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BBC The Living and the Dead

davidplankton said:
I'm up to episode four so far. Does anyone else think that Colin Morgan went 'the full Doctor' on this one and would be an excellent choice after Capaldi throws in the towel?
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Omg yes (and you've not seen the whole series yet... Ssshh) He's been in Doctor Who before but PC had been in the Whoniverse twice before, so that wouldn't stop him.
 
davidplankton said:
I'm up to episode four so far. Does anyone else think that Colin Morgan went 'the full Doctor' on this one and would be an excellent choice after Capaldi throws in the towel?
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If you want a Doctor who takes his top off to reveal a finely sculpted torso every other episode, then why not?
 
We watched the first episode and really enjoyed it. Now torn between waiting for it to come on TV and watching the rest on iPlayer. :)
 
Found this the other week and binge watched it with the other half. Very impressed, really subtle yet spooky. Hope there is a second series!!
 
davidplankton said:
I'm up to episode four so far. Does anyone else think that Colin Morgan went 'the full Doctor' on this one and would be an excellent choice after Capaldi throws in the towel?
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He would be wonderful as the Doctor. Young but with that Old Soul thing that would be perfect for a Timelord.
 
How about Rowan Atkinson as the Doctor?
 
MorningAngel - nothing to do with the Living and the Dead (though I'm still in love with it!), but I wondered if you have ever seen "Jordskott"? Swedish mythological drama and, although a bit mad, very atmospheric and entirely within its own world. I just caught up with it on Sky and binged it hard enough to have started to believe I could understand Swedish.

The other thing I found whilst trawling Sky Box Sets was "Drama Matters: The Last Witch". Written by Sally Wainwright who is, without any doubt, my favourite TV writer (Happy Valley, Scott & Bailey, Last Tango in Halifax), it is short, self-contained, and perhaps is in possession of one of the finest....

:D
 
Mythopoeika said:
How about Rowan Atkinson as the Doctor?
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Ooh! He's a good idea....excellent actor, scarily clever, strange dark depths, oddly alluring. Colin Morgan could be his apprentice as opposed to his assistant. Colin could also hook up with Maisie Williams in her adventures across time and space.
 
Rowan Atkinson has already been the Doctor in the Comic Relief spoof of a few years ago.
 
Didn't know there was a thread here, so mentioned the timeslip elements on the Timeslip thread.
Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode, although I will concede that it struck me at times like a hurriedly conceived BBC response to ITV's excellent Fortean-themed period drama "Houdini and Doyle".

I've always been a sucker for the old timeslip motif - even when done whimsically as in 'Goodnight Sweetheart' and hope that the Living and the Dead delivers on its promise.
 
I cracked and watched the last three episodes on Iplayer, it is a long time since I have been so unnerved by a programme and I enjoyed every minute! Liked the hint towards a possible second series, was not expecting that at the end.
Now the seed is planted, I really love the idea of Colin Morgan as the Doctor-he has just the right amount of otherworldlyness :)
 
shelleybell said:
Now the seed is planted, I really love the idea of Colin Morgan as the Doctor-he has just the right amount of otherworldlyness :)
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Well, apart from a few Englishmen, we've had 3 Scots playing the Doctor as an alien with an English accent, so why not an Ulsterman? Only thing is, he'd have to be the first bearded Doctor, as he doesn't look old enough to drink without one, never mind pilot a time machine.

Back on topic, I'm following this series on BBC, week by week, and am really enjoying it. Leaving aside the obvious supernatural element, there's something of the tone of Ripper Street about it - you keep wanting the main characters to be happy, but things happen around them that seem destined not to let this happen.
 
The music in the programme was outstanding, particularly the use of the painfully beautiful Lyke Wake Dirge; here's Pentangle's version:
and then there's this:
The Reaper's Ghost unnerves me to a remarkable degree. It was written in 1935 by Richard Dyer-Bennet and was inspired by a conversation about the mysterious disappearance of a local farmhand that he overheard in an English pub. I haven't tracked down an on-line copy of the song sung by Richard, so instead included Dean Gitter's version (which luckily is much better than Richard's.)

The music was arranged by the Insects with various vocalists, including Elizabeth Fraser (The Lover's Ghost)
 
There's not going to be a second series of The Living and the dead (blub).

But I would adore Colin as the 13th Doctor. He certainly proved his acting mettle in this.
 
Nooooooooooooo! that has really pissed me off :-( God forbid the BBC put on anything new and interesting that you have to concentrate on when they can do remakes of old sitcoms:banghead:

TBF I think the remakes will be quite fun, just really disappointed
 
MorningAngel said:
There's not going to be a second series of The Living and the dead (blub).

