Here’s what I was going to do. I was going to write a separate review of this episode, and then a full review of the Aliens Of London two-parter. And now, I find myself unable to do that. Why? Because the two episodes are so different from each other. So, so different. I shall explain…

We open with our cliffhanger, and the Doctor very quickly gets himself out of it. But remember, this was a three-tier cliffhanger! No matter. In one swift move, the Doctor solves every problem. For now. Cue titles. I gave a cheer. This set the standard for the rest of the episode. I cheered a lot. And laughed a lot.

Seriously, this was a hilarious episode. Right from the very beginning, with the Doctor’s pathetic-sounding explanation to the military about the alien cover-up, I was laughing every few seconds. We have a lot of chasing through corridors this time around, with another cheer from me. I’ve warmed to the Slitheen, too, partly due to the way blink, partly to the way they move. Velociraptors, anyone? A few belly-laughs later, the Doctor, Rose and Harriet (great character!) have locked themselves in the Cabinet room. And spend the remainder of the episode there.

This was a great move on the part of RTD, who’s delivered a script here that’s about as good as The End of the World. The Slitheen’s plan, with its subtleties and intricacies, is pure genius. Keith Boak has done a better job here too, and manages to keep the action going even while our main characters are stuck in a room for half an hour.

Oh! The dialogue! This is cracking stuff… the best RTD dialogue so far, and acted beautifully. Meanwhile, Mickey and Jackie are fighting off their own monster, and we’re treated to our first “gross monster explosion” of the season. Vinegar, Hannibal, “You kiss this man?”… gorgeous stuff. The Doctor and Mickey are again displaying a wonderful chemistry together, even when just talking on the phone.

David Verrey, by the way, delivers an excellent performance here as Joseph Green, the acting PM (although we all know what he really is). The direction and the music add to the atmosphere the moment he announces to the world that they are at war. At this point, I realised I was no longer laughing – I was too riveted by the drama. I’d always thought Joss Whedon had created an amazing thing with Buffy, a perfect fusion of comedy and drama. We all know RTD is an immense Buffy fan, and if you look at Queer As Folk, it’s obvious he knows how to pull off exactly the same fusion. Never has this been clearer than in World War Three. Did I say this was cracking stuff? Well… er, it is.

The effects, too, are gorgeous. That missile heading across England’s south-east had me completely convinced. The resolution of the story is perfect, and we all know Harriet Jones will make a wonderful PM.

But back to Rose’s domestic life. Camille Coduri as Jackie deserves a mention here for adding a bit more substance to her character, just as Noel Clarke did with his character of Mickey in the previous episode. I was really touched by the way she handled Rose’s decision to join the Doctor permanently on his travels. When I heard the closing sting, I sat back with a satisfied grin.

As a whole, I don’t think I could ever watch Aliens Of London followed by World War Three. Oddly enough, in the event of a huge new series marathon, I might even skip the former and move straight onto the latter. Like I said before, the two episodes are just so different! The acting, the script, the music, the direction, the effects, the pacing, the humour, the fear factor, the drama… with Aliens Of London, I really thought this series was about to go downhill, at least for a little while. Mercifully, World War Three proved me wrong. It only dipped for one week, then shot straight back up. My confidence in this series has been reassured. Bring on the Dalek!!!

As the first Second Part of a previous story, this very much feels like writing a review I have already written. I’ll try and separate the 2 as best I can. I never have reviewed the Classic show in separate episodes (or Big Finish for that matter) – but the nature of the new series means that thinking has changed – and 13 reviews will result. A separate episode title also emphasizes the new episode.

For those who loved Aliens of London, it’s like an extra helping of goodness. For those like me who thought it was an entertaining slice of new Who, even though not upto the excellence of previous episodes, then mixed feelings arose. It would be nice to see Rose in her home environment again. Would the Doctors jealousies be strengthened? Jackie would in it more – plus point. Mickey would be in it more – the characters growing on me. More Harriet Jones – excellent. More overweight politicians – no thanks. Runaround in Downing Street – sounds fun. More Big Bouncy monsters – increasingly not so sure about more of them.

