I know many will see Boom Town as following the trend of Russell T Davies episodes not living up to those of other writers. Myself, yes I found this episode didn't quite achieve what it set out to do, but am also quick to defend Mr Davies from criticisms of this so-called 'trend'.

You see, I like his writing. A lot. This whole series style is his baby after all. TYhe emoptional undercurrent, the plot and character development are all his, reghardless of who actually wrote the episode in question. And, I also have to keep reminding myself that he wrote my second favourite episode this season, 'The End of the World".

Where Boom Town fails is in seeming to havew no real plot struucture. Just when you think you know which direction the plot is moving, it shoots off in a different direction. The power station plan gets dismissed very early on, without ever actually being resolved. (So the mayor has disappeared. Does that mean the town won't go ahead and open the power plant anyway?) Tyhe dinner scene was obviously meant to present us with an interesting exploration of the ethics and morals of our hero and villain, but as it was interspersed with witty one-liners and a bit of slapstickk, any dramatic effect was lost.

And that, I think, has been a majopr failing of the Slitheen all along., Because they have always been presented to us as a race we can't take seriously, a family of farting alien conmen, the attempt to give pathos to the last survivor was always fighting an uphill battle.

The Mickey / Rose subplot caught me by surprisse with the talk of hotel rooms etc. Characters in Dr Who actually planning to have sex? Extra-marital and dirty weekend style? Somehow it just didn't sit right. Although it was good to finally address the long overdue fallout of Rose's eagerness to leave Mickey for the Doctor in the first place.

Captain Jack I haven't made my mind up about yet. So far he seems to be only on board the TARDIS to provide bisexual innuendos and give tech talk when the Doctor's otherwise engaged. He really seemed surplus to requirements here and I hope that isn't something that we can expect in the future.

A disjointed and an ultimately unsatisfying episode that ended before it ever really started. Forty five minutes in search of a plot.

Then of course was the trailer for next week. I wonder at the concept of robotised game show parodies as I can see a fine line between clever and just plain silly about to be walked. And then the whole thing was saved with those final few seconds of the true enemy coming into play. I punched the air! I screamed! I can't bloody wait!

A low key episode this week, very much an interlude in the series between the dramatic high of last week and what promises to be a spectacular concluding two parter starting next week. This story allows Russell T. Davies to excel at his characterisation, as we are once again confronted with the moral problems associated with the Doctor’s travels through time. Mickey returns to find his girl friend not just travelling with the Doctor but yet another man- the preternaturally handsome Captain Jack. We learn of other adventures in the TARDIS as well as Rose refers to visiting other planets with the Doctor, which is something she has yet to do in this series.

The presence of the Slitheen and the proposal to build a nuclear power plant in the centre of Cardiff were prominent in the trailers for this show. This turns out to be a nice bit of distraction by the producers as it leaves the audience with the expectation that this is going to be another run around save the world type romp that the first Slitheen story was. Instead we have a more thoughtful study of morality, retribution and redemption.

Annette Badland practically steals the show as ‘Margaret’ the one surviving Slitheen who is defeated by the Doctor and faces death on return to her home world. The best writing is in the scenes between the Doctor and Margaret, who swings between being coldly manipulative and pleading for her life.

One really feels for poor Mickey in this episode, for we already know from Father’s Day that Rose was indelibly imprinted on his psyche when he was still a young boy. Therefore when Rose rings him from Cardiff to tell him that she needs her passport and can he bring it up for her, of course he comes running to see her. We see the TARDIS crew very much from his point of view- very much a scene he cannot get into- a bunch of self-serving hedonists on an eternal jolly. Even when they involve him in the capture of Margaret he cannot get it right, whilst Captain Jack athletically vaults over obstacles Mickey runs straight into them and ends up with a bucket on his foot.

John Barrowman has very little to do this episode apart from look buff and fiddle with the TARDIS. The TARDIS itself is the one who saves the day in the end, as we learn a little more about this enigmatic living machine.

