Love & Monsters

A very-difficult one to review, as there has never been anything like this in Doctor Who lore. Now, thereВ’s nothing wrong with being unique. But was it good unique or bad unique? Or somewhere in between?

If the script for Love and Monsters had arrived unsolicited on Russell T DaviesВ’s desk, I wonder what heВ’d have done with it after reading it. Or rather, which manner of waste-paper disposal would he have used? Shredder? Bin? Return to sender, address unknown, and donВ’t trouble us again? Make a little bonfire with it perhaps? It certainly wouldnВ’t have been made into an episode of Doctor Who. Yet an episode of Doctor Who it did become В– being the bossВ’s idea might have helped it! В– but did В“the bossВ” make it work? В‘Course he did!

An episode in which neither The Doctor nor Rose had more than a couple of minutesВ’ screen time was always going to be different. To do it from the viewpoint of an entirely-new character, Elton Pope, was bold in the extreme, but Davies was helped here by Marc Warren, who was terrific as Elton. A well-written character you could warm to from the start, and the impossible job of playing the lead in a show without its two lead characters, was one he excelled at. So tremendous credit to Warren. If heВ’d have been unconvincing in the role, this would have been a deeply-uncomfortable watch.

The early scenes of The Doctor and Rose chasing a monster (without getting into the questions of what was it doing there and what happened to it!) in and out of doors was harmless fun, as was the introduction of LINDA. Loved the ELO music, too.

Peter KayВ’s involvement was a gimmick, of course, but he was good as Victor Kennedy, and obviously enjoyed his stint in the monster suit. It had to be recognisable as Kay, otherwise there was no point in his casting. Quite why it had a pronounced Northern accent, IВ’m not sure В– I know, I know, lots of planets have a North . . .

The idea of the Azorbaloff wasnВ’t a bad one, if a bit В“comic stripВ”, although as it was (literally) designed by a nine-year-old as part of a Blue Peter competition, that was understandable. And making it a neighbour of the Slitheen was a nice touch, and enabled the designers to choose bits of cast-off from RaxacoricofallapatoriusВ’ finest! I felt a flashback to В“the SliveenВ” would have been nice at this point, as IВ’m not sure the name is as instantly well known to all viewers, especially as they didnВ’t appear this season. The faces of В“the absorbedВ” on the monsterВ’s body was one of the episodeВ’s high points. This was a clever concept by the young designer, and very well realised by The Mill.

The scenes involving Elton and Jackie Tyler were also amongst the best of the episode В– as well as the obvious comedic value, IВ’m sure weВ’ll find this was significant as part of the season story arc, as was EltonВ’s observation that the time would come when Jackie and Rose would pay for their involvement with The Doctor. And I donВ’t think it would take the combined brainpower of LINDA to work out that В“pay offВ” is only a couple of episodes away.

I did chuckle at the В“we have a love lifeВ” line while the open-mouthed head of Ursula ensconsed in her paving stone sat on EltonВ’s lap, but IВ’m amazed it wasnВ’t cut! Captain JackВ’s bottom didnВ’t get past the censor, but that line did? I suppose it would have flown over the head of the younger members of the audience, but still . . .

As a piece of TV, it was very watchable. As an episode of Doctor Who, I couldnВ’t say I preferred to it much of the season, but it was SO different, itВ’s difficult to compare anyway. If you take the episode for what it was, a bit of fun designed to bridge the gap between some powerful, darker tales (and to ease the pressure on the lead two actors, presumably) I think you can make peace with it, and think of it with affection. It was a worthwhile gamble and, all things considered, one which paid off.