"Has anyone seen my hat?" - John Sullivan OBE (23 December 1946 — 23 April 2011)

I'm a week late with this blog post as I've been busy but last Saturday saw the sad passing of Only Fools and Horses creator John Sullivan.

John Richard Thomas Sullivan OBE (23 December 1946 — 23 April 2011) was an English television scriptwriter responsible for several popular British sitcoms, including Only Fools and Horses, Citizen Smith and Just Good Friends.

From working class South London, Sullivan worked in a variety of low-paid jobs for 15 years before getting his first break writing Citizen Smith. However, it was for the sitcom Only Fools and Horses (1981-2003). He also wrote spin-offs The Green Green Grass and his last work was Rock & Chips, a comedy drama prequel to Only Fools and Horses. The final episode of Sullivan's last comedy series aired five days after Sullivan's death from pneumonia.
Mr Sullivan died aged 64 in a private hospital in Surrey, after having viral pneumonia for six weeks. BBC Director-General Mark Thompson paid tribute, saying: "John had a unique gift for turning everyday life and characters we all know into unforgettable comedy."
Gareth Gwenlan, a producer of Only Fools and Horses and a close friend of Sullivan, paid tribute to the writer: "The sudden death of John Sullivan has deprived the world of television comedy of its greatest exponent. John was a writer of immense talent and he leaves behind him an extraordinary body of work which has entertained tens of millions of viewers and will continue to do so for many decades to come."

Sullivan is survived by his wife Sharon, two sons, a daughter and two grandchildren.

As you can imagine I was saddened by this news as I loved Only Fools, Green Green Grass and although it took a bit of convincing I came round to love Rock & Chips as well.


On Thursday after watching what will now be the final episode. I was lucky enough to have a brief Twitter chat with actor Lewis Osborne (young Trigger)in Rock & Chips. He retweeted a rather crude tweet of mine about never being lucky enough like del-Boy tobe offeredthe chance to grab hold of any of my female friends mothers boobs.

Jamie_Dodger - Is @LewisOsborne the guy playing young Trigger in #RockAndChips? If so he just RT my tweet regarding old women's boobies. HOW COOL IS THAT!?!

Jamie_Dodger - It's ok @LewisOsborne is Trigger (forgot I could look it up on Internet, proper Trigger moment lol). Cool guy, thanks for the RTweet mate :)

Lewis Osborne - ha, hope you enjoyed it.

Jamie_Dodger - Yes I did sir. Big fan of John Sullivan. Such a shame he is no longer with us.

Jamie_Dodger - Probably insensitive of me 2 ask (And I honestly mean no disrespect) but did Mr Sullivan have any more scripts completed?

Lewis Osborne - we haven't been told anything. But it would be great if he had wrote some more. That was last one most likely. But I'm happy.

Jamie_Dodger - You should be proud sir. I wasn't quite sold with the first one but on a rewatch I adored it. I think on a first viewing kept seeing James as Jay from Inbetweeners. The second viewing I noticed the suttle Del Boy/David Jason touches he put in. I think you guys did a fantastic job as younger versions of characters I've loved for over 20yrs.Thank you for making me laugh.

Lewis Osborne - thank you! Only fools has the best fans in the world.

Jamie_Dodger - No problem mate. All the best and thank you for taking the time to respond to my tweets.

The world has lost a comedy genius but like it's been said already many more generations to come will grow up and love the comedy of John Sullivan thanks to a wonderful legacy of work he has left behind.

"This time next year Rodney..."

Noel Clarke - Actor, director, screenwriter and Tin Dog!

As Doctor Who fans will be aware, last week saw the unfortunate passing of one of it's finest actresses in the shows history. Elisabeth Sladen passed away of a cancer related illness which she had been aware of for sometime but being a private woman the information she was ill was not public knowledge. When news broke that she had passed away a lot of fans were devastated by this heartbreaking news.

Sarah Jane Smith had died.

Being a bit of a Twitter lover these days I myself paid tribute to Lis Sladen and spent a good hour reading other touching tributes being left in memory of her.

Noel Clarke, Mickey Smith in the revived show (And someone I used to think was pretty cool) tweeted -

"Not the best news to come home to, But I hope that Elisabeth will RIP. As someone who knew her. I always found her lovely. she'll be missed."

Really nice I thought until the next day he tweeted -

"Yo! I Respect the people giving tributes to Lis. But DON'T ask me to RT ur page or link about it. I'm not promoting you."

For some reason this bugged me a bit. Sure, I imagine there were some people just chancing it and asking for a re tweet off the back of Elisabeth's death but others probably wanted to share their thoughts with others about their love of her and the wonderful character she played.
Again though I thought no more of it and apart from talking to a buddy of mine (who for the rest of this will be called Paddy as I don't have permission to use his real name)and we both agreed he came over a bit cold and insensitive.

Yesterday morning I was on Twitter when this happened...

