The Doctor Dances

Magic, absolute magic...

I had terrible forebodings about this one. As Steven Moffat was the writer, he of the nevertheless excellent "Coupling", I was expecting something lightweight and comic, and I feared the worst even after the excellent Empty Child. How wrong. This episode brought all the best elements of the new series to the boil, and how.

As mentioned in my Empty Child review I was concerned that Captain Jack might be an intrusive and OTT presence, but the interaction between the Doctor, Rose and Jack is excellent, skipping blithly over the occasional duff line knowing an excellent follow up is never far away. The exchanges between the Doctor and Jack regarding blasters and screwdrivers is simply a delight. Even the potentially stomach churning stuff at the end involving dancing works a treat. Don't remember much bisexual tension in the original series... plus ca change!

Speaking of the 'classic' series, one of the key elements was fear, and this two-parter wrung about as much as could be hoped for; even for someone way beyond his childhood years, the hairs stood up on the back of my neck both when our heroes realise the tape has run out and the child is actually in the room, and even more when Nancy points out that an invisible presence is working the typewriter. This is Doctor Who as I remember it, and more; thrilling, intelligent, emotionally involving, darkly comic and SCARY.

The climax, as Nancy admits her dark secret and the Doctor wills the nano-genes (is that the right spelling?) to recognise her DNA as she holds her son, is emotionally tense and thrilling, and what could have been sentimental and cloying is instead gripping and truly euphoric. And we the viewers get an extra bonus; following that fabulous climax, we get Captain Jack waiting for impending death having rescued everyone by removing the German bomb in his spaceship - a wonderful scene, deftly played by John Barrowman, who far from being the embarrassment I expected, makes one root for the character and add another delicious slice of last-minute tension to the mix.

Bit concerned about next week from the teaser... haven't been too impressed with RTD's writing contributions save the first two episodes, and can't see why they are resuscitating the Slitheen, of all the new characters introduced... but I'll wait and see.