Elspeth: neither Who, nor Bond

Not a trekkie, never will be a trekkie. Nor a moonie. However, on a related theme (trekkies, not moonies), I did catch the first in the new series of Doctor Who last weekend. Young Alex and I shared a hide-behind cushion. Although I had no real recollection of Doctor Who in his previous incarnations, for an hour or so I found the show to be a pleasant enough alien-chasing jape. In the title role, Christopher Ecclestone was well cast, though the direction was a little frantic - causing Ecclestone’s performance to seem unnecessarily hurried. I read yesterday that Ecclestone will not continue as the Doctor beyond one series, even though a second series has been given the green light by the BBC. This all led to an interesting chat between self, Pete and PhDist Nicola about who might play Who in future. Radically, Pete suggested that there was no real reason for the Doctor to remain a vaguely middle-class white male. In fact, Who could be a woman. We agreed that Germaine Greer would be an interesting choice, if a little old and lumpy. Thinking along similar lines, I considered the casting of James Bond, and who I’d select to play the part were 007 to ‘become’ a woman. For that role I first erred towards Alex Kingston (a contender for Who), however, I plumped for Michelle Gomez – dark, Scottish, good actress. It was in discussing all of this that I reached my intellectual peak for the day, and a hell of a lot more use than most days’ intellectual peaks it was too.

Spoke to grandma Elspeth last night. She did not fail to deliver her now trademark toilet remark: ‘…havin’ a bit o’ trouble wi’ my number twos this week’. ‘Ah. Thank you for sharing’ said I. ‘Oh, you’re alright son’ said she. ‘Quite’ thought I.

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Hilary Swank has turned down my invitation to join me for the Barton Summer Ball. True, a knock, but I'll bounce back. This puts our future marriage in great great doubt. Ma Wexford will be heartbroken, she was looking forward to having a Hollywood celebrity daughter-in-law.

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I love the word 'cooed'.