Noel Clarke - SOMETHING CHEERFUL FOR SUNDAY MORNING - SCREWED: TRAILER OUT JUNE 3RD http://tinyurl.com/3l5ubme .RT cheers

Jamie_Dodger_ - Isn't this self promotion? you said you didn't agree with such tweets the other day? Now I'm confused sir?

Noel Clarke - Did I? find the tweet where i said exactly that...

Jamie_Dodger_ - RT - @NoelClarke Yo!I Respect the people giving tributes to Lis. But DON'T ask me to RT ur page or link about it.I'm not promoting you.

Noel Clarke - That was in reference to people asking to RT their tributes, like they were more important than other fans tributes which they were not. have your tribute, which is lovely and all. but if it's a tribute, why does it need to be RT'd.Real fans, with real tributes didn't ask for it to be RT'd because it was genuine, not a chance for me to RT their link.

Jamie_Dodger_ - You make a valid point which I clearly see now but at the time it did come across a bit cold from someone like yourself. And yes there are clearly differences between the two. No offence intended it was a genuine question on my part.

Noel Clarke - Promoting a film is very different. if you can't see that. then don't follow me. quite simple really.

Being the unintelligent fool I left it there but then my friend Paddy (who is far better with words than me) decided to comment on the situation arising.

Paddy - at the time I thought your comments were harsh & a little cold.You honestly don't want to know what I think now.

Noel Clarke - My comments were not harsh. If people wanna pay tribute genuinely, why should I RT them?. I did my tribute. Me RT'ing theirs, makes it seem like their tributes are more important than others which they weren't. all tributes were equally valuable, thus real fans just did them without asking for a RT.

Paddy - it's difficult maintaining a level of arrogance,whenever you can't sit down, cause you have a BAFTA up your arse.

Noel Clarke - honestly mate... I couldn't give a fuck what you think of me

Paddy - well you gave enough of a 'fuck' as you so eloquently put it, to reply to me.

On a personal level I think Mr.Clarke missed the point when he said -

"Me RT'ing theirs, makes it seem like their tributes are more important than others which they weren't"

It wasn't about making others look important it was about sharing other peoples love for a wonderful woman who is no longer with us. It didn't even enter his mind that as someone who had met and worked with her people could be looking at him as some sort of beacon to share others thoughts.

Overall I think Paddy summed it up well after the discussion when he pointed out -

"Noel made the generalisation that anybody looking for RTs was looking to be promoted. He trampled over a lot of peoples' feelings with a rather unfair judgement call."

I've lost any interest in what Noel Clarke does in the future now. For me he has shown what an insensitive tool he really is.

Maybe I'm wrong and overreacted a bit. Maybe my friend Paddy is wrong and we both saw too much in it but as a result of this we both decided not to follow him anymore after that.

Noel Clarke you are the weakest link. Goodbye.

RIP Elisabeth Sladen (1 February 1948 - 19 April 2011)

British actress Elisabeth Sladen died this morning, according to a statement issued by the BBC. Sladen was best known for her role as Sarah Jane Smith in the long-running BBC sc-fi show Doctor Who.

The actress first played Sarah Jane in 1973 and returned to the part on numerous occasions, becoming a favorite of Doctor Who fans. Starting in 2007, Sladen starred in a spin-off show, The Sarah Jane Adventures.

In the BBC statement, current Doctor Who head writer and exec producer Steven Moffat pays tribute to the actress. “’Never meet your heroes’ wise people say,” Moffat is quoted as saying. “They weren’t thinking of Lis Sladen. Sarah Jane Smith was everybody’s hero when I was younger, and as brave and funny and brilliant as people only ever are in stories. But many years later, when I met the real Sarah-Jane — Lis Sladen herself — she was exactly as any child ever have wanted her to be. Kind and gentle and clever; and a ferociously talented actress, of course, but in that perfectly English unassuming way.”

Sladen, who was 63, had been suffering from cancer.

This news saddens me so very greatly and made even worse by the fact we have lost two great Doctor Who legends within a couple of months. RIP Lis Sladen, you were my first Doctor Who companion and you will always have a special place in my heart x

A true Doctor Who legend.
xx

Benedict Cumberbatch should be the next Master

What with series 6 of Doctor Who hitting screens this week (or if you are a purist series 32) and talk in the press that John Simm could indeed return as The Master in a future episode it reminded me of the facebook group I started last year after watching the fantastic 'Sherlock' by Steven Moffat (lead writer and executive producer of Doctor Who) and Mark Gatiss. It was a brilliant and a contemporary update of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes detective stories, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes and Martin Freeman as Dr. Watson.
While watching the show I couldn't help but think how awesome Benedict would be as the next Master in Doctor Who.
Think about it, he would make an ideal foe for Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor and I think he has was it takes to bring back some of that evil that was maybe lacking just a bit with John Simms version.
The creative team back in the 70's behind the character of The Master had originally conceived him as a recurring villain, a "Professor Moriarty to the Doctor's Sherlock Holmes."

It all makes sense. IT WAS MEANT TO BE!

What do you think?