The original title of 10 Downing Street actually suits this episode far more than the overly dramatic one used. It’s not as sensational – but this World War Three business just never really convinced. It never happened for a start.

The Cliffhanger was nicely resolved, and that’s where the runaround started, in very effective doubles for the real place may I add. I’m not completely struck on the Music employed in the new series – and this was another example of it not quite gelling to the action smoothly. It was fun seeing CGI Slitheen chasing after our heroes though. The tense scene with Rose and Harriet hiding in a back room was also effective. The Doctor took the rise too much though – especially as he kept opening the doors to gloat at the Slitheen – why didn’t they just go for him then? But then the Slitheen were so incredibly slow – except when they were CGI!

The standard of the supporting cast has been excellent this series – and Harriet Jones more than lived up to her introduction in the previous episode. A caring, compassionate MP may be a contradiction to the popular view – but that’s exactly what we get from Penelope Wiltons lovely portrayal.

The fat MPs were better this week too. I was really impressed with David Verrey as he faced the press, in an attempt to get the access codes. I also enjoyed the mellowing of the Doctors attitude to Mickey – as he finally showed his mettle. The whole UNIT business on the Computer was a ridiculously contrived solution, but fun all the same.

However the Slitheen never quite made the grade as Monsters for me. The intergalactic Scrap Merchants was a good idea – very Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, but they were a bit embarrassing overall. I thought the new Doctor Who was going to play everything straight. I thought Russell Ts Script took the mickey of the aliens a little too much. The whole gastric emissions, that continued forcefully throughout this episode, stripped them of any scariness and seriousness. Maybe Russell T knew this, so had some fun instead. Certainly my nephews and nieces were not remotely scared by them.

I really don’t care for big blobby monsters anyway, in any show. Doctor Who is better when it doesn’t have too many, and it looks like there aren’t this series – and that’s good. Most of Doctor Whos Monsters are rubbish anyway – but I suspect I may be in a minority with that theory. Saying that though DW has got it right in numerous occasions (Ice Warriors, Sontarans, Sea Devils) – but the Slitheen are not one of them. For every 1 brilliant DW Monster, there’s a dozen rubbish ones.

What I particularly enjoyed about this episode actually had nothing to do with the main threat though. It was the wonderful interplay between Mickey, Jackie, Rose and Doctor. I was happy for the main threat to disappear 35 minutes in, as that provided some excellent character scenes for these wonderful personalities. That’s what enthused me about World War Three – the way Rose was pulled this way and that. Mickey levering himself onto the bin at the end, waiting for Rose, was lovely. Let’s get the marvellous Jackie in the TARDIS too, just for a few adventures – now that would provide some tension for the Doctor.

Never short of entertaining again, the 5th Episode continued the bizarreness and silliness of Aliens of London. It’s hardly the best bit of Doctor Who I have ever seen – but it’s professionally performed and produced. It’s just wonderful to talk Who with my work colleagues, most of who watch it, but were never fans. They see it as a light-hearted romp – and who am I to disagree. Light-hearted romps have always had a place in Doctor Who – with this being as fine an example as you will find. 7/10

There's an old tradition when it comes to two-part storylines on "Star Trek". The writers spend so much of Part One setting up for an amazing cliffhanger, that Part Two almost always feels like a let-down. Before seeing tonight's episode of "Doctor Who", part of me was thinking something similar might happen here. Well, I'm pleased to report that "Doctor Who" has not travelled the same path as "Star Trek".

Russell T Davies returns with a very good script, full of some classy one-liners and the usual wit we have come to expect from his pen. Thankfully, Russell doesn't rely on wit alone to carry the story. The sheer scope of events is magnificent, with some serious dramatic tension on the line here. There's also some nice touching moments, especially as Jackie tries to come to terms with Rose's relationship with the Doctor.

