Father's Day

November 1987: I was fourteen years old and watching Delta and The Bannermen… But never mind eh?

Once again, we were on Earth. Are we ever gonna see an alien planet in this series? Fortunately, Father’s Day was another emotion-crunching episode that would tug at the heartstrings at even the hardest Doctor Who fan. For once we were actually treated to a proper time-travel plot, which is a rarity in Doctor Who. Admittedly the episode had a very obvious ending but the power of the acting covered that up.

Shaun Dingwall as Pete Tyler was superb, especially in the scenes where Pete has his "Gethsemane" moment, realising he has to die to save the world. Once again Billie Piper was outstanding, give her a Bafta next year for goodness sake.

The Doctor didn’t really do much. He even admits at one point, that he doesn’t have a plan. More often than not in this series, the Doctor seems to have been made redundant in the stories conclusions, often being reduced to a bystander. Here, he at least gets to save Rose in a gallant gesture before disappearing. When he appears by Rose’s side after time is changed back again, it was so much more subtle and effective than if he had re-appeared in a flash of light.

However, despite all the emotion, intelligent acting and horror, there was time for a little humour. Who didn’t enjoy the Doctor putting Jackie in her place. Plus anyone who thinks Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor is all northern grins, "fantastic" and not a proper Doctor, should watch the scene where he’s talking to Baby Rose or the couple getting married. The first was a true Doctor-like soliloquy, the second a reassuringly traditional Doctor moment, both delivered with warmth, humour and wisdom. [Shaun feel free to edit out this next sentence] On the strength of this episode alone, Ian Levine can shove his "moral right" up his arse, because Eccleston was at his best here, proving that he was the man for the job. Thirteen episodes are better than no episodes at all!

1987 was very accurately brought back to life, even down to dreary old Rick Astley singing on the car radio. The Reapers were an excellent creation, not only in appearance but, they sounded terrifying too. The scenes of their point of view were genuinely eerie and when they devoured Steve’s father and the vicar, it was as near to a modern-day horror film than Doctor Who has ever been. If I have one complaint, it was the TARDIS key subplot which made very little sense and appeared to be just padding, lengthening the episode and delaying the obvious ending.

Father’s Day is more proof at how flexible and adaptable the series format is and also how much Doctor Who has grown up. Another rosy-glow moment which makes me proud to be a Doctor Who fan!