The Long Game

After the high of last weeks 'Dalek' I sat down to watch 'The Long Game' with much less expectation and a feeling that I just wouldn't enjoy this as much.

I was half right, it wasn't as good as 'Dalek' but I enjoyed it a lot better than I thought I would, considering the last offering from Russell T Davies.

'The Long Game' was Easily as good as 'The End of the World', which had been my favourite Davies script so far. It was quite a nice (but obvious) take on the media and how they can manipulate the public and our beliefs and opinions.

It looked good and the acting from guest as well as regulars was fantastic. The lighting was suitably creepy and the corpses genuinely chilling, which I'm sure will result in a few complaints to the BBC - and as any Who fan knows if parents are complaining then the series is doing something right.

Christopher and Billie shined yet again, I just hope that Billie Piper can generate the same on screen chemistry with David Tennant, though I'm sure the relationship will be different.

Bruno Langley as Adam was far better here than in 'Dalek', chancing his luck for personal profit and being caught out. I feel the only reason for his inclusion in this episode was for us to see that the Doc will not tolerate a companion that tries to manipulate time travel for their own ends. It will be interesting to see if he is so quick to throw Rose out next week as she obviously saves her father and changes history.

Tamsin Greig was very good in this episode, gently, but greedily, encouraging Adam to go for the more expensive surgery.

What a performance from Simon Pegg, easily stealing the show, which is not an easy task with Chris and Billie on form. The Editor was such a fantastically calculating villain. Pegg's performance just reeked of smugness, I was really hoping this arrogant business man he would be a recurring villain. I also hoped for a brief while that he was another Time Lord, though, to be honest, I didn't really hold out much hope for that.

The Editor in Chief (I will not even attempt to spell the full name) looked horrific with some very good CGI, this monster was only let down by my one major disappointment with the episode: The length!

I'm sure I will not be the only one that thought this episode was a fantastic episode 1 & 2 of a classic series 4 parter. The end was wrapped up far too quickly, this episode (like most, if not all of the one parters) could have benefited from a second part. I am so frustrated that the only two parter so far was that pathetic pile of crap 'Aliens of London' and 'World War III', what a damn waste. Davies has written three good single episodes which could have benefitted from a second part and the one that does get two parts is the one that should have been shortened, very frustrating, but at least Davies is back on form.

All in all not the best episode so far - the best two being 'Dalek' and 'The Unquiet Dead' but 'The Long Game' certainly has a good shot at third place.

Oh, and over half way through the series already, time flies when you're having fun.