Once again, it had been a while since IВ’d seen a new Who episode В– I was still reeling from the sheer brilliance of CornellВ’s FatherВ’s Day and MoffatВ’s Empty Child extravaganza. Like the first Slitheen story, IВ’d heard practically nothing but bad things about this episode, even from the most forgiving of fans, and the last RTD-penned episode IВ’d seen had been the passable but still forgettable Long GameВ… so suffice it to say, I was a little worried. Especially when the episode began with a cringe-inducing recap of Aliens Of London. Great. The last thing I wanted at this point was to be reminded of that thorn in this seriesВ’ side.

But thenВ… six months later. And Margaret Blaine is again in a position of power, eating the threats to her master plan. But thereВ’s a difference this time around, which is evident from the start. And thatВ’s Mr Joe Ahearne, he of Dalek and FatherВ’s Day. Ahearne has achieved what I thought to be impossible. HeВ’s made the Slitheen scary. And, it seems, heВ’s made Cardiff look interesting, even from the establishing shots of Mickey arriving. Okay, itВ’s not Paris, itВ’s not New York, but at least itВ’s not sodding London again.

When Mickey knocked on the TARDIS door, it was flung open by a guy I didnВ’t recognise until I heard his accent. Oh yeah, thereВ’s a new companion aboard! And as far as I could remember from the last story, he was terrific! Well, he was still pretty good, and his banter with the Doctor was brilliant, butВ… well, I guess I preferred him in a WWII setting. Too bad he didnВ’t keep the outfit. Or the haircut. Oh well. This scene is saturated with playful banter, continuity and exposition. I was oddly reminded of the early days with William Hartnell and his crew. Not such a bad thing.

The scene with Margaret and the reporter, Cathy Salt, was beautifully done. True, weВ’ve already seen one monster suddenly get human emotions in this series, but Annette Badland is just wonderful. And the image of a Slitheen weeping on the toilet, though it should be hilarious, is incredibly touching. Another masterstroke by Joe Ahearne. Meanwhile. the TARDIS gang has found out sheВ’s around, and theyВ’re out to get her. And they really are the TARDIS gang, the four of them. It felt a lot like Buffy, or the Davison years. I guess sometimes a crowded TARDIS can work. The chase around the building was handled really well, a great blend of slapstick and suspense В– I was reminded of World War Three. Of course, she got captured, and we discovered her evil planВ… but hang on! Barely twenty minutes have passed! What about the second half of the episode?

Well, this is a Russell T. Davies script, innit? So naturally, in among the 21st-century references and the cheeky jokes, weВ’re in for a bit of rumination on the nature ofВ… stuff. Stuff thatВ’s been lingering in the background of Doctor Who for years, but has never been fully explored. This time itВ’s about what happens to the monsters after theyВ’ve been foiled. What if the Doctor canВ’t just run off without watching them burn? What if heВ’s stuck with them until their sentence is carried out? When I heard the plotline for the 1996 TV movie, I was intrigued В– the Doctor is carrying the MasterВ’s remains to Gallifrey, after all this time; how will he deal with that emotionally? В– but in the end, that wasnВ’t even mentioned. So now RTD is tackling the issue head-on В– the Doctor has to bring his captive to dinner. And yes, their В“dateВ” is peppered with witty banter and sight gags and the like (I loved what he did with the breath-freshener!), but primarily this scene illustrates the difficult ordeal faced by both the Doctor and his captive. The Doctor must finally look the monster in the eye, and even socialise with her. The monster must beg for one last chance at redemption.

Meanwhile, Rose and Mickey are off on one of their Rose-and-Mickey scenes. I expected this. In fact, I wouldВ’ve been disappointed not to see a scene like this in an episode where Mickey featured. Their storyline has progressed in a realistic way, from RoseВ’s abandonment of Mickey, to her sudden reappearance a year later, to the DoctorВ’s eventual acceptance of В“RickyВ”, to her decision to stay on as a companion. And Mickey is always waiting for her. And we know he always will. I donВ’t know if weВ’ve ever heard him say it, but really he doesnВ’t need to, because itВ’s obvious. He loves her, very much.

