Love & Monsters

So, Doctor Who does 'different'. Russell T Davies certainly isn't afraid to take the series in new directions. It's almost as if being forced to use the Blue Peter competition-spawned Abzorbaloff gave him permission to tear up the new series rule book. He gives the Doctor and Rose near walk-on parts. He chooses to have one-off central character Elton Pope narrate the story (and provide 'video diary' style addresses to camera). He also dispenses with traditional linear storytelling, throwing in flashbacks, flashforwards, speeded-up sequences, and even a brief appearance from Elton John. All of which feels wonderfully fresh and fun.

Marc Warren's performance as Elton Pope is a winning one, and he's ably supported by Shirley Henderson as Ursula Blake, who both turn their shy, geeky Doctor fans into warm, three-dimensional characters. Camille Coduri is given space to shine as Jackie Tyler, and the story gives us a whole new take on her life, going 'a bit mad' while her daughter swans off with the Doctor. The other LINDA members, too, though peripheral, come across as likeable individuals, thanks to Davies' skill at swiftly painting 'real' people - 'I don't know why we call him Mr Skinner', 'Bless Bliss', etc. And the scenes of the group becoming friends and finally forming the band brought a real smile to my face. It's just a shame that neither the band, nor my smile, could last until the end of the episode.

Davies, though a clever writer in many ways, seems determined to take what was going quite well, and generally screw it up. His lovable characters are casually discarded, which might have been okay in a grittier tale, but just seems thoughtless here. He changes tone from comic to tragic to gross-out with the sensitivity of a learner driver crunching gears. This leaves the final scenes where Elton recalls his mother's death completely lacking the emotional weight they were clearly intended to have.

But Peter Kay is good fun, both as Victor Kennedy and the Abzorbaloff - there may not be a more ridiculously funny moment this series than when his blubbery green form half-runs, half-wobbles after Elton. Shame the story resolution was so rubbish. Okay, you could argue that a story like this one doesn't really demand anything great in the plot department, but it feels like Davies just dashed off the first few crazy thoughts that came into his head. The Abzorbaloff absorbs people (for food, we presume), but they can (almost) pull him apart? Oh, and if you snap his walking cane in half it'll break his 'energy field' (or something) and he'll dissolve into a puddle, absorbed by the earth (or something). And then there's Ursula the Paving Slab... Well, ten out of ten for sneaking in a thinly-veiled fellatio reference well before the 9pm watershed, but it wasn't a funny idea, it was an embarrassing one.

Overall then, an interesting and engaging first half, more-or-less ruined by the second half. And, is it just me, or are things generally going a bit wrong this season? Whether its awkward shifts in tone (see above and also New Earth), missed opportunities (see School Reunion) or weak story resolutions (see, well, most of them, but especially The Age of Steel and The Satan Pit), Doctor Who is fast losing its 'must-see TV' crown. I really hope that the remaining three episodes can pull something out of the bag. But the teaser for next week's Fear Her didn't look too inspiring (the preview on the SFX web site is unusually negative as well), which just leaves the Army of Ghosts/Doomsday two-parter. And, though I'm willing (and hopeful) to be surprised, it's written by Russell T Davies (so I'm expecting a massive deus ex machina at the end); it features guest appearances from Derek Acorah, Trisha Goddard and Barbara Windsor (ah...); and the 'surprise' departure of Rose is already well known. Time will tell, I suppose. And at least the much-praised Battlestar Galactica makes its Freeview debut on Thursday...