With the fourth season of Doctor Who drawing to a close, I would just like to point out that this series was even more special because I was in it. Sort of. In Steven Moffat's opening episode about the library, the little girl is watching a cartoon - Pedro and Frankensheep - as designed by Greg and as voiced by me (Frank)!
There was Pedro full screen replacing the Doctor's image - nice! And there was Frank's voice chuntering away in the background. So in a very real sense I am a prime time actor and writer. Sort of.
Here's a picture of Scarlet... my new border terrier puppy. We picked her up yesterday from Overseal in Derbyshire from a very nice and helpful breeder (and super featherweight boxer) called Stephen Chinnock. His dogs all seemed really happy and it was a really clean place which was in complete contrast to a place I went when I was a boy. We were looking for our first puppy (I was about 11) and we went to this place filled with poodles and children that smelled like concentrated urine. Thankfully little Scarlet's start in life has been somewhat less odorific.
Harry and Toto is a pre-school series created by Paul Shuttleworth at Handle and Spout productions. It's based on Aesop's fable about the Tortoise and the Hare and has been airing on Cbeebies since early June 2008. I was lucky enough to write several episodes for the show. It was great fun to work on and that seems to have been the feeling of everyone who worked on it... I met several of them at the launch party including Liz who wrote the music and Bob Golding who did all the male voices. Here's a clip...
At the recent Showcomotion Conference we were asked to present in a programme called "Get Shorty" with a few other folks, one of whom was Jason Krogh of zinc Roe Design in Canada.
Jason has presided over a number of great projects, including the Zimmer Twins, an online 'make your own film' site for kids. (And for adults like me too.)
Yesterday I attended a great course courtesy of Aardman down in Bristol. It was a one day Comedy Intensive course led by Steve Kaplan. It did what every good course should do, which is make me want to get back to my computer and start writing. One of the most useful things he does is to look at why some comedies don't work... by which I mean he shows you clips from shows or films that are supposed to be comic, but are a complete let down. Last night I got back and deliberately watched a dreadful sketch show on BBC Three just to try and figure out why it didn't work. If you ever have the chance to attend his course I'd definitely recommend it.
I've left Greg to post a million things on the blog and been terribly silent for a while. But lots to muse upon not least because I went to the Edinburgh Fringe in August. More of that later. One of the acts I missed while there was the 5 star rave review rated Camille O'Sullivan. Fortunately she's now on a tour and I saw her last Friday at the Town Hall in Birmingham. Never been to the Town Hall before - most impressive after its refurb. Camille was marvelous - amazing voice and utterly potty - going from the heart bleeding sincerity of songs like God is in the House (a Nick Cave song) to invading the crowd and making us all shout 'meow' at her. Very entertaining. Go and see her if you can.
Once upon a time I wanted to be a science fiction writer. It's strange as it's not something I read much, if at all, anymore. I even wrote three opening chapters to a novel. While recently going through some old files I discovered this short story Storm on Olympus which was mostly there, but just needed some tidying up and a proper ending. So here it is - download as a pdf and read at leisure. If you do read it, let me know what you think.
A ye olde friend Rich Pharaoh recently moved out to New Zealand for who knows how long. We used to be in a band together called November Station - yes a terrible name for a band. He's a drummer, and true to form has found himself a percussive role out in NZ in a band called George and Queen. Check them out here... I think they're really rather good!
I've been doing some amendments to the Esky e-learning Food Safety course and this was recommended by an Environmental Health Officer. My local Indian takeaway doesn't score very well at all. Ugh!
Yesterday I attended a great course courtesy of Aardman down in Bristol. It was a one day Comedy Intensive course led by 
