I've seen the episode a few times, read the reviews and been entertained by both. Wonderful episode, very interesting reviews...

(Pause) (Thinks)...this is a programme I adore seeing off the irritating rubbish that was 'Celebrity Wrestling' in the ratings and inspiring lively, articulate and diverse comments. Ahh, good times to be a fan.

I think this is possibly my favourite episode so far. Like 'Dalek' , 'The Unquiet Dead' and , to a lesser extent 'The End of the World' I was emotionally engaged and gripped throughout. This is not just quality 'Doctor Who' ; not just quality 'genre' television; this is quality television. Full. Stop. Quite right that plot holes are dissected, flaws found and criticisms made.We're fans...s'what we do and bl**dy marvellous and entertaining it is too! But as I responded to this episode on an very emotional level, my comments might reflect this...

Pre-titles sequence...spot on. Draws you in straight away (cue *that* theme music) . 'Little' Rose is told that her Dad died alone.Oh, blimey. I'm going already. What a sap.

Peter's death/rescue...very well done. This director can come back! (Oh, he is. Good.) Shaun Dingwell doesn't miss a beat throughout the episode. Excellent performance.

Doctor/Rose dynamics...Rose is right and wrong at the same time. Reacting to save your dad...who wouldn't? From the Doctor's more universal perspective...oh dear, *Bad*. Very ambiguous stuff, superbly played.

Doctor 'loses' Tardis. Rose looks a bit smug as the Doctor comes running after her. Reaper appears and she looks a little less smug. More...terrfied. (Good scream!) So, a few convincing deaths and into the church...this is terrific stuff.

The Doctor takes charge.Chris Eccleston at his best....."You're my Rose." "Daddy..." (I've got something in my eye, honest.) Stuart and Sarah...who says they're not important? The Doctor certainly doesn't. (I've been..um... chopping onions, honest.) Rose is genuinely sorry and the Doctor accepts this. Yay, the Doctor's *back*...and he's taking off that flamin' jacket for once!

Rose touches the baby (doh) and a reaper is inside...the Doctor's instincts kick in as he protects the more vulnerable...and gets eaten for his trouble. Okay, his death wouldn't have really helped anyone that much, but I'm a sucker for noble self-sacrifice ("bloody fifth Doctor fans....") and love the slo-mo shot of Roses horrified reaction. Powerful stuff...

Peter knows what he has to do, and so do we, obviously.Another great scene as he prepares for his fate. "Who am I, Love?" "My daddy." (got something in both eyes now)

BAM...he's a goner. (I even find the way Billie runs poignant at this point!) The shot where Rose finally glances up...and there's the Doctor in close-up; and he *knows*, I think. Knows how Rose feels...woah. Even Billie dropping her head slightly as they walk back to the Tardis...No onions, nothing in my eye. I'm moved.

More episodes to come and my concerns about the Ninth Doctor's attitude have been addressed to an extent.(Still, poor old Adam!) But my bottom line here is.....this is *quality* television connecting with a big audience; and it's 'Doctor Who'! Bring on the rest of the season.

Nine out of ten.

November 1987: I was fourteen years old and watching Delta and The Bannermen… But never mind eh?

Once again, we were on Earth. Are we ever gonna see an alien planet in this series? Fortunately, Father’s Day was another emotion-crunching episode that would tug at the heartstrings at even the hardest Doctor Who fan. For once we were actually treated to a proper time-travel plot, which is a rarity in Doctor Who. Admittedly the episode had a very obvious ending but the power of the acting covered that up.

Shaun Dingwall as Pete Tyler was superb, especially in the scenes where Pete has his "Gethsemane" moment, realising he has to die to save the world. Once again Billie Piper was outstanding, give her a Bafta next year for goodness sake.

