The Christmas Special as a concept is stuck in a weird catch 22 position, does it go for a intense, plot driven episode which is very much part of the overarching mythos or does it try a fluffier, more simplistic story?  The Doctor Who Christmas Special, despite only being in its seventh year has become enshrined as “traditional” now in the UK and Steven Moffat’s previous Christmas episode effort definitely favoured being “Christmassy” rather than just another episode that was the norm in RTD’s reign. This years effort was more of the same from Moffat’s preferred Christmas story telling, with “The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe” being a standalone, simplistic tale with and strong emotional core at its heart.

While the story itself was probably too simplistic for its own good, lacking in Moffat’s usual head scratching plot twists and favouring the crowd-pleasing ending of having Alexander Armstrong’s character being saved its emotional center and the outstanding cast carried the day to result in probably the most satisfying Christmas Special to date. It was funny yet heartbreaking without being maudlin, the story worked well and the effects work, particularly the wooden King and Queen, who were eerily effective.

The credit for the episode’s overall success must go to Claire Skinner as Madge Arwell, who was utterly compelling as a heartbroken mother desperately trying to keep Christmas sacred for her children and deal with the grief of cruelly losing her husband to war, she hit every note perfectly, in particular the scene where she is forced to witness her husbands death brought tears to my eyes. The two actors playing her children must also be recognized, I loved Maurice  as Cyril, being very believable as a kid mostly stunned into wide eyed silence. Matt Smith is always so good that these days you take his excellent performances for granted, the scene at the very end where he wipes away an all too human happy tear upon being reunited with The Pond’s was simply beautiful. If I have a complaint about the episode is that it almost seem to go by too quickly, the hour absolutely tore past at breakneck speed, Bill Bailey, Arabella Weir and Paul Bazely seemed to be barely on screen as the three tree harvesters from Androzani Major (a very pleasing shout out for us old hands, along with a lovely reference to the Forest of Cheem) and so it sadly seemed like a waste to cast them at all.

It is surprising, looking back on previous Christmas Specials how important they have been to the larger world of Doctor Who, take for example “The Christmas Invasion”, it establishes David Tennant as The Doctor, sees one of the first glimpses of Torchwood in action and prematurely ends Harriet Jones’ reign as Prime Minister, opening the door to The Master’s eventual take over of the world two seasons later. Even “A Christmas Carol”, on the face of it a fluffy modern interpretation of the classic Dicken’s tale has proven to be immensely important, establishing the eleventh Doctor’s willingness to use time travel to manipulate people to his own benefit and obliquely setting up The Silence, don’t believe me?  Go back and listen to Katherine Jenkins’ song at the end, doesn’t she say Silence a lot? In particular the line “when you’re alone/Silence is all you’ll know” seems pretty haunting in retrospect. So this being said what can we infer is coming for series 7? For me The Doctor’s assertion to Madge that he can’t feel as deeply as she does sticks out for as a possible future plot point, also the episodes underlying theme of motherhood and strength is ripe for further exploration, Amy Pond referring to River Song with a very maternal “shes a good girl!” is full of potential.

In summary, “The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe” was perfect Christmas fare, emotional and beautifully made and for us ubernerds, full of intrigue for the future as the long wait for series 7 begins.

10) The “Five Peri’s” Theory.

After the revelation of Peri’s fate in “Trial of a Timelord” what subsequently happens to her has become somewhat of a mystery with various novels and audio plays either trying to entirely retcon the bizarre decision to marry her off to Yrcanos or have her leave him and somehow get back to Earth. The recent audio play “Peri and the Piscon Paradox” has proposed the idea that there are no fewer than five versions of poor old Peri in existence due to the Time Lords interference in her personal time line, one who was killed in “Mindwarp”, one who married Yrcanos, an older version who only remembers the events of “Planet of Fire” and two others of which nothing is known.

9) The War Chief is a prior regeneration of the Master.

The War Chief is a powerful renegade Time Lord, during the events of “The War Games” he conspires with a very powerful alien race bringing his knowledge of time travel and hypnosis to the table, sound familiar? In terms of personality The War Chief certainly could be the Master, hes arrogant, ambitious, lusts for power and exhibits a fondness for elaborate facial hair. The idea that The War Chief is in fact an earlier incarnation of the Master certainly hold some weight on this basis, the idea first came about when “The Doctor Who Role Playing Game” claimed that The Meddling Monk, The War Chief and The Master were all different incarnations of the same Time Lord. This idea has been accepted as unofficial canon and then contradicted in equal measure with some novels using it as an established fact and some directly stating that this is not the case.

8 ) The Doctor was being metaphorical when he said he was half-human.

This idea originated in fan circles in reaction to the Eighth Doctor’s statement that he was “half human on his mothers side” in the TV Movie. The TV Movie aka “The Enemy Within” presented many problems with canon to say the least but The Doctor coming out with this ‘revelation’ lead to fandom nearly imploding with rage. The implications of The Doctor not being entirely Time Lord were massive, how did he regenerate? How was he brought up Gallifrey if he was partially human? Who on Earth was his mother? The questions raised seemed endless, however a way out presented itself by dismissing the statement as being entirely factious. The Doctor, especially in his later incarnations, is a pretty sarcastic and the king of the wind up and as such the remark can be interpreted as affectionate or a joke. Just as the Eleventh Doctor’s remark to Clyde in The Sarah Jane Adventures episode “Death of the Doctor” that he can regenerate 507 times has been filed under “disregard as joke” by fandom so has The Doctor’s claim to half-humanity.

7) Time Lords only gain their second heart after their first regeneration.

When the first Doctor claims to Ian Chesterton that he is not from Earth, the long suffering science teacher puts his ear to the Doctors chest… and hears nothing unusual, the Doctor must only have one heart beating. We know from the third doctor that having two hearts is the norm for Time Lords, his medical tests during “Spearhead From Space” confirm it and many times since then it has been explicitly stated or shown, after all the seventh Doctor is killed because of Grace’s misunderstanding of his binary hearts. So something must change between the first and third Doctors, the most popular explanation is that a Time Lord only gains a second heart once they’ve regenerated for the first time.

6) Claire Bloom’s character in “The End of Time” is The Doctor’s mother.

