The Girl in the Fireplace

The excellent School Reunion was going to be a difficult story to follow - especially in the emotional stakes. If anyone could come up with the goods it would be writer Steven Moffat and, in many ways, he almost did it!!! Doctor Who has always worked well when exploring more unusual concepts and ideas - The Mind Robber being a perfect example of the unexpected. So mix the court of Louis XV, robotic clockwork killers and a futuristic spaceship with a living heart and instant time windows into the events surrounding Madame de Pompadour and you have a very non-traditional but enjoyable DW adventure.

Season One gave Christopher Eccleston some very good lines but the Ninth Doctor tended not to be the centre of the plots - Rose almost dominating many of the story lines. This time round David Tennant's tenth Doctor is very much the leading figure with many aspects of his emotions and past being investigated. His attraction to young Reinette as her imaginary friend from behind the fireplace grew to a full blown fascination with the man called the Doctor - as the Doctor met the older versions of Reinette the mutual attraction grew until they touched minds and understood each other's loneliness. OK so many DW fans will not accept that the Doctor should have romantic thoughts but surely this is a Time Lord who has become very vulneranble after the death of his race, has learnt how devastating his involvement can be with his former travelling companions and now desperately needs to belong to a race - even if it is human. Another emotional rollercoaster as the Doctor experiences what could have been a very passionate relationship only to loose his Reinette and become a wanderer in time and space again!

The feel of the story is excellent - BBC Drama always excel at period pieces so the lavish external and internal scenes around Versailles looked great and the clockwork droids were both chilling and powerful - those black eyes and smiles were positively Hammer horror at is best!

A relatively small cast excelled with Sophia Myles' performance being outstanding. Poor Rose and Mickey were very much in the background this time - but as for Arthur the Horse . . . a future rival for K9 perhaps!!!! David Tennant gave many dimensions to his character again - almost Tom Bakerish in parts - but the humour here was far more in keeping with the story (as last week). He is really a tremendous Doctor and is developing into his own special characterisation.

Every episode of this series seems to take the show on further and further - the clips of the Cybermen episodes suggest that the best could be yet to come!