and the seventies when special effects for a TV show really was a guy in a rubber suit. Star Wars had a Hollywood budget. There is no comparison. Better to compare it with Blake’s 7. LOL That would at least be a fair comparison, though Blake’s was aimed at adults, not children, hence the much darker and more serious stories.
As I’ve said in my blog: http://blueboxangel.tesalliance.org/?p=5
Heat magazine’s Reviews Editor Boyd Hilton responds to Matt Cain
OK Matt you wanted a response
1. It’s odd you’re so exercised by a show you just “don’t get”. It would be like me writing a blog about heavy metal. I don’t get it. But I don’t resent it. Why should I?
2. Your “main” issue is with the graphics and effects. Odd. Shouldn’t your main focus on a piece of scripted drama be the characters, the stories, the dialogue, the acting? Plays For Today from the 70s looked s**t compared to Chinatown. You’re basically saying big budget Hollywood films exist so why should little old TV shows even bother. And anyway, the effects and graphics these days are actually very good.
3. The premise is ludicrous. Umm, well it’s not social realism. As you say later, the premise of most sci-fi is far-fetched. Part of the deal. But it’s all about the execution, isn’t it? And achieving the willing suspension of disbelief within some pretty outlandish stories and ideas.
4. Not sure about your first rule of sci fi. Who says? Barely making sense is part of the fun. And anyway, once you understand/accept the Doctor can travel through time and space, everything that follows does usually make some sense. But you don’t seem willing to take that basic concept on board.
5. You don’t care about the characters, it’s cold etc.. Well here I think you’ve created a version of the show in your mind. In fact the Doctor’s relationships with his companions have often been wonderfully warm depictions of friendship, unrequited love etc. It’s always been a show that moves its viewers. And the Doctor is a loveable eccentric outsider. Like you.
6. “rubbish, embarrassing”. Where are your specific examples? Show me a criticism of a specific story or sub-plot or something. Your blog is a wild set of unfounded and dated generalisations. It’s like me saying I think Kylie Minogue is rubbish, embarrassing. There – I’ve dared say it! Aren’t I brave, bold and, basically, correct? (Actually I don’t think she is, but you get my drift.)
7. No cultural impact and a niche proposition – this is just factually wrong. The show is one of the longest running scripted shows in TV history, has had consistently huge ratings while recently influencing ITV to come up with a series of inferior Saturday night family fantasy shows since it returned in 2005, and has created such icons as Daleks, the amazing theme tune, the sonic screwdriver, the Tardis and so on. If any TV show can be said to have had a huge cultural impact then it’s surely Doctor Who. If not, then I don’t know how you measure it. If Doctor Who is niche, then so is Coronation St.
9. Never forget it IS a children’s show. Like Harry Potter it also has huge resonance for adults because it is so richly imaginative, emotionally powerful and scary. It’s always at its best when it’s scary. But comparing it to Being Human is pointless.
10. An embarrassment? Come on, Matt. Why? To whom? That’s just mean-spirited snobbery.
Finally, Star Wars saga has ONE great film (Empire). Doctor Who is much greater achievement.
@BoydHilton
WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?
channel4news: Dr Who: whose side are you on? Heat mag's @boydhilton (http://bit.ly/dEg7Sm) or our Culture Editor @matthewcainc4? (http://bit.ly/fY6J4o)
teessidedazza: @channel4news @boydhilton @matthewcainc4 well I knew I had to dislike someone at C4 News. Matty lost it by saying he preferred Jedi to TESB
MatthewCainC4: @boydhilton @teessidedazza @channel4news Jedi rocks! That film changed my life! Dr Who isn't worthy of being mentioned in the same tweet!
Tom_In_Oz_: @MatthewCainC4 @boydhilton @teessidedazza @channel4news Matt you are off the Xmas card list you Smith-Style-Clone-Smurf xxx
boydhilton: @MatthewCainC4 @teessidedazza @channel4news was it cos of the Ewoks?
And the battle rages on...
Reply from Matthew Cain to Boyd Hilton
Boydy! I love debating this with you. But I suspect neither of us will ever back down. Just to prove that I won’t, here are my replies to your points…
1. It’s true that I don’t get it but I resent the BBC puffing it up to be something of national (and even international) cultural importance, which I refute totally. It’s also the Cliff Richard of TV in that nobody watches it outside Britain. A naff, parochial anomaly which makes me uncharacteristically embarrassed to be British.
