My Thoughts on Beat The Chasers

Hello and welcome to another blog by me Dan Bury where today we're talking about 'Beat the Chasers' spin off show of hit ITV daytime quiz show The Chase. Which has two other spin off shows in the UK, The Chase: Celebrity Specials and The Family Chase. Since it's started in 2009, The Chase is a show that has grown in popularity and has had board games and card games made on it, quiz books written about it and is watched and enjoyed by millions.

Presented by the one and only Bradley Walsh, and the chasers being Mark Labbett, Anne Hegerty, Paul Sinha, Jenny Ryan, and Shaun Wallace. (The Beast, The Governess, The Sinnerman, The Vixen, and the Dark Destroyer)

For the first time ever in a brand new show, all five chasers come together to take on willing contestants who they belive are brave enough and good enough to Beat The Chasers.

This is the first time a show as big as this has ever been tried before on this sort of scale in Chase history and this series is very much a devine exercise in trial and error to see what the viewers watching at home think of it. If they like it, they'll let their opinions known by the audience figures and talking about it on their social media and amongst their friends. As that's how shows survive. If there isn't enough people watching it or it doesn't get a good enough reponse from viewers production companies won't bother commisioning another series.

In the case of Beat The Chasers, I see no doubt in my mind that this won't get a second series. It's obviously proving to be a successful hit with the viewers probably down to how different it is compared to the other spin off shows which are equally as successful as the daytime show. What makes Beat The Chasers unique is the fact that all five of the chasers are in the same room together and interacting with one another, correcting and teasing eachother whenever they get something wrong.

In this review I will express some thoughts on what I think of the show and suggestions on how Beat the Chasers could be improved.

So I'll start off by saying that in terms of how it works as a show, it relates to me as a bigger, more epic version of The Chase, the studio is massive, set out like a roman coluseium with the game area like the lions den and the chasers are up on a big podium like gods. Whether you like that sort of set up is up to you, I think all its all very dramatic and set up in such a way to be this big game show like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? was when that first started. Prime time television, there's probably more bugdet put into this which enabled the production to do more things like build a ginormous set. I don't really buy all of this big, dramatic game show nonsense. I think it's uneccary to build it up as a kind of life or death, this is such a big thing.


Bradley as host is always on top form. I love his presenting style and his a huge talent. I love Bradley Walsh he's probably the best thing about it, with a different host it would be a completly different show and wouldn't be as good. Bradley's wit and humour is always on point and his banter with The Chasers is always great to watch.

The Chasers, its interesting to see them in a new dynamic and new outfits. I like the black and red colour scheme I think it suits them really well and ties in with the other variations to their outfits on the Daytime, Family and Celebrity Chase shows. Their banter with eachother again like Bradley is on point, it makes a change to see them squabling, teasting or correcting eachother if they get something wrong or they make snide remarks or looks at one another when they get questions wrong. They're quiz knowledge is matched by their 'we're better than you' attitude in their role to both intimidate and humiliate the vailiant contestants who challenges them to take them on for serious cash prizes.

The contestant cash builder is a bit cruel and unfair in the sense that one wrong answer puts you out of the game, if I were to make a suggestion I would say either introduce a life line system - so give the contestant a set number of lives where a wrong answers loses them a life and if all they're lives run out whatever money they have at the end they then take to the table to face the chasers with in the head to head. Either do that or remove the rule of get the first questions wrong and you're out. It seems a bit unfair to just kick contestants off for getting the first question wrong. It puts unwanted on the contestant and in a big studio with lights, its hard to keep calm under pressure. So getting rid of that rule I think would help put the contestants mind at ease. A life line system gives them a fair and sporting chance.

The contestants vs the chasers head to head part of the show I think can get very tense, in the way that pointless works with the clock counting down, and even though the chasers get less time than the contestants I feel their still at an advantage given their quiz knowledge and expeirence to answering questions under pressure. Mark, Paul, and Shaun in perticular are very quick on the buzzer and all the chasers have a devised team stragety between them. To spice things up, it would be quite good as a second suggestion to allow players to take on just one chaser for the money they earnt in the cash builder, rather than two being the fewest amount of chasers you can take on.

