Tom Burgess
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nottomburgess.bsky.social
Tom Burgess
@nottomburgess.bsky.social
1.7K followers 590 following 390 posts
Comedian, voice actor and cult TV lover (esp. Doctor Who and Blue Peter). 📺 Archivist for fictional BBC children's pioneer Peter Fleming and producer of his 'Into the Archives' podcast. He/him. linktr.ee/tomburgesscomedy
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nottomburgess.bsky.social
"And we now go live to the BBC."

My controversial view: good Doctor Who story, that.
Pyramids of Mars: the old priory, silhouetted against the night sky by flames as it burns to the ground.
November 10, 2025 at 9:35 AM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
"If you can save Sarah's life, you will add £2,000 to the prize pot."
Pyramids of Mars: the Doctor, a white man with brown curly hair in a velvet jacket and long stripy scarf, crouches by a clear tube in which Sarah, a white woman with dark hair wearing a white dress, is imprisoned. At the back of shot are two mummies, their bandages decorated with gold bands.
November 10, 2025 at 9:22 AM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
FUN FACT: Sir Charles Curran was forced to resign as Director-General after Pyramids of Mars implied Sutekh, god of violence, was bad.
More Pyramids of Mars. Sutekh, seated on a black throne in a painted red and black wooden mask, declares, "All life shall perish under the reign of Sutekh the Destroyer!"
November 10, 2025 at 8:12 AM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
"Fezes... are not cool."

