#paul william davies

[geekcavepodcast]

The Residence Teaser

There's been a murder in the White House. With 132 rooms and 157 suspects, Cordelia Cupp has her work cut out for her.

The Residence stars Uzo Aduba, Giancarlo Esposito, Randall Park, Molly Griggs, Susan Kelchi Watson, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Edwina Findley, Jason Lee, Ken Marino, and Al Mitchell. Paul William Davies is the showrunner. The series is inspired by Kate Andersen's novel of the same name.

The Residence premieres on Netflix on March 20, 2025.

[asexual-juliet]

OUTSIDERS MUSICAL COSTUME REFERENCE: Soc Boys (General)

[costume masterpost here]

Bob Sheldon is/has been portrayed by: Kevin Paul, Barton Cowperthwaite, RJ Higton Paul Holden is/has been portrayed by: Dan Berry, Victor Carrillo Tracey, Kevin Csolak, Ryo Kamibayashi, John Patrick Collins, Cole Zieser, RJ Higton, and Davis Wayne (yet to debut) Ensemble Soc boys are/have been portrayed by: RJ Higton, Barton Cowperthwaite, Sean Harrison Jones, Kevin Csolak, Cole Zieser, Davis Wayne, Victor Carrillo Tracey, Henry Juliàn Gendron, Ryo Kamibayashi, Cameron Burke, and Matthew Varvar

Letterman Jackets

ALL SOC BOYS have a letterman jacket that they wear during the first act/during the drive-in scene

Class Rings

ALL SOC BOYS wear a class ring (gold metal with large green stone)

Sneakers

ALL SOC BOYS have one pair of white sneakers that they wear in every Soc boy track they cover.

White Converse (KWP, Dan, Barton, Henry, Cameron, Matthew, RJ & Davis, pictured respectively below)

Sean & Kevin wore very similar shoes as Trip

Ryo wears these:

I do not have photos of the shoes worn by: Cole, Victor & JPC

Socks

Generally, the Soc boys seem to wear socks that match the color of their shirt/their general color scheme. The following photos are of KWP Bob (purple), RJ Chet (yellow), Barton Brill (green), & Ryo Chet/Brill/Trip (white with orange and blue stripes) respectively:

Patterns

Below are references for the patterns on most of the Soc boys’ shirts:

Bob: Short-sleeved lavender button-up shirt with square pointillism-type pattern in the fabric itself

Paul: plain yellow v-neck sweater worn over white turtleneck shirt

RJ/Davis: Short-sleeved button-up shirt with brown, yellow and white plaid pattern on a dark orange-red background

Barton: Short-sleeved button-up shirt with striped pattern in different shades of green

Sean/Kevin/Cole: Short-sleeved button-up shirt with blue, pink, and white plaid pattern on a blue background

Henry/Matthew: Short-sleeved button-up shirt with wide stripes in light grey, white, and mint green

Victor: wide-striped sweater in light blue, light grey, and white over blue turtleneck

Ryo: Short-sleeved button-up shirt with white sripe pattern on orange background

Cameron: Short-sleeved button-up shirt in yellow, white, turquoise, and dark blue plaid pattern

MORE COSTUME-SPECIFIC INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND IN MY INDIVIDUAL COSTUME POSTS

[semipreciousartist]

Get a lovingly designed acrylic charm of the taskmaster and his assistant. Fastest wins. Your time starts now.

Preorders are now open for 2-charm connected keychains featuring The Taskmaster and his assistant in their UK and NZ flavors!

Listed via Punk and Precious

Preorders extended to September 23rd!

9/23 will be the final day for preorders before I order the charms

[nerds-yearbook]

In 1899, Captain Jack Harkness was sought out by the Torchwood institute who recognized his healing ability and picked up on him talking about (a time traveling alien known as) the Doctor and recruited him. Having been told by a fortune teller that he wouldn’t catch up with the Doctor for at least a century, Jack decided to join them to fill the time. ("Fragments", Torchwood, TV)

[taskmastersource]

Taskmaster Live Experience Opening Day featuring Taskmaster Alumni

[spoilerssweetie13]

We could have had it all, is now the tagline of Thirteenth's era.

