Entropic State Report 21st April 2023

It’s been a couple of weeks since our The Final Programme Phase IV – The Last Days of Man on Earth episode went live and I’m STILL thinking about casting for an alternate sphere movie version. Only this morning another revelation hit my twitter feed c/o legend Robin Askwith, a still from Horror Hospital with his co-star Vanessa Shaw. I saw it and my instant reaction was – CATHERINE AND FRANK!

They would make a dream casting accompaniment to Mick and Anita as Jerry and Miss Brunner too…

There is a legend out there that suggests Mick Jagger turned down the role of Jerry but it may be apocryphal. If it’s true though I can understand why as he’d already hit (at least tangentially) similar territory in the incredible Nic Roeg film, Performance – something we referred to in the show. I’ve been thinking about Performance ever since and I suspect it’s something we’ll need to talk about in Derry & Toms at some point down the line.

But back to Robin Askwith for a moment. Whilst primarily known for his roles in British telly and a variety of low-budget films in the 70s, particularly saucy comedies, he got his screen start in the Lindsay Anderson film …If which was itself the introduction of the Mick Travis character that Malcolm MacDowell would continue to portray in O Lucky Man! and (along with Askwith returning to his own role) Britannia Hospital.

For that reason, Askwith is part of the extremely credible raft of character actors that occupy my mind palace whenever I’m daydreaming about the odder, counter-cultural, subversive and/or transgressive British cultural artefacts. 

I also love his pictures of Windsor Davies.

A sitcom legend, Windsor was an actor I adored as a kid largely because he looked a hell of a lot like Pops. He could do a serious turn too and would have made a pretty great Colonel Pyat and, in a several-degrees-of-separation kind of situation, he appeared on screen at least once with the screen version of Professor Hira himself, Hugh Griffith.

I’ll be spending far too much time thinking about all of this for a good while yet.

In other news, I’m currently editing our third and final foray into the pages of The Fortress of the Pearl and that will be along in the coming days. Next in the queue and in the can for editing, we’ll have The Queen of the Swords Book One which features the return of Simon Perrins to the hot seat and the first proper arrival of a certain Companion to Champions (in his non-dream guise at least).

I had intended to get FOTP3 out this week, but STIMBOTCLASSIC finally, after two prior cancellations, got down to the hospital for his heart surgery and it all went off without a hitch so we’ve been a bit distracted here at D&Ts but now we can relax a bit, indulge in some celebratory libations and get back on track.

In other sad news, our very own real-life roof garden, Bradford’s Rooftop Cafe sees its last day of trading tomorrow before permanent closure. It’s been a regular haunt for us for over five years so we’ll be down there giving them a boozy send-off.

For now though, I have to do some actual work (boooooo) so take care pards and we’ll see you out there soon…

On t’moonbeam roads.