The Empty Child

I love my job as a primary school teacher a lot, but nothing was sweeter to my ears than walking onto the playground first thing to hear my 11 year old pupils chasing after each other saying "Are you my Mummy?". "Mr. Dawson?" says Ash, "Did you see it? It was really scary!"

My sentiment precisely. I watched the episode in a hurry, rushing in through the door, I stuck a tape in the video and knelt before the TV. By the end of the episode I had edged back towards the sofa, and as I can't get behind the sofa, I'll venture I had reached my highest creep factor so far in the new series. I believe "The Empty Child" was the biggest success of the year so far. Don't get me wrong, "Dalek" was ground-breaking and "Father's Day" was sad, but this episode seemed to pass in seconds, the dark, insidious nature of the boy in the gas mask paired with the hollow child's voice was truly effective, especially in the sequence in the hallway as The Doctor crouched behind the door. Like many of my pupils I actually called out for the Doctor not to open the door! DWM once commented that Doctor Who was most effective when it entered the nursery and presented child-like things in a scary way, and I'd agree this is a fine example.

Eccleston and Piper were on fine form in their different plot threads, The Doctor and Nancy scenes were well played and seemed very natural from both performers "and what do yer ears do?" genius (plus, none of that "FANTASTIC!" stuff). Captain Jack wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting either and it seems the "Adric 05" movement ended with Adam. The Rose and Jack scenes were amusing rather than irritating, Rose being as sleazy as Jack if not sleazier! Richard Wilson only had a bit as Constantine, but the gasmask sequence was brilliant, face-cracking or no face-cracking.

My criticisms of the series so far have been levelled at the wafer-thin plots that have arisen in the attempt to deliver a rounded Doctor and companion, "The Empty Child" has give fans an intriguiging premise and terrifying set pieces, I just hope the resolution gives a satisfying pay-off. "It's because of the Time War" does not count as a decent explanation (R, UD, D, FD). I'm convinced Moffat will deliver the goods though.

All in all I loved this episode. A lot. But has anyone else noticed that the best episodes have been the non-RTD ones? What's that all about?