As I suspected when I reviewed 'Aliens of London' last week, the overall story arc doesn't move along very much at all. In fact, aside from a slightly humourous bit at the end (bringing closure to the graffiti bit in 'Aliens of London'), there's no mention whatsoever of any of the "bad wolf" or "time war" elements already mentioned in the series. Which is no bad thing, I must admit. Makes for a nice change.

Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper continue the tradition of this series, with both of them giving very good performances. Billie really seems to be shining in this series, and is making every effort to silence whatever critics she might have left. Christopher, meanwhile, is obviously enjoying the role, and the wide variety of challenges that it asks of him as an actor. The scenes these two share are wonderful to watch.

The guest cast is generally the same as last week, with some rather fine performances from all involved. It was indeed nice to see the slightly larger members of the British acting community getting a chance to sink their teeth into some meaty roles (no pun intended). Of the guest cast, Penelope Winton comes off best, with her portrayal of Harriet Jones being perfect. It was also nice to see Camille Coduri and Noel Clarke once more.

The production values continue the high standard of Part One, but its obvious why things look so good in this particular adventure - all the sets in 'World War Three' are the same as those featured in 'Aliens of London', and its clear the money has been well spent. It was a shame more wasn't made of the team's visit to the Cardiff Royal Infirmary, as I'd hoped that impressive location would end up being used more often.

Special effects-wise, the episodes come off quite well. There's a wonderful balance between costuming and CGI for the Slitheen (although some of the CGI shots featuring the Slitheen looked a little too fake), while Mike Tucker's impressive model work comes into play once again as the episode ends, and the script calls for 10 Downing Street to be blown up! Nicely handled, and it made for an explosive end to a very good episode.

As this is the final episode to be directed by Keith Boak, part of me is sad to see his contribution over (he was, after all, the first director on the new series), but it means that we've finally moved past the first block of filming, with all its inherent problems. Things can only go up from here. Finally, Murray Gold does his usual impressive piece of work on the episode, although I spotted some re-use of cues.

Overall, 'World War Three' brings the new series' first two-part storyline to a spectacular finish. I suspect in future years this particular two-part adventure won't be held in the same high regard as the original series classics like 'Caves of Androzani' and 'The Talons of Weng Chiang'. It is, however, still an impressive piece of work, and should be celebrated for pushing the boundaries of British TV.

Overall Score: 5 / 6 (Very Good)

According to Doctor Who lore, 'K9 and Company - A Girl's Best Friend', was intended to be a pilot for an ongoing spin-off series featuring the eponymous robot dog, and accompanied by other former companion Sarah Jane Smith. Watching it again however, I can't help feeling that what actually happened is that John Nathan-Turner said to his superiors something along the lines of "You want a Doctor Who spin-off featuring K9? Well before you commit to a full series, let me show you just how badly it could turn out…"

To be fair, whilst fans have long debated the subject of whether or not Doctor Who is a children's programme, I think I can quite safely describe 'K9 and Company' as a story aimed at the younger members of its parent series' audience. Possibly children who are still reading Enid Blyton's Secret Seven books, in fact. With a black magic coven in a sleepy English countryside village, the plot of 'K9 and Company' manages at the same time to be both ludicrous and dull. The moronic portrayal of witchcraft bears so little resemblance to any real pagan religion of which I am aware that it makes the Master's coven from 'The Dæmons' look convincing. Naturally, the members of this coven are superstitious country bumpkins. As if all this wasn't bad enough, there's actually very little of interest going on within the confines of this already dubious plot. There is an attempt at misdirection by writer Terence Dudley, who tries, with reasonable success, to divert suspicion from the gruff but likeable Commander Pollock, and towards innocent couple Juno and Howard Baker. Amusingly, this means that Howard Baker ends up seeming creepy early on in the story for no actual reason. Aside from this however, everything is painfully obvious and straightforward, with almost every other inhabitant of Morton Harwood seemingly prepared to participate in murder out of fear of Hecate.

