I recently caught up with Paul Taylor-Greaves who not only runs the wonderful Timevault Podcasts but also blogs away at Seaside Scribbler. I wanted to ask Paul more about how he got into podcasting, his views on Doctor Who, Blake's 7 and of course the Carry Ons, not to mention his soft spot for a certain Ms Carol Hawkins...
- First of all I'd love to know how you came to start your wonderful podcasts in the first place?
How long have you got?! Well, back in the Nineties myself
and a friend ran a short lived fanzine called Cadmium2, named after the lethal radiation leak that wiped out the
crew of Red Dwarf. We’d always liked
writing about our favourite subjects (Doctor
Who, Red Dwarf, Blackadder, Babylon 5 etc) and this seemed like a good way
of getting that to a wider audience. I was already writing for a Doctor Who fanzine called Metamorph, so it wasn’t much of a
stretch. Anyway, this came to an end after a couple of years and we didn’t
think much more about it. Then in 2007 podcasts were just starting to take off
and one of us suggested we should revive the old Cadmium2 idea as a podcast. So
both us, along with my brother, Mike, recorded a pilot, to see if we were any
good. It was diabolical. Really and truly awful, never to see the light of day.
We all agreed that we would never, ever do it again. Four months later we
launched in May 2007. Cadmium2: The
Podcast was born.
I have always been an enormous fan of British TV, film and
radio and it seemed like a good focus for the show. The idea was to watch and
review every episode of Doctor Who, in order, from the
beginning. With two shows a month, we’d do one Doctor Who and
the other would cover something else from Britain’s massive back catalogue.
Three and a half years later, there was an acrimonious, Beatles-style break up,
only without the fame and money and the podcast came to an end after 82 shows.
However, in that time we covered not only the first 191 episodes of Doctor
Who (41 stories, 1963-1968) but also Timeslip, The Stone Tape,
The Tomorrow People, The Box of Delights, Nebulous, Red Dwarf, Withnail &
I, Children of the Stones, Ghostwatch, Blake’s 7, Captain Scarlet, The
Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, Hot Fuzz, The Avengers, The Slide, The Mighty
Boosh, She-Wolf of London, Ultraviolet, Dead Set, Village of the Damned,
Children of the Damned, Monty Python’s Life of Brian, Dr Jekyll & Sister
Hyde, Dark Season and Robin of Sherwood!
We were proud and faintly astonished that something
originally intended as a hobby for us ended up with listeners all over the
world, who were not only interested in what we had to say but also tracked down
the things we covered to experience them for themselves. What more could you
want? Well, as it turned out, our listeners wanted us to carry on. So,
after about six months of emails and Facebook requests, Mike and I returned in
February 2011 with TimeVault and we’ve now been going for six
years - longer than the podcast we spun off from. As the original Cadmium2 podcasts are no longer available,
we’re re-doing the first four series of Doctor Who whilst
continuing the chronological viewing, so that we have a complete set for this
podcast. I still can’t believe we’ve been podcasting for ten years. During that
time I’ve got married and had children!
- You are also a blogger at Seaside
Scribbler. How did you get into blogging and what in particular do you like to
blog about?
I have been blogging for as long as I’ve been podcasting,
however I am a terrible blogger. I
start a blog, get bored of it, delete it, and start another, get bored of that,
delete it and start another, and so on until the universe explodes. I like
writing but unless you have an audience to comment on your articles and have a
debate with, it all seems a bit pointless – and as there are now millions of
blogs out there it gets harder to find that audience. These days I write when
the mood takes me, which might be days, weeks or months apart. Seaside Scribbler I only started in
March this year, so it has only a few posts on it. I’ll see how long I can this
one up for! I’ve decided to write about books I like, TV, film, radio, whatever
takes my fancy at the time, really. I’m going to repost an old one I did about
Ingrid Pitt soon. I wrote it the day after she died and, when originally
posted, it got thousands of hits. As no-one knows about my new blog it might
get three this time around :D.