The mystery of who exactly Claire Bloom’s character is in “The End of Time” will probably never be resolved on screen and as such the wild speculation as to her precise identity began almost as soon as the credits rolled on the episode. The most popular explanation amongst fans is that she is The Doctor’s mother, in his book “The Writers Tale” Russell T Davies stated that this was his thinking behind the character but he left it deliberately ambiguous. The tenth Doctor’s reaction to her certainly backs up the hypothesis but now RTD has left the series and he did not give an in-episode explanation she could be given any number of alternative identities. Other popular alternative identities include Romana, Susan, Susan’s mother (i.e. The Doctor’s biological daughter), Jenny or even Chancellor Flavia the former Time Lord President.

5) The Third Doctor has a prisoner tattoo

In the third Doctor’s first episode “Spearhead From Space” we are treated to the sight of the Doctor getting out of the shower, while he holding a towel a tattoo of a cobra can be seen on his right forearm (see picture above) in reality the tattoo was Jon Pertwee’s which he got during his days in the navy. No explanation was ever given on screen but the novel “Christmas on a Rational Planet” and fandom at large theorised that it was a criminal brand given to him by the Time Lords and that once they rescinded his exile they stopped it appearing on his next regeneration. A possible interesting (but quite tangential) moment in “The Doctor’s Wife” that could lend the theory further credence is that The Doctor’s fellow Time Lord The Corsair wears a tattoo on all his/her regenerations, a Oroborus, a snake eatings its own tail. When The Doctor discovers it on Auntie the tattoo is on the left arm, is it possible that The Corsair was also a criminal and first given that mark by the Time Lords?

4) The fifth Doctor is the final incarnation of the original Doctor. The Sixth Doctor is a reincarnation, and the beginning of a new 13 body lifecycle.

In the episode “The Brain of Morbius” The Doctor challenges the renegade Time Lord Morbius to an ancient, dangerous Time Lord challenge, a Mind Bending Contest (see picture above). They square up at the machine and The Doctor’s previous incarnations flash up on a screen, the third, the second, the first… and then an unfamiliar face flashes up, then another and another as Morbius screams “back! Back through your past!” Eight in all flash by. If all those faces were previous Doctors then that means that the person who we all thought was the fourth Doctor is actually the twelfth! When the fifth Doctor (or should that be thirteenth?) regenerates he says “it feels different this time” and then transforms into the sixth Doctor… or begins a brand new lifecycle and is in fact the first Doctor… again. This theory has also been used to explain the sixth Doctor’s unhinged behavior and total confusion. This theory has been utterly debunked by virtually every other piece of Doctor Who canon, “The Brain of Morbius” was written some time before the 13 regeneration limit was established and the series (especially post 2005) has gone to great pains to establish that The Doctor we are watching is either the ninth, tenth or eleventh and that William Hartnell was the very first Doctor. The faces that we see in the mind bending machine have been explained away as being previous faces of Morbius and that he was just ranting when he said “how long have you lived?”… or was he?

3) The Time War was the cause of the 8th Doctor regenerating into the 9th.

This is an idea that has now been generally accepted into the canon, the tenth Doctor implies in “Journey’s End” that the ninth Doctor was “born into battle”, its easy to imagine the eighth Doctor sacrificing himself to time lock the Daleks and Time Lords and leaving an emotionally scarred, newly regenerated ninth Doctor to walk away. This is one of the theories that will probably be an accepted albeit unstated part of the canon until we get an alternative presented on screen.

2) Series 6b

This is the big one, the granddaddy of all fan theories, first raised by Paul Cornell, writer of Doctor Who novels, audio plays and episodes for the new series. It explains continuity discrepancies in the Second Doctor’s life as it expands on televised Doctor Who canon and places new adventures for the Second Doctor between The War Games and the first appearance of the Third Doctor at the start of Spearhead from Space. There are two continuity errors in “The Two Doctors” which can only explained by the existence of a series 6b where The Doctor was working for the Time Lords, firstly why the second Doctor and Jamie look visibly older and secondly why the Doctor had a remote controlled TARDIS which no other Doctor has had before or since. Despite series 6b being a neat explanation it also raises plenty of problems on its own if accepted as part of official canon.

1) The “Take 5″ Theory.

This theory proposes that every incarnation of the Doctor is most like the incarnation that came five changes previously, so the sixth Doctor is like the first Doctor, the seventh is like the second, the eighth is like the third and so on. On the face of it this theory makes quite a lot of sense, for instance the seventh Doctor is a mysterious trickster of short stature who people constantly underestimate, quite like the second doctor. The theory seems especially convincing in the case of the tenth and fifth Doctors, just watch “Time Crash” which is essentially ten minute long proof of this theory in action! Unfortunately this theory hits a major roadblock in the fourth and ninth Doctors as the ninth Doctor could not be further removed from the fourth Doctor if you tried, I await the twelfth incarnation of the Doctor with baited breath, if only to see if they’re anything like the seventh Doctor…

Have you got any strange theories? What do you think of these ones? Let me know in the comments!

10) Liz Shaw

Liz Shaw is a strange case all around, although generally regarded as a companion of The Doctor by fans she never gets to travel in the TARDIS as The Doctor is confined to the Earth by the Time Lords, she is there as she’s on attachment to UNIT and ends up being The Doctor’s assistant by default as shes the only one who can keep up with him, having several degrees across several disciplines. Her odd status very contributes to her equally odd exit, she never gets one. Sometime in between the end of series seven’s “Inferno” and the beginning of series eight shown in the events of “Terror of the Autons” she just disappears, sending a message via The Brigadier that shes gone back to Cambridge to continue her own studies, stating that all the Doctor needed was “someone to pass him his test tubes and tell him how brilliant he was.” Considering that Liz is replaced by Jo Grant, perhaps the archetypal ‘ask-stupid-questions-and-get-kidnapped-a lot’ companion I don’t think she was too far off the mark.

9) Leela

Leela, daughter of Sole, warrior of The Sevateem, blasphemer, stowaway and ultra violent Eliza Doolittle, what fate would befit her? Glorious death defending her people? Leaving the Doctor to lead the Sevateem or perhaps another tribe in need of the knowledge she could bring? Nope, she declares that shes in love with someone she has virtually no screen time with. In “The Invasion of Time” while Leela traipses around the hinterlands of Gallifrey trying to jolly together support for The Doctors throughly bonkers plan, The Doctor is lumbered with dragging around Andred, the nice-but-dim Commander of the Chancellory Guard. After The Doctor’s plan somehow comes together and its time to be off on the next adventure, Leela declares that shes staying on Gallifrey because shes in love with a just as surprised as we are Andred, to which The Doctor just shrugs his shoulders and leaves. While the “falling in love with a random person from the story” exit strategy is by no means unusual for companions, Leela’s is so out of character its embarrassing and its someone she has no time alone with, she might as well as shacked up with Castellan Kelner! Also for those of us who care about such things it directly contradicts previous canon that stated the aliens are not allowed on Gallifrey, which after all why Sarah Jane Smith has to leave The Doctor!