You would think the natural progression of this meet-up and Twelfth telling the First Doctor that he'll "find out the long way round" whether or not Twelfth decided to regenerate into Thirteenth – would be that Thirteenth would eventually run into the First Doctor, and we'd discover that he already knew her but couldn't retain the memory of her.

The Power of the Doctor had so many cool Classic Who callbacks that it actually made me want to go back and watch it – but couldn't they have just thrown a Susan cameo in there too? I mean, come on, even the actress was all for it!

Oh, what I would do for a "Hello, Grandma!" The fam's reaction to someone seemingly older than the Doctor calling her Grandma would've been priceless. And maybe, just maybe, it would've deterred RTD from retconning the Doctor's entire parenthood.

Susan wanted to come back, and RTD repaid her by erasing her entire connection to the Doctor. It's crazy to me. Wow.

[rutons]

stop hitting my child in the head with a lead pipe!!!

[cloudberrylane]

series 1, episode 4:

series 13 outtake:

(NZ) series 3, episode 3:

[timeagainreviews]

Bursting Your Bubble

Liam Lynch once said- “The internet is a glimpse into how rude people will be in the future.” At the time it felt like just another funny little line from his song “Internet Killed the Video Star,” (not to be confused with the Limousines’ song of the same name) but nowadays it feels prophetic. Just this morning I made the mistake of reading the comments section and it’s thrown my day off considerably. From the comforts of our keyboards, we can write horrendous things. Treat strangers with contempt. It’s sometimes easy to forget there are actual people on the other end of our glowing screens. Insularity breeds contempt for the different. We live in our little bubbles.

It would be easy to blame the posters, the content creators, the influencers. A few bad apples spoil the bunch. But as psychologist Philip Zimbardo would say- don’t blame the apples, don’t blame the barrel, blame the barrel makers. The people who put the apples into the barrel in the first place. Despite everything Russell T Davies’ “Dot and Bubble,” is trying to say, one question hangs over it and the rest of this season- who is the barrel maker? Things in Finetime are anything but fine, but by whose design? One might assume it’s Susan Twist’s character, but who is she? This is the overarching question of season one, but is the question beginning to feel a bit drawn out?

From the outset, “Dot and Bubble,” acts as a sort of Black Mirror version of “Blink.” We’re given a young blonde woman who finds herself in a dangerous situation that requires her to look at something she would usually ignore. All the while, the Doctor and his companion are forced to talk to the young woman through a screen. The difference here is that while Sally Sparrow had gumption, Lindy Pepper-Bean is about as useful as a wicker toilet. She lives in “Finetime,” an actual bubbled world. Her “Dot,” device then creates yet another bubble around her head. It’s bubble inception. The bubble tells her when to wake up, how to walk, and even when to pee. (Shout out to my boy Dr Pee!) Because of this, Lindy lives an unobserved life where hard questions need not bother her.

Everything about Finetime is a hyper-realistic nightmare of overstimulation. It’s like “A Clockwork Orange,” meets “The Stepford Wives.” Lindy can ignore her problems when there’s always a new Ricky September video on the horizon. As Frank from Brad Neely’s “The Professor Brothers” said- “We danced like those people in the hyper-tight light of fried chicken commercials.” Lindy and her “friends,” can completely ignore the fact that their friends have slowly begun disappearing. They don’t even seem to notice when they’re the only ones in the room, how would they notice gigantic slugs eating each other?

With Ncuti Gatwa away filming season four of “Sex Education,” the show had to do a couple Doctor-lite episodes. These are usually hit-or-miss among fans, but as “Blink,” proved back in 2007, they can become fan favourites. The Doctor and Ruby’s roles are reduced, but this episode does a good job of making them feel like a recurring part of the story. Even though they spend the bulk of the episode in what looks like the intro to “The Brady Bunch,” it never feels like we’re being underserved.