In order to make things more dramatic the chasers could offer higher amounts of money for choosing to take on all five. Between (£70 - 100 thousand pounds) four chasers between (£20 and £60 thousand pounds) and three chasers between (£10 and £20 thousand pounds) the higher the money, the more that's at stake and the better the game will be. One thing I do love about Beat the Chasers is the thrill of the contest. Winning £2,000 on Beat the Chasers is just as exciting as winning £100,000. One thing that is does get right is the contest and thrill of the actual game, and contestants back stories, as its important for people watching at home to care if the person that's on the telly wins.

Having watched it all this week, I have no doubt Beat the Chasers will be a success, as for me. I'm a fan. I'll watch it anyway. No matter what.

COMING UP on The Chase - Theatre Special

COMING UP ON THE CHASE

THE CHASE THEATRE SPECIAL

Episode: 5

Transmission: Friday 6th June 2020

Week: 1st - 7th June 2020

Published: Thursday 23rd April 2020

*NEW SERIES*

Tonight, four of london's west end stars think they have what it takes to take on a chaser to win thousands of pounds for their chosen charities. 

Bradley Walsh presents.

Luke Brady, Sophie Isaacs, Carrie Hope Fletcher, and Michael Ball have to work together to build up as much money into the team prize fund without getting caught by the Chaser. 

The Chasers:

Anne Hegerty

Mark Labbett

Jenny Ryan

Paul Sinha

Shaun Wallace

Coming Up on The Sunday Podcast

COMING UP ON THE SUNDAY SHOWCASE PODCAST

Episode:  5/10

Broadcast Date: Sunday 3rd May 2020

Time: 12pm

Published: Tuesday 21st April 2020

Coming up on the podcast this week are: A few tips to help you through the Monday morning blues, Sunday Shoutouts and messages from listeners, lockdown stories and a chat with CBT therapist and mindfulness teacher Natalie Englander. 

Keep a look out on the Radio Verulam website. 

Daniel Bury hosts. 

COVID 19 - Coronavirus Update - 16th April 2020

Hello

Today's blog post is not about Doctor Who, Mortal Kombat, The Chase, or a project based update.

Today's post is an update in regards to the Covid 19 outbreak,and  how I've been doing since lockdown started. Now that the goverment has announced today that lockdown procedures are to stay in place for another three weeks which will take us to early May, UK lockdown and social distancing is something we are all going to have to do for a little longer.

How have I been doing since the outbreak? I think I've been doing all right, me and my family are safe and well, we're all looking out for eachother, we're all following the guidlines from the goverment to stay home and only go out for shopping, exercise or work that can not be done from home.

How do I feel about staying at home? Honestly, I don't mind it. This is something that I am used to as a normality anyway so I'm not phased by needing to stay in and to restrict when I go out, if I wasn't missing doing my radio show I would quite content with this new and interesting way of life. I'm enjoying it so far and taking everything one day at a time.

My week so far, I have been out and about on the bike to get exercise, I've also been going on long walks and I have to say with warm weather like we've been having recently, it's been glorious to be out in the sunshine for some fresh air.

Whilst at home I have been binge watching a lot of box sets and streaming series which I have been meaning to watch but haven't got round to as well as re watching some old Doctor Who episodes I haven't seen for a while. I made my own sausage rolls from scratch, I made the puff pastry for it or at least a good attempt. Having tasted them from taking them out of the oven, the pastry did taste a bit like a biscuit and was quite hard rather than light and flakey as puff pastry should be. But the actual sausage rolls tasted delicious so it would seem I got a good result. I had made sausage rolls before but not for a long time, it was nice to go back an revisit a recipe that I hadn't done for the last ten or eleven years.

It was also my cousin's birthday this week so some of the family got together for a chat on Houseparty. I'm not sure I like houseparty as a platform but its a way to keep in touch whilst lockdown in going on. It's quite fun, only sometimes the signal cuts out and if there's too many in one chat it can freeze and stick which is a little annoying.

I've also been working on my radio podcast, which from what I can gather is getting a good response from people who have listened to it which is great to hear. Feedback is always appriciated. 

I've been enjoying being in my own company and being in my own personal space for what is a quite scary and unpredictable time for all of us. It's horrible what's happening in the news, but it's important to keep going, stay postive, and be hopeful that things will begin to go back to the way they were soon.

It's a weird feeling throughout these last three weeks you do embody a routine which you find yourself repeating day in and day out, changing a few little things in what you do each day to ensure you don't go mad becuase everyone is very limited in the things that they can do and it's about making the best of bad sitauations and finding the silver lining.