8 ) Tegan Jovanka

Everyones favourite stroppy mouth on legs Tegan always seemed like a somewhat reluctant TARDIS traveller, she spends most of her time aboard wanting to leave and having passive-aggressive arguments with some of her fellow travellers, Tegan’s final departure from the TARDIS comes after months of painful events, the death of Adric, her possession by The Mara, Nyssa’s decision to leave and the bloody beginning of the Dalek civil war all prove too much. Tegan seemingly decides on the spot at the end of “Resurrection of the Daleks” to leave The Doctor’s company, says a extremely perfunctory and accusatory goodbye to The Doctor and Turlough and runs out of the warehouse, but then almost immediately seems to change her mind, only to see that the TARDIS has already left. I think this departure is odd as it seems to come out of nowhere and Tegan leaves the Doctor on a fairly bitter note, a pretty unusual choice.

7) Romana I

After her adventures searching for the Key to Time with The Doctor everything seems fine and dandy with our resident Time Lady, as the fourth doctor chats to her from the console room Romana enters, looking completely different she apparently decides to regenerate just for the hell of it, eventually settling on a form resembling Princess Astra. This is an odd exit for me as not only do we  not get a chance to say a proper goodbye to a character but there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the regeneration at all.

6) Peri (Perpugilliam) Brown

Peri’s adventures with the Doctor were always a bit… troubled to say the least, poor old Peri could make lists like this several times over, its not many companions who are nearly throttled to death by the Doctor, however its when we get to her final appearance in “Mindwarp” part of the infamous “Trial of a Timelord” series that things get really weird. At the end of the episode Peri is killed when Lord Kiv replaces her brain with his and Kiv-in-Peri’s-body is killed by Yrcanos (as played by a typically bombastic Brian Blessed). Just as you’re getting over this out of the blue death of another companion, it is revealed to the Doctor, in a pretty “oh by the way” style by The Inquisitor, that Peri was rescued from the time stream at the last second and allowed to live out her days as a warrior queen alongside Yrcanos. As if that wasn’t demented enough the episode “The Ultimate Foe” chooses to portray this by showing Peri and Yrcanos in the only scene they’re in together in “Mindwarp” inside a pink loveheart (see picture above), and the Doctor never bothers to go back for her.

5) Dodo Chaplet

I guarantee that anyone playing the “name all the companions of The Doctor game” will probably forget one along the way and that one will probably be Dodo, although she travels with The Doctor for all of series 3 most details of Dodo’s life, her childhood, the reasons she started and stopped travelling with the Doctor, and even her death are shrouded in a confusion created by several highly contradictory and speculative accounts. Her departure is extremely bizarre, in “The War Machines” after being brainwashed by WOTAN The Doctor sends Dodo away to recuperate in the country, however she never returns, sending her key to the TARDIS back with Polly, no explanation, no goodbyes, very strange indeed.

4) Adam

There isn’t really a lot to say about Adam, the forgotten companion of the new series (I think its telling that Adam is just about the only character that doesn’t make a return appearance in “The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End”) however is exit is remarkable as he is the only companion that has ever been ‘fired’ by The Doctor for not being good enough and messing up. Lots of companions make mistakes or disobey The Doctor, indeed quite a few stories would never happen if it wasn’t for a companion wandering off somewhere or touching something they shouldn’t, I think The Doctor just plain didn’t like the guy.

3) Kamelion

Poor, poor Kamelion, the unfortunate, malfunctioning, weak willed android disaster, seemingly realising he was just too rubbish to live, he asks The Doctor to put him out of his misery and kill him, which the Doctor does, if the Doctor effectively murdering one of his companions isn’t weird, then I don’t know what is.

2) Adric

Oh goodness me, Adric. He dies heroically saving the Earth, crashing into the prehistoric planet, causing the extinction of the dinosaurs, the reason why I find this one a weird exit is The Doctor’s reluctance to save him from his fate, the TARDIS is damaged in “Earthshock” but he still chooses not to travel back in time and save him once its started working again. The introduction of the “fixed points in time” concept in recent series actually lends us a nifty piece of possible retcon, if Adric’s death is a fixed point in established history then it would cause a paradox if he saved Adric, however the Doctor doesn’t bring any of his up at the time so it really seems like he just can’t be bothered.

1) Susan

Put yourself in Susan’s shoes, you go to an Earth devastated by a Dalek Invasion, you’re separated from your Grandfather and friends and meet a freedom fighter called David Campbell, you fall in love with him and your Grandfather, deciding from completely out of nowhere that you’re far too dependent on him, locks you out of your home and leaves you with a near total stranger in a destroyed, terribly dangerous city after making some half hearted promises that he’ll pop back and see you sometime. Couldn’t The Doctor have least dropped them off somewhere nice instead of leaving them in a post apocalyptic wasteland? Susan’s enforced exit is made all the weirder by the fact that The Doctor is stranding his own grandchild in a total hellhole with someone shes only just met!

It feels like theres been quite a lot going on in the sci fi/fantasy/genre TV world lately and I’ve been watching plenty of bits and bobs that I’ve been keen to write about, but nothing that felt long enough to justify a full blog post so I decided to throw it all down here and see what you all think about this stuff. A note of caution, there are SPOILERS for all the shows below up to their episode of current UK transmission, so please read at with care. First up…

The Fades:  I liked this interesting little show, its got its flaws for sure, at time it could be too juvenile, the pop culture references could sometimes feel forced and the drama seemed to move at too slow a pace, however these minor gripes aside its got bags of potential for another series. It was visually stunning, the mythology of the show was brilliantly set up and the characters were well thought out and sympathetic. Handled right this could easily be a success in the mold of “Being Human”, a move up to BBC 2 and few more pennies spent on the effects could move this show from ‘good’ to ‘great’. TV in the UK lacks a show that aims for out and out horror in the way that The Walking Dead does in the US and its important than even if The Fades doesn’t make a return that these sort of shows are made.