Lindy’s friends float around her like talking heads in her holographic bubble. But she keeps getting interrupted by the Doctor and his bad vibes. Even though Ruby is also invading her privacy despite not being on her friend list, Lindy is willing to hear her out. We’re not told why up front, but there is a reason Lindy can believe Ruby might feasibly be tech support, but the Doctor could not. Due to Lindy’s impatience, Ruby is forced to talk to Lindy as if she were a child, but not so much that she catches on. Anyone who stops Lindy from either working or playing is a massive drag to her. She really just wants Ruby and the Doctor to go away. How do they not know how society works? Why are they asking such stupid questions when the answers have been drilled into everyone since they were children?

We learn that Lindy’s mother is Penny Pepper-Bean, but she’s actually another Susan Twist cameo, so she could be anyone. Thankfully, both the Doctor and Ruby recognise her this time, and it’s not in an aborted timeline. I saw someone mention on Facebook today that they felt the Doctor recognising her felt rushed, and I couldn’t disagree more. It was high time we got something from this storyline. While it has been nice to genuinely be curious about Doctor Who’s mysteries again, this one has felt like a lot of the same. With the Doctor and Ruby now clued in, we have somewhere else to go in the future. Maybe now Susan Twist will come out from behind the mask and we can learn something more about her. Maybe now the Doctor will start looking into her involvement.

I’m usually not interested in fan theories as they’re often filler content when YouTubers and bloggers don’t have anything else to talk about. But here I believe we’ve been given quite a lot to work with to formulate a theory or two. I know I said “It’s probably not the Rani because it’s never the Rani,” but at this point, if she’s not the Rani, they’ve wasted their biggest opportunity to reintroduce audiences to her that the show has ever had. At this point, it would be weird if she wasn’t the Rani. The things she’s been involved with have all of her usual hallmarks. We have genetic manipulation in “Space Babies,” humans are being treated like lab rats in “Dot and Bubble,” and then there’s the whole disguising yourself in plain sight aspect. At this point, the bigger question isn’t whether or not she’s the Rani. The bigger question is why wouldn’t she be? Why would the show come so close to revealing her and then pull back?

Ruby finally convinces Lindy to look beyond her bubble where she witnesses her co-worker being eaten by one of the Man-Traps. Usually Lindy could just ask her Dot to guide her to safety, but for some reason, it feels more than ready to direct her right into the open mouth of a Man-Trap. Lindy must walk without the aid of her Dot, and man does she suck at it. She quite literally cannot walk talk and chew bubblegum at the same time. Part of me was worried the episode was going to spend all of its time making fun of young people and their phones. It’s cliched and honestly, I’m tired of it. But within the context of the episode, Davies isn’t attempting a technophobic condescension toward the youth of today. Instead, the episode endeavours to highlight the danger of relinquishing your thoughts and actions to outside entities. If we let others tell us what to like, who to like, or how to live, you may as well become worm food.

Having narrowly escaped death by slug, Lindy is forced to bumble about outside while the Doctor and Ruby direct her like the most exasperated form of Google Maps ever. An interesting aspect of this scene that I’ve not heard anyone talk about is the greenish-blue blood seen from a body being dragged away. You may not know what I’m talking about, but I’ll post a picture below. You may look at that and say “That’s not blood, that’s slug goo.” But where else in the episode do we actually see the Man-Traps leave behind any kind of snail trail? I’m going to go out on a limb and say I think the people of Finetime are blue-blooded, and considering what we learn about them, it makes sense. Blue blood is often a symbol for aristocracy, but it can also be used as a way to imply an inbred nature. In this case, we could infer that the citizens have blue blood because they don’t “dilute,” it with the blood of non-white people. Oh did I not mention the Finetimers are racists? More on that in a bit.

