11th doctor

The Only Way Is Essex

When I was 15, I had a letter published in Doctor Who Bulletin in which I declared, with the arrogant certainty of youth, that the second episode of The Trial of a Time Lord was the greatest ever example of the art of the moving image. That’s rating 25 minutes of Colin Baker dicking about with a robot and two comedy gays over the entire canon of Welles, Kubrick, Kurosawa and even Douglas Camfield. Let’s just say that, after 18 months’ enforced absence, I was quite excited to see Doctor Who back. Read more

Hornswoggling

I don’t think anyone saw that climax coming. What a wonderfully moving end to the episode. For those of us who have been campaigning for the return of the Nimon for decades, the reference to them at the end of The God Complex was a glorious and emotional vindication. Closure at last.

Help the Aged

Completely standalone (despite its teasing title) and with no connection whatsoever to The Mind Robber, The Girl Who Waited not only confounded my expectations, it battered them into a bloody, weeping pulp. Ingenious, immaginative and immensely satisfying from start to finish, it really doesn’t get any better than this. Read more

Unconditional Love

Mark Gatiss is responsible for some of my favourite Doctor Who episode synopses ever. Gas monsters on the rampage in a Victorian funeral parlour? Brilliant. Aliens pouring out of 1950s bakelite tellies? I’m having that. Daleks in Churchill’s bunker? Where do I sign? He’s the king of the one-line pitch – which may explain why he keeps getting commissioned, despite the resulting episodes proving so disappointing. Read more

Psycho Killer, Qu'est-ce que c'est?

Well, I definitely didn’t see that coming.

I was worried about Let’s Kill Hitler. After I got over the initial thrill of seeing that title card for the first time, I began to have second thoughts about the Doctor appearing in a story with the world’s most notorious war criminal. DWM’s latest cover is a bit disturbing when you stop to think about it. Whatever next? Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with Pol Pot? In fact, I had hoped that the title wasn’t literal at all, and in a way I was right: the real war criminal in this episode is River Song (or, from her brainwashed point of view, the Doctor) and I was very happy to see Adolf locked away in a cupboard very early on, never to be seen again. Read more