The Walking Dead: The second series has just started here in the UK, running about a week behind the US, I had plenty of problems with the first season of the show (see my epic post ranting about it on this here humble blog) and they were almost enough to put me off watching the second season all together. Despite my reservations I’ve enjoyed the first three episodes far more than anything since that stunning pilot, things still grate on me a little though, the continual stupid decisions made by the group and the marginalization of characters like T-Dog and Glenn in favour of Rick and his family. The cut in budget the show took from the network is beginning to become evident, with some of the zombies looking a bit cheap. I also wonder how they’re going to sustain the drama over 13 episodes with Carl’s predicament and Sophia’s disappearance already starting to feel dragged out, even though we’re only 4 episodes in. This being said they’re are still plenty of reasons to watch, primarily for me, what on Earth Shane will do next, his motivations are mysterious and he appears to be getting more and more unhinged as signified by him shaving his head in episode 3. I’m also pretty intrigued by Daryl, the softening of his character seems pretty deliberate and hes easily the most competent of the group. This mean hes probably doomed to die horribly. The show has already been renewed for a third season and I think the production team is going to be faced with some increasingly hard choices regarding  just how much of the comics plot line they can put on TV.

Supernatural: Just finished watching the sixth season (yes I know I’m terribly behind) and despite some of the negative buzz I actually enjoyed this season quite a lot, I think it suffered from having to continue an arc beyond its prescribed life span, the early episodes felt unfocused and inconsequential as if the show couldn’t quite decide whether to return to a more “monster of the week” format or start a new arc story. Once it found its feet those Winchester boys were as good as ever and the supporting cast were also excellent, Castiel being the stand out, I loved him in his showcase episode “The Man Who Would Be King”, I’m intrigued as to where season 7 is going to go with the arc, I’m starting to worry that they’re going to run out of Big Bads, having laid waste to daemonic entities of all nearly every type, the progenitor of all said monsters, Satan and most of the heavenly host!

Terra Nova: just a quick note on this one, I’d love to know what they’re doing with that 4 million dollar an episode budget because they’re certainly not spending it on dinosaur effects, if they’re managing more than one dino and episode I’d be amazed and frankly the one they did have in the most recent installment looked flipping awful. I don’t understand why a show that sells itself on the basis of being about people trying to survive on a prehistoric parallel Earth chooses to concentrate on said people having arguments either in living rooms or a clearing in the jungle. As a very famous singer once said – a little less conversation, a little more action please.

Fringe: Fringe seemed to be in an odd sort of holding pattern for its first 4 episodes of its fourth season, it almost seemed afraid to kick on with its story without Peter, returning once again to a season one “monster of the week” format. As such it was beginning to get frustrating, it seemed like they’re were a million questions left to be answered at the end of season 3 and the producers were actively cocking a snook at viewers by ignoring them all together. Thankfully with the reappearance of Peter the story has really got going, with more going down in episode 5 than in the previous four installments, however I really hope they’re going to make more of the fact that they’re in contact with the “Over There” team, this story line feels totally neglected and I want to know what the Walternate is up to!

Buffy and Angel: Myself and my other half have embarked on a rewatch of the seminal Joss Whedon shows, watching them in broadcast order, I’m finding it a quite rewarding way to watch, especially as living in the UK means we often got shows months after their US transmission and sometimes edited bizarrely, or shown in the wrong order, thus rendering the intertwined story nonsensical. We’re in the fourth season of Buffy/first season of Angel and I must confess I’m enjoying Angel a great deal more, I hated Buffy season four on the first time around and now I know whats going to happen it seems interminable. Its thirteen episodes before we finally meet our Big Bad of the season, I found the whole concept of The Initiative fairly silly and the weakening of Buffy as a character (all that rubbish with Parker) was massively irritating, whereas with Angel I’m loving the beginning of their Myth Arc and the relationship between Angel, Cordy and Wesley. As a Doctor Who fan I’m finding the parallels between Buffy/Angel and Doctor Who/Torchwood really interesting, RTD cited Buffy and Angel as a major influence and doing this rewatch very much brings that home, especially comparing the tone of Angel to Buffy, it feels exactly like the Who/Torchwood relationship.

Are you watching any of these shows? I’d love to hear what you think, leave your comments below!

10) School Reunion

School Reunion could have easily fallen into the trap of “Very Special Episode” bringing back as it did the wonderful and sadly missed Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, luckily for us the episode neatly side steps the schmaltz in favour of a good, strong story. The acting talent is on good form, Anthony Head’s Mr. Finch making for a great baddie, Noel Clarke’s Mickey Smith making a solid return and upgrades Mickey from being mostly useless in the viewers mind and Lis Sladen moves back into Sarah Jane’s skin as if she’d never been off our screens, don’t forget that this success of this episode lead directly to the creation of The Sarah Jane Adventures. I’ve found that this is a story that benefits immensely from repeated viewing, on the first pass its a great, traditional Who story but on the rewatch the subtle themes of pain and loss that weave through the episode come to the foreground, making this installment stand out.

9) Partners in Crime

My second favourite season opener since the shows return Partners in Crime is a wonderful romp from beginning to end, moving effortlessly from brilliantly funny to poignant. This episode also does a great job of redefining the character of Donna Noble in only 20 minutes, utterly erasing the screechy, annoying Donna we first met in “The Runaway Bride”. This episode makes a great use of Catherine Tate’s comedic talent, especially in the scene where the Doctor and Donna, separated by a room but able to see each other through a window mime their adventures so far at each other. I also love that the script keeps our two protagonists separated for most of the episode  so when they finally bump into each other you feel like punching the air with delight.

8 ) Amy’s Choice

I love surreal, labyrinthine plots and this episode delivers that in spades, also I love the exploration of the relationships between The Doctor, Amy and Rory. If nothing else this is the episode that proves beyond doubt that Amy really does love Rory after 6 episodes of mixed signals. We also get a  good long look at The Doctor’s always just below the surface dark side. I really hope we get another encounter with The Dream Lord who is wonderfully brought to life by Toby Jones.

7) The Time of Angels

After their stunning debut the Weeping Angels needed an appropriately awesome return and The Time of Angels delivers in spades, it also gives us the return of the lovely River Song who makes the entrance to end all entrances. What I really enjoy about this story is that it takes an brilliant Who monster and actually makes them even more scary! It shows us the full, horrifying power of one of the most ruthless and unstoppable baddies the Doctor has every encountered with Amy’s predicament becoming genuinely disturbing, the part where she rubs her eye and a bunch of dust falls out makes me shudder every time.