2. I do think the graphics are rubbish but I also think the drama is bad. Sure, TV, film and theatre for that matter are very different art forms with their own strengths and limitations. And again, as you say, some date better than others. But I don’t see why we should make allowances for Doctor Who just because it’s on TV. I’ve seen plenty of great TV that’s just as good, and often better, than film. And I know how passionate you are about TV drama!
3. I can buy into ludicrousness if it’s well executed. But I find it impossible to suspend my disbelief if shoddy execution works against my efforts.
4. I admit that the rule I mention is my own , arrived at through personal experience as a viewer. And I promise I’ve tried to take on the basic concept of Doctor Who. And that’s not to say that I haven’t enjoyed other tales of time-travel. Have you seen the French film Les Visiteurs? It’s quite brilliant and, unlike Doctor Who, has a sense of humour!
5. I love an eccentric outsider! Just not this one! And I regularly end up squealing with joy or bursting into tears at TV shows – I’m far from being emotionally unmoveable. I just can’t be moved by this particular TV show, however hard I’ve tried.
6. To do this I’d have to sit through yet another episode. And I just can’t face it. One I do remember clearly is Blink, as you’d told me it was so brilliant. But it left me cold I’m afraid. (And I’m quite partial to a bit of Kylie while we’re on the subject)
7. Show me any examples of Doctor Who’s ongoing cultural influence. Are there any books, TV shows, plays that we could argue exist only because of Doctor Who’s influence? I’m racking my brains but I can’t come up with anything.
You missed out number 8, Boydy! Slipping up there I reckon…
9. I don’t get Harry Potter either and even wrote a blog about this a few months back. Totally over-rated in my opinion.
10. I’m as far from being a cultural snob as it’s possible to be. I went to see your favourite Kylie at the O2 last week. And then listened to Ruth Waterman’s new Bach recording at home last night. I love work from the whole cultural spectrum, from what we consider high art right down to the lowest of the low. On that subject I even bought Britney’s new album last week as it’s great to dance and work out to. I just like my cultural experiences to be good ones, that’s all.
Finally, I LOVED The Return of the Jedi. Possibly even more than The Empire Strikes Back…
Reply from Boyd Hilton to Matthew Cain
OK, I’m not going to go through all these points again, because as you say, neither of us will back down. Suffice to say millions DO watch the show outside Britain, and anyway, who cares if it’s primarily a UK phenomenon? Again, I make the Corrie comparison. As for you being a cultural snob, I know you’re not, but calling DW an “embarrassment” reeks of snobbery. Why shouldn’t the BBC be proud of a consistently huge rating show that brings millions of families together? I still don’t get why anyone should feel it’s an embarrassment. I think it’s just you being deliberately provocative. Fair enough, but it undermines your credibility. Don’t go down the AA Gill route, please Matt. You’re better than that!
But finally I will highlight one very revealing point you’ve just made: that DW doesn’t have a “sense of humour”. I honestly think this exposes the fact you’ve haven’t REALLY paid full attention to the show in any meaningful way. It’s ALWAYS been full of humour, and now so more than ever with brilliant comedy writer Steven Moffat in charge. You might not share the same sense of humour as the show, but to accuse it of not having one betrays only your own prejudices and unwillingness to stand back, watch it, and appreciate it for what it really is and not what you imagine it to be in your mind. As for Jedi – it’s fine. But it’s no Empire.
Reply from Matthew Cain to Boyd Hilton
I’m not going down the AA Gill route, I promise! You know I’ve hated Doctor Who for years! I’m being true to my opinions and not allowing them to be swayed!
And Corrie is so much better than Who, it almost defines what we’re about as Brits. Hugely culturally significant. I was in Canada a few weeks ago and people were raving to me about how much they love it there – and not just ex-pats. Corrie makes me proud to be British.
How about this – recommend me one more episode of Doctor Who and I’ll invite you round to mine and make you dinner while we watch it. If it makes me laugh, you win!
Oh and just to prove I’m not a cultural snob, I even quite liked the last three Star Wars films….
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