Love & Monsters

Well, that took some absorbing. (Sorry)

I can usually form a pretty strong immediate opinion of an episode these days. Subsequent viewings tend to highlight strengths or weaknesses and my opinion can be revised somewhat. It was rather different when I were a lad; for example, at the time I loved 'Time-Flight' as much as 'Kinda'. (No guesses which story I rate highly now!)

We fret about falling viewing figures because we care about this unique programme, and in the week that Billie Piper's leaving is announced (well timed to ratch up interest in the season finale) we have one of the strangest 'Doctor Who' episodes ever broadcast. I admit that my initial reaction to 'Love & Monsters' was something like "Ummm..." , mixed with a bit of "weeelll..."; throw in some "hmmmm..." too. Blimey, how articulate!

I'd felt challenged...and I rather like that. Maybe Episode 10 will become the 'quirky episode' slot? Twice now we've had a (in my view) classic two-parter followed by something different and interesting. (I liked 'Boom Town' .)

Well, it took another viewing, but I like this episode too. I have reservations, but I thought it had a generosity of spirit typical of RTD. (Well generally speaking; still don't like Adam's treatment in 'The Long Game'!) The casting was obviously even more important than usual, and I thought Marc Warren was absolutely terrific as Elton Pope. I've never seen him act before, and I was most impressed. Shirley Henderson was great, and new to me too. Lovely, sweet, relationship. Indeed, all of 'LI'n'DA' (!) were very well scripted and portrayed, making you care for them in a short period of screen time. There was no mean-spirited 'Whizzkid from 'Greatest Show in the Galaxy'-type scenario' here. (Actually, that's my favourite McCoy story!) The fandom references are very obvious, but not too self-indulgent; well, maybe a little bit...

I thought Camille was great here, whether being scarily flirtatious, angry, sad or vulnerable. Elton's "Steps 1 to 4 of infiltration" mirroring Jackie's 'pick up' technique was hilarious, and Ursula's piqued "...and what a chest" line made me laugh out loud.

Peter Kaye played straight perfectly well as 'Victor Kennedy' , and then had a chance to really enjoy himself as the northern-accented Abzorbaloff. It was pretty funny stuff, and I really howled at the "I spit on them...Klum (sic?)" part. Boy, is this episode going to get a mixed reaction!!!

Okay, 'Love And Monsters' felt like it was walking a tightrope a lot of the time. Moments that didn't make me laugh on first viewing include the 'red bucket' / 'blue bucket' bit (way too pantomime, but, well, I did smile on the subsequent viewing, I admit!) and the reference to a 'love life' between Elton and the unconvincingly 'trapped' Ursula. I'm no prude, but it felt like I was being nudged in the ribs and winked at by Monty Python's "Say no more!" character. How adult and daring! (Still, it was only one line, so perhaps I should lighten up a bit? Nah...I thought it was a badly judged moment.)

So...a very curious episode, probably destined to be a cult in future years, which some will love and others will loath. I'll stick to "like", I think. It was very interestingly structured, and had enough moments about love, loss and repressed childhood memories to balance Peter Kaye running around in a 'fat suit' , the odd crass line and some unbelievable set-ups.

So curious, I can't give it a mark. I don't mean 0/10, I just mean I don't think I've entirely got my head around it!