The Doctor didn’t really do much. He even admits at one point, that he doesn’t have a plan. More often than not in this series, the Doctor seems to have been made redundant in the stories conclusions, often being reduced to a bystander. Here, he at least gets to save Rose in a gallant gesture before disappearing. When he appears by Rose’s side after time is changed back again, it was so much more subtle and effective than if he had re-appeared in a flash of light.

However, despite all the emotion, intelligent acting and horror, there was time for a little humour. Who didn’t enjoy the Doctor putting Jackie in her place. Plus anyone who thinks Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor is all northern grins, "fantastic" and not a proper Doctor, should watch the scene where he’s talking to Baby Rose or the couple getting married. The first was a true Doctor-like soliloquy, the second a reassuringly traditional Doctor moment, both delivered with warmth, humour and wisdom. [Shaun feel free to edit out this next sentence] On the strength of this episode alone, Ian Levine can shove his "moral right" up his arse, because Eccleston was at his best here, proving that he was the man for the job. Thirteen episodes are better than no episodes at all!

1987 was very accurately brought back to life, even down to dreary old Rick Astley singing on the car radio. The Reapers were an excellent creation, not only in appearance but, they sounded terrifying too. The scenes of their point of view were genuinely eerie and when they devoured Steve’s father and the vicar, it was as near to a modern-day horror film than Doctor Who has ever been. If I have one complaint, it was the TARDIS key subplot which made very little sense and appeared to be just padding, lengthening the episode and delaying the obvious ending.

Father’s Day is more proof at how flexible and adaptable the series format is and also how much Doctor Who has grown up. Another rosy-glow moment which makes me proud to be a Doctor Who fan!

Russell T. Davies has been heavily criticized by some fans for his ‘domestic’ emphasis – Davies, it is said, is more interested in the companion Rose and her family connections and melodramas than in the Doctor and old-fashioned ‘Who’ adventure. It’s a criticism that is both somewhat warranted and somewhat exaggerated, but it’s interesting that the story perhaps *most* interested in Rose’s family life, Paul Cornell’s ‘Father’s Day,’ turns out to be an utter triumph, by far the finest of the 2005 series. Not only is it a fast-paced, classically Whovian adventure with great monsters, but in tying the emotional component that Davies worked to bring to the series in to an exciting plot (as opposed to merely tacking it on, as happens in stories like ‘Aliens of London’/’World War Three’), it also brings something truly fresh and new to ‘Doctor Who,’ while at the same time making better use of time travel than perhaps any story in series history.

First things first. This story hinges on a questionable hypothesis – surely no other Doctor would have the bad judgment to grant a companion’s request to witness the death of someone so close. But the Ninth Doctor is different from the others – in fact, we’ve already seen him make mistakes several times by this point in the series (trying to help the Gelth, encouraging Adam Mitchell to experience future culture and then lambasting him when he does, etc.). But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, in terms of the series’ dramatic element – how many times in classic ‘Who’ did all sense of danger evaporate because this infallible Super Time Lord was on the scene? I’m thinking specifically of certain Pertwee and McCoy stories, but it really could be said for most of them (except maybe Davison) . . . . Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor is different from them all – he is at once more alien and estranged from humanity than any Doctor since Hartnell, and yet more *human* any of the others, in his imperfection, his failings. Eccleston is truly at his best here – dark and furious when he stares down Rose and insults her, authoritative and classically Doctor-ish when taking over the situation at the church, child-like and haunted when he listens enviously to Stuart and Sarah talk about their banal lives . . . and of course shocking when he pays for his caprices with his own life (for once). It’s hard to say how fans will ultimately remember Christopher Eccleston – fondly, as the actor who brought ‘their’ character back from the dead, or as an uncommitted deserter, as well as a symbol of Russell Davies’s sins as producer? Time will tell, but is can’t be denied that he’s in fine form here.