6) The Girl in the Fireplace

For me, this is the episode that got Steven Moffat the job as Doctor Who supremo, an amazing, melancholy love story with such a clever plot the episode actually suffers from being constrained to 45 minutes, this could have been a movie. Sophia Myles is excellent as Madame de Pompadour and her chemistry with David Tennant is very apparent. Even though it constitutes a continuity error as Moffat hadn’t read the script for “School Reunion” I also like the less acrimonious relationship between Mickey and Rose as most episodes with them in made me wonder why they were ever a couple to begin with. The script really sings in this episode and I love the final reveal of the name of the space ship our heroes are on, as all the pieces fall neatly into place.

5) The Unicorn and the Wasp

If you look up “romp” in the dictionary I think you’ll find a screen shot from this episode, this one is just great fun from beginning to end and uses one of the great Who traditions of taking real events (the mystery of Agatha Christie’s 10 day disappearance)  and revealing that the good Doctor had more than little involvement. This one is not just funny, its also clever, putting in loads of references for Christie buffs and once you realise that our heroes are stuck in the middle of an Agatha Christie mystery thats happening for real its great fun to play along and see if you can figure it out before The Doctor.

4) Eleventh Hour

My favourite series opener, its a brilliant introduction to our new cast of characters and a rip-roaring adventure, I love that hurls you straight in the deep end as The Doctor tries to deal with a turbulent regeneration and the imminent destruction of the Earth. Matt Smith comes out of the blocks sprinting in his performance as The Doctor, wiping away all worries that he wouldn’t be able to fill the shoes of the previous TARDIS occupant. I really enjoyed Moffat doing something different with the companions as well fully exploiting the time travel element of the show in a way that no one else really has. Groundbreaking and awesome.

3) The Doctor’s Wife

The jewel in the crown of series 6, touching, funny, devastating and ultimately triumphant this is a truly beautiful story focusing on the  real love story in Doctor Who, between The Doctor and the TARDIS. Plaudits must go to Suranne Jones, asked to personify a machine which exists in all time and space and is thousands of years old she pulls it off with aplomb. For us old hands though the sheer amount of call backs to the classic years, which all feel completely natural, is wonderful. Its also a story which has endless potential for expansion, I wonder if we’ve really seen the last of House and I really hope that one day we get to meet The Corsair, who sounds like a great foil for the Doctor.

2) Turn Left

One of my very favourite types of story in any genre is Alternative History and this one of the best examples ever done in genre TV, on  the face of it this episode is “Sliding Doors” done Who style but as the nightmare begins to unfold we realise that this is so much more and the profound effect that The Doctor has on the lives he touches. Catherine Tate’s second attempt at playing the “unenlightened” Donna is much more successful this time around and RTD’s writing of this alternate Donna is incredible. The dystopian Britain that we end up in is brilliantly realised and when the government starts the internment of foreign nationals it becomes utterly terrifying. I really enjoyed the reveal that the “time beetle” is part of the Trickster’s Horde in a lovely reference to The Sarah Jane Adventures and the Bad Wolf revelation is shocking and exciting, even years later.

1) Blink

What can I say about this episode that hasn’t been said before? Incredible acting, great characters, touching and funny dialogue, a brilliantly clever idea  and the single most terrifying monster ever conceived of in Doctor Who history, not only one of the greatest Doctor Who episodes ever made but one of the greatest examples of genre TV in the last 10 years. Simply amazing.

Its an odd feeling of joy and sadness as I write this series of mini-reviews for The Sarah Jane Adventures as the show comes to an enforced end due to the untimely death of Elisabeth Sladen. The Sarah Jane Adventures was, for me at least, by far the most consistent and best of the Doctor Who spin offs and to say goodbye to such a fun, interesting and at times emotionally affecting show, and indeed its star is just cruel.

For those who maybe unaware of events leading up to this point, Elisabeth Sladen passed away on the 19th of April 2011 after a battle with cancer, due to her illness production on The Sarah Jane Adventures was split and three episodes (making up the first 3 installments of series 5) were filmed. Filming for the remaining three episodes was scheduled to begin in early 2011 but this was first postponed, then canceled as the BBC announced that with Lis Sladen’s death, The Sarah Jane Adventuress would be brought to an end.

So, lets have a look at the three episodes that make up the truncated series 5, firstly:

“Sky”: Something The Sarah Jane Adventures always excelled at was putting in scripts that entertained kids with bags of action and adventure while providing lots of little nods and plotting that will keep the adults in the room engaged too, “Sky” was a great example of that at work. To the kids this episode was another hour of Sarah Jane sorting out the baddies and gaining a new daughter, for the grown ups this was a Terminator pastiche with some lovely subtle comedic moments from Lis Sladen as Sarah Jane struggles to cope with first  a tiny baby who then turns into a 12 year old. Thats not to diminish the work of the rest of the cast,  Daniel Anthony (Clyde) and Anjli Mohindr (Rani) putting in their usual excellent turns. The episode itself is solid if not spectacular, the plot was pretty basic with the war between the Metalkind and the Fleshkind getting rather pushed into “B” story territory as the focus turned to Sky and her integration into the full time cast. If anything this episode almost had too much going on with Rani’s parents popping up for not much of a reason and the surprise reappearance of The Shopkeeper and The Captain hinting at a plot arc which would sadly go unfulfilled. I feel this episode was intended as a back door reboot of the series, introducing Sky and reestablishing Clyde and Rani’s roles within the show as they become surrogate aunt and uncle to her, a canny move on the part of the production team faced with a cast who in story terms are about to follow Luke out of Ealing and off to university.

“The Curse of Clyde Langer”: Its always a bit of worry when a kids show devotes an episode to ISSUES! In this case homelessness as Clyde, cursed via Portentous Sci-Fi Injury by a scary looking totem pole and is rejected by everyone who cares for him is forced to roam the streets of London. It came as a relief when the episode was a really strong one, Daniel Anthony was at his excellent best as Clyde and this episode acted as a wonderful showcase for the character. When we first meet him in “Revenge of the Slitheen” Clyde is very much a stereotypical secondary school clown and slacker, wisecracking and coasting his way through, trying to disguise a vulnerable kid inside. Clyde’s rejection by his family and downfall is really painful to watch and I think thats a tribute to the brilliance of the writers and a reminder of how central Clyde is to the show as whole. Clyde is the beating heart of the team, a lovely counterpoint to Luke (a Geordi to his Data is you will) and a great comedic foil to Rani. The big issue of the episode, homelessness, is actually beautifully handled and the script doesn’t shy away from the issue or try to sugar coat it. For instance, the fate of Ellie, who befriends Clyde on the streets remains unknown as Clyde is forced to leave her behind. I thought the show would go down the easy road of Clyde somehow rescuing her from her situation but that was passed by in favour of a more “realistic” ending where she simply disappears and Clyde is left with the realisation that he probably didn’t even know her real name. I wonder if Ellie would have made another appearance had the show continued?