But I would adore Colin as the 13th Doctor. He certainly proved his acting mettle in this.
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I hadn't seen that news! If so, it's a shame, as I'd really like to see some development of the question of whether ghosts were time-slips, or it was a bit of both. As which wife did he kill? Aaarrgghh! The tension.

Maybe my comparison with Ripper Street will turn out to be prophetic - that, too, was cancelled by the BBC at an interesting point, revived on another channel to reasonable success, and now it's back on the BBC again (starting in a week, folks!).

Colin Morgan as the 13th Doctor? Possible, but only if you ignore John Hurt...
 
The Living and the Dead is now on Amazon Prime, if anyone wants to re-watch it. I shall but I know it will lead to me endlessly listening to "The Reaper's Ghost" which is about the most haunting and strangely captivating song I've heard; I so much want to know more about the story that the writer of the song (Richard Dyer Bennet) overheard on his travels through England. Linky to an interview with the Insects, the series' soundtrack composers.
 
Rerenny said:
The Living and the Dead is now on Amazon Prime, if anyone wants to re-watch it. I shall but I know it will lead to me endlessly listening to "The Reaper's Ghost" which is about the most haunting and strangely captivating song I've heard; I so much want to know more about the story that the writer of the song (Richard Dyer Bennet) overheard on his travels through England. Linky to an interview with the Insects, the series' soundtrack composers.
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Spent my lunchtime today in the library and started browsing the supernatural section (as you do). In a book devoted to modern mysteries I read the account of a piece of contemporary technology apparently appearing in two different times and allowing communication to occur.

In this case it was a BBC computer, which a man in 16th century, who used to live in the same house, describes as a box of lights.

A summary is given here:
https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/topic/9878-the-vertical-plane/

It gave me a flashback to this intriguing BBC series, which featured a Victorian doctor glimpsing a woman in modern gear, carrying a "book of light" (i.e. iPad).

Has the "Vertical Plane" incident been discussed elsewhere on this forum? Probably more bunkum, but a great story nonetheless!
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
... Has the "Vertical Plane" incident been discussed elsewhere on this forum? Probably more bunkum, but a great story nonetheless!
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Webster's Vertical Plane has been mentioned on the following threads dating back to 2001:

Help- Cottage in time???

http://forum.forteantimes.com/index.php?threads/help-cottage-in-time.919/


Ghosts and Computers?

https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/ghosts-computers.4601/


The SCOLE Experiment

http://forum.forteantimes.com/index.php?threads/the-scole-experiment.9074/


The Spiricom (Talking with the dead)

http://forum.forteantimes.com/index.php?threads/the-spiricom-talking-with-the-dead.18494/


Computer Forteana?

http://forum.forteantimes.com/index.php?threads/computer-forteana.695/


... but I'm not sure how deeply it's been discussed to date.
 
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Thanks EG. I shall have a browse, but it looks like may have been talked to death already.
Rattling good story though and I wonder if the writers of The Living and the Dead were aware of and possibly influenced by it?
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
Thanks EG. I shall have a browse, but it looks like may have been talked to death already.
Rattling good story though and I wonder if the writers of The Living and the Dead were aware of and possibly influenced by it?
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If you are on twitter this is the writer
@AJPharoah .

I thought I’d missed the post about it being on Amazon. I hadn’t but I wasn’t excited then as we didn’t have it. Outlander make us get it though so we can rewatch, yay. We need it to be loved because then Amazon might make the second series.
 
MorningAngel said:
I thought I’d missed the post about it being on Amazon. I hadn’t but I wasn’t excited then as we didn’t have it. Outlander make us get it though so we can rewatch, yay. We need it to be loved because then Amazon might make the second series.
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Yes, Amazon did that with Ripper Street, didn't they? Good idea, better than rebooting Lord of the Rings.
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
Spent my lunchtime today in the library and started browsing the supernatural section (as you do). In a book devoted to modern mysteries I read the account of a piece of contemporary technology apparently appearing in two different times and allowing communication to occur.

In this case it was a BBC computer, which a man in 16th century, who used to live in the same house, describes as a box of lights.

A summary is given here:
https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/topic/9878-the-vertical-plane/

It gave me a flashback to this intriguing BBC series, which featured a Victorian doctor glimpsing a woman in modern gear, carrying a "book of light" (i.e. iPad).

Has the "Vertical Plane" incident been discussed elsewhere on this forum? Probably more bunkum, but a great story nonetheless!
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I remember seeing a dramatised version on TV.
AFAIK, it's been debunked.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone and I do hope Amazon or some other channel more visionary than the BBC picks this one up, as it was an utterly riveting first series.
Sadly, the BBC would rather broadcast dross about someone baking a cake or washed-up celebs trying to dance these days.
If TLATD does get a second series, I can see that iPad featuring as a link between the centuries, much like the BBC micro in the "Vertical Plane" incident. Whether that has been proved a hoax or not, it's still compelling stuff!
 
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