The Doctor is In

Color me surprised and very happy. Doctor Who is back with the first miniseries of the season: The Planet of the Dead. I can't wait to watch it. Torchwood is still not up and running and the 21st is the straight to DVD/immediate podcast of the new BSG series, Caprica. Since I'm down to Lost I've focused on work and writing and editing instead of watching DVDs, although I have been watching As Times Goes By and I'm nearly through the entire series. I really enjoyed, and still enjoy, Jean and Lionel's adventures and rows. It's funny that two people so much in love can still have their prickly moments and be endearing and quirky and still be in love.

For those of you that have never seen the show, it's British. It's about two people, Jean Pargeter and Lionel Hardcastle, who meet in later life (both in their fifties). Once upon a time, in the 1950s, Lionel and Jean met and fell in love. Then Lionel was posted to Korea and wrote a letter that Jean never received. Jean was heartbroken when she didn't hear from Lionel but she got on with her life, married, had a daughter and her husband died. She opened a business (temporary office personnel) and 38 years later she and Lionel meet when he hires a secretary from Jean's company. Lionel was dissatisfied with the service and Jean sent her daughter, Judith, to smooth Lionel's ruffled feathers. Lionel, like any red-blooded middle-aged male faced with an attractive woman young enough to be his daughter asks Judy to join him for dinner, picks her up and discovers her mother is his long lost love. Lionel thought that Jean had received his letter but never written back, and the letter features in a much later episode, turning up in the war museum still unopened. It was lost in British military mail systems and preserved as a relic. Good thing fate stepped in to put them back together 38 years later.

At any rate, Lionel and Jean meet at his hotel to discuss what happened and Judy, who seems to have a penchant for older men, has to settle for Lionel's publisher, Alistair Deacon, who is quite the flashy and fast talking (although usually unintelligible to Lionel and Jean) salesman and man of the world. The show is a gem and has something for everyone who enjoys British comedy. Lionel's father, Rocky, is wonderful and Rocky's housekeeper, Mrs. Bale, is priceless. Check it out.

For now, I'm off to shower, breakfast and dive into work after a relaxing weekend of reading review books and editing, which I need to finish today, so enjoy yourselves -- even if you have to force the issue.

That is all. Disperse.