New Tattoo - "It's better to burn out than to fade away" but then... "There can be only one"

I got my new tattoo yesterday. As you can see it's on my arm.The line "It's better to burn out than to fade away" comes from the song "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" by Neil Young.
"Hey Hey, My My"'s most memorable impact on modern rock comes from that very line being on the late Kurt Cobain's suicide note which ended with it.

I'm really pleased with it. Swin did a really good job and I'm now tryng to come up with something else to match it on my right arm.

Incidently it was pointed out to me that "It's better to burn out than to fade away" is a line mentioned in the 80's film "Highlander". I looked it up and yes it does indeed crop up spoken by Kurgen in the church. Great film although avoid Highlander II: The Quickening as it's fucking shit!

Major Doctor Who series 6 SPOILER ALERT!

WARNING! POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST TWO EPISODES OF SERIES 6 OF DOCTOR WHO.

LOOK AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Over on the SFX forum someone who is normally pretty reliable for info posted a brief synopsis of the first two episodes Pt. 1: The Impossible Astronaut and Pt. 2: Day of the Moon.

WARNING! POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST TWO EPISODES OF SERIES 6 OF DOCTOR WHO.

The episode opens with the Doctor in France getting caught posing nude for a female painter, then it cuts to Rory and Amy in what appears to be their new home while Rory has Laurel and Hardy on. When they aren't looking the doctor wearing a Fez comes up to the screen and waves. The mail comes and they receive a TARDIS blue envelope that has the number 3 on the back, the envelope just has the date and coordinates for Utah, USA. It cuts to the Storm cage where River gets her mail and receives the same envelope but with a 2 on the back and she escapes.

Rory and Amy arrive in Utah and meet up with The Doctor who sent the envelopes, River arrives, they stop at a diner and compare diaries. This Doctor and River seem pretty in sync, so they have a picnic, he mentions they have a mission in 1969 regarding the moon.

Amy asks how old he is and says he is now 1103, Amy states last time they saw him two months prior he was only 908. So this Doctor is the Future Doctor - 300 years in the future. Amy looks a cliff and sees a Silent and flips out but she looks down and forgets. The Doctor says the line from the Trailer about needing to stop running, and when he looks at a cliff he sees an old man standing there, turns around and the Astronaut is in the water.

He approaches the Astronaut says it's OK I know who you are and what you are going to do. As he opens the Spaceman's visor the camera pans so you don't see who it is. Amy, Rory and River wondering from a distance who it is. Then next thing you know BAM! The Spaceman fires a laser gun at him. BAM! Again fires more shots. He looks at his hands as they start to glow gold and I think he said I'm sorry its happening again. And right before he was about to burst in regenerative energy BAM! He gets shot one more time. They run to him all flipping out and River is furiously firing her gun at the Spaceman, Amy seeing The Silent again, The Doctor is dead. No life signs, no regeneration. Just dead.

The old man comes down. He has a TARDIS blue envelope as well. His is numbered 4. It's an aged Canton Everett Delaware The 3rd. And he brought a can of kerosene/gasoline to burn the Doctor's body. Rory decides to do it "with honour" as he spots a rowboat. They place the doctor's body inside and set it on fire and push it out into the water. When they head back to the diner, Amy notices another TARDIS blue envelope with the number 1, they ask the diner who it is and he just says some guy but he is in the bathroom, River surmises who it is and asks who does the Doctor trust the most. The door opens and out pops The Doctor. Looking goofy as ever saying he just went to get his favorite straw because it makes drinks more fizzy. River calls him cruel, Amy and Rory are in shock. River tells Amy to ask how old he is and he says he is 908.

At the end of Episode 1 you find out who Amy shoots. It's the girl calling Nixonb in the Teaser, she is trapped in the spacesuit, which can move on its on. She is a prisoner of the Silents. Amy and Canton go to investigate the home she is from, Amy find her room and see her pictures, one of which is Amy holding a baby. Rory and River have to save the Doctor from NASA because he got arrested.

The Doctor goes to the Silence' base which River and Rory found in episode 1 (its the Lodger TARDIS or at least a duplicate) and The Doctor pretty much lays down the law. Saying he hates guns but River not so much. She would easily kill 8 of them without hesitation. Stuff happens River starts killing Silents, Rory tries to save Amy, the Doctor sonics her free and then joins River in the onslaught and uses the Sonic Screwdriver as a weapon shooting energy blasts. They return Canton to the White House and then are on their way and you cut to the final scene.

You see a hobo going through the trash and she comes stumbling through. He asks " are you alright little girl?" and she says "No ::cough cough:: I'm dying..." The homeless man sounds startled and confused "... but it's OK" she says "because it's starting" her hands and body starts to glow bright orange and energy starts to float off of her, the hobo gets scared and runs away and WOOOOOOOOSH! This unknown 6-8 year old girl starts regenerating. And then it cuts to the credits.

Make of it what you will but if it turns out to be true that is pretty frickin awesome...