“The Man Who Never Was”: Its fitting that the last episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures is very much Sarah Jane’s story as she, with the help of her gang of young apprentices helps to take down a unscrupulous business man and rescue some aliens from slavery. As with “Sky” this is on the face of it a pretty simplistic tale but it does the job extremely well as it mixes genuine laughs (check out the absolutely filthy joke Clyde makes in part 2!) with some great action and a interesting morality angle. Apparently this episode was intended to be the finale of series 5 had the season been made in full, this is somewhat borne out by the episode as to me it felt a little disjointed, as if plot points and character development that was planned but we never got to see were taken out. In spite of this episode was excellent with particular praise going again to the central SJA team. Lis Sladen was a hugely underrated comedic actress and her skills were beautifully showcased here, especially during her confrontation with the holographic Mr Serf. I think it very fitting that Sarah Jane gets involved in the story because shes one of the top journalists in the country, a lovely way for the writers to remind  us of how awesome Sarah Jane is in ‘real’ life, not just in world saving. Daniel Anthony and Anjli Mohindr were on their usual great form, again working wonderfully with the comedic aspects of the script. Tommy Knight (Luke) and Sinead Michael (Sky) have never come across as the most accomplished actors however this actually worked in their favour as they awkwardly tried to bond as brother and sister.

Overall looking over this truncated series the episodes were up to the excellent standard set by previous series, however its very much tinged with sadness as I’m left with an almost overwhelming sense of lost opportunities. The unexpected reappearance of The Shopkeeper and The Captain hints at an arc for the series that they were unable to expand on. The alien slavery story line is ripe for more exploration and it would have been awesome to see Sarah Jane putting a permanent end to it. There is a distinct possibility that Ellie would have reappeared and that could have been a brilliant way to explore the bubbling romance angle between Clyde and Rani (or ‘Clani’ as Luke had dubbed them) or even as a way to get the brilliant Trickster back to the series. I’m also sad that we’re not going to see any more of Sky’s story, presumably in series 6 when Clyde and Rani would be moving on to university we’d have a story with Sky’s friends discovering the attic and Sarah Jane embarking on a whole new set of adventures with some new youngsters.

Despite my sadness that there will be no more Sarah Jane Adventures the coda at the end of the episode gives us hope that somewhere, Sarah Jane is in an attic being brilliant and saving the world, and in that way, she’ll live forever. What a wonderful tribute to a phenomenal character and an amazing actress.

So without further ado, lets begin..

10) Carnival of Monsters

My second favourite Third Doctor adventure, in this serial the Doctor and Jo, aiming for Metebelis Three and missing it end up on a mysterious cruise ship the SS Bernice and needless to say shenanigans ensue as they eventually realise that they’re trapped inside the Miniscope. This is a machine that keeps miniaturised groups of creatures in miniaturised versions of their natural environments as an entertainment, not least of all the notorious Drashig (see the pic above). This story is wonderful, the relationship between The Doctor and Jo is never better, Jon Pertwee plays his interpretation of The Doctor at his putting-the-world-to-rights best as he shuts down the Miniscope. I also love travelling showman Vorg and his assistant Shirna in some top notch support work, but I think I thing I love the most is the quality of the FX work, the scene where Vorg tries to extract the TARDIS from the Miniscope, and look at the Drashig! Its the skull of a fox inside a handpuppet but on screen its awesome and scary!

9) Tomb of the Cybermen

Without doubt my most loved of the Second Doctors serials, The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria tag along with an archaeological expedition on Telos who are trying to find the remains of the legendary Cybermen who apparently died out 500 years previously, this being Doctor Who, of course it turns out the Cybermen aren’t quite as extinct as everyone thought. This adventure is simply great, a rip-roaring boys own tale. Matt Smith cites this story as direct inspiration for his Doctors look and general demeanor and he couldn’t have picked a better model as Patrick Troughton is on fire in this one. The script is amazing and has two of my favourite bits of dialogue in all of Classic Who, firstly theres The Doctor’s withering put down of Klieg:

Eric Klieg: Doctor, you seem to be very familiar with this place.
The Doctor: Oh no, not really, um, it’s all based on symbolic logic, the same as you use in computers. The opening mechanism to this door, an or-gate you call it.
Eric Klieg: Yes yes, I can see that, but how did you know in the first place?
The Doctor: Oh, I used my own special technique.
Eric Klieg: Oh really Doctor, and may we know what that is?
The Doctor: Keeping my eyes open and my mouth shut.

Then theres The Doctor comforting a in mourning Victoria in a wonderful early glimpse into The Doctor’s loneliness:

The Doctor: Are you happy with us, Victoria?
Victoria: Yes, I am. At least, I would be if my father were here.
The Doctor: Yes, I know, I know.
Victoria: I wonder what he would have thought if he could see me now.
The Doctor: You miss him very much, don’t you?
Victoria: It’s only when I close my eyes. I can still see him standing there, before those horrible Dalek creatures came to the house. He was a very kind man, I shall never forget him. Never.
The Doctor: No, of course you won’t. But, you know, the memory of him won’t always be a sad one.
Victoria: I think it will. You can’t understand, being so ancient.
The Doctor: Eh?
Victoria: I mean old.
The Doctor: Oh.
Victoria: You probably can’t remember your family.
The Doctor: Oh yes, I can when I want to. And that’s the point, really. I have to really want to, to bring them back in front of my eyes. The rest of the time they… they sleep in my mind and I forget. And so will you. Oh yes, you will. You’ll find there’s so much else to think about. To remember. Our lives are different to anybody else’s. That’s the exciting thing, that nobody in the universe can do what we’re doing.

Simply wonderful.

8 ) The Caves of Androzani

Recently voted the number one classic Doctor Who story by readers of Doctor Who Magazine to say this story is seminal doesn’t quite  do it justice. The Fifth Doctor and Peri get caught up in the politics of mining spectrox, the most valuable substance in the universe, things are further complicated when Peri contracts spectrox toxaemia and The Doctor makes the ultimate sacrifice to save his friend. Its such a crying shame that the Fifth Doctor’s adventures came to an end here but on the other hand what an incredible way for Peter Davison to bow out. His rescue of Peri at the cost of his own life is heartbreaking and Davison is magnificent, the story is also gifted with truly memorable baddies in the shape of Sharaz Jek and fourth wall breaking Morgus. I defy any fan not to join in with The Doctor as he yells “I’m not going to let you stop me now!” during the episode three cliffhanger.