This derivative and unconvincing drivel could have been saved by the combination of K9 Mark III and Sarah Jane, and to be fair, Elizabeth Sladen falls back into her old role with ease, perfectly reprising the character of old. The problem is, the character of old here appears to be written as a poor man's Mrs. Emma Peel, thanks to Sarah's newfound martial arts skills and the fact that she is basically dealing with lunatics in a pleasant English village. It isn't that Sarah is written out of character, just that the script feels so half-hearted that it seems to have been weakly inspired by numerous other sources and lacks originality. K9 might perhaps be expected to add a more distinctive feel to the proceedings, but incredibly, he's barely used. Possibly due to the limitations of the prop on location, K9 spends most of his time trundling around Aunt Lavinia's house, either spouting expository dialogue or acting as a mobile gun. The finale, in which he knocks out more or less the entire coven, really emphasizes just how banal the whole thing is; Dudley seems to have been unable to get past the issue of K9 being too powerful, often touted as the reason for John Nathan-Turner deciding that K9 should leave Doctor Who. Consequently, all K9 really does here is wait until the end and then shoot the villains. His other scenes are entirely padding, even his deductions about the plot already nearly reached by Sarah or Brendan. Despite the story's title, this is not a story about K9, it is a story about Sarah Jane, who as Big Finish have demonstrated is a character with enough potential to carry her own series. K9 is there to pitch the story at a young audience, and so in addition to one of the single most embarrassing title sequences of any television series that I have ever seen, we have the dull "comedy" of K9 quizzically approaching a garden gnome and accidentally breaking a greenhouse as a result, and K9 attempting to sing "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" at the end.

Aside from all that, there is very little else to say about 'K9 and Company'. The location filming and the studio sets both look nice, and John Black competently if unimpressively directs the story. Of the guest cast, Bill Fraser is quite good as Commander Pollock and actually seems to be making more of an effort here than he did as General Grugger in 'Meglos'. Also worthy of note is Mary Wimbush as Aunt Lavinia, who brings to mind Beatrix Lehmann's Professor Rumford from 'The Stones of Blood', and Ian Sears as Brendan who acts with an enthusiasm that suggests that this is his first television work. The rest of the cast vary from those who are reasonable enough but seem to be acting on auto-pilot (Linda Polan and Neville Barber as the Bakers), to the plain awful (Sean Chapman as Peter Tracey). Ultimately, 'K9 and Company' is a failed experiment and, perhaps, a wasted opportunity.

The Time Warrior is remarkably inauspicious given that it’s actually quite important, introducing as it does Sarah Jane Smith and the Sontarans. While Sarah in retrospect came out as probably the best companion ever (once the 1970s were out she hardly faced much competition), I sometimes wonder if the Sontarans deserved to become such comparatively big monsters. I know that the only reason they did was because Barry Letts was playing it safe and brought them back for the following season, thereby opening the floodgates, but even so: they’re not bad monsters, by any means, but I can think of better monsters that deserved more appearances (Zygons anyone?). That said, this is their best story, as all but one of the others didn’t have Robert Holmes (also known by his nickname, Lord and Master) at the helm.

Immediately noticeable with this story is the new title sequence, which is fantastic; in fact, for my money it’s the best after the Hartnell original. I prefer it to the Tom Baker version that followed it closely – it’s aesthetically more daring with its broken lines and swirls, and the way the picture of Jon Pertwee zooms out only to rush forward again and become a vortex is a killer. There are no cheesy two-dimensional TARDISes here, either.

