Daleks, the ancient foe of the Time Lords, are not known for their sense of humour. The classic Dalek joke is an image of the wheeled menaces stumped by a flight of stairs – Russell T. Davies, in his tradition of liberating anything and everything from the shackles of convention, decided that they could fly instead.
Now it emerges that a Dalek has been caught trying to tell a joke, and not a very good one. Given that the clip had to have been made before 1987 (when Patrick Troughton, who participates, died – and sadly didn’t regenerate) it cannot be blamed on Davies, but more likely on a misguided enterprise to turn the metallic exterminators into some kind of new, rounded BBC personality, perhaps even leaving the way open for a chat show. In the 1980s, anything could happen.
Still, perhaps some people would like it – many things are in the eye of the beholder, after all, or even in the mind. Speaking this morning on ‘London’s Biggest Conversation’ robustly right wing funnyman Nick Ferrari lead with typically provocative ‘food allergies… is it all in the mind?’ a point anyone who has had their head explode after eating a peanut will clearly take issue with. But then that’s the point of red top-style radio like Ferrari’s breakfast show, to provoke and entertain – and he does it very, very well.
In a similar vein, although with less thought resultantly provoked, is the current trend for deathwatch journalism. Amy Winehouse has three months to live, according to her incarcerated other half. The sectioned Britney Spears has six months to live, according to to a ‘top US psychologist’, twice the time – a judgement that may seem unfair to Dame Edna Everage, who values the former’s talent but regards the latter as a ‘non-entity‘. We may be depressed that this all passes largely without (human) comment or quiet assistance – but Nick Ferrari is a veteran of such territory. In the 1980s, the fearless Sun reporter made his name on the paper’s then nascent Bizarre columnn, famously claiming ‘Junkie George Has Only Eight Weeks To Live‘. After a spell in rehab, Boy George survived. Fast forward from 1986 to 2007, and this happened. There is no deep message to take from this.
News hour, with Jerry Caesar 