- I love your podcasts on both Carry
On Cruising and Carry On Abroad. Were they fun to do and why did you pick these
holiday-themed films?
Thank you very much. They were great fun to do,
unsurprisingly, as they’re both such great films. We picked those because we
knew we were releasing them fairly close to each so we themed them as Holiday Carry On’s from extreme ends of
the series, showing the difference between the humour as the decades passed.
Unlike the main podcast, which is where we watch something, then record our
thoughts and opinions, we did the COs as DVD commentaries. This was because
there are quite a few things we’d like to cover that don’t necessarily lend
themselves to that level of discussion or analysis. The Avengers is a perfect example of this. We recorded two shows in
our house style and the problem we found was that as each episode is standalone
and there is little to no character development, all we ended up doing was
commenting on how good the leads were and how good or bad the story was – and
you end up saying exactly the same things about every episode. You don’t have
many places to go with it and it’s quite dull to listen to. A commentary lets
you pick up on particular moments, gaffes in the production, highlights of
script, design or performance – and you can riff on things spontaneously that
you can’t in the other format. The Carry On’s are absolutely perfect for this.
- You recently blogged about the
plans for a new Carry On film. I think we have similar opinions on this
project. Why do you think reviving the series is a bad idea?
Ah. Well, as I say in the blog (https://theseasidescribbler.wordpress.com/2017/03/06/carrying-on-again/)
I think that the type of films that the COs are don’t lend themselves well to
being rebooted in the 21st century. They were a window onto the decades they were made in. The films
from the 50’s are markedly different in tone from those made in the 60’s, which
are also different from those made in the 70’s. There’s nothing to suggest that
a modern revival of the series couldn’t reflect contemporary mores and manners,
except for the fact that humour in today’s society has to tread so very, very
carefully. In a modern world where everyone’s opinion can be broadcast across
the world in a nanosecond, and knee-jerk offence can be generated even faster,
I can’t see how the Carry On‘s can be brought back now without
diluting what they were. Humour has changed so drastically too. What was
considered a bit saucy back in the day is so tame by 21st century standards
that if you tried to emulate it, it just wouldn’t be accepted. The alternative
would take it in a direction it was never meant to go. Also, unless you’re able
to find a cast that will come back time and again for a series of films,
building up the loyalty and familiarity the original cast had with the
audience, I don’t see how it could work.
There is a lack of originality in films now that is
frightening. And it’s all about money rather than creativity, which is why all
these old, successful films are getting modern reboots; cashing in on audience
nostalgia without having to create something new. For me the Carry On’s are a lifelong love and no
matter how hard they try to recreate that magic, they won’t, because it happens
by accident. Anyway, if Carry On Doctors
actually happens I’ll eat the Pocket
Essentials Book of Carry On; a penalty for me for being cynical and a
service to mankind, as the fewer copies of that dreadful book there are
knocking around, the better for everyone.
 |
| Photo: Short Trips: How The Doctor Changed My Life, published by Big Finish. |
- I can see from your website that
you are big fans of all things sci-fi. For someone who has never, ever seen
Doctor Who (sorry!) can you explain the appeal?
Well, actually I’m not a big fan of all things sci-fi at
all. I watch very little sci-fi (if by that, you mean spaceships and all that
stuff) but Doctor Who and Blake’s 7 were two shows I grew up with
as a child and they have stayed with me ever since – although I don’t watch 21st
century Doctor Who as I find it
rather overblown and poorly written, despite excellent production values and
superb choices of lead actor. But that’s a long conversation for another time!
I think the appeal of Doctor
Who is the go-anywhere-do-anything nature of it. You can tell practically
any story you like within its format- and it has done! There is also a
wonderful sense of inclusion, particularly in the original 1963-89 run. The
TARDIS could land on your street and the Doctor and his friends would cheerfully
whisk you away for thrilling adventures. That appealed very much to me as a six
year old in 1979. It still does!
