NOW HERE'S SOMETHING WITH A BIT OF 'DEPTH' TO IT... (NO CHARGE)

Here's an original 1966 ACTION MAN by PALITOY, in an original DEEP SEA DIVING SUIT also from the '60s.  The suit's rubber lining has long since deteriorated into crispy particles, as witnessed by the fact that when I posed him for this photo, it sounded like someone walking on gravel.  The 'plate' on the chest-piece originally bore the G.I. JOE logo, but it was blanked out on the British version.

If I remember correctly, my brother got the suit for his TOMMY GUNN figure by PEDIGREE, and I recall him filling up the deep ceramic washing sink in my grandparents' kitchen one Sunday and putting him through his paces.  Of course, this isn't the suit my brother had, but a replacement I acquired a good few years back.  It goes without saying that I've had it for far longer than my brother had the original one.

That sink has been gone many years, as have both my grandparents, but the memories remain as fresh and distinct as yesterday.

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Interestingly, back around 1986, an old classmate moved into the top floor flat of the three-storey block my grandparents had lived in from 1964 to around 1979 or '80 (theirs was the ground floor flat).  I used to visit him on occasion, and so vivid were the memories that it really was like stepping back in time.  Ah, the good ol' days.

ASYLUM Of The DALEKS - An INSANE IDEA?

ASYLUM OF THE DALEKS, last night's episode of DOCTOR WHO, was based on a ridiculous premise from the start.  Daleks are supposed to have no emotions other than hate, so how then can they be driven insane when they don't have the prerequisite sensibilities to begin with?  Daleks are insane from the get go - driven by a compulsive, obsessional lust to destroy everything in their path and subjugate whatever survives.  Hardly the definition of sanity in anyone's book.

I don't know what it is about STEVEN MOFFAT.  Under RUSSELL T. DAVIS, he wrote some of the better episodes of the earlier series, but now that he's in charge and without someone to rein him in, he seems to be indulging himself to the point of turning in lacklustre scripts that still need a fair bit of polishing.  Doctor Who Confidential was cancelled, presumably as a result of dwindling interest in the series, so now would really be a good time to pull out all the stops and give us something that'll have us on the edge of our seats (or behind our sofas).

Instead, what we get is yet another retread of the Doctor running through corridors being pursued by something nasty, with doors closing behind him and other doors opening up in front of him, almost ad infinitum.  Or at least, that's what it seemed like, because - sad to say - we've seen it all before.  Like, in almost every other episode of the last series - and the one before that, and the one before that, etc.

Which is not to say that there was nothing entertaining about last night's episode, because there was.  However, the programme still needs to pull its socks up if it's going to hang onto its audience, and the only way to do that is to give us something different.  Personally, I'd like to see the Doctor materialize in Victorian London and get involved in a good old- fashioned murder mystery - like finding out who JACK The RIPPER was and revealing the secret behind why he was never identified and seemed to vanish off the face of the Earth forever.

Dare I say it?  A Who-done-it, so to speak.  Pun completely intended.