The Secret of Crickley Hall
DVD | Instant Video
Directed by Joe Ahearne
Written by Joe Ahearne, James Herbert
Starring Olivia Cooke, Pixie Davies, Iain De Caestecker, Fern Deacon, Suranne Jones, Maisie Williams, Tom Ellis, Douglas Henshall, Sarah Smart
BBC Home Entertainment
Release Date: October 8, 2013

I remember looking through a friend’s DVDs one time and without prompting, he began defending his collection. The shelves filled with dollar bin titles that few beyond the cast, their families, or genre die hards had even heard of. He stopped short of apologizing for the quality of his collection saying he was always on the lookout for a “diamond in the rough,” a movie he could discover on his own beyond the chatter of consensus to proudly wear as a badge of honor when he struck gold. This of course means that for every discovery there were countless other piles of nameless titles that are never again going to be watched. The Secret of Crickley Hall belongs in his collection.

In present day London, an overly tired mother Eve Caleigh (Suranne Jones) reluctantly stops at a playground on the way home from daycare with her son Cam, with whom she has a special relationship (they can communicate without speaking to one another). After closing her eyes for a moment while he plays she wakes up to an empty playground. The frantic search by parents and police are equally unyielding. Cam is nowhere to be found and she can no longer hear him. Nearly a year later, thinking the change in scenery will be good for his wife and daughters Loren (Maisie Williams) and Cally (Pixie Davies), and to distract Eve from the upcoming anniversary of Cam’s disappearance, Gabe (Tom Ellis) suggests the family relocates to northern England for a few months where he has landed a temporary job contract. So they set off, having rented out the overly large Crickley Hall as their home while they are away from London.

This edition of the TARDISblend is a special one: a commentary track we’ve recorded for one of the episodes from Doctor Who Series 6. Arguably one of the best of the season, the Neil Gaiman-penned The Doctor’s Wife, is what we focus on for this edition. Joining us for the commentary are Jay Fowler, Andy Sorcini, and Anthony Ha.

The commentary sequencing is very simple. Cue up your version of The Doctor’s Wife, press play on the podcast. After the mini-intro, you’ll hear a sequence of four beeps. On the fourth beep, resume the playing of The Doctor’s Wife with the volume down low. We hope you enjoy it!

Doctor Who Series 6
DVD | Blu-Ray
Starring Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Alex Kingston, Stuart Milligan, Suranne Jones, James Corden
Written by Steven Moffat, Stephen Thompson, Neil Gaiman, Matthew Graham, Mark Gatiss, Tom McRae, Toby Whithouse, Gareth Roberts
Directed by Toby Haynes, Jeremy Webb, Richard Clark, Julian Simpson, Peter Hoar, Richard Senor, Nick Hurran, Steve Hughes
BBC
Release Date: November 22, 2011

The sixth season of the new generation of Doctor Who is propelled by showrunner Steven Moffat into a web of timey wimey twists and turns, chock full of revelations and unveiled secrets of key characters: specifically fan favorite River Song. The series begins with a disastrous development for the Doctor, witnessed by his companions — and sets the tone for the rest of the season.

Doctor Who
Series Six Part One
DVD | Blu-Ray
Starring Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Alex Kingston, Stuart Milligan, Mark Sheppard, Suranne Jones, Frances Barber
Written by Steven Moffat, Stephen Thompson, Neil Gaiman, Matthew Graham
Directed by Toby Haynes, Jeremy Webb, Richard Clark, Julian Simpson, Peter Hoar
BBC
Warner Home Video
Release Date: July 19, 2011

The BBC release of the first half of Doctor Who Series 6 presents fans a chance to grab a hold of the episodes aired this year before the second half airs on August 27. With fascination with the Time Lord at an all time high in America since the days of Tom Baker, it makes sense that the BBC would officially release Series 6 Part 1 while the time is ripe.

Series 6 of Doctor Who does not kick off immediately after the previous adventures in Series 5. Instead, some time has passed, and companions Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) have been separated from the Doctor (Matt Smith) for an as of yet unexplained reason. The companions and River Song (Alex Kingston) obtain an invitation in TARDIS-blue envelopes to meet somewhere in the United States at a specific time.

Doctor Who
Series 6, Episode 4: The Doctor’s Wife
Directed by Richard Clark
Written by Neil Gaiman
Starring Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Suranne Jones, Paul Kasey, Adrian Schiller, Elizabeth Berrington, and Michael Sheen
BBC America
Air date: May 14, 2011

Neil Gaiman‘s much-awaited and long-postponed episode of Doctor Who highlights of the great aspects of the show that fans know and love: a mysterious place with unusual people in which our heroes arrive to solve a mystery and fix the problem.