7) Ghost Light

The Seventh Doctor and Ace’s finest hour, Ghost Light is a dark, gothic fariy tale where in 1883 the mansion house of Gabriel Chase in Perivale near London is under the control of the mysterious Josiah Samuel Smith the TARDIS arrives and there is a deadly test in store for Ace. This is a serial I’ve seen many times but I’m still not quite sure what actually happens! Its an unforgiving, complex tale that forms what fans call “The Ace Trilogy” a three-story arc that explores the turbulent personal history of the Doctor’s companion, Ace. Such detailed exploration of a companion’s earlier life was unusual in the original series and that dear reader is the origin of modern Doctor Who as we know it, emphasizing the Doctor and the companion equally.

6) The Time Meddler

Choosing a first doctor tale for this list was really hard, because so many of them deserve multiple spots here, although I love stories like “The Romans” and “The Aztecs” “The Time Meddler” presses all the buttons that for me make a great Who serial. The TARDIS lands in 1066 on the coast of Northumbria, and their arrival has been witnessed by a Monk who oddly does not seem fazed by the materialisation. It has great humour, a delicious baddie in the shape of The Meddling Monk (some fan theories hold that he is in fact an early incarnation of The Master), a wonderfully complex plot and a really cool “alternative history” setting. Its by no means perfect but I defy you not to shout “YES! IN YOUR FACE!” when The Doctor totally flim-flams The Meddling Monk to strand him in 1066.

5) State of Decay

This story marks the beginning of the “E-Space” trilogy of stories that came towards the end of Tom Baker’s reign as the Doctor, conventional fan wisdom holds that the quality of Tom Baker stories drops off sharply post series 17 but there is some real excellence to be had, and this story is by far my favourite of the bunch. Canny readers will probably be concluding that I tend towards the “goth” in my stories and there is no story more goth than this, the Doctor, Adric and Romana arrive on a planet experiencing what appears to be a feudal period. The villagers live under the thrall of three lords—Zargo, Camilla, and Aukon (AKA The Three Who Rule) who dwell in a shadowy Tower, for me the serial is like if Castlevania and Hammer Horror had a child and stuck Tom Baker in and its absolutely magnificent for it. The design alone makes this episode stand out, just look at the richness of the Tower, the relationship between The Doctor and Romana is never better (as in real life Tom Baker and Lalla Ward’s love affair was at its hight) and the story adds greatly to the mythology of Gallifrey and its ancient past.

4) The Mind of Evil

Number 10 on this list was my second favourite Jon Pertwee tale, and heres my absolute  favourite, this is another story that has several contenders for its spot (oh how it pains me to leave “Inferno” out!) but this story completely made me fall in love with Pertwee’s  interpretation of the good Doctor. In the serial The Doctor and Jo visit Stangmoor Prison to examine a new method of “curing” criminality, whereby the negative impulses are removed from the brain using the Keller Machine to enact the Keller Process, of course it turns out to be a nefarious plot by The Master to disrupt the first World Peace Conference, seemingly just to annoy The Doctor. The story features great work from “The UNIT family”, Jo at her resourceful and compassionate best, some brilliant Third Doctor zingers (“do you think for once you could arrive before the nick of time?!) and most intriguingly of all some real insight into The Master as portrayed by Roger Delgado, a performance never bettered in my opinion.

3) The Pyramids of Mars

If you want a Doctor Who story to show someone who wants to get into Classic Who, you can’t go far wrong with this absolute gem of a story, the TARDIS materialises inside a Victorian gothic mansion which formerly stood on the site where U.N.I.T.’s headquarters exists during the time of the Fourth Doctor. The Doctor and Sarah become aware that something is very wrong: the owner is missing and the estate has come under the control of a mysterious Egyptian. A dangerous alien power is at work, and the Doctor recognizes the mastermind of all this as Sutekh the Destroyer, the last of the Osirians. Mixing everything you’d come to expect from Doctor Who at its best, one of the best villans of all time, alternative histories, many horrifying deaths, genuine chills and an irresistible companion and Doctor combo. Its also one of the most quotable stories of all time; “I’m a Time Lord! I walk in eternity!”, “Kneel before the might of Sutekh!”, “Evil? Your evil is my good!” and “I am the servant of Sutekh, he needs no other!” to name but a few. Its this Doctor Who fans equivalent of comfort food and lovely cup of tea.

2) Genesis of the Daleks

Let me take you back to the heady days of 1994, when I was 11, I’d been brought up in a ‘Star Trek house’ and all I knew of Doctor Who was the kind of British pop culture stuff like, he has a TARDIS, he travels around with a load of screaming girls and there are these things called Daleks. I just so happened to catch a repeat of Genesis… on UK Gold, when they used to show Blakes 7 before it and you had to get up at about 5.30 am to watch it all. I did just that and lo, an fan was born. Its just an incredible achievement from beginning to end , that shocking beginning, the cliffhangers to episodes 2 and 5, the torture af Harry and Sarah Jane, Davros’ ‘tiny pressure of my thumb’ speech and most of all, the moment in episode 6 where the Doctor holds the future of the Daleks in his hands. Granted the serial is by no means perfect, there are plot holes you can drive a ford fiesta through, that never ending scene in episode 1 with the landmine and most of all, that god forsaken giant clam but it does contain all the elements of truly classic Who. It has all everything that you most associate with the classic series,Tom Baker’s portrayal of the Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith as resourceful girl adventurer and the dashing, wise cracking Harry Sullivan.The rest of the supporting cast are superb, especially Michael Wisher’s Davros, who dominates almost every scene he is in.

1) The Brain of Morbius

So here we are, my favourite Classic serial of all time, years ago, the Time Lord known as Morbius tried to lead a revolution but was executed for his ambition on the planet Karn. When the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane arrive on the planet, they discover that, thanks to Dr Solon, the dead may rise. This short synopsis hardly does justice to the most demented, wonderful, funny and down right amazing story. Incredible performances, amazing creature design and more quotable dialogue gems than you can shake a stick at (“you chicken-brained biological disaster!”) this story is for me the full package. Sure its cheesy, the Morbius creature visibly bumps into the camera at one point, The Sisterhood of Karn all seem to be auditioning for a Kate Bush video, Phillip Madoc appears to trying to eat the scenery and the set is audibly and visually made of plywood and cardboard but that doesn’t matter in the slightest, everything comes together to make “The Brain of Morbius” far more than the sum of its parts and for me, you cant get much more “Doctor Who” than that.