For example family time, that's something that we wouldn't do if we weren't in lockdown. I'm sure we all love our familes anyway and we spend a lot of time together, but family time now isn't the same as when you are a child and playing board games or sharing stories or going on walks together does bring people together. That's one thing I would say that this virus has done for good is that it's reminding us of the true value of our families, those who live in a family household have that priviliage. I understand you may not have that if you live on your own or don't live your family, but I do so I'm realising the benefits of having these moments back and it's a really nice feeling to have. 

Putting things to a close for this week, the last three weeks have gone real quick and I think the next three will as well. I'm staying positive, I've got lots to look forward to and be thankful for. It's important that we keep our distance, only go out when necassary and look after eachother.

I'll have another update for you next week, in meantime stay home and stay safe.

COMING Up on The Chase - Good Morning Britain Special

COMING UP ON THE CHASE

THE CHASE GOOD MORNING BRITAIN SPECIAL

Episode: 4

Transmission: Friday 24th April 2020

Week: 20th - 24th April 2020

Published: Wednesday 15th April 2020

*NEW SERIES*

Tonight, some of the Good Morning Britain team think they have what it takes to take on a chaser to win thousands of pounds for their chosen charities. 

Bradley Walsh presents.

News reporter Sean Fletcher, Weather girl Laura Tobin, journalist Charlotte Hawkins, and presenter Ben Shepherd have to work together to build up as much money into the team prize fund without getting caught by the Chaser. 

The Chasers:

Anne Hegerty

Mark Labbett

Jenny Ryan

Paul Sinha

Shaun Wallace

What Next For the Doctor Who Blu Rays?

 

What's Next for the Doctor Who Blu Rays?

Hello all.

In today's blog post we're going to be talking about the Doctor Who Classic Series Blu Ray box sets and what is next to be expected from the line.

As we know, Season 14 is still due to be released next month it is scheduled to be released on the 5th of May. The boxset will include all 26 episodes of the six stories from that season including: The Masque of Mandragora, The Hand of Fear, The Deadly Assassin, The Face of Evil, The Robots of Death, and The Talons of Weng-Chaing (my personal all time favourite Doctor Who story) 

So this boxset is a winner for me and contains stories that are highly regarded amongst fans. 

But what can we expect next? I'm we'd all love to see our favourite season of Doctor Who on blu-ray if we haven't already. What would you like to see released next?

From what we already know Season 20 is happening because Peter Davison and Janet Fielding announced it at a convention in Germany, and the rumours say Season 11 as well which is Jon Pertwee's final season.

There have also been announcements of plans for filming a documentary which contains location hopping and it's hard to pin point seasons which have multiple locations, the only one that comes to mind is Davison's final season, Season 21. 

Personally, I would like to see Season 21 as it has some strong stories in there such as Resurrection of the Daleks, and The Caves of Androzani as well as a few fun ones such as Warriors of the Deep and Frontios. Say what you like about Warriors of the Deep I think it's all right. In regards to the artwork, Season 21 also has Colin Baker's first story 'The Twin Dilemma' so it would be interesting to see the cover art for that, you can include a dalek on the front cover to help with marketing. I would say Season 21 is my personal recommendation to release next.

Season 25 would also be good, perhaps they can do some CGI work on Remembrance of the Daleks or Silver Nemesis.

And Season 11, of course I'd prefer Season 8 or 9 if they were going to release another box set from the Pertwee era, however it would make sense considering we do have Season 10 and 12, it would be nice to fill the gap. We have all the episodes, even though Invasion of the Dinosaurs Part One is in black and white, Special feature wise, because these box sets contain updated special effects on stories I'm sure the obvious choice would be to fix the dinosaurs in Invasion of the Dinosaurs. I wouldn't say use CGI effects more use better dinosaur models. I'm a fan who loves the campness of Doctor Who and to use better dinosaurs models or puppets would be better for the production and that story will always been known as 'the one with the dodgy dinosaurs' so you can't really take that away from the story by having better dinosaur models. Perhaps they could fix the re-colouring of Invasion of the Dinosaurs Part One as that looks very ropey and could be better polished.

