Father's Day

This story is likely to be one where opinions differ markedly with little middle ground.I'm not just saying that because for the first time my friend and I,who for a bit of fun send each other an initial rating of each story shortly after transmission,completely disagree about this one.For him this was by far the worst story of the season to date whereas for me it was another excellent and in this case poignant tale which,whilst not quite hitting the heights of the Unquiet Dead or Dalek,came pretty close in its own way.

I can see there will be those who felt that this story was padded out,soapy and predictable.Rose's Dad has to kill himself to redress the wound in time,surely?But I am afraid there are far too many good things going on here for this story to be dismissed out of hand and anyway,I've got no problem at all with stories that don't travel at a frenetic pace and where dialogue comes to the fore.I can see the Tom Baker incarnation sqirming with embarrassment and irritation at some of the intensity of the emotional exchanges but these were completely necessary in this particular case.

There are some very memorable sequences: the outline of one of the Reapers at the stained glass window of the church was one of the most striking and unnerving I can recall; the see-saw rocking on its own after the children have suddenly been taken away is very reminiscent of Sapphire and Steel story one and very scary;the Doctor opening up the Tardis to find the inside of a police box was just brilliant and the Doctor's perception that the walls of the church will provide temporary sanctuary due to their age is suitably eerie.

I don't suppose for a moment I could make complete sense of it all but the quality of the writing and performances shone through,as Rose's Dad goes from being a loser to a hero with the realisation that he needs to sacrifice himself,after the Doctor has bought the besieged inhabitants of the church a little more time by his own self-sacrifice.

Rose's Mum didn't appear to look any different in age terms(not hairstyle of course) in 1987 but that's a minor aside.

An excellent story which I feel will stand up well to repeated viewings.