The subplot involving the nuclear power station does have one more useful purpose, for the name of the project is Blaidd Drwg, Welsh for ‘Bad Wolf’. For the first time the presence of these two words ‘following us around the universe’ is acknowledged by the Doctor and Rose. However the Doctor quickly dismisses the idea as just a trick of the mind, an unconscious mechanism where you notice something that would otherwise appear to be random and see a pattern. (This works much better on the screen, believe me!)

A lot of fans have been very derogatory about RTD’s writing for this season. I think the problem is that the writing on the other stories has generally been so good that he has seemed pretty banal in comparison. His strengths have generally been in the character based drama, some fans have suggested he should write soap, which I think is being unfair. In this episode we have less of the slap-stick puerile humour that was so irritating in the Aliens of London/ World War Three.

What initially looked like it could be the worst episode of the season (the Slitheen again? GOD, NO!) turned out to be one of the best. 'Boom Town!' is easily the sharpest of Russell T Davis' episodes to date, as he finally throws off the reluctance to write non-traditional Who stories which has stymied him all year and lets rip with a smart, funny piece of TV drama that just happens to feature a gang of folks who travel through time and space.

The opening five minutes or so were depressingly similar to the slightly cringeworthy Slitheen tale from earlier this season, but the moment Margaret decides not to kill her pregnant victim we find ourselves in a far more complex, thoughtful tale.

The opening section with the beautifully-balanced TARDIS crew of three is an absolute joy. Three friends (you get the impression that Jack has been around a little longer than simply joining the crew last week) who are having a ball gallavanting around the universe share stories and jokes with Mickey, who has travelled to Cardiff to bring Rose her passport. The real strength of having a Doctor Who with full, proper season-long story arcs is really starting to show now, with all of the Doctor's previous visits to present day earth this season as well as his encounter with the Gelth all referenced.

The group's capture of the last Slitheen was both comic and enjoyable, and a small reference back to the The End of the World in the Doctor's skill with teleporters flags up yet another indication that we are getting near The End of the Season.

What followed was the real meat of the episode, however, as the Slitheen tells the TARDIS crew that returning her to her homeworld will lead to her death, challenging them to face the gravity of their actions. Rose and Mickey disappear off together for a reunion which reveals all the tensions underlying their closure-free relationship while the Doctor and Slitheen share a last meal, during which the Timelord is forced to defend his decision to allow her to die.

The final few minutes are devoted to a near-apocalypse and face-off which seems is a bit contrived (particularly the rather odd resolution), but it's the dialogue and character development which rule 'Boom Town!' The episode is all about responsibility for decisions which change (or end) lives forever. Rose is starting to appreciate the hurt she has caused and the Doctor's transient life is hinted at as nothing more than running away from the pain caused by the Time War.

All this, and a spine-tingling Bad Wolf moment which is both anticipation-building fabulous and laugh-out-loud funny.

Next week's trailer looked a bit dodgy at first (reality TV British style with robots?!) but then our favourite killing machines rolled into view, complete with an armada of warships, and I was fit to burst. We are getting very close to a Parting that, after 11 great weeks of adventure, drama and humour, I'm not sure I'm ready to face.

Well, what a peculiar thing this was. As an episode it had something of a "filler" feel to it, not surprising when you consider the "all out assault on the senses" qualities of recent installments. On the upside "Boom Town" manages to tie up some loose ends, raise some interesting questions and, via some rich dialogue, approach the Doctor's relationship with his "enemy" from a new(-ish) angle.