Throughout most of this episode, only one of Lindy’s friends seems to be concerned with the fact that people are going missing, and that’s Gothic Paul. Gothic Paul was a nice little addition to the episode because a trans man plays him and they didn’t make a big deal about it. He wasn’t even killed for being trans. He was killed for being delicious and too dumb to notice. A diversity win! Compare this to Chibnall’s gay representation where a character says “By the way, I’m gay,” and then spiders eat her face. LGBTQ+ people are allowed to exist in such a manner that it doesn’t feel like “kill your gays,” when they kill our gays. Representation has been so good that it’s not even problematic that a drag queen made a child disappear. You know, the thing all of those conservatives are worried about with drag story hour? That’s just the Maestro’s schtick. 

After the battery in Lindy’s Dot goes dead, she’s basically a sitting duck. That is until she hears a familiar voice call out. A voice belonging to none other than the dreamy Ricky September. Maybe it’s the insular nature of being a pop star, but Ricky isn’t bogged down by his Dot. Instead, he’s learned to appreciate existing offline. Because of this, Ricky reads things about their people’s history. And even luckier for Lindy, Ricky can actually walk and move about in the world. After a bit of starstruck awe, Lindy takes his hand as he leads her away from danger. It’s almost sweet if you don’t suspect what’s coming.

Ricky leads Lindy to Plaza 55 where a door leading to the river flowing beneath the bubble can lead them out into the Wild Woods. Knowing a bit about coding, Ricky simply needs to type in two digits every five seconds and the door will come open eventually. With no Man-Traps about, Lindy needs only to sit tight and let Ricky work his magic. While she waits, Lindy is able to charge her Dot which enables the Doctor and Ruby to contact her again. The Doctor infers that the Dots can see the Man-Traps, but willfully encourage people to walk directly into their mouths. As it turns out, the Dot hates Lindy and her friends about as much as the audience does. The AI has gone rogue and it’s taking these airheads with it. Sadly, this is also when the episode starts to get bogged down by the season's overarching plot.

The Doctor deduces that the Man-Traps are eating the people in alphabetical order. This leads him to believe that the AI must have created the Man-Traps, otherwise they would eat whoever, whenever. The reason I feel this feels bogged down by the overarching plot is that I can’t imagine these golfball-sized Dots being capable of growing creatures in a laboratory. The most they can do against Ricky and Lindy is act as a projectile. They don’t even have thumbs. Because of this, it’s logical to imagine that there is a third party involved. It’s not hard to imagine who that third party is, considering Susan Twist’s cameo. But in the meantime, we as an audience are left in a state of limbo where this is either part of some greater plan, or an unsatisfying plothole. Albeit, not an incredibly episode-breaking one. After all, the Daleks manage quite a bit with only a plunger.

With Lindy’s Dot trying to bash their brains in and Lindy being next in line, alphabetically speaking, we are finally introduced to who Lindy actually is as person. Using her mega fan knowledge about Ricky September, she informs the Dot that Ricky’s name is a stage name and his real name is Coombes. Ricky can barely believe the betrayal from the woman he’s tried so very hard to save. But her gamble pays off as the Dot refocuses its attention on Ricky, giving Lindy enough time to escape to the river while the Dot strikes down poor Ricky. As face turns go, this is one of the worst in Doctor Who history. However, it’s not entirely without warning. Certain lines of dialogue have clued us in to Lindy’s true nature throughout the episode.

Before we leave him behind like Lindy so callously does, I’d like to take a moment to talk about Ricky September, as I don’t think we’ve seen the last of him. It was hard to tell what the Dot does to Ricky because the camera looks away, but he could have survived. Why I think this is because they spend a lot of time building Ricky up as a character. Both the Doctor and Ruby have shown a romantic interest in him. There have even been rumours that there would be a sort of love triangle between the Doctor, Ruby, and Ruby’s boyfriend. On top of that, we’ve got another blonde-haired blue-eyed person with RS for initials. Even further, the S in both names indicates a point in time- September and Sunday. And just because Ricky comes from a community of racists doesn’t mean he is one. Like he said, he does a lot of reading. Perhaps he’s learned better. Or I’m wrong and he has a Dot-sized hole in his head.

