Farewell to the Lyric Hotel

As time trundles on, we forget places that once seemed important and then quite often find out decades later that they are gone. I recently discovered that the Lyric Hotel in Blackpool was demolished in 2023. Some Doctor Who fans of a certain generation will remember the Lyric as the hub of the annual Blackpool gatherings that took place each May. The Lyric was every much the centre of these events as half the attendees stayed there, the others in a hotel two doors way, and were sure of a warm welcome from the family that owned the hotel. As far as I can tell the Lyric did not relocate and so is gone forever which I suppose also reflects changing times.

 

Timelash

 In a nihilistic season packed with implied or actual violence, `Timelash` stands apart as being a more traditional Doctor Who story. A regular near the foot of fan votes it seems to be written off as a bit of a mess. Yet like such stories there is something of worth if you watch it with an open mind and try to forget all the brickbats that have been hurled towards it. With Pennant Roberts again lumbered with bright sets (as he was in `Warriors of the Deep`) the story is already hamstrung while Glen McCoy’s script feels like it needed more work and production values are not the best. There are interesting concepts within it but the resulting production doesn’t always do justice to them. I’ve heard `Timelash` summarised variously yet almost always in the negative but I would say its middling. I don’t even think it’s the worst story of this season but I would agree that it’s presentation does not help its case.