But thereВ’s no time for that В– the Gelth rift has torn open, and the TARDIS is going to be at the centre of CardiffВ’s destruction. Surprise, surprise, В“MargaretВ” is behind it all, and plans to use her extrapolator to surf along the shock wave to safety. (IВ’m not sure if I liked the idea of a cosmic surfboard, but hey, there was that question-mark umbrellaВ…) Suddenly, the TARDIS console opensВ… what the? This has never, ever happened before. WhatВ’s that light? The heart of the TARDIS? Better idea than the Eye of Harmony, anyway. And it regresses the Slitheen back into an egg. People have criticised this deus ex machina ending, but I feel it works quite well. A second chanceВ… whatВ’s wrong with that? Rose seems to agree. And of course sheВ’s talking about Mickey. Somehow we know their story isnВ’t over.

So there you have it. Boom Town. A quiet muse about the implications of the DoctorВ’s actions. Some great В“TARDIS teamВ” antics, a brilliant turn from Annette Badland, the continuation of the Rose-and-Mickey soap, and a bit of sci-fi drama at the end. All in all, a good little story, a terrific script by Mr Davies, and another masterstroke of direction by Joe Ahearne. Something occurred to me when the end credits rolled past В– there were only two episodes to go. I was going to miss this. The Ninth Doctor, Rose, even Jack. Such a superb team. I knew theyВ’d be gone soonВ… and I wasnВ’t ready to say goodbye just yet. So IВ’ve decided to go all the way back to the beginning, to the first episode, and watch it all again, before I get to my final two reviews. I want to get a clear view of the series as a whole before I bid it farewell. ItВ’s going to take a while, but I have a feeling I wonВ’t be disappointedВ…

"You know, Doctor, we're not so different, you and I... except that you fly around the universe saving people's lives and I blow up populated planets to make a cheap buck."

So goes "Boom Town," Russell Davies's experiment in "deep" moral drama. The concept here is that the Doctor runs into the aftermath of one of his previous interventions, and is forced to confront the repercussions and question the morality of his actions. Not a bad idea. The success of the execution, however, hinges on how much sympathy we can have for an alien mass-murderer who tried to eradicate the human race for personal profit and will try to do so again - twice - before the hour is up. It doesn't go well.

Davies decides to pick a reunion with the Slitheen, his rather uninspiring fart monsters from the "Aliens of London" two-parter. While regrettable in and of themselves, the Slitheen don't necessarily make or break this story; there's no reason Davies can't give his Slitheen survivor a makeover to add a touch of depth, something to make us identify and sympathize with the character. Instead, Davies simply leaves us with what he assumes is a moral dilemma and leaves us - and the Doctor - to work it out on our own: Margaret Slitheen, whose family was - sob! - killed by the Doctor, will be executed if returned to her home planet. If the Doctor returns her there, as he insists, he is her de facto executioner. How, oh how, is he any better than she?

Even if this were all that Davies left us with, it really wouldn't be enough to work. We've seen "Aliens of London"; the Slitheen family were cold-blooded killers who slaughtered innocents in a plot to nuke Earth and sell off its radiated crust for fuel, and it's hard to see how their deaths are any more regrettable than the deaths of any number of Daleks guilty of similar crimes who at least had the honesty to never pretend to be anything more than hateful murderers. If the deaths of the other Slitheen were acceptable, how is Margaret Slitheen's execution any less so? But Davies doesn't even leave us with the hollow pretense of a moral dilemma: by episode's end we will see that Margaret isn't reformed in the least, that she will attempt to blow up the Earth yet again, that she has no compunction against taking and killing hostages whenever it suits her, that she would no doubt do the same to other worlds in time if she had the chance. As drama, this episode works only if I can see the Doctor's plan to hand over the Slitheen as morally dubious; if I see the Slitheen as a foul, two-faced mass-murderer who needs to die to preserve the lives of innocents - which is how Davies's script ultimately portrays her, her protests of innocence reading as nothing more than a ploy for self-preservation - then I have nothing invested in her continued existence, and the moral ambiguity on which the episode is built collapses.

