The Crown Court Action Playset!!

Originally released in the late 70s (despite the attire of the two youngsters on the cover.), this lovely piece of much sought-after merchandise from TV's Crown Court sold very badly on account of the fact that no action figures were released for it. 

Or something like that. 

It's late and I can't think of anything even vaguely amusing to write to accompany this effort. I'm tired and it's been a long day. 

Oh, and I had a lot of shit on Twitter about Brexit to contend with. I'm going to bed now. Night. x

EastEnders: The Walford Dead...

EastEnders is going through a bit of a bad patch at the moment so I thought about a bit of re-tooling for it... a new direction...

Crown Court Lives Again!!!

Crown Court was an ITV drama based around fictional legal cases in the equally fictional town of Fulchester. It ran from 1972 until 1984 and was a fixture of ITV's fledgling daytime schedule when they finally decided that viewers were actually at home during the day. 

Each story - comprising of three half hour episodes - took the viewer through the legal proceedings of each case. At the climax of each case, a jury comprised of 11 members of the public and someone with an Equity card decided the verdict based on what they had seen. The verdicts were unscripted. Despite its age, it is still compelling viewing. 

For more information, check out Ivan Kirby's merticulous case-by-case blog here or go out and buy some of the DVDs from Network here. There are already eight volumes available.

The sudden and inexplicable rise in popularity of the 70s afternoon drama Crown Court has taken every body by surprise. But not the crafty merchandisers here at the House of Andydrewz. 

Figurine of Jeremy Parsons QC (Richard Wilson)

Figurine of Barry Deeley (John Alkin)

Crown Court comic - Issue 1

Crown Court comic - Issue 2

Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition: Toys & Games (Not)

The next "Special Edition" of Doctor Who Magazine is published on 20 April 2017 and is dedicated to Toys & Games. 

Sadly if features none of my zany, wacky merchandise - but that is to be expected as all of mine don't exist. 

Like this cover...

That 1940s Doctor Who Radio Serial...

I've recently been listening to the old Dick Barton radio serials. Or at least the 1950s Australian re-recordings of them. Virtually all of the original BBC episodes are lost and only a tiny handful exist in the archives. The re-recordings were made when the serial was sold to Australia and have been released on CD by BBCAudio. 

It's unclear from the CD sleeve notes whether these 'new' versions were made by the BBC or were produced in Australia. the quality of some of the accents suggests the latter(!)

For some reason, I always had Dick Barton as a wartime hero - something to keep the moral up on the wireless during the blitz. Obviously he isn't. He's just been demobbed in his first episode and bored of life on civvy street. 

Anyhow, this is a roundabout way of bringing me round to this little effort I put together...

The Original Radio Serial of "The Mysterious Doctor Who" - broadcast on the BBC during the war. 

It's not real but I have enough scribbled down material -not shown - to make it real if any producer wants to commission it. (If they do, they really need to listen to the aforementioned Dick Barton recordings to see what the finished product would sound like. When they have listened, they may have second thoughts...) 



 

A Few Favourite New Series Doctor Who Episodes...

Further to the Peter Capaldi Doctor Who covers I did a few weeks back I also picked out five of my favourite pre-2014 episodes and gave them the same treatment. 

Don't worry, I'm not going to spend my time doing every episode.

Hammer Horror Sitcom Movies... part two

Flushed by the apparent popularity of my first bunch of Hammer Sitcom movie posters, I've gone and done some more...

Hammer Horror Sitcom Movies...

On The Buses was a bawdy long-running ITV sitcom popular on the channel during the late 60s and early 70s. It was about a chirpy cockney bus driver, his family and his colleagues at work. It starred Reg Varney together with Bob Grant as his clippy, Doris Hare as his mum, Stephen Lewis as his fatalistic Inspector, Michael Robbins as his brother-in-law and Anna Karen (still appearing semi-regularly in EastEnders as the wheelchair bound Aunt Sal) as his sister Olive. The success of the show lead quickly to three feature films being made. 

There are two infamous pieces of trivia about the 'On The Buses' movies - well-known to movie buffs but sure to raise an eyebrow from those with only a passing interest in the medium. 

1. The first 'On The Buses' movie was the biggest box office earner in the UK in 1971. It beat Get Carter and Diamonds Are Forever - both also released the same year (though the latter was only released in December. OTB was released in the summer). 

2. They were made by Hammer Films - a UK studio more synonomous with the production of stylish horror films. As if to differentiate the films from their horror counterparts, each of the On The Buses films opens with a large caption "A Hammer Comedy Special Presentation" - just so's you know. 

Here's a selection of cinema posters based on 70s sitcoms that are more suited to Hammer's traditional output.

A further selection can be found by clicking here.




If you liked this post (or indeed, any of the 400 odd others I've done over the years), why not buy me a coffee at my Ko-fi profile. The link is here.

Mondan or Mondasian Cybermen are back....

The original Cybermen appear to be returning to Doctor Who in the new series. The BBC have released a rather moody picture of Peter Capaldi being menaced by a few slightly updated ones in a hospital corridor. And last night (5.3.2017), the internet was awash with a myriad of out-of-focus silver giants invading the streets of Cardiff as episodes 11 & 12 were filmed. 

But...

Who the f*** came up with the word 'Mondasian'? It certainly isn't part of the TV canon... I much prefer the term 'Mondan' - sounds so much better is probably more accurate. 

Anyhow, it all gave me an excuse to finish this little effort off that I started last year... and got bored with.

I also produced a slightly updated version.

 

The Movellans - TV's Other Outer Space Robot People!

The Movellans are back... at least according to the many fans who took the time to watch the trailer for Doctor Who's tenth series frame-by-frame for a brief glimpse of some spandex clad extras being blown apart by pyrotechnics. 

The Movellans have always been much malligned by fans. A race of humanoid robots with stain resistant white spandex uniforms and dreadlocks who's only weakness is the little grey plastic Pifco TM torch attached loosely to their belts - the removal of which would send them into slow motion hissy fits. The poor dears!

Here's a celebratory collection of Movellan publications to remind everyone how memorable they were... 

 

Introducing the Old Mother Collectors's Music Box and Cigarette Lighter!

Occasionally, someone suggests an idea so amusing I have to drop everything I'm doing and power up the mac for a quick Photoshop session. This is one such idea. Sadly it meant that my living room carpet had only been half-shampooed by 10pm this Sunday evening. 

Thanks guys.

Paul Lang posted the ad (for a Mother Theresa music box) on Twitter and Clayton Hickman suggested the Old Mother (from TV's Doctor Who and 100,000BC) angle. 

Blame them. 

Oh and thanks to @ShaunoHammer for the inspired strapline!

The original ad

The Further Adventures of Doctor Emu...

Joining in the love for the Pink Windmill Kids and the wonderful remake of their recent internet meme for Comic Relief....

Here's a selection of novelisations based on the 'later' Doctor Emu adventures. Fans of the the forgotten BBCtv serial DrWHO will no doubt recognise their source... (If not, check out the final image.) 

 

Columbo: 1999

The Plaid Stallions blog recently posted an image of a rather odd Japanese tie-in book. 

It seemed - as none of their writers spoke Japanese - to be a single publication featuring original fiction based on both Columbo and Space: 1999. You can read the article about it together with some clearer pics of it by clicking here. 

It should be pointed out that there isn't any discernible crossover of the two universes but it didn't stop me imagining one... 

(Apologies for the picture of Olive from On The Buses in a filthy bikini. It's merely provided for historical context.)