But of course, this story is more Rose Tyler’s than the Doctor’s, and Billie Piper plays the role with all the commitment and good taste we’ve come to expect from her. Camille Coduri is as screechy and shrewish as ever, but for once it works in the context of the story. Still, the best acting here probably comes from Shaun Dingwall as Peter Allan Tyler. It’s a perfect performance: Tyler is a believable and likeable non-hero – we can see why Jacky would be annoyed and impatient with this dreamer’s schemes (a separate compartment for yogurt?) – but we can’t help liking him. He’s beautifully written, too – not ‘the most wonderful man in the world,’ but extremely kind (you can see it in the loving way he looks at Rose, and one of his first questions about his own future is “Am I a good dad?”), and smart enough to figure out who Rose is, and how exactly she caused their dilemma in the first place. *And* brave enough to face what he must do to make it all right . . . .

These characters come together in a rather brilliantly constructed and moving time-travel story. Considering how key time travel is to ‘Doctor Who’s’ basic concept, it’s amazing the series hasn’t asked these sorts of questions more often. The Chronovores – excuse me, I suppose it isn’t exactly established that the Reapers *are* Chronovores, though they seem close enough to me – are scary and believable, and yet ‘Father’s Day’ is really a story about living in the past, and the futility of wanting to change it. Cornell’s script is dotted with interesting takes on the question (Stuart’s father warning him that his future self might not be so thrilled with his match, etc.), and it all comes together in a blissful harmony of ideas and aesthetics.

All in all, a wonderful ‘Doctor Who’ story, perhaps the first real classic of the new era.

“By the way, did I mention it also travels in time?”

Father's Day is definitely one of the most unusual Doctor Who episodes ever. The emphasis is not on weird aliens or monsters, instead this is a character-based drama with a science fiction twist. In order to enjoy Father's Day, it's important to be caught up in the unfolding drama and not be too bothered by the occasional unexplained plothole. So its understandable if the average Who fan is more annoyed than enchanted by this beautiful vignette.

As far as Rose is concerned, it does resolve one outstanding plotpoint – why did she choose to travel with the Doctor in the first place? It was to go back in time and see her father she never really new. Billie Piper produces a terrific performance here – probably her best in the entire series thus far. And Shaun Dingwall as Rose's father plays the part with just the right amount of charm, and perhaps smarm. We can see why Jackie would've fallen in love with him, and how she can forgive him the occasional wayward dalliance. In the end, Pete Tyler is given the opportunity to redeem himself in the eyes of his family. So it is an uplifting yet bittersweet ending.

It seems to be a recurring theme during the current series, that the Doctor doesn't save the day, but rather he inspires the people around him to do so. That was the case in the previous episode 'The Long Game', where he persuades Cathica to stop the Jagrafess. What is so fascinating here is that for the first time in recent memory, the Doctor quite literally has no idea how to resolve this situation. It's discomforting, but shows just how serious this situation is. In order to spare Rose's feelings, he attempts to find a roundabout solution that doesn't involve sacrificing someone's life. Unfortunately, that decision is taken out of his hands at the very end.It shows, quite graphically, the depth of feeling that runs between both the Doctor and Rose.

I have to admit, I'm more emotionally and mentally comfortable with the "adventure"-themed episodes - it's what I grew up on after all. Father's Day is certainly a poignant entry in the new series, and if you're in the right mood the bittersweet ending can certainly tug at the heartstrings. This is one episode that I'd much rather watch alone - as I don't want anyone to smirk if I get a lump in my throat. 8/10.

As I read about the premise to this story in various press articles that were previewing it, the first thing I thought to myself was: "Ah no, another lame time paradox story." This particular sci-fi concept of going back in time to save someone you loved who has died has already been so overdone that I was less-than-thrilled to hear it was going to be the central theme of a story this season. I had always loved the way the old series had taken some of those overdone sci-fi plotlines and rather than make them a central idea, would use them as just subplots instead. For example "Mawdryn Undead" explores that whole "what would happen if you travelled back in time and met yourself" premise quite nicely but also has several other important plots going on at the same time. In such contexts, I had no problem with using one of those overdone ideas. But putting it to the center of a storyline could only be a bad move as far as I was concerned.