David Daker cannot fail to make an impression early on: he is over-the-top to be sure, but not in a way that disrespects the audience like Anthony Ainley’s master would do. Here his performance is loud and vibrant, but carefully and caringly matched up with the tone of the rest of the production. John J. Carney as Bloodaxe, by contrast, is completely swamped. He does his best and so I won’t tear into him, but he simply doesn’t have the energy of Daker’s manic Irongron. However, his patronising and extremely obvious and clichйd characterisation as a West Country simpleton is very annoying, arr, so it be. The set of Irongron’s castle is poor, which is a shame as when it came to period settings Doctor Who was usually on solid ground: its plastic props and painted-backdrop brickwork perhaps explaining why Sarah initially believes it to be a fairground mock-up. Still, barring comparatively short interludes in the past in Carnival Of Monsters and The Time Monster, this is the first story to really make an effort to create a period setting since The War Games in 1969 so I suppose I can forgive them being a bit rusty.

A small globe is a nice idea for a spaceship, especially two decades before Star Trek gave us the Borg Sphere (and the Borg had ripped off the Cybermen anyway). However, the design of their ships – which have since passed into canonicity – were initially conceived so that Irongron could believe it to be a star, while the only reason this monster is called a Sontaran is so that Holmes can make a cheap pun on ‘Saracen’. Bear that in mind when watching the deadly-serious The Two Doctors, which Holmes also wrote but under the thumb of Eric Saward (oh so easy an excuse for a Holmes fan, but there you are). One thing that annoys me though is fans who moan about subsequent plots involving Sontarans attempting to discover time-travel, “when they had it all the way back in the 12th Century. The answer, I’d have thought, is obvious: Linx is from the future, jackasses! I have to say that Linx is brilliant, with Kevin Lindsay’s brooding sadist portrayal stealing the acting crown from Daker; it is hard to believe that this is the same man who played the affable and somewhat effeminate Cho-je in Planet Of The Spiders. As I said, this is the Sontarans’ best story, with Holmes doing what David Whitaker did so successfully with the Daleks: keeping his monsters in the background, as part of a story rather than the be-all-and-end-all of it. Linx is so much more menacing through not being rubbed in our faces all the time.

Jumping to the future, and the Brigadier’s line of “most of their work's so secret, they don't know what they're doing themselves” is a cunning way to avoid having to give a proper explanation why all these scientists are all bundled together for kidnapping. It’s interesting to see that Pertwee is mucking about like Tom Baker did in his last few seasons, but he may be taking advantage of Holmes’s shamelessly boisterous dialogue.

Although Sarah would be brilliant, a lot of this would be down to the relationship she had with her co-stars. This has yet to develop at this point, and her one-dimensional crusading feminist characterisation sees Barry Letts’s drive to be socially responsible misfire. I was going to do the old “DON’T ASK ME TO MAKE THE COFFEE!” bit, but then she actually said that line or thereabouts (I’d forgotten), which had me lost for words. Thankfully she became much more of a realistic character under Philip Hinchcliffe. Rubeish is also a very irritating character, Holmes tastelessly mocking his lack of vision and creating a character straight out of a dated 70s sitcom. He even mentions a scientist called Dingle, for crying out loud. It surprises me as well why he and the Doctor talk abut Sarah with raised voices even though she’s only in one of those temporary cubicles.

The drama of Rubeish’s disappearance is spoiled since we have already seen what happens to the kidnapped humans, but there is a great effect as the Doctor projects an image of Linx on the stairs (look closely and you can see his feet waiting on the landing beforehand). However, as with much of the season the characterisation of UNIT is dreadful, with the grunts living up to their nicknames and shooting at passing insects and the Brigadier uttering out-of-character lines like “oh my giddy aunt!”. 

It’s actually quite effective not letting us see Sarah’s reaction to the TARDIS (doesn’t the prop look tatty here?), instead just showing her wandering around. Her acting as she is captured is excellent, and it is easy to see why she would be so popular once the writers had got the hang of her.

There is some great location shooting (always a strength of the programme), which in part makes up for the tackiness of the studio sets. We see the Sontaran make-up for the first time, and it’s fantastic, much better than it would be in later years. I know it was uncomfortable and severely restricted Lindsay’s breathing, but even so I was sad to see it go in subsequent stories. However, my copy of The Time Warrior is the extremely old BBC video release from 1989 9still in good nick, mind) where the episodes are all edited together into one feature, and it becomes very obvious that Linx only removes his helmet to set up the cliffhanger. It’s slightly strange and not very dramatically satisfying to see him take off his helmet, pose dramatically for a second, then replace his helmet and walk off.

