John Drake

Various posts removed. Stick to the subject of the thread, folks. It's ok to be positive about things, occasionally.

Patrick Troughton paved the way for all the others. He was the first actor to have to completely reinvent the role after Hartnell. If he'd failed, the show would have failed with him. I think he suffers in modern day comparisons because most of his best episodes are missing from the archives, so it is harder now to appreciate all the different aspects he brought to the character. For me, his performance up against Jon Pertwee in The Three Doctors is one of my favourites from the entire show. I think you can see a lot of his influence on later Doctors such as McCoy and Smith in just this short clip alone.

Capaldi got the arc that Colin Baker wanted all those years ago. Start out grumpy and then mellow over time. Sadly for Colin, he was stopped in his tracks by that arch-villain Michael Grade. It's been great to see him get the opportunity to develop the Sixth Doctor's character further in the Big Finish audios.

The Doctor Who spin-off, The War Between The Land And The Sea, will be on the Beeb in December. https://www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-features/the-war-between-the-land-and-the-sea-comes-to-bbc-one-and-bbc-iplayer-in-december 5 episodes. I wonder if they’ll put them all out across a single week as they once did with Torchwood?

Just goes to show we're all different. Matt Smith was my favourite of all the new series Doctors. He had that ability to switch between youthful curiosity and excitement, to world weary, centuries old alien in a (double) heartbeat. The episode where he played the Doctor trying to blend into society as a human (The Lodger) is the perfect example for me. In fact, I think I'll dig that one out of the collection and watch it again tonight! But, I really do love 'em all, from Hartnell to Gatwa. Every actor has brought something new to the part, and that's probably the secret of its long term success. If you're not keen on one version of the Doctor, hang around, there'll be another completely different one along shortly... I agree it was an odd choice to kick off the Disney+ era with so much referencing back to the old shows, especially after deliberately relaunching it as 'Series 1' which, at the time, upset a lot of fans who (wrongly) assumed it meant it would have no connection at all to what's gone before. The only thing that was really missing from it was the Daleks. I may be alone here, but I'd be absolutely delighted if the 2026 Christmas special turned out to feature the surprise return of Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor, finally getting his chance to take on those legendary pepperpots!

I'm just glad the Beeb still want to make it at all given the amount of flak it attracts these days. You don't have to look very far online right now to find some folk complaining about how awful the Christmas 2026 episode will be before we know anything about it. The default negativity setting baffles me. I've just taken delivery of the Season 13 (classic series) Bluray boxset, and the Season 2 (new series) Bluray boxset, and I will enjoy them both equally. It's all just Doctor Who to me, and I'm glad it's coming back with something new next year and beyond.

Well, this is all very unexpected and rather exciting! BBC Confirms future of Doctor Who and a new Christmas special in 2026 https://www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-features/bbc-confirms-future-of-doctor-who-and-a-new-christmas-special-in-2026

The club built a massive corporate hospitality stand behind the sticks where the speedway/stock car pits used to be, at the height of their Bullmania period, costing several million quid. It's still there, and is big enough for anyone to see. To suggest that they did absolutely nothing to improve Odsal is just wrong.

One post removed (and all the replies to it, I'm afraid) because someone threw in the 'c' word. Just don't. The warning is linked below, as a reminder, and is also repinned to the top of the forum as the message still isn't getting through. https://www.totalrl.com/forums/index.php?/topic/416916-warning-accusing-people-of-corruption/

LEAGUE EXPRESS - MON 20th OCT 2025 Download the Online Edition The new issue of League Express previews the opening Test match of this season's Ashes series between England and Australia - the first Ashes series for 22 years. We also report on the momentous decisions last week that saw Bradford Bulls, York Knights and Toulouse Olympique elevated to Super League for the 2026 season. We have news from every club and we have full coverage of the community game as well as the World Famous League Express Mailbag. We have coverage of the Pacific Cup and Pacific Bowl for both men's and women's teams and we have coverage of all the other international games taking place at various levels in European competitions. League Express is widely available from local newsagents across the north of England. Print Subscriptions & Renewals Gift Cards Online Edition

All done. Threads are back on public view, but locked and replaced with a new single thread to keep the discussion in one place with a clear warning at the top of it about not posting libellous comments. I was already dreading Thursday, but the fun n' games has started a day early. I've not even had me tea yet!! Gimme a break!!

I've just had to trawl through the last dozen or so pages of this thread, and another, removing pretty obvious libels from it. So, to avoid me having to do that again, across multiple threads, I'm locking this one, and opening a new, single topic thread, linked below, for ALL discussion and comment on who's in or out of Super League in 2026. https://www.totalrl.com/forums/index.php?/topic/416917-14-team-super-league-new-thread-read-the-warning-before-posting/ If anyone posts anything libellous in that thread, their account will be banned. No warnings will be given. If you're not sure if what you're about to post is libellous, save yourself the risk of getting banned or getting sued, and just don't post it. You can argue as much as you like, but the line gets firmly drawn when there's a risk of legal action as a result of anything posted on here. Hope that's crystal clear. Thanks. John Drake Site Admin

WARNING - PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING IN THIS THREAD I've just had to trawl through two other threads covering this topic, removing pretty obvious libels from them. So, to avoid me having to do that again, across multiple threads, I'm locking those, and opening this new, single topic thread, for ALL discussion and comment on who's in or out of Super League in 2026. If anyone posts anything libellous, their account will be banned. No warnings will be given. If you're not sure if what you're about to post is libellous, save yourself the risk of getting banned or getting sued, and just don't post it. You can argue as much as you like, but the line gets firmly drawn when there's a risk of legal action as a result of anything posted on here. Hope that's crystal clear. Thanks. John Drake Site Admin

I've just had to trawl through the last dozen or so pages of this thread, and another, removing pretty obvious libels from it. So, to avoid me having to do that again, across multiple threads, I'm locking this one, and opening a new, single topic thread, linked below, for ALL discussion and comment on who's in or out of Super League in 2026. https://www.totalrl.com/forums/index.php?/topic/416917-14-team-super-league-new-thread-read-the-warning-before-posting/ If anyone posts anything libellous in that thread, their account will be banned. No warnings will be given. If you're not sure if what you're about to post is libellous, save yourself the risk of getting banned or getting sued, and just don't post it. You can argue as much as you like, but the line gets firmly drawn when there's a risk of legal action as a result of anything posted on here. Hope that's crystal clear. Thanks. John Drake Site Admin

The threads contain clearly libellous comments, which I am now having to go through and remove. When I've done that, the threads will be back on public view. FFS, some people on here should know better.