So there you have it, there are so many stories I wish I could included, it was so hard to narrow it down to just 10! I’d love to hear what your top classic stories are, leave your run down in the comments!

As readers will be aware Doctor Who is now off our screens until (we presume) Christmas time, Torchwood probably not coming back until 2013 at the earliest and The Sarah Jane Adventures now winding to an enforced end. I want to make sure that I keep writing for this blog  and keep bringing you all interesting and entertaining (I hope!) missives.

So my plans for the blog are:

• Before Christmas I’ll be writing another fairly lengthy “Reflecting On…” for Doctor Who series 6
• I’ll be doing roughly weekly “Top Ten” pieces, I feel thats a category I’ve rather under utilized around these parts and I’ve got a some cool ideas for lists.
• I’ve also been toying with ideas for a new series, tentatively titled “Who 101″, this would be a series of articles aimed at people who have either never seen the series at all, or who have only watched Doctor Who since the 2005 return that took a look at dissecting some of the old Who tropes, stories and companions.

Most of all I’d love to hear your feedback! Is there anything you want me to write about? What do you think of the “Who 101″ idea? Any suggestions for Top Ten lists? I’d love to hear them! Please leave your suggestions in the comments below.

In the meantime, keep an eye out for my upcoming review of the last three episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures and the first of my Top Tens…

Well I never…

This episode was always going to have quite the challenge to resolve all the issues that were raised in this series and to do it in a way that was satisfactory even more so. So lets take the first issue, did it answer all the questions raised?

Well, sort of, no doubts there will be plenty of viewers crying “cop out” at the posing of yet another mystery to be solved but the episode was successful in answering the questions that series 6 threw our way and sorted some stuff from previous years. Eye patches? Check. River Song’s marital status? Check. The Doctor’s fate? Check. The nature of The Silence? Check.

And here lies the issue, the episode was so geared towards tying off loose ends that the episode whizzed by at such a thunderous pace as to leave me feeling somewhat bamboozled and underwhelmed, there were some fun little moments, the appearance of Charles Dickens, the carnivorous skulls left by the Headless Monks, The Doctor’s attempt to get Captain Williams to ask out Amy and River and The Doctor’s shotgun wedding. It was well acted, I loved Karen Gillan’s work in this episode, her coldness in allowing the death of Madame Kervorian was awesome and more than a little terrifying. The visual effects were overall excellent and the fate of The Brigadier brought a tear to my eye.

Despite these bits I found my eyes flicking towards to clock, wondering how on earth they were going to get this to a conclusion and trying to keep everything straight in my mind. More than a few times I found myself thinking of this episode as functional rather than entertaining. You could sometimes see the plot points being hit rather than a fluid move from cause to effect. Problem is how could the show do anything else? By setting this series up to move towards an event that could never really take place without ending the whole show, whether this was a wise decision on Steven Moffat’s part is going to be a debate that keeps fandom going for the rest of time I think.

I think people really weren’t expecting things to be this straight forward, that there would be an immense universe imploding shock to the system that we go with “The Pandorica Opens”/”The Big Bang” but we should know better than that by now, with Steven Moffat things are never really that complicated when you scratch at the surface and I think when push comes to shove that will disappoint more than a few viewers. I wasn’t disappointed by what I saw, it was the logical conclusion of  the last two series, in fact I’m looking forward to going back to series 5 and 6 and seeing how it works in retrospect, armed with the knowledge we have now. As I said earlier in this post the episode itself suffered under the weight of the purpose it had to fulfill but it was still a good piece of television. As series finales go it certainly wasn’t the worst we’ve been given, it wasn’t the best either but with me I’ll tolerate stuff from The Doctor that I’d never countenance from anyone else.

I’m sure as I type this the internet is ablaze with “MOFFAT MUST GO” and I think that was going to be the reaction whatever happened in this episode, it was always going to be seen as a cop out and thats a shame because whatever this episodes faults it doesn’t deserve that harsh a verdict. In 20 years time when people are writing clever books about series 6 and youngsters are discovering it for themselves I believe this episode will be held in much higher regard, much like series one’s “Boom Town”, hated by nearly everyone on transmission has now been subject to a great deal of revisionist praise.

So in conclusion I thought it was good albeit flawed, a lot of you who read this will think it sucked and Moffat should be hung from the nearest yardarm… as it always was and as it will always be, and when you think about it isn’t that just a tiny bit marvelous….?

I’ve got a funny feeling that this episode is going to prove somewhat divisive.

There will be people out there who dismissed this episode before it even aired because of their impression of James Corden, the people who hated “The Lodger” and people who will have watched this and been disappointed that it wasn’t a direct continuation of that episode and do you know what thats a massive shame because this episode was a pure chunk of loveliness albeit with a few… issues

James Corden was brilliant as Craig and it was nice to see him being The Doctors straight man in some really lovely scenes,  the chemistry between Matt Smith and James Corden that obviously exists in real life came through on the screen and that really helped the scenes with just the two of them sing. I’m particularly fond on the scene of the sofa where The Doctor finally confesses to Craig that his death is imminent only to find his friend has fallen asleep. Also how wonderful was Alfie? or Stormageddon as he preferred to be called, it pretty hard to make a tiny baby a character in his own right but somehow this episode managed it, The Doctor’s monologue to little Alfie was wonderful and was a timely reminder to us old hands that The Doctor was once a Dad himself which added to the thread of melancholy that weaved through this episode. Another welcome sight for old fans was the guest appearance of Linda Baron, formally Captain Rack of the classic serial “Enlightenment” who was absolutely wonderful in her role as a shop assistant. I also loved the return of the Cybermats, I forsee a new Doctor Who toy in the offing for Christmas!

Despite all this lovely stuff there were a few problems, The Cybermen felt more than a little show-horned into the script as The Doctor needs a peril  to fight and their ultimate defeat was straight out of the RTD book of deus ex machina monster beating solutions. The River song scenes at the end of the episode also felt tacked on, although a lead in was needed to go into next weeks finale. The plot was more than a little reminiscent of the Tenth Doctor as we see him at the beginning of “The End of Time”, on a final pre-death “grand tour”.  Ultimately there will be plenty of viewers who will dub this episode a waste of time as it didn’t do much with the Cybermen, didn’t advance the overall plot and brought back a hated (by some) side character. On the other hand if you’re like me you really enjoyed this heartwarming tale where The Doctor came to town, beat the baddies, helped a Dad connect with his son and remember why he does what he does.