There was only one thing that had me believing this might still have a chance to be a good story. And that was the fact that Paul Cornell was writing it.

Paul wrote all the best Doctor Who novels when the show was off the air. Even his weaker material was still so amazingly good. I'll even admit, when I heard the series was coming back, one of the first things I wanted to know was if Cornell had been commissioned to write any stories for the new season. So, even though I was a bit disenchanted by the premise of the whole story - I knew that if anyone could handle it well, it would be Paul.

And I was right. He did.

"Father's Day" is, of course, deeply sentimental. And it's meant to be. It's Paul showing us that our favourite series can explore more things than just the boundaries of time and space. It can be a story about people and relationships. The new series is doing this a lot in all kinds of different ways, but it did it best in this story.

But even with all the "mushiness" going on, the plot is well-executed. Paul makes sure that beyond the sentimentality, there's a genuine story there too. And one of the neat underlying ideas that the plot explores is how troubles with time are handled now that the Time Lords are gone from the universe. It was even neat to see how different the Doctor is now regarding such situations. In the old days, he would have never brought a companion to such an event - knowing it would be a risky thing to do that could get him in trouble with his own people. But, his own people are gone now. Which means he really can do whatever he damned well pleases. Including actually allowing time to be re-set by letting Rose's Dad live. It made me really see just how different the universe was without Gallifrey in it.

Of course, replacing the Time Lords are these nasty Reaper creatures. Who I quite liked and definitely want to see more of. I think we should definitely get another story some time where the Doctor actually gets to talk to them a bit (he is still, a Time Lord, after all - that should get them to actually acknowledge him on some level besides being "something to eat when time goes wrong"!). They are a very interesting species that were scary and nasty and nicely underexplored so that we would want to see more of them again in the future. I'm almost thinking it might be a neat premise if the Doctor purposely engineered a time paradox sometime because his back was against the wall and he saw no other way to defeat the bad guys except to "sick the reapers on them". Just an idea...

Anyway, now that we've tackled the plotline - let's explore the real "meat" of "Father's Day". I think, first and foremost, it's about the idealisations we make of other people. Particularly how children see their parents. Even though she never met him, Rose has such a huge pre-conception of her father. It doesn't help, of course, that this great social more of "always speaking well of the dead" has coloured her perception even more by the stories her mother has told her. But certainly one of the central themes of this story is watching poor Rose see all these illusions get stripped away and discovering that her Dad really wasn't the best of fellows. That he might even be a bit of a loser.

How nice then, for Paul's "triumph of human spirit" theme to ring through and have Rose's Dad overcome his own defects. Not only does the "loser" end up doing the right thing in the end, but he's also clever enough to figure out what's going on all on his own and then take those necessary steps. Once more illustrating that beautiful idea that Paul loves to bring out in his characters. That there's always "more to people than meets the eye" and that we all have the potential to exceed the limitations we put ourselves under. It's the fact that these ideas are woven into the very sad storyline of Rose having to experience the genuine grief of losing her father that finally gets my eyes to water a bit at the end. If this had just been a one-dimensional "sob story" it would have fallen flat. But because it had such beautiful undertones about courage and responsibility, when Dad does finally go out and get hit and the vase breaks once and for all, I actually found myself getting misty-eyed. Something I thought Doctor Who would never be able to legitimately achieve. Even if it came close once or twice with companions dieing or neat supporting characters like "Tommy" in "Planet of Spiders".

Even my Mum - who, by no stretch of the imagination enjoys sci-fi, just happened to be watching the show that night and now watches it every week because the superior writing of the series has won her over. That, to me, is the ultimate testament of a good story. When even people who dislike the genre will start tuning in regularly!