My own personal choice if they were add new visual effects to a story of that season would be 'Planet of the Spiders' Imagine a huge CGI The Great One. That would look incredible. Giant spiders are scary and to see that would fulfil the imagination just like the rat in Talons of Weng Chiang which sticks out like a saw thumb and now that they've added new CGI effects it looks seemless. So so good. You can also clean and tidy up other things too such as the Whomobile flying, that looks very ropy, and other CSO backgrounds like Metabelis Three. We could include a similar backdrop which includes the blue moon as seen in The Green Death or something similar.

Another thing about the blu rays is I like how they've released not so highly regarded seasons first such as Season 23. They didn't wait to leave that till the third or second last box set to be released of the sets run. We could expect another two or three years of these releases. As a collector you go to all the trouble of buying them all on DVD only to buy them all again on Blu Ray. But, I've got six of these sets so I'm fully committed, I can't go back now. I also know how stressful it is to get these sets after market, so it's important to bare in mind to remember to pre-order on the day that a new box set gets announced. 

Of course I buy these sets for the beautiful cover artwork, and to see the new special features, but these box sets do prove to be worth their money and as a fan I will buy it anyway. 

As these box sets continue, I hope to be more amazed and excited about the next boxset as I was the last containing new, fun, orginal material that excites and impresses.

Mortal Kombat 11 - Is Kombat League Worth It?

 

Mortal Kombat 11

Is Kombat League Worth It? 

Hello all, and welcome back to my blog.

Hope you all had a good easter weekend, despite the stay at home restictions following the Covid 19 outbreak. 

On the blog today, I bring you another Mortal Kombat post, this time focussing on Kombat League and asking the question is it really worth it?

What is Kombat League? for the people who don't know or have never played Mortal Kombat 11, Kombat League is a competitive online contest where players from all over the world compete to climb the ranks of Mortal Kombat and earn exclusive rewards by building upa certain amount of kombat points, the more points you earn the higher your score will become up until you have enough points to 'rank up'. You can also earn rewards by completing a series of tasks within kombat league matches for example 'perfrom 25 throws' or 'perform 15 uppercuts' or something like that. 

Kombat League seasons have their own themes such as 'The season of chaos' or 'The season or scorcery' or 'The season of conquest' whatever the season's theme there are four skins you can win for characters in the game and depending what rank you are at the end of the season will determin what rewards you earn. 

The Ranks

Here is a progress chart from a previous Kombat League season, which highlights the ranks and what rewards come with it.

For instance, Noob Saibot is Apprentice and above, Frost is Champion and above, and Cassie Cage is Demi God and above. To get Sub Zero you need to complete all the kombat league tasks and ensure you've ticked all the boxes, kombat league tasks are not that hard to complete, and neither are the first three levels. It's only when you get to champion and above that things start to get a little tricky and more competitve.

The overall idea is that the computer pairs you up with a player of similar skill to you, but that hardly ever turns out to be the case as the randomiser has a habit of pairing you with players of higher and lower rank than you and calculating a percentage of your chances of winning the match.

To win a match against an oppenet you must win two matches, a best of three matches at most. Wins earn you points, where as losing can have points taken off you.

Here's the problem with Kombat League. To most players Kombat League isn't fun, according to the players.

According to recent poll put out on Twitter asking Mortal Kombat 11 players if kombat league didn't have any rewards would you still play it? the vast majority said No. 85 per cent in fact, that's a landslide majority and an overwhelming response. They wouldn't even touch kombat league if it didn't have rewards. The same question was asked on YouTube as well and 83 per cent of the overall feedback was people didn't want to play kombat league if it didn't have rewards.

Now this could mean certain number of things, it could mean that certain players just prefer custom variations or that people just prefer playing offline, but these poll results do highlight an important issue with Mortal Kombat 11 and that is; kombat league isn't fun.

At the very least, it's frustraiting enough that people don't want to play unless there are some insentives involved. So how can kombat league be improved? So let's start off my talking about the wifi/internet connection debate.

Realistically the match is always almost going to be more enjoyable if both people have a LAN connection because even if your wifi connection is good its always going to dip in quality every now and again. I have had my fair share of landing into laggy matches or the connection cuts out unexplainably. It can be extremely irratating. So allow a preference setting for LAN/Wifi Matches - or possibly the option to only play with LAN players. So that way if a player then knows if they're losing it's them and not the laggy match.

