The Empty Child

Well, that was a fantastic episode! We had guests over on Saturday and all seemed to enjoy it, my wife is now a confirmed fan of this new Doctor Who series. She was genuinely scared during The Empty Child and quite annoyed that it's a two-parter as we're kept waiting for a week to discover the conclusion! She's also desperate to get tickets to the special BAFTA showing of episode 13. If the show has been able to pull a casual viewer such as her into the fold then it really has succeeded.

The Doctor and Rose find themselves in the middle of the Blitz on London, he following some suspicious children and she ending up clinging to a rope of a barrage baloon. Rose is rescued by the dashing Captain Jack, who turns out to be a time traveller himself. Quite who the "time agents" he speaks of are we don't yet know but it's all intriguing. Rose obviously takes to him and I have no doubts we'll see more of this character.

Meanwhile, the Doctor finds that the children are apparently homeless and ingeniously waiting for air rades to enter homes of families who are packed into their Anderson shelters in order to eat. But one child, always wearing a gas mask and asking for his mummy isn't allowed in the house. He also appears to be able to make any telephone ring, even the disconnected one on the outside of the Tardis and the Doctor is warned not to touch him.

It transpires that an alien vessel landed nearby, mistaken initially for a bomb, and it has caused strange casualties. The Doctor visits Albion hospital where he finds an ailing doctor tending patients who show no signs of life. All appear to be wearing gas masks, all were "infected" by the alien object and when startled all sit up despite fatal physical injuries. The hospital doctor himself has become infected, and in an excellent use of CGI his whole face sprouts a gas mask! We must assume that some alien is now living inside the victims, and that it needs the mask to filter the air though this has not yet been made clear.

The whole episode was paced well, dialogue was good and the special effects, while not an intergral part of this story were great when they were needed. The atmosphere was very dark and scary, very in keeping with mid 70's Doctor Who. The new character has truly swept Rose off her feet and is a very interesting addition to the mix.

I only hope that "The Doctor Dances" keeps up this excellence, and that the Doctor himself is able to resolve the alien goings on rather than one of his sidekicks. If so this could well go down as an absolute classic Doctor Who story, truly one of the very best.