The Christmas Invasion

The Christmas Invasion has an important question to answer: we all know David Tennant's the new Doctor, but is he the new Doctor? He's already auditioned for Russel T Davies, and this episode sees him audition before the post-Eccleston Who-watching public.

The episode is cleverly structured to answer this question, with several characters' reactions to the regeneration mimicking our own and echoing the cries of eight-year-olds across the country: "But he's not my Doctor." Tennant has big shoes to fill, but for most of the episode he's laid up in bed exhaling orange smoke - not the best way to make a good first impression. With the Doctor out of action it's left to the other players to keep things moving: Billie Piper plays Rose's loss of faith in her hero convincingly, Mickey runs around looking gormless and aliens try to take over the Earth, again.

Thank god for Harriet Jones (Prime Minister) - the only good thing to come out of the dreadful farting aliens debacle in series one - who makes a welcome return here. I adored Harriet in her first appearance, and it's wonderful to see they've preserved her subtle character touches here. Such a likeable and inspiring politician could only exist in science fiction (or an episode of The West Wing). Harriet is never arrogant enough to presume people will know who she is, even though she's now Prime Minister (she constantly flashes her ID card when introducing herself), and even in a crisis she's considerate to the people around her, offering to make them coffee and always ensuring she knows the names of who she's working with. As an intelligent, enthusiastic and principled leader she's almost the Doctor's human stand-in for the duration of his illness in this episode.

The aliens I'm ambivalent about. The Santassassins (sorry) and the killer Christmas tree are nothing more than silly devices to make the episode vaguely Christmas-themed; fortunately both are dispensed with early on. The Sycorax themselves are a fairly predictable bunch seeking Earth conquest, while the means by which they attempt it - putting Harriet Jones in the position of choosing between slavery and the deaths of one third of the population - makes for some enjoyable tension. But like the Sycorax's plan itself this is all just a ploy, an attempt to distract us long enough until the Doctor gets out of bed and shows us he can save the day just as well as his big-eared predecessor.

Tennant carries off the new Doctor's first major scene with engaging panache: I love how the script echoes our own questions about what kind of man he is now, while his verbal disarming of the Sycorax and calling their bluff on the blood-hypnotism is a classic Doctor moment. Unfortunately I found the swordfight something of a let down after the battle of wits which preceded it. The Satsuma was a nice touch - funny without being too ridiculous - but from that point on the episode quickly deteriorates.

If anything spoiled this episode for me, it's the ending. I have no problem with Harriet Jones getting tough on the Sycorax and blasting them to smithereens: it's a nice illustration of how her character has had to toughen up since becoming Prime Minister. I also like the idea of this causing some friction between her and the Doctor about the use of force, especially since Torchwood means the human race doesn't have to be the victim of other species' whims anymore. What I find incredibly frustrating, however, is the Doctor's completely irrational reaction to Harriet's decision. She visibly struggles with her conscience before taking the decision to fire, and the evidence is stacked in her favour: the Sycorax attacked us, they wanted to enslave humanity and threatened to kill 1/3 of its populace. The Doctor himself said that the human race is becoming noticed more and more - do we want to be known as helpless victims, or as a race capable of standing up for itself? Furthermore, despite whatever rules of combat the Doctor may have entered into, the Sycorax already showed they were capable of ignoring any code of honour when the defeated leader tried to attack the Doctor after he spared his life. If the Doctor doesn't give second chances, why should Harriet?

What makes this a galling plot development (instead of just irritating hypocrisy on the Doctor's part) is the idea that somehow Harriet should or could be kicked out of office for this. Harriet has ushered in a new era of success in Britain, which even know-nothings like Jackie are happy about; not only that, but she's just shown strength in the face of a powerful enemy. She didn't hesitate to put herself forward into danger when the Sycorax asked who would represent the planet, and stood up to them when beamed aboard their ship. And when they killed two prisoners of war in front of her eyes and then tried to leave (having previously mentioned the possibility of coming back with reinforcements), she had the courage to make a tough decision and strike back at them. All of this would make her a hero with the general public, not to mention her own party; how could she be facing a no confidence vote after that? She's not Margaret Thatcher, she's Churchill with better domestic policy. The idea that the Doctor could bring her down after this - especially using the lowest tactics possible: the dirty politics of mud-slinging and rumour-mongering about the state of her health - is reprehensible as well as stupid, and it doesn't say much about the kind of man this new Doctor is. Trying to claim the moral high ground with these kinds of manoevures is hypocrisy of the worst kind.

The Christmas Invasion was a by and large entertaining episode that successfully bridged the gap between Doctors, establishing Tennant as the TARDIS's rightful occupant. Unfortunately, a clever script (I loved the joke about the Royal family) and a brilliant performance by David Tennant are undermined by a terrible ending in which the most interesting parts of the plot are crammed into a minute or so and unsatisfactorily resolved. For me this one ended on a sour note, and I'll be looking to the new series to sweeten things again.