First up, the downside - the exploration of Rose and Micky's relationship surely has no further mileage. I can appreciate RTD wanted to look at the issues raised by companions "dropping out" of their normal existence for a year or two ... and this HAS been an interesting new spin, but the storyline now seems to be taking up valuable screen time without moving us any further forward. The fact that Micky was the "prime suspect" in Rose's disappearance is funny and makes sense; the fact that he's now seeing the fat girl who works in the corner shop just seems irrelevant. The plot for the actual "meat" of this episode, despite being neat and compact, is not really enough to base a full story on - 1. Find Slitheen survivor, 2. Capture Slitheen survivor, 3. "Uncover" Slitheen plot, 4. Rig Tardis to use Slitheen "go faster stripes" device, 5. Realise Slitheen trap and, 6. “Clever” Tardis decides to degenerate Slitheen to egg. Furthermore, doesn't turning the Slitheen into an egg and giving it a "second chance at life" violate the principle set down in Father's Day regarding changes to time (although maybe starting a life afresh is not quite the same as allowing someone to cheat death). But I'm hesitant to quote Father's Day as I think we're going to find that the majority of future stories (as well as a good number of old ones) will fall foul of the "Father's Day rules".

On the upside, RTD's script was sparkling and managed the profound/funny shifts seamlessly. The Slitheen/Doctor "dinner date" covered a lot of ground and the two actors obviously relished every word without over-egging the scene. Although there's no getting away from the fact that the easiest thing would have been for the Doctor to have dumped the Slitheen on a remote moon (although that would have made for a very short story). And did "Bad Wolf" really need to be flagged so obviously? Maybe RTD thinks we hadn't noticed yet ...

More pluses ... good production values on the "urban apocalypse"; there was a time when this would have been done with lots of dry ice smoke, breaking glass sound FX and stock footage of burning buildings. And I liked Rose's reference to other planets that she'd seen - obviously the adventures that we see here are not entirely linear, the Tardis goes to other times and places in between. But Captain Jack is under used, especially as his interaction with his cohorts is of such a high quality.

Overall, I rate this a 6 out of 10. Despite that, I defy anybody (other than RTD) to fit Welsh Nationalism, sexual mores, press reporting ethics, government nuclear policy (are you watching Sellafield?), inter-galactic legal issues, the whole "nature vs. nurture" argument AND bi-sexual banter into 45 minutes of primetime British TV. Bring on Bad Wolf!

WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY?

Of all the new races to reprise, why on earth the Slitheen, possibly one of the least impressive or believeable alien races in the history of Who?

As you might guess I wasn't too impressed at this, but then apart from the first two episodes of the new series, I haven't been impressed by RTD's writing contributions full stop. Consider: in The Unquiet Dead, Dalek, Father's Day and Empty Child/Doctor Dances, we have stories absolutely up with the best of old Who, with tight plotting, excellent characterisation and scripting, not to mention an emotional tug and surprise angles. In the Aliens of London/WW3 debacle and the superficial Long Game, there was silliness to the point where it was difficult to care what happened at all, not least as the Ninth Doctor, despite Eccleston's best efforts, being portrayed as inconsistent, often ineffectual, and at times callous and indifferent.

At the outset of Boom Town!, it felt like several episodes had been missed out, such was the camaraderie of the crew, despite the fact that in our terms, Captain Jack had only really joined the TARDIS at the conclusion of the previous excellent two-parter. The character of Mickey, having shown promise in WW3, now seemed shoehorned back into the storyline, serving little purpose. In a similar fashion to RTD's last effort, The Long Game, the story felt overly rushed, with too little time to digest what was going on.

It has been said by many writers that the biggest problem with Eighties Dr Who was an inconsistency of tone and at times too much style over content. Frustratingly this series appears to suffer the same problem; much of it has been excellent, emotionally involving and intelligent as well as integrating character and humour, but it has at times lurched from triumph to clunkers like this.

Cardiff was the setting, but it could have been anywhere, and it was hardly a great advert for the Welsh Tourist Board, unless any Cardiff-based fans can show me the error of my ways. In comparison to Steven Moffat's deft handling of the chemistry between the three leads, RTD's banter came across as clumsy and infantile. The repeated attempts of the Slitheen/Margaret character to teleport and the Doctor reversing the transport was overplayed and childish, much the same as with Adam's brain implant in The Long Game. Certainly Dr Who is meant to be enjoyable, fun even, but this was just silly.

