Boom Town

Lovely picturesque shots of Cardiff centre in this.

I couldnВ’t understand RADIO TIMES saying there was no room to develop it. It was all development. Character development. Like FATHERВ’S DAY, it placed character and human emotion at the heart of the story. That became the story. It needed that feel of a breathing space, of a calm before the storm to do itВ’s work. Very strong RTD episode. Loved it. This type of thing, these kinds of scenes - IВ’m thinking Margaret sparing the journalist in the loo - were rarely if never attempted to this degree before.

The restaurant scene with Christopher Eccleston and Annette Badland was intimately played. В“Let me goВ”, Margaret pleaded, with restraint - tears in her eyes.

MickeyВ’s rounding on Rose was heartfelt and justified - the flipside of her running into the TARDIS at the end of Episode One. But The Doctor had to wait around longer than he did at the end of В“World War ThreeВ”. I donВ’t believe weВ’ve had quite such a chat-up line in DR. WHO before. But it was completely natural.

Things link nicely in 2005 DR. WHO. Take В“BOOM TOWNВ”. Here - quite apart from the ever-present Doctor and Rose - we had a semi-regular cast of Mickey (Episodes 1, 4-5, 8), Margaret (again 4-5) and Captain Jack (9-10). That covers six of the preceding ten episodes, seven if you count the time fault in Cardiff from Episode Three. There is a real sense of a beginning, middle and end to the new series.

And Bad Wolf again. Certain close-ups of Eccleston made me wonder... And the Bad Wolf website is scary. Images of wolves and lovely schoolkids singing В“WhoВ’s afraid of the Big Bad WolfВ”. CanВ’t tell if theyВ’re wearing gas masks...