And then of course,  if you are playing on wifi you can get paired up with other wifi players or LAN players as well. I don't really have a preference I just want the match to be good. Something that would also make a nice requirement to fixing this problem is having a minimum amount of bars before playing online. 3 - 5 bars. Other games like Tekkan 7 have this, and I think Street Fighter 5 has this as well. So this is idea one for how to improve kombat league.

Idea number two would be to reduce or remove the penalty for losing to someone who is a lower rank than you. Because that just adds a lot of stress to the game and the player is thinking about the amount of points they are going to lose rather than concentraiting on what they need to be focussing on which is the match. And the outcome isn't good if they lose. It is something that does piss players off and means they then have to work towards getting those points back by playing more matches with no gaurentee you will get points back, you could get on to a losing streak which will then cause you to get so fed up you don't want to play anymore.

I sympathise with how frustraiting that can be, and say if come across a highly experienced player who is really good and on a completly different level to you but isn't online all of the time so their rank is abit lower than yours and they beat you which causes to lose points. It's horrible for both players. The loser get upset because they lost points and the winner will feel bad having taken points off you. My suggestion for providing a solution to thsi would be to have the penalty for losing to someone lower ranked to removed or the much prefered option would be to remove the penality completly. Especially when you as the player don't have the option to decline playing someone who is lower ranked than you, and Mortal Kombat 11 is very popular so there are tones of players who are the same rank and on the same level as you.

Going back to what I said about the wifi setting, it would be fantastic is the player could have the choice if there was a setting that would enable the player to choose which ranks you can fight - lower, higher or on the same level as you. Although that could cause a delay or longer waiting period between opponents. So overall the best way to resolve this perticular issue is to remove the penalty of losing points if you lose to someone whose lower ranked than you. Unfortuntly a harsh reality to bare in mind is skill does not actually corolate to the rank in the actual game. Some could be an Apprentice but have the skill of Demi God or God level.

It seems really cruel to be penalised for losing to another player who is more skilled at playing the game than you are. Having said that I do think that gaining points for winning a match against a player at a higher rank to you is a great feature, providing you don't punish the player whose above you. Don't forget skill does not corolate when playing kombat league. They're probably a higher rank because they've played more matches than you so beating them and getting highly rewarded for it makes sense.

It would also encourage players to keep playing the game and playing for longer without getting burned out. Losing to someone who is lower ranked than you or getting on a losing streak will just make the player so frustarited and fed up they'll just want to stop playing. As a game developer the main question you should be asking yourself is 'How do I keep them playing?' So I believe removing penalties and keeping rewards for beating someone higher than you is a good idea, and if you want to go the extra mile you can give the player the option to choose who do they fight. Anyone - regardless of whether they're above you or below you, players who are just your rank and above, or players who are just your rank. This would be a really cool feature to add.

These changes will also most likly improve how the player plays the game as well. Say for example if you're playing a match and a 'rank up' was at stake where you could progress from Warrior rank to Champion, players are going to highly likly zone out.

They're tactics will be very spammy, they really don't want to lose. In fact, they're desire to win is so strong that they will play as cheap or spammy as possible just to get the win. They'll likly throw projectiles at you or spam you with the same moves and kombos. They won't care how they win, they'll care that did win.

So if the penalty was removed and rewards stayed that wouldn't happen so much. Overall, you'd have better and more happy players.So that's change number two and my reasoning behind it.

Change number three, for me would be to add more than one daily goal for players. Give them reasons to keep playing each day.

I understand daily goals are there to plant the insentive for the player to keep playing, as it looks good for Netherrealm studios and their investors, they want to keep you playing and keep you online.

So with that in mind, I would say have two or three daily goals each day, have the one the goals remain as play five sets a day, but make the other two a bit more challenging. For example a goal could be win three matches in a row, or win five matches in a row. Or better still give them goals and objectives to keep playing, so currently the only goal is to play five sets a day. But what if there was a goal that said play ten sets a day, that keep the players playing as they would want to achieve both goals instead of just the one.

For me, I play five sets a day win or lose and then I leave, I stop playing. So by having multiple daily goals I would want to keep playing. It's a win win for both Netherrealm and the players playing which is a good thing. As a player and fan of Mortal Kombat I would want more reasons to keep playing the game other than play just five sets. I play my five sets and then I'm done.

So those are a couple of suggestions for the way in which Kombat League could be improved.