Anyway, I know I'm going on quite a bit about just the script but it goes without saying that performance and direction were in good shape here too. And though I hear some folks complaining that this is another story where the Doctor "doesn't seem to do much of anything" you hardcore fans need to clue in to the idea that this is not a new concept to the series. Pertwee and Tom Baker were always saving the day all by themselves but if you look at any other era of the show - there are plenty of stories where the Doctor is busy just running around and trying to keep himself alive and that he serves as only a minor catalyst to the resolution of the central conflict. A good example of this would be what many folks consider the best Who story ever "The Caves of Androzani". So let's all settle down here and enjoy the fact that our new series doesn't want to be too formulaic by having the Doctor be the "be all and end all of everything". Let's allow the ole Doc to be a bit ineffectual now and again, it's neat to see him so vulnerable. And to see companions and supporting characters be so useful too!

So, in the final analysis, even though it has to fight against other really fantastic stories like "Unquiet Dead", "Dalek", "The Long Game" and "Empty Child/The Doctor Dances", "Father's Day" does just seem to beat them in terms of "best story of the season." Mind you, at the time of writing this, I have still not seen the final two episodes of said season. So that opinion may change. But, given my deep adoration of Cornell's writing skills, it's going to be quite the challenge!

I find it hard to really write just how ‘Father’s Day’ made me feel. When I saw the Trailer for it at the end of ‘The Long Game’, I was undoubtedly intrigued, but nothing could have prepared me for just how bloody emotive it would be.

From the outset, things are tugging at the heartstrings; Paul Cornell’s choice to begin ‘Father’s Day’ with a flashback to Jackie Tyler telling Rose how her Father died and what a nice man he was sets things up nicely for the next forty-five minutes. In this one Episode alone, we are given absolutely everything that Russell T. Davies promised us we would get with Series One- we get realism, touching moments, a small dash of humour and a lot of powerful moments. It is, in short, an emotional roller coaster and one that, upon first transmission, managed to leave my entire family and myself with tears in our eyes.

The script is just superb; from off-hand moments forewarning the destruction of time, such as hearing music from 2005 on the Radio in 1987, to moments of utter surprise, such as the Doctor discovering that his TARDIS has turned into a real Police Box, ‘Father’s Day’ is littered with moments that impress upon the mind at an instant. Admittedly, there are moments which seems a little too convenient perhaps- why should time be trying to repair itself by keeping the car which should have killed Pete Tyler driving around on loop; also, doesn’t the Doctor’s decision to allow Rose the chance to talk to her Father in his dying moments stink of sheer naivety if nothing else on his behalf? She decides to save his life- I’m not surprised. Still, if this is the weakest it gets and the end result is as superb as it is, I don’t really think such things should be dwelt upon.

The acting here is terrific- Shaun Dingwall as Rose’s Father is superb and really brings a sense of reality to his character; here is a role which could have been so clichйd and so wooden and so painfully dull, but Dingwall makes him sympathetic and loveable; no wonder Rose decided to save his life. When his time has come again, I admit that I was all choked up. His acting was so natural that it made the character as real as you can get.

The returning cast members remain as strong as ever, with Billie Pier and Christopher Eccleston still remaining as gripping and superb as ever eight Episodes into Series One.

The Directing by Joe Ahearne is every bit as strong as his Direction of ‘Dalek’; in particular, the Reapers attacking the various human victims is handled very well indeed, with the scene where they slowly devour everyone in a Playground bar a baby Mickey being a really good example of how to generate suspense very quickly and simply.

Murray Gold’s music once more is strong, providing some lovely music to counterpoint the on-screen action, especially when Rose watches her Father die for the first time, and then reflects upon it afterwards.

In all, ‘Father’s Day’ is a shining example of how good ‘Doctor Who’ and television in general can be when executed correctly. There is a lovely moment when the Doctor informs a soon-to-be-married couple that he wishes he had their lifestyle, but if such a life would deny viewers of Episodes are great as this one is, then I’m sorry but I’m going to have to be selfish and pray he never gets what it is he would like. ‘Doctor Who’ doesn’t get much better than this.