I appreciate RTD's role in bringing back our favourite time traveller, and he is to be applauded, but arguably he should be leaving the actual writing of the stories to other hands. I hope the closing two parter proves me wrong.

Which brings me to my final gripe, and it's a big one. The BBC got it absolutely right at the end of Empty Child, warning those not wanting the cliffhanger spoiled to look away or leave the room. If only they had done so this week. Whilst this series' final adversaries could have been predicted, why ruin the surprise straight away? At least they could have warned us not to watch the teaser...

Well we've had a wonderful past two weeks in war-torn London and it's back to gritting your teeth over RTD's emotionally labile character pieces and wondering how far he'll go this time!

Boom Town wasn't too bad all in all. I didn't hate it (cf my rant over the previous Slitheen episodes) and I definitely caught myself smiling. There's some fantastic dialogue in this episode - the last Slitheen's attempt to talk the doctor out of what he's doing is a wonderfully structured and well delivered piece of drama. It also put alot of emphasis on one the suspension of disbelief that we've so cherished as a necessary skill in doctor who appreciation! To have an intense and wordy exchanged between two actors in a restaurant where one is the last of an ancient time-travelling race and the other is a large green baby-faced alien criminal in disguise and carry it off so smoothly is quite an acheivement for the new series. Somehow it didn't seem like a cheap cop-out that they were just two actors with no special effects or dressing - probably because the writing was so good (the antithesis of Star Wars?).

However... sometimes RTD's episodes do come over as enormously unsubtle attempts to ram emotional drama down our throats. The dialogue all too frequently sounds like a first draft, reading like a script rather than something entierly believable. Partly because of this and partly because he uses so much dramatic short hand to make points, it all comes across as rather childish - which is such a shame when the guest writers have shown how you can appeal to children, be funny, clever and scarey without looking like toddlers' tv.

And if arch emotional drama is RTD's strong point, plot and sci-fi are not something he seems to find quite difficult. Now, I'd never claim that Doctor Who was straight sci-fi - it's a bit closer to LOTR than Star Trek - but despite the amount of fantasy inherent in the show (dimensional transcendentalism, time travel etc) there are some things that really require more of an explanation. The TARDIS showing the Slitheen its heart and hence making it regress into and egg was really a bit lazy. Fine have the TARDIS miraculously save the day if you're not going to really bother with plot but PLEASE give it a bit more credibility. Keeping the TARDIS mystical is great - sentient machine all the way good good - but this isn't mystery, it's melodrama.

-actually, I'm afraid this episode has transgressed too many sacred rules (in my head) and I'm going to have to get very anal...

Regressing to an egg?!!! Sorry to get on my science high-horse but this is so far off sci-fi it's getting a bit silly - why not just have all sorts of clocks flying around the time vortex cuz they've got something to do with time?! (You'll have to forgive me some more...) virtually none of the matter contained within her egg would be present in her adult body (alien-schmalien) so how could the TARDIS recover that material? If it isn't the same material then the egg technically isn't her and there's nothing other than biology and chance linking her to any matter that has been part of her during her life so there's no way the TARDIS could trace it - unless you go into the whole bbc novels' 'biodata' explanation for anything a bit too symbolic for sci-fi ...which would be OK, but do you thing RTD though about that- NO HE DID NOT!! He was too busy thinking about (really rather good) scenes with people being emotional and stuff. Grrrr!

Anyway none of that really matters except when you put it next to last week's wonderfully intelligent explanation for a symbolicly charged event - the nano genes recognising maternal DNA and re-addressing their model for what a human should be as an explanation for teenage mother acknowledges her son surrounded by golden glow and love brings people back to life... Hey! Do you think that Grace and Chang Li coming 'back to life' in the TV movie could be Gallifreyan nano genes from the Eye of Harmony?.... that would certainly put my mind at ease ;)

-Daleks next week. Interesting to see what RTD does with them.