Finally, we get to see the Doctor and Ruby in the flesh. Even more finally, we get to see them both in the costumes they wore in their first costume reveal! Lindy gives the Doctor and Ruby some shitty excuse about Ricky turning back to save more people. She even gives a begrudging thank you to them, but ultimately can’t bring herself to let the Doctor help her or her friends. Lindy and her fellow survivors can’t bring themselves to interact with the Doctor because he’s black. It’s as heartbreaking for the Doctor as it is infuriating to Ruby who can only stand there and watch her friend experience this ugliness. But the Doctor is still the Doctor and he’s a bigger man than their small minds. He continues holding out a lifeline to some of the most undeserving group of spoiled narcissists to ever grace the screen of Doctor Who.

I’ve seen people complain that the Doctor does this. That it doesn’t mesh with the same character who once punched a man who was racist toward Bill. But that was the Doctor drawing a line and defending his friend’s honour. The Doctor’s compassion is so great that he’s willing to forego his sense of self-respect to save lives. This is the same man who tries to reason with racist genocidal aliens, he doesn’t stop just because they look human. I know I would have let them die, but the Doctor is a better person than me. That’s not to say any of this is easy for him. It very clearly cuts him to his core. Ncuti Gatwa gives an earth-shattering performance here, and when you consider this is the first scene he filmed after the Giggle, it’s fucking astounding. This is the exact type of range I was hoping they would bring to his character.

As a white member of the audience, I am left with a lot of uncomfortable realisations. Like, I barely batted an eye at the fact that Lindy’s friends were all white. I’m also left wondering how many people the Doctor has saved in the past who might have also treated a black Doctor differently. But I also feel like this ending took me by surprise for a different reason than my own ignorance. I simply never expected Doctor Who to go there. The topic of racism is not new to Doctor Who. Martha experiences quite a bit of it, especially in “Human Nature.” But even their more recent attempt with “Rosa,” fell short by implying that in 3000 years, no other black person would stand up for their rights. It was an oversimplification of the civil rights movement that left me wondering if Doctor Who was capable of tackling such heavy issues. I never felt like the show properly addressed the Doctor being a woman, so believe me when I say how much I appreciate them addressing the Doctor’s race. Even further, I loved that it ultimately isn’t the Doctor who will suffer from their racism. Their prejudice has doomed them without anyone else’s help.

It’s weird to look at this episode on the TARDIS wiki and see the Dots and Man-Traps listed as the main enemy. Because really, it’s Lindy who is the real monster. It’s Hoochy Pie and her wack-ass trumpet. Also, can we not come up with a better name than Man-Trap? What about Erascists? They erase e-racists. Just some good little sluggy bois taking out the trash. I stan a king. The Dots hate those evil trust fund dickweeds, and honestly, same. Evidently, the name Man-Trap was introduced in Doctor Who Unleashed, which for the 4th week in a row, I’ve forgotten to watch. One of the side-effects of Doctor Who’s screwy release schedule is that now I completely forget Doctor Who Unleashed even exists. One benefit, however, is that I often get to rewatch the episodes the next day with my partners who didn’t want to stay up late. The benefit is that I’ll notice things I missed the first time. It also allows me to experience the stories for what they are, as opposed to what I expected them to be.

Being able to watch “Dot and Bubble,” with hindsight has given me an even greater appreciation for this story. Over time, I feel people will eventually regard it as one of Davies’ best. Its tone and themes remind me of something you would find in the Seventh Doctor era, which is high praise coming from me. Ricky feels like the promise of a character like Pex from “Paradise Towers,” properly realised. Hopefully, like the graffiti says- “Pex lives.” Dylan Holmes Williams does a fabulous job directing as the episode wastes nothing. It’s a Doctor-lite episode that manages not to waste a moment of screen time with the Doctor. In less than five minutes, Gatwa manages to be the command performance in an episode of solid performances. But much like “The Fugitive of the Judoon,” this strong episode remains feeling unresolved due to the plotline still hanging over its head. Once we have the hindsight of knowing how it fits into the greater storyline, it could appreciate in value. One can only hope.