There were two other ideas suggested by two other people in how Kombat League which even these arn't my own I still wanted to mention them.

The first suggestion was to remove the penalties for not playing the game for more than three consecutive days or at least move it to the top three ranks - Demi God, God, and Elder God. The idea behind this is players who have managed to achieve Demi God or above are the ones who take the game more seriously and therefore are more likly to play every single day.

Given that Mortal Kombat is a game rated 18+ means that the people who play the game are adults who have jobs or other things going on in their lives besides playing a fighting game on their console. They can't play every singled day or every three days.

Having said this I don't think this change is one that's likely to happen as it's there as an insentive for players to keep playing. So although I understand why many people would to see this change, it isn't something that likely to happen in the foreseable future.

And the other thing which was suggested which was a popular ideas was to remove the ability to do fatalities in kombat league, as it allows players to immediatly move on to the next fight. As great as fatalities are they do delay the game itself. Players are more interested in moving on to playing the next match but instead they're stuck waiting for that to happen. I know that some people may not agree with this change, myself included but even in world championship tournaments they recommend players NOT to fatalties because it delays the tournament. Fatalties can be a bit of a dick thing to do as well delay things for the other player who just wants to move on to the next match. So I don't believe this change would be a bad idea but also don't think it's a necessaity. If this did happen, I would say keep Brutalties as they're still flashy and fun.

So is Kombat League worth it? At the moment its not to a lot of players as things can go south very quickly and you do come across a lot of spammy Scorpion, Sub Zero, and Liu Kang players who just do the same thing over and over.

I love the rewards, the love the idea, and it can be fun in places and really rewarding, however make a couple of necessary tweaks and kombat league could be so much better and worth while for everybody.

Coming Up on The Sunday Podcast

COMING UP ON THE SUNDAY SHOWCASE PODCAST

Episode:  4/10

Broadcast Date: Sunday 26th April 2020

Time: 12pm

Published: Sunday 12th April 2020

Coming up on the podcast this week are: A few tips to help you through the Monday morning blues, Sunday Shoutouts and messages from listeners, and a chat with the actor and director Tim Hoyle, actors Matt Hughes Short, and Katherine Steed on their play 'Alligators'  

Keep a look out on the Radio Verulam website. 

Daniel Bury hosts. 

COMING UP on The Chase - Emmerdale Special

COMING UP ON THE CHASE

THE CHASE EMMERDALE SPECIAL

Episode:  3

Transmission: Friday 17th April 2020

Week: 13th - 17th April 2020

Published: Thursday 9th April 2020

*NEW SERIES*

Tonight, the cast of Emmerdale think they have what it takes to take on a chaser to win thousands of pounds for their chosen charities. 

Bradley Walsh presents.

Tony Audenshaw, Natalie J.Robb, Fiona Wade and Jeff Hordley have to work together to build up as much money into the team prize fund without getting caught by the Chaser. 

The Chasers:

Anne Hegerty

Mark Labbett

Jenny Ryan

Paul Sinha

Shaun Wallace

COMING UP ON THE SUNDAY PODCAST

COMING UP ON THE SUNDAY SHOWCASE PODCAST

Episode:  3/10

Broadcast Date: Sunday 19th April 2020

Time: 2pm

Published: Tuesday 7th April 2020

Coming up on the podcast this week are: Tips for Monday, Sunday Shoutouts, and a chat with the head of Menspire Oliver Moorhouse! 

Keep a look out on the Radio Verulam website. 

Daniel Bury hosts. 

COMING SOON: DOCTOR WHO - The Audio Adventures - Series 4 : SEPTEMBER 2020

COMING SOON

DOCTOR WHO: THE AUDIO ADVENTURES - SERIES FOUR

SEPTEMBER 2020

I'm excited to announce the return of the Doctor Who Audio Adventures. 

Ten stories in total are lined up to make up the series, told over twelve weekly episodes from September 2020. 

Featuring enemies old and new such as: The Judoon, The Daleks, The Cybermen, The Ice Warriors and a few other surprises which I can't reveal just yet as I don't want to spoil the big reveal. 

This is the most ambiguous, bold, and adventurous series there has been, also weaving in a few story arcs which will come to light leading up to the series finale in September.

I have an episode guide which I'm happy to reveal. 