Think that's what he's saying anyway, the guy's screaming over him. Rude man.
More Pyramids of Mars: in a Victorian house, a man in a shiny black all-over body covering presses his hands onto the immediately smoking shoulders of a cowering man in a Fez.
November 10, 2025 at 6:54 AM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
Woke up too early and angry about the state of things, so naturally watching this.
A TV on which the blue, alien patterns of the 1974-80 Doctor Who title sequence are hurtling towards the camera. Story title: PYRAMIDS OF MARS
November 10, 2025 at 6:05 AM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
If you see this, quote with a robot that isn’t from “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” “Doctor Who,” or “Transformers".
Hypnodisc from Robot Wars. A flat silver body on four tiny wheels. A razor-sharp rotating disc is on the front, decorated with a black spiral pattern from the edge to the centre.
October 30, 2025 at 7:32 AM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
It's that time of year again.
The Doctor Who Season 7 Blu-ray box set in the foreground, and me, a white man with brown hair wearing a red shirt and blue trousers in the background, holding the vibrant new Doctor Who Season 13 Blu-ray box set and angrily sticking two fingers up at the old box set. The Doctor Who Season 13 Blu-ray box sitting on a bed to the left of the frame, and me, a white man with brown hair wearing a red shirt and blue trousers, looming over it to the right of the frame. The blue trousers are open, with belt unbuckled, and I am looking very alarmed down the camera at having been caught doing whatever it is I'm doing, holding my hands up in a defensive and unsuccessful attempt to obscure the view of this sorry spectacle.
October 18, 2025 at 3:59 PM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
"Ed Davey should do more to be taken seriously, like fold his arms and look almost at ease."
BBC News headline from Laura Kuenssberg: "Ed Davey loves clowning around, but is it time the Lib Dems got serious?" Accompanying image: a black and white photo of Ed Davey gesturing with his hands whilst giving a speech, looking quite serious. Next to that, a colour image of Laura Kuenssberg in a pink blazer staring down the camera, giving a satisfied smile. Clearly she knows what's what, especially what to do with her arms, which are folded with a level of comfort and command that suggests she is attempting this pose for the first time.
September 21, 2025 at 4:32 PM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
I wouldn't say standards are slipping at BBC News, no.
BBC News headline about the founder of the John Rylands Library in Manchester. It reads: "Unknown lady who funded a Hogswarts-style library" Yes, Hogswarts.
September 14, 2025 at 7:26 AM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
A good test case for whether journalistic standards are slipping at the BBC, where an article veers between the authoritative, factual voice of one author and the irritating, faux-folksy gossip of the other.
BBC News article, dated 6 Sept 2025. A photo of Sir Keir Starmer. Authors' bylines: Chris Mason, Political editor. Brian Wheeler, Political reporter. BBC News article excerpt: Ministers of state and junior ministers are given specific areas of responsibility in government departments, while cabinet ministers are in charge of the department as a whole and take part in cabinet meetings for major decisions. Dame Angela and Dame Diana have been moved to roles in other departments, with Sarah Jones and Alex Norris brought into the Home Office, to work with new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. Worse BBC News article excerpt: Another appointment that stands out is Jason Stockwood, vice-chairman Grimsby Town football club. Stockwood is a local boy done very well in business, that some in the party were keen to see run as a candidate in a parliamentary seat. He was not interested, but has been lured into the Lords and becomes a business minister.
September 6, 2025 at 7:53 PM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
People aged SO differently back in the day. For example, when Eric Elliott appeared in Doctor Who, he was only four months old.
Eric Elliott, a 62 year old man with wrinkly skin and grey hair, who could comfortably pass for 80, playing the Commander of the Guardians in the 1966 Doctor Who story The Ark.
August 16, 2025 at 8:16 PM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
The incredible things that happened thanks to Biddy Baxter, the imaginations lit up, the generations brought together by her work, and the lives saved and shaped by the Blue Peter appeals. The most amazing legacy. RIP.
John Noakes, Peter Purves and Valerie Singleton attempt to manage Lulu, a baby elephant urinating and defecating on the Blue Peter studio floor. The first Blue Peter time capsule, a pale grey metal box. Its burial broadcast to the children of 1971, to be dug up 29 years later for the children of the year 2000. Janet Ellis, Peter Duncan and Mark Curry in the Blue Peter studio. Peter stands next to the Sightsaver appeal totaliser, charting the amount of money raised, while Janet and Mark are at their Bring and Buy Sale table, littered with goodies to raise more. Biddy Baxter smiles on the Blue Peter set as she sits with Goldie the dog.
August 10, 2025 at 9:07 PM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
If you see this, post a TV ident.
The BBC2 Optics ident of the 1990s. A number 2 composed of red, blue and green fibres swishes to and fro on a black background.
August 7, 2025 at 9:54 PM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
Ahh, go on then!
August 1, 2025 at 10:43 AM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me three or four times, you never fooled me.
BBC News reporting Trump's remarks today on Putin: Asked about his relationship with Putin, Trump said that the two speak "a lot about getting this thing done" but voiced his displeasure at the fact that "very nice phone calls" with the Russian president are often followed by devastating air strikes on Ukraine - which have been growing in intensity and frequency. "After that happens three or four times you say: the talk doesn't mean anything," Trump said. "I don't want to call him an assassin but he's a tough guy. It's been proven over the years, he fooled a lot of people – Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden," he added. "He didn't fool me. At a certain point talk doesn't talk, it's got to be action."
July 14, 2025 at 8:39 PM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
20 years since its first step came to a perfect ending and made a teenage Wilderness Years fan very happy, thinking back once again to the trip of a lifetime.
A 2005 billboard of Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper outside the TARDIS, advertising Doctor Who: Saturdays at 7pm on BBC One. The Moxx of Balhoon, a small blue alien with a bulbous head and pointy teeth. The opening titles of Doctor Who Confidential. The oval-shaped 2005 era DW logo, tinted blue, over swirling vortex patterns. A blue-tinted hologram of Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor, smiling down the camera inside the TARDIS.
June 18, 2025 at 9:19 PM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
Change a letter, ruin a #DoctorWho story:

Planet of the Dales
Compo, Foggy and Clegg from Last of the Summer Wine. Standing in their aged jackets against the Yorkshire Dales.
June 15, 2025 at 1:09 PM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
"I keep telling you, if this was the funeral there would be more chairs."
In the vast grandeur of St Peter's Basilica, President Trump and President Zelensky are seated on two small chairs, very close together. Zelensky is talking intensely. Trump's back is to the camera, but we can presume he is struggling to understand.
April 26, 2025 at 1:34 PM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
My flat has had a truly beautiful week thanks to @hiddenbritain.bsky.social. The trouble was deciding which second to share a photo of.
I, a white men with short brown hair and a blue/purple shirt, excitedly unpack a blue and yellow clock modelled on the early 1980s BBC1 idents from a cardboard box. There is a pinboard covered in colourful postcard and trinkets behind me. I, a white men with short brown hair and a blue/purple shirt, anxiously hold up a complimentary postcard modelled on a scene from Doctor Who: The Daemons (1971). It depicts a TV channel notice: "DEVIL'S END. Temporary fault. BBC 3 TV." A beautiful blue and yellow clock, modelled on the BBC1 idents of the early 1980s, placed on a white wall above a Vincent Van Gogh calender. The time is coming up to 5 o'clock, just in time for Blue Peter. I, a white man with short brown hair but now in blue/grey shirt and trousers, sit in a cinema looking intently at my phone gallery, browsing through the enormous number of photos I have taken of my lovely new BBC1 clock.
April 11, 2025 at 11:19 AM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
Love it when Doctor Who fans post themselves carefully putting their new box set on the shelf like we don't all actually do this.
Me, a white man with brown hair wearing a blue jumper and green trousers, holding the vibrant new Doctor Who Season 7 Blu-ray box set and smiling excitedly. Me, a white man with brown hair wearing a blue jumper and green trousers, holding the vibrant new Doctor Who Season 7 Blu-ray box set and leaning in to French kiss Jon Pertwee's face on the cover. The Doctor Who Season 25 Blu-ray box set in the foreground, and me, a white man with brown hair wearing a blue jumper and green trousers in the background, holding the vibrant new Doctor Who Season 7 Blu-ray box set and angrily sticking two fingers up at the old box set. Me, a white man with brown hair, naked but covered by a colourful duvet, next to the vibrant new Doctor Who Season 7 Blu-ray box set, also under the colourful duvet. I am holding my hand up to try and block the camera, terrified and ashamed.
March 1, 2025 at 3:56 PM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
"We're just normal men."
Keir Starmer speaking at a podium in the White House, in front of the UK and US flags. The closed caption reads, "there's a famous slogan in the United Kingdom."
February 28, 2025 at 8:57 AM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
My new Doctor Who Blu-ray set arrived! (Except it's Season 25 because I sat on the fence when it came out, regretted it and leapt on new stock appearing. Season 7 also on its way!)
A copy of the Doctor Who Season 25 Blu-ray box set, clutched in my grateful hand.
February 26, 2025 at 5:12 PM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
A job that simply shouldn't exist, and a waste of people's money.
BBC News byline and article on Trump tariff threats: Chris Mason Political editor, in Brussels Cryptic, threatening and yet tantalising – Donald Trump’s gift for delivering an overnight missive for us to wake up to is deployed again.
February 3, 2025 at 9:25 AM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
Desert Island Docs!

Keep one column. (You have RTD2 and the Target books.)

Diamond logo: Virgin NAs, 90s fan films, all DWM comics

TARDIS: post-1996 BBC books, BBC Cult website, all of Big Finish

Dalek: Cushing movies, all TV spin-offs, charity eps, 30 Years in the TARDIS

What will you save?
A 4×4 grid of Doctor Who images representing different eras of the show. Column 1: Hartnell, Tom Baker, McCoy, Tennant Column 2: Troughton, Diamond logo, McGann, Smith Column 3: Pertwee, Davison, TARDIS, Capaldi Column 4: Dalek, Colin Baker, Eccleston, Whittaker
January 26, 2025 at 10:32 AM
nottomburgess.bsky.social
I see live now means not live.
BBC News headline: The Traitors finale was most-watched live episode in show's history.
January 25, 2025 at 3:53 PM