THE PRISONER - Episode 5: Schizoid / Episode 6: Checkmate

Schizoid - 17th November - AMC - 8.00pm
Checkmate - 17th November - AMC - 9.00pm

After the nonsensical romance of Darling, we're back in more confident tone with this fifth episode. A doppelganger of Six stalks the Village...or does it? Six meets his twin at the gates of Two's palatial home and the twin is obsessed with assassinating Two. Except Nick Hurran and Bill Gallagher do make suggestions that in fact Six is actually suffering from a schizophrenic episode and is simply projecting his 'bad' twin into the world. There are a number of shots that cut away from the encounters between the two that show Six is merely talking and fighting with himself.

The episode opens up what we've been told about the Village and starts to plant the idea that the place is either in an alternate reality or the inside of someone's head. It would certainly explain many of the visual and narrative non-sequiturs that litter the six episodes. It also fleshes out the Two and 11-12 characters with Two deciding to take the day off and openly stroll amongst the inhabitants of the Village whilst he offers 11-12 the key to the pill cabinet. 11-12 wakes his mother from her coma and discovers that only those not born in the Village can actually be allowed to go back to the 'other place'. 11-12 therefore has to make his mind up about whether he wishes to spend his life in the Village forever and either keep his mother awake or put her back under. Much fretting about in the desert and throwing away the key to the cabinet later, he puts her to sleep again and more or less seals his fate. This affords Jamie Campbell Bower some opportunities to give 11-12 some depth and motivation and there's a developing relationship with Six that may play out in the final episode.

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THE PRISONER - Episode 3: Anvil / Episode 4: Darling

Anvil - 16th November - AMC - 8.00pm
Darling - 16th November - AMC - 9.00pm

And so we get to the middle episodes of the six part mini-series. Anvil shows a distinct improvement and the central premise is enough to keep reluctant viewers tuning in. Two decides to employ Six as an Undercover working with a man called 909 (rather well played by Vincent Regan) to spy on other undercover cells in the Village. Undercovers attempt to find the 'dreamers', people who still have memories of the outside world, and expose them to undergo treatment at the Clinic. The Village therefore is depicted as a whole community of spies, all spying on each other. Two thinks that Six's experience will draw him into the Village whilst also leading him into a trap.

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SARAH JANE ADVENTURES: The Gift Parts 1 & 2

For a finale The Gift doesn't exactly end the current series with a satisfying bang unless you appreciate the entire cast getting drowned in bits of exploding orange Blathereen. More of a sloppy whimper. Rupert Laight's script captures the frivolous nature of the series and its characters well and still manages to get across a number of important messages about tolerance and acceptance of those different from yourself. Which is fine if he didn't, as Stuart Ian Burns quite rightly points out, turn his Blathereen making all the friendly overtures into the villains of the piece. Not an unexpected move but it does rather imply the precis of the story, about the nature of trust, is perhaps more akin to 'keep your friends close but your enemies closer still'.

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DOCTOR WHO - BBC Children In Need 'The End Of Time' Preview Clip

A special two minute preview clip from The End Of Time, the final Tenth Doctor adventure due to be shown in two parts this Christmas. This was aired during the annual Children In Need telethon last night on BBC1.

Click on the link to donate to Children In Need.