Who will be Who?

So David Tennant announced that he's stepping down as Dr Who yesterday. He was a great Doctor but I think that last series ran a bit thin. I'm not sure if Katherine Tate was great casting. The last episode of the series was as bad as I've known a Dr Who episode too. So while David's reputation is still intact it seems correct that a new star take the reigns. Paddy Power have got odds on who will be next up. There are some interesting names there, some not so interesting, Patterson Joseph at the top is strange but that's because I only really know him from Peep Show. I have compiled a few actors who are not on that list who I think would be good Doctors. Does that make me some kind of nerd? Probably. But who are you? Cheeeeiiifff...


Name: Damien Lewis
Date of Birth: February 11, 1971
From: St John's Wood, London
Famous For: Playing Major Richard D. Winters in Band of Brothers.
Reason: Damien Lewis would be a good choice for a number of reasons. The first being that he is an excellent actor of course, the second being that he has a profile in America which would help push the show to the already keen American market. Famous for his stage roles, Damien set up his own theatre company when he was 16 years old. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama alongside Daniel Craig.


Name: Lennie James
Date of Birth: 11 October 1965
From: South London
Famous For: Roles in Snatch, 24 Hour Party People, Sahara and a starring roll in the criminally underrated Channel 4 series Buried.
Reason: Lennie James is absolutely one of the most underrated actors in Britain today. With rumours floating since David Tennant's appointment that the next Doctor could be black Lennie James represents one of the absolute peak British Black actors. Also he wrote and directed the only film I ever featured in; Storm Damage in 2000.


Name: Dominic West
Date of Birth: 15 October 1969
From: Sheffield
Famous For: Playing Jimmy McNulty in what has been described as "The greatest TV show of all time" The Wire.
Reason: Another Brit abroad; Dominic put in a perfect performance as renegade Detective Jimmy McNulty in The Wire. Like James and Lewis mentioned above, he graduated the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1995.

Fallout on Channel 4 Last night- Review

Let me clear this up before I start. Lennie James is one of those actors that in my eyes can do no wrong, he is brilliant. He actually wrote the only film I was ever in. Lennie James in 'Burried' is as good as British television acting gets. Period.

Which is why I am so sad to report that 'Fallout' was absolutely terrible. I had such high hopes for it when I discovered that Channel 4 would be running a series on Gun and Knife crime (which has been pretty excellent overall). The screenplay was written in 2003 after Damilola Taylor was killed in North Peckham. Which could be an excuse for the dated slang and forced delivery but for the amount of times I heard the phrase "Grind me up" come from the vile female lead who it would appear was written by the biggest woman hater on the planet (oh I see) the words which had little meaning to begin with became something of a catchphrase. Add that to the male lead's "Stab him up", the supporting male's "Shoot him up" and the female supports' "Sex me up" and the only way was down.

Lennie James plays a detective forced to return to the estate he was raised on to investigate the murder of a Damilola figure. Upon his return he's tortured by the ignorance and hopelessness of his birthplace. The internal struggle James faces is pulled of brilliantly as you'd expect, his frustrations, his helplessness, his disgust. But the film was designed primarily to capture the frustrations and helplessness of the youth involved. Something it spectacularly failed to do. It tried, it really did, I counted every young character shout "Do you think you know me? You don't know me!" at least twice each.

Aml Ameen is an actor of ability and when it was left for him to carry the scene he did so with accomplishment; his character's late confrontation with a crack addicted father was probably the best and most realistic scene in the film. The very non-specific ages of our stars made for a confusing jaunt in all, the supposed criminal element consisted of a single bag snatching and a KING Magazine shoplift scene which I can tell you, does not represent any North Peckham estate as I know them (and believe me I know them. The one 'Fallout' was shot on in particular).

It would be hard for me to say where 'Fallout' failed the most because frankly I would be doing a mis justice to every other botched attempt at moral introspection thrust down our throats in those neat 15 minute intervals. Having recently seen Kidulthood for the first time and having seen the premiere of 'Top Girl' (a short film that did more to understand the subject in its 20 minutes than 'Fallout' managed in its 90) I have to say that in my opinion 'Fallout' was more than a bad film, it was an abomination.