3.2 The Mad Woman in the Attic

[SiHart]

Well, today we had a superb episode coutesy of Mr Lidster. Very enjoyable and full of great images and creepy moments. The creepy, disused fairground is an image so great you'd have thought it would have been done already!

But what did you think of The Mad Woman in the Attic?

Si xx

[Dino]

I enjoyed it a lot. You can see how things might resolve itself but I'm going along with the ride and hoping to be confounded by a different direction.
Although given that I thought Clyde was drawing a picture of Sarah Janes' backside at the start, prehaps I shouldn't be too quick to predict?
Who played Eve anyway? I'm sure I've seen her before.
Roll on tomorrow afternoon then...

[Andrew Curnow]

It was very good (I watched it on the iPlayer about half an hour ago) and the framing device becoming the cliffhanger was very powerful. I have to admit that just for a moment I thought William Russell was playing the caretaker, when he first appeared; and the actress playing the older Rani was superb, in that she really did move and speak like the young Rani.

What I also liked were the almost casual references to the Daleks and Cybermen and the Time War - for kids, especially, I think that sort of thing is really exciting, a bit like the excitement we used to get in the old days when, for example, Fenric suddenly mentioned Iceworld and the Cybermen.

And, BTW, the incidental music was very good - but did a few bits remind anybody else of the score to Fenric?

Can't wait for the other half tomorrow!

[Simon R]

We really liked this episode. Very mature feeling and full of intrigue. I do think that the hair dresser could have tried to vary the boy's hair though as Luke and the other two twinkies all had the same do and casual viewers might get confused you know.

We didn't recognize Brian Miller until the credits but with hindsight it was obvious and he hasn't changed much since "Snakedance"...which also featured a spooky old woman and a mirror.

[Perry Vale]

And, BTW, the incidental music was very good

Yes, I really thought that too.

I really enjoyed this one, my favourite episode since S1 I think. Good cast (older Rani was very good), well directed, and from first impressions, very well written too. I didn't see where the end was coming from, which was nice. Loved the scene in part 1 with Clyde & SJ, it felt like one of the most honest, believable scenes between characters the show has given us to date, imo. So, good creepy stuff, utilising a scary fairground, and the old urban myth of the scary lady across the street!

The outside of the ship's design was a bit overdone, I thought, and a clever hook (for the kids) showing the Tardis arriving.

P.S. It felt a little like Ghost Light towards the end....

[shada pavlova]

Flashbaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!!

[Simon R]

The flashback made us scream like banshees.

Shame inside the spaceship (as it were) was rather cheap and old school Who esque!

[Andrew Curnow]

I didn't expect them to use ye olde series clips in the flashbacks, so for all the fanboys at BBC Wales for that.

Really enjoyed this one, and the final 'twist' with the wish & it then being undone worked really well. Plus...

K9!!!!!!

About the only thing I would criticise is that it's probably a bit unlikely, even in a 'quiet little seaside town' that nobody would think it odd that a deserted funfair was active from time to time. It's a bit like the bit in The Daemons where a 40 foot devil walks through the village... and nobody notices?!!?!?!??!

[Martin Curnow]

So did Rani know that she'd lived a life alone and then had history changed, becuase Sarah-Jane and Luke had alos had glimses of their future.

Loved the little Who-montage at the start of the second episode.

Quite a feel good story in the end.

[Pip Madeley]

Is it just me or is Eleanor Tomlinson (Eve) quite fit?

She's 17 by the way, so I'm not some pervy 24 year old. Well, not that pervy.

[Stuart Wallis]

Is it just me or is Eleanor Tomlinson (Eve) quite fit?

She's 17 by the way

*phew* Thank god for that! I was wondering whether I should hand myself in!

I liked the aspect of how they were going to prevent Rani from becoming this mad old bat. It was a rather pat answer in a way, but the tension was kept going til the end. Trouble is, we know that unless some major change of future history comes along, nothing bad will happen to her or Maria for a good few years, so there goes some of the threat value of the series. Ho-hum...

[shada pavlova]

She's 17 by the way

You don't say?

[Rob McCow]

nothing bad will happen to her or Maria for a good few years, so there goes some of the threat value of the series. Ho-hum...

Seeing how easily the future was changed in this story, it doesn't seem that it would be too hard to change the future.

This new series of SJA is shaping up to be pretty damn fine. Certainly one of the best 'childrens' TV shows I've seen in a long time!

[SiHart]

I was very pleased to see K9 freed from the legal hell... sorry Black Hole this week. I'm looking forward with some glee to the banter between him and Mr Smith and hope that K9 can give that high and mighty computer what for. Their banter has already been fun to watch.

It was a lovely little story that didn't go the usual way of threat, threat, threat. I liked the way it didn't turn out to be a universe threatening story (again) just a teenage alien with mighty powers, lost and unable to use them properly. Poor old Rani nearly came a cropper though and the glimpse of her sad life revered at the end with lots of granchildren running into the attic was a lovely happy ending.

Who'd have thought that the reuniuon of two actors from the Blake's 7 episode Horizon would have been so much fun? Or that 30 years later Soaud Farness would become a rather good actress?




Si xx

[stuartdg]

Souad Farress is a great actress as any listener of The Archers will rightly tell you