[kattahj]

I've started watching Taskmaster New Zealand, and I am simultaneously charmed and confused by how SWEET Jeremy and Paul are with each other!

I'm used to Greg and Alex having this kinky dom/sub relationship where Greg insults Alex and Alex is just plain weird. In comparison, Jeremy and Paul are skipping through rainbow meadows hand in hand, and when Paul gets a little bit strange Jeremy indulges him in his mild kookiness. Whole different vibe.

Of course, most of the insults are traded between Paul and Guy who are brothers and act like it. 😀

[kiwitaskmaster]

New Blog!

This will predominantly be based around Taskmaster New Zealand BUT i will almost definitely talk about UK/ AUS/ various other language versions too!!

Please do not interact if you’re going to be negative! I will just block you :)

As of right now I’ve watched

Taskmaster UK: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (DNF’d), 11, and half of 14 and 18

Taskmaster NZ: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Taskmaster AU: 1, 2, 3

Suurmestari: 1

Kongen Beflar: working through 1 rn

Stormester: Not yet started

Bäst i test: Not yet started

(bolded are my favourite seasons)

Please send asks! I don’t bite.. unless you ask nicely

[singeratlarge]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PAUL WILLIAMS. In addition to his amazing run as an actor and singer-songwriter, he wrote or co-wrote (with Biff Rose and Roger Nichols) songs covered by David Bowie, The Carpenters (“Rainy Days & Mondays,” “We’ve Only Just Begun”), Jack Jones, The Muppets, Helen Reddy, 3 Dog Night (“Old Fashioned Love Song”—also covered by Micky Dolenz), and Dionne Warwick—not to mention award-winning film and TV scores. He’s been Chairman and President of ASCAP since 2009 and is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In recent years he’s had a resurgence, working with Richard Barone, Daft Punk, and The Scissor Sisters. Somewhere he’s found time to take up skydiving and become a UCLA certified Drug Rehabilitation Counselor, co-authoring the book GRATITUDE & TRUST: RECOVERY IS NOT JUST FOR ADDICTS. 

Paul wrote the confessional “Someday Man” as a single for The Monkees. Upon release in 1968, it under-performed and got lost as a “deep cut” + Paul’s own version didn’t do much better. However, as cream rises to the top, in time the sophisticated and art-y song grew in popularity, in part because Davy Jones revived it for his solo set in 2009. Now it’s considered to be a Jones/Monkees evergreen and (speaking as a former band member) it was one of our favorites to play. Here’s the song from the 2011 tour Davy did w/The Monkees. Meanwhile, HB PW and thank you for your many musical gems.

#monkees #davyjones #paulwilliams #somedayman #paulgilbert #biffrose #rogernichols #davidbowie #carpenters #jackjones #muppets #helenreddy #3dognight #mickydolenz #dionnewarwick #detroit #johnnyjblair #foxtheatre #richardbarone #daftpunk #scissorsisters #recovery #skydiving

[sowhatsthesituation]

I think about twins a lot in relation to Taskmaster.

One of a set of identical twins is on the show. They get a task saying "Get your sibling to do one task. You receive 5 points if no-one guesses that it's not you."

Or if both of them are on the show and on different teams, they get together to read a task that says "Swap places in the next task. If no-one notices you both receive 5 points"

I really loved the sibling dynamic between Guy and Paul in TMNZ S1 and I think it would be so good on the UK version.

[semipreciousartist]

Little Alex Horne and Paul Williams would like you to know that preorders for my Taskmaster acrylic charms are closing soon! I will only order as many as are requested (because I consider these sort of niche items and wanted to share with other fans) so order one if you'd like one!

[nerds-yearbook]

In 1909, in a drunken stupor, Captain Jack Harkness’ men had run over a little girl and killed her. She turned out to have been the chosen one of the fairies. A week later when they were all traveling on a train, his men were all killed by the fairies and their mouths filled with rose petals. ("Small Worlds", Torchwood, TV)

[fofi42]

Big Taskmaster Dogs 4