You only get lines like “narrow-hipped vixen!” with Robert Holmes. Sarah’s comment that the castle contains “no lights or cameras” could possibly be metafiction, but really it’s just Holmes having a massive laugh at everyone else’s expense, taking his revenge when Terrance Dicks made him write a period piece against his will (in fairness he turned the tables later with Horror Of Fang Rock). Linx’s comment about human reproduction is very funny, although his genuine interest in the more violent aspects of medieval society turns him into far more than just an average ‘evil’ monster. The robot knight is quite creepy, with its zombie-like gait and distended, out-of-proportion features. The Doctor knocks Irongron’s control unit out of his hand with a crack shot from a crossbow; Russell T. Davies wants a return to the non-gun bearing Doctor. All I can say is, he has a lot of contrary evidence to make up for.

Rubeish takes the idea of time-travel in his stride, babbling like an idiot; is he Holmes’s most annoying character ever? The music here is so rare that there isn’t really a place to discuss it, so I’ll just say quickly that Dudley Simpson, having passed his near-unlistenable electronic phase, is on good form.

Amazingly, Gallifrey is casually namedropped for the first time here as if its name had been known already (another important contribution Holmes (presumably) made to the show). Pertwee’s constant fighting with extras is getting tiresome at this stage, especially as it drives his character into the ground, although it’s not as annoying as him yelling “hai!” with every stuntman that goes down.

Linx’s description of Pertwee as “a longshanked rascal with a mighty nose” is hilarious, but in fairness Holmes chose a description that could equally apply to himself. The plot here is simple without being patronising, allowing for Holmes to avoid clumsy exposition while still keeping the story going. There is a bit of padding, I should say, in part one where the Doctor doesn’t arrive in medieval England until the very end.

The siege scene is fun, being nice and simple (which is not how Holmes had wanted it; his revenge again). The location scenes are very well directed by Alan Bromly, and even in the studio the very mobile cameras are nice to see. However, his handling of action scenes does tend to fall a bit flat. The castle sentry, I should add, is appalling. 

The cliffhanger is spoiled by my clumsily-edited tape, which just shows Linx shooting the Doctor and his subsequent fall to be possibly the slowest action scene outside The Aztecs. In the fourth episode, the Doctor masquerading as Linx to fool Bloodaxe is silly and pantomimic, but by contrast Sarah’s terrified bluff to the serving woman is excellently played. However, her feminist tirade is so clumsily written that I feel the need to point it out even though I went on about it earlier. There is a poor, shaky piece of action as the Doctor swings on a chandelier, and there is a horrible boom mike shadow on Linx at the end.

Holmes’s real weakness was his penchant for anticlimaxes; his endings range from deus ex machina overload (Spearhead From Space, Pyramids Of Mars) to the too lame for words (Terror Of The Autons). This isn’t one of his worst, but writing his monsters to have inbuilt weaknesses like Power Rangers’ enemies makes me cringe a bit. The final explosion is also a bit too simple, although no one can claim it’s not within the show’s limits.

Despite not being the best-realised period piece the show ever did, this is still a great fun story. It’s no classic, but given how most non-classic Holmes scripts get unfairly ripped apart (The Krotons, The Power Of Kroll), this is a story that actually tends to get quite fairly treated – maybe because Holmes’s unwillingness to write to specifications provides his advocates with a scapegoat. I’m only giving this an average rating, which spells bad things as it’s probably the best story of the season, which wasn’t Pertwee’s best. Taken story by story though, The Time Warrior is fairly representative: it has few pretensions (OK so it’s not representative of Planet Of The Spiders), but it’s just good clean fun.