EPISODE GUIDE

EPISODE 1: VANDETTA IN LAS VEGAS

Written By Daniel Bury

Saturday 5th September 2020

The Doctor decides to forego a quiet trip to Cornwall and take Kara and Pip on a much-needed holiday to Las Vegas. Only Vegas is not the Vegas we know. Terradactils fly above the sky, aliens gamble in the casino, and hover cars wiz about all over the flashing light city. Vegas isn’t quite what the TARDIS team had imagined, what will they find when they start snooping around into places where they’re not supposed to, and what has happened to the manager? An old friend and nemesis of the Doctor is at large in Vegas. It soon becomes a race against time for the Doctor to find out what his adversary is up to and put an end to their plans before all of the planet Vegas is destroyed in the process.

EPISODE 2:  CALCATRAX

Written By Christopher Cribb & Stephen Hynes

Saturday 12th September 2020

A star falls to earth or something that looks like a star. Months later, strange power fluctuations frequently keep happening in the local area near Stratford. Arriving on the scene and noticing the problem, the TARDIS team offer to help. With the power fluctuations getting worse and people going missing, the mystery deepens when the Doctor comes to inspect the newton power complex. The alien Calcatrax is draining the town's energy, and if not handled carefully she will consume the whole city, and then the whole of London and then the world.

EPISODE 3: THE BELLS OF ST ALBANS

Written By Daniel Bury

Saturday 19th September 2020

The Bells of St Albans are ringing, 12 strikes at noon 12 strikes at midnight. 

There is a rumor going around of a ghostly monk who haunts the Abbey in the shadows.

Arriving at the Abbey by happenstance The Doctor, Pip, and Kara come to investigate the truths behind the stories of the history of St Albans and unlock the mysteries time has left behind, with help from Father Richard Lethbridge Stewart. The Doctor is not all surprised when he discovers what's behind the truth or more importantly. Whom...

EPISODE 4: THE MARK OF THE VALHEY

Written By Anne Welsh & Daniel Bury

Saturday 26th September 2020

Preparations are being made to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Shataran Empire. King Ash is dead and a new King reigns supreme and with a new king comes new policies and customs which alternate the development of the Shataran Empire, and a new Empire is born.

The Doctor, Pip and Kara arrive thirty years after the succession of the new-founded King to the throne. For most of his reign, there has been peace and prosperity. The Empire flourished. But five years ago, the dreaded war came. And nothing was ever the same again. Now the Shatarans are in the middle of a long and bloody war with the mysterious alien race known as the Valhey led by the evil dark warlord Emperor Zarda. As more and more on both sides perish in the war, events are rushing to a head. 

What exactly does Zarda want? What is the secret of the Valhey's weapon, the terrifying 'Mark of the Valhey'? As the Doctor, Pip, and Kara race to save an Empire, they may not like the answers they find. 

 

 

EPISODE 5: AMELIA EARHART'S FIGHT OR FLIGHT

Written By Daniel Bury & Jaime Harrison

Saturday 3rd October 2020

The TARDIS arrives in 1937 and who else does the Doctor bump into but Amelia Earhart. The story on how Amelia Earhart disappeared remains a mystery to all. However, there are some things which can't be kept secret for long.

EPISODE 6: DEEP FREEZE

Written By Daniel Bury 

Saturday 10th October 2020

When a snowstorm causes the TARDIS to crash land in the snowy mountains of Northern Canada, the Doctor, Pip and Kara find themselves stuck in the snow with no means of escape and are sure to freeze to death if they don't find help, fortunately, they are rescued by Captain Walton and his crew from the FLOSD (Frost line outer space defense) The Frost Line Outer Space Defense system is a network of missile complexes stretching three thousand miles across Nothern Canada.

They are dedicated to protecting the earth against extraterrestrial threats. What they didn't count on, however, were a small group of Viking like warriors buried underneath the ice, Ice Warriors. Who take control of the system with the intention of destroying major frost line bases. General Ward, the bad-tempered frost line commander is planning to aim missiles on Mars should the Ice Warriors attack Earth, can the Doctor resolve conflict before there is a blood bath?  

 

EPISODE 7: THE JUDOON CONTRACT

Written By Daniel Bury 

Saturday 17th October 2020

The Doctor is on trail. Again. Plucked out of time and space by an H20 scoop by the Judoon, he is charged with transgressing against the laws of time. He must defend himself against the prosecution and present his case in order to save himself and his two companions who are nowhere to be found. But all Judoon Contracts must be fulfilled.

