DOCTOR WHO: BEFORE The FLOOD - DROWNING IN ITS OWN P*SS!

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So, last night's DOCTOR WHO, how was it?  Tedious, uninspired sh*te is the unvarnished honest answer.  The Doc breaking the fourth wall and addressing the viewers, playing his guitar again, lots of racing around corridors, much incomprehensible babbling - the programme is suffering from trying far too hard to be wild, zany, witty and thought-provoking.  Unfortunately, STEVEN MOFFAT's idea of thought-provoking is deliberate vagueness rather than clear and proper storytelling, in the hope that viewers will ascribe anything they don't quite comprehend to profundity, not poor narrative and lack of story structure.

Do you recall the 1960 film, The TIME MACHINE, and the '67 STAR TREK episode, CITY On The EDGE Of FOREVER?  That's how stories involving time travel should be done, not the banal, pretentious, repetitive, wearisome claptrap that Doctor Who has regularly offered up since Moffat took over from RUSSELL T. DAVIES.  It all seems to be a 'jolly wheeze', with The Doc ever-ready with a comic one-liner - even in what are supposed to be moments of drama and deadly danger.  Last night's story failed to involve or intrigue me, and  I must have nodded off at least three times.

Well, I'm fed up up with it.  I want something that can deliver on its promise of cosmos-threatening peril and space-spanning adventure.  I'm off to dig out my CLANGERS DVD.  At least those little woolly astro-creatures know how to take things seriously.  Wait till I put the disc into the player - oh s*d it, the bloody thing's stuck again!  (Let's try BAGPUSS!)

Agree or disagree with your genial host's views?  Then share your opinion of The Doc in our comments section.

KLASSIC KOMIC KOVERS - LOOK-IN #1...

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It was subtitled "The Junior TV TIMES" and contained articles, competitions, comic strips, posters, interviews and crosswords - as well as TV listings for programmes appearing on the ITV regions.  LOOK-IN lasted for just over 23 years and was helmed by former TV CENTURY 21 editor ALAN FENNELL for the first four years of its existence.  TV21 art editor COLIN SHELBOURN took over when Fennell departed.

The mag sported some great covers throughout the '70s, painted by London-based ARNALDO PUTZU, an Italian artist who had been responsible for many cinema posters in the '60s, including designing ones for the 'CARRY ON' movies, two of the MORECAMBE & WISE films, and also some from the HAMMER stable.  He died in 2012, but all those who bought Look-In back in the day will never forget the spectacular covers he produced for one of Britain's finest-ever magazines.

The final issue was published in 1994, after a 1981 revamp and a later change of publisher (and direction) failed to reverse a dwindling readership lured away by glossier publications aimed at teens.  Look-In had fallen out of favour, alas, and the mag had had its day.  Hard to believe it's now been gone for almost as long as it was around.