I love the Sontarans and Rutans. The idea of two alien cultures locked in unending conflict across millennia certainly resonates with many political dichotomies in our real world; those real-life dichotomies are usually sad ones, and yet an allegorical reading of the Sontaran/Rutan war is not without its humor too. Sontarans, especially, view everything they encounter *only* as it relates to their holy war – it’s a rather funny way to look at the universe, and how often in life do we see political parties going to extraordinary lengths to tie even the most neutral topics in to their agendas, and fighting as hard as they can *not* to see the other side? This becomes even funnier when we realize that never in classic ‘Doctor Who’ history did the Sontarans and Rutans actually appear onscreen together: we only ever got one side of the story, and we can’t help wondering, considering their insulated approaches to warfare, how often the two races actually met in battle at all. (Some fans have suggested that Russell T. Davies should finally have them meet in his new series, but I hope he doesn’t – I don’t want to see this amusing tradition spoiled.)

‘The Time Warrior’ introduced the Sontarans, and in the context of a refreshingly small-stakes story: Linx isn’t trying to destroy the Earth, or even to take it over – he just wants to fix his spaceship and get back to the front lines. The Sontarans’ fixation on their own private conflict makes them interesting villains in ‘Doctor Who’ history. After all, they couldn’t be further from the megalomaniacal individuals who make up the rank and file of ‘Who’ baddies – their encounters with humans in the series are usually irritating distractions, and here Linx’s annoyance with his situation is amusingly palpable throughout. Linx is humorless and impatient, and as macho as a sexless clone can be, but he is not a megalomaniac – he is simply focused on his mission. And if he can have a little sadistic fun in the process, well, where’s the harm in that? (Personally, I prefer the mask from ‘The Sontaran Experiment,’ but Kevin Lindsay is still marvelous as Linx – even if it is sometimes difficult to hear him as he shouts through his helmet!)

As for the story itself, its plot makes wonderful sense (for once), and events progress very naturally from one scene to another. Robert Holmes’s script may not be as funny as some of his others (specifically, his other [mock-] medieval story, ‘The Ribos Operation’), but it is vividly characterized, and this ‘primitive’ setting inspires the writer to great inventive heights: Irongron’s much-quoted metaphors are just a few examples of his colorful creations here. Some of the ‘medieval’ moments do tend to go a bit Renaissance Faire-y (you certainly wouldn’t accuse the cast of not having fun), but for the most part it doesn’t get in the way of our taking it all seriously. David Daker chews the scenery as Irongron, but likeably so – Holmes always had affection for small people with delusions of grandeur, and despite how hard the writer works to establish the character as a barbaric warlord, we can’t help liking him. (His repeated description of Linx as “Toad Face” gets funnier and funnier too.) Ultimately, Irongron is more like Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirate King than a real villain, and it’s almost a shame Holmes decided to kill him. Donald Pelmear’s take as Rubeish is extremely amusing too, and yet the character isn’t a mere buffoon – he is an absent-minded professor, yes, and yet he accepts the fact that he has traveled in time with a (wonderfully scientific) open mind, and of course it is he who bravely creeps up on the Sontaran and stuns him. And smaller parts like Sheila Fay’s cynical wench Meg and June Brown’s ambitious Lady Eleanor are made just as memorable as the principals.

And then, of course, there’s Sarah. For a generation of ‘Doctor Who’ viewers, Sarah Jane Smith will always be *the* companion, and her meeting with Jon Pertwee’s Doctor here can only be described as historic. The treatment of Sarah would vary from script to script over the years, but here she is everything one could want from a companion. In many ways, Sarah really steals this show – it’s isn’t hard to see why the Doctor is impressed with her, especially when she single-handedly leads a raid on Irongron’s castle! The introduction of a new assistant always presented ‘Doctor Who’s’ writers with an opportunity to reinvent the series, and here, briefly, we certainly get to see the Doctor and the TARDIS with fresh eyes – a rare treat.

A very strong story.