EPISODE 8&9: STILL HUMAN

Written By Daniel Bury & Jaime Harrison

PART ONE: Saturday 24th October 2020

Whilst detecting some time distortion in a junk yard in 2020 present day London, some unkown stranger comes from out of the shadows and kidnaps Pip. The Doctor and Kara persue the masked stranger to get Pip back, only to find that the stranger was followed by an even more dangerous foe. Time can be re-written but at what cost? The chase is on to unlock the mystery and find the much needed answers before the world and history as we know it changes forever.

PART TWO: Saturday 31st October 2020

The Doctor, Pip, and Kara travel forward to a distant future across the time field to find themselves on Earth in the middle of a war which leaves destruction and casulaties in its wake. The Doctor resorts to one last final resort but in doing so he is left with a terrible choice to make. 

EPISODE 10: DOUBLE TROUBLE

Written By Daniel Bury & Jaime Harrison

Saturday 7th November 2020

One of Doctor's old foes The Vixen tries to steal a computer drive from one of the universes' top secret security establishments and ends up teaming up with another of the Doctor's old enemies The Rani. Who also wants the computer drive. They form an alliance to get back at the Doctor, and from the looks of things, he'd better watch out! 

EPISODE 11: INCURSION OF THE DALEKS

Written By Daniel Bury 

Saturday 14th November 2020

The Earth is under threat from invasion and there is no warning, as people on Earth are dying in their millions the people of Earth have no choice but to submit and the Doctor is powerless to stop the Daleks.

EPISODE 12: AT WORLDS END

Written By Daniel Bury 

Saturday 21st November 2020

As the rebels continue to make a long and futitle fight-back against the Daleks. The Doctor has it out with an old friend. 

 

But as the true, terrible nature of the Daleks' plan is beginning to emerge there is blood on many people's hands.

To defeat the Daleks it can only be a struggle... at World's End. 

NEW MORTAL KOMBAT NEWS: Kombat Pack 2 Announcement - Tuesday 7th April

So I saw this come up on my Instagram yesterday. 

This is supposedly true, I have heard rumours and I'm not entirely sure whether this is genuine.

An announcement that Netherrealm Studios have made that they'll be making an announcement regarding a Kombat Pack 2. The announcement will be 3pm on the 7th April CST. So in our time that's 6pm. 

They've invited gamers and Mortal Kombat fans to join NRS Twitch for the announcement. 

If this is true then it's a confirmed thumbs up to us getting a Kombat Pack 2. 

I have heard rumours of which characters will be featuring. I've heard Fujin, Sheeva, Takeda, Sekor and Cyrax will be in this pack. As will Ash Williams and Robocop. 

The fact there is even news of an announcement is exciting enough for me as you never really know what to expect or what surprises Nether Realm have waiting round the corner. I'm sure I'll be happy with whatever is announced. But I am keeping my fingers crossed for certain characters making an appearance in this pack. 

That's if it's true. 

COMING UP on THE SUNDAY SHOWCASE PODCAST

COMING UP ON THE SUNDAY SHOWCASE PODCAST

Episode:  2/8

Broadcast Date: Sunday 12th April 2020

Time: 2pm

Published: Friday 3rd April 2020

Coming up on the podcast this week are Tips for Monday, Sunday Shoutouts, and an archive interview with Emma Bustamante from Cositas St Albans, and Elise Tyler from Home of Dessert. 

Keep a look out on the Radio Verulam website. 

Daniel Bury hosts. 

COMING UP on The Chase - Coronation Street Special

COMING UP ON THE CHASE

THE CHASE CORONATION STREET SPECIAL

Episode:  2

Transmission: Friday 10th April 2020

Week: 6th - 12th April 2020

Published: Thursday 2nd April

*NEW SERIES*

Tonight, the cast of Coronation Street think they have what it takes to take on a chaser to win thousands of pounds for their chosen charities. 

Bradley Walsh presents.

Charlie De Melo, Alexandra Mardell, Jane Danson, and William Roach have to work together to build up as much money into the team prize fund without getting caught by the Chaser. 

The Chasers:

Anne Hegerty

Mark Labbett

Jenny Ryan

Paul Sinha

Shaun Wallace