- Quite a few Carry On actors have
appeared in Doctor Who over the years. Do you have a favourite guest star and
why?
Bernard Bresslaw gives an amazing performance as Varga,
the Ice Warrior, especially considering he is under all that makeup and
costume. Totally against what you expect him to be playing and he’s great.
Joan Sims is my favourite CO actor, unfortunately she
didn’t enjoy her guest part in the series, and it shows.
- You have also recorded some James
Bond commentaries. What makes you such a fan of these very British
blockbusters?
Well, my dad got me into Carry Ons, Doctor Who, Blake’s 7 and Bond when I was very little – so you can blame him! There is
something about the British attitude to stories that appeals to me more than,
say, US dramas. I always struggle to pinpoint what it is. Not a very helpful
answer, sorry!
- Hammer Horror films are also among
your favourites. I've been fortunate enough to interview Valerie Leon and
Madeline Smith who both made Hammer films. Do you have a favourite Hammer film?
I’ve loved Hammer films since I was about 12, so that
would be about 1985. I defiantly live in the past when it comes to TV and film.
My DVD collection spans 1934-2016 and the largest section is between 1950 and
1979. I just prefer the way they made things back then. My favourite Hammer is…
hmm… that’s quite tricky. I’ll give you a Top 5 so I can avoid giving a
straight answer. In no particular order: Dracula
A.D.1972, The Plague of the Zombies, Twins of Evil, The Devil Rides Out and
Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde.
- Why do you think the Carry On films
are still so popular so many years after they were made?
I suppose the question is really, are they still popular?
They’re popular with people like you and me who grew up with them, but are
today’s kids getting hooked like we did? I’m not sure. For me, they remain a
firm favourite because they are funny, cheeky, smutty and warm. The principal
was simple: life is a joke, let’ have a good laugh about it. Never taking
themselves – or anyone else – seriously was part of the appeal. I watched Abroad last night and underneath all the
collapsing roofs, short skirts and randy middle-aged men, is a story about a
group of desperately unhappy people rediscovering the fun in life and their
love for each other. Look at the way Vic and Cora change over the course of the
film. Beautifully done. There are quite a few COs that have that extra
dimension that gets ignored by snobby critics and I think that’s a shame. Also,
if you want a good, hard double entendre, they’ll happily give you one…
- You've mentioned you have a bit of
a soft spot for the lovely Carol Hawkins - when did you first discover her
work?
Doesn’t everyone? Who are these people and why haven’t
they been given a good talking to? Funnily enough, I can’t remember when I
first saw her. I was quite young when I saw her in Blake’s 7 and Carry On Abroad
but I must have been about 13 when my hormones kicked in. Since then I’ve
managed to see her in pretty much everything she’s been in that’s been made
available to buy – and quite a few things that haven’t! I even like Not Now Comrade which, let’s be honest,
is a terrible film. Unless you have a glass of wine or two first, in which case
it’s a 70s classic!
- What's your all-time favourite
Carry On film and why?
That’s tough. There are so many to love. If I had to give
an answer or be nailed to a tree, I would say Cowboy. It’s a tremendous piece of work with everyone firing on all
cylinders. Is it Jim Dale’s finest CO performance? I think it could well be.
Angela Douglas is terrific and the scene between her, Joan and Edina Ronay
fighting in Marshall’s bedroom may be my favourite CO moment of all time.
- Finally, please tell me you plan to record more Carry On
commentaries! And if not, why not?!
Yes, we do! In fact we’re hoping to get another couple in
for this year. We have several nice pairs lined up (ahem): Sergeant/England,
Camping/Behind and Nurse/Matron, as well as doing some standalone ones.
Our podcast website is https://thetimevault.wordpress.com
where you can listen and/or download our episodes - and you can find us on
iTunes by searching thetimevault (all one word).
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