Hauling Like A Brooligan

Stephen Gallagher

Author: Steve

  • Edgar Allan Poe

    Thanks to Stephen Volk for a reminder that tomorrow marks the bicentenary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe. Doesn’t matter which way you come at it, whether you see him as a giant of American literature or one of the key figures in a beloved genre, Edgar Allan Poe was The Business. As with…

  • Patrick McGoohan

    I just heard of the death of actor/writer/director Patrick McGoohan at the age of 80, following a short illness. A terrific and brooding screen presence, an actor of integrity and eccentricity, mad as a box of bats in the best possible way… otherwise how could he ever have become the creator and driving force of…

  • Three and Out

    I enjoyed this British black comedy far more than I expected to; for some reason the ad campaign had persuaded me that it was a story about a loser set on the London Underground, when in fact its structure more resembles that of My Favorite Year, with Mackenzie Crook being drawn along in the wake…

  • The Thirty-Nine Steps (2)

    Back in July I posted some thoughts inspired by a re-reading of John Buchan’s The Thirty-nine Steps. If so inclined, you can find them here. What I didn’t go on to explain was that my revisiting of the book had been part of a discussion between me and producer Archie Tait, whom I’ve known and…

  • Carnival of Souls

    If there’s any movie that comes a close second to Jason and the Argonauts in terms of the money that I’ve shelled out to own copies of it, this low-budget hand-made horror from the ‘sixties must surely be the one. I saw Carnival of Souls as the lower half of a Sunday horror double-bill at…

  • My Year

    Well, every other blogger seems to be doing it… but I’ll keep mine short because, frankly, it’s been one of those years where you can’t run through the best of it without the risk of sounding like a total arse. Let’s just say I’ve had a lot to be grateful for. But to put that…

  • Crusoe Slash

    I suppose it had to happen…

  • Future Proof

    In the comments to Television Q and A, Piers Beckley writes: “Riffing off the technology point: Lew Grade’s ITC stuff from the 70s was shot in 35mm with a view to worldwide sales. And the thing about 35mm is that you can even now remaster it into blu-ray and other hi-def formats… (snip) Record your…

  • Television Q and A

    How did you begin your career in television? I was writing for radio at the time. It was a science fiction piece for Radio 4’s Saturday Night Theatre and Martin Jenkins, my producer, sent the script over to the Doctor Who production office. So out of the blue came this call to go over and…

  • Eleventh Hour USA

    This just in from somewhere… DISPLAYING SIGNIFICANT WEEKLY GAINS, ELEVENTH HOUR DELIVERS STRONGEST PERFORMANCE TO-DATE Earning significant weekly increases among all 18-49 and 25-54 measures (ranging from +21% to 54%), as well as Households (+24%) and Total Viewers (+24%), ELEVENTH HOUR earned 1st place in its 10PM hour among those same demos. Delivering its largest…