It doesn't help that the actual resolution to this faux-moral quandry is a deus ex machina which allows the Doctor to do precisely what the episode is accusing him of doing: avoid the repercussions of his actions. Whereas before he would have to personally deliver the Slitheen to serve her death sentence, a heretofore unrevealed wish-granting property of the Tardis regresses her to infancy, allowing the Doctor to dodge the messy business of being a second-hand executioner. All the questions raised by the episode, weak as they are, are dropped by way of a convenient magic trick; the Doctor doesn't have to make the critical decision, and doesn't have to resolve the issue at all.

The Slitheen's actual plot to destroy the world is little more than an afterthought, and so the highlight of the story becomes the Mickey/Rose sequence. Admirably acted and ably scripted, the scenes allow Mickey to grow beyond his two-dimensional role as the jealous ex, and show Rose showing some regret for what she's left behind in embracing the Doctor's lifestyle. It's rather sad, then, that the best use of the Mickey character - and his best send-off - appears after the series has already said goodbye to him twice before, and before yet another "final" appearance in "Parting of the Ways." You can't actually miss someone - or take seriously the prospect of missing someone - if they won't go away.

As a final note: Rose happens to tell Mickey about a number of fantastic alien worlds she and the Doctor have been popping off to between broadcast episodes. Given that every episode of this series so far has taken place in London, a space station, Cardiff, London, London, a bunker, a space station, London, London, London, and now Cardiff - to be followed by a closing two-parter on a space station - it's a bit of a kick in the head to be told that all this time our heroes have been bopping off to exotic locales and rubbing elbows with strange and alien creatures we'll never get to see. An open message to Russell T. Davies: I do not care what the planet looks like. I do not care if you shoot it in a quarry, I do not care if the aliens are stagehands wearing rolled-up carpet. Doctor Who travels in time and SPACE. AND SPACE. One more romp through a diner in present-day Wales with Rose's ex-boyfriend and I will send large men in ape suits to beat you with plastic plunger-guns.

There’s a select band of Doctor Who stories often mentioned by fans as being the ones they do or would use to convince sceptical friends and family of just how good this silly little series we know and love so well can really be. The likes of City of Death, The Caves of Androzani and so on and so forth. Now the new series has produced such a story, one that makes you really proud of the programme and must surely remind even the most jaded of fans of what they love about it. Yes, The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances looks set to become that most wonderful of things, a bona fide Doctor Who ‘classic’.

With so much so good about this story, the real question when writing a review is where to start? Well, the thinking has long been that a Doctor Who story can only ever be as good as its script, and there’s no doubting that Steven Moffat has produced what must be one of the most accomplished efforts of the new series to date, and the series as a whole of all time. Anybody familiar with his work on the sitcom Coupling – particularly episodes such as the season two finale The End of the Line – will know just how adept Moffat is at plotting, threading together all the strands of a complex story. The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances is not an overly complex affair, but it is superbly structured.

From the explanation of why the three disparate alien elements – the TARDIS crew, Jack and the Chular ambulance – have all descended upon Blitz-torn 1941 London, to the explanation of what has happened to the eponymous child and its fellow gas mask-laden victims, to the child’s connection with Nancy and the ultimate resolution of the plot, it all works perfectly. Nothing it made too obvious or too subtle, and nothing is left dangling – it’s all wonderfully controlled and laid out at a well-pitched pace, it’s almost like a model of how to construct good television drama and superb Doctor Who.

Plotting is not the only string to Moffat’s bow, however, not by a long shot. The Ninth Doctor has probably never been better than he is here uttering Moffat’s lines – of particular note is the beginning of the second episode, as the Doctor and Jack converse about guns and bananas. “A good source of potassium!” indeed! At times it feels like classic Tom Baker era-stuff, although Eccleston also does things it’s hard to imagine the Fourth Doctor doing, such as his sheer joy at the end when he realises the problem has been solved and “everybody lives!” This Doctor has been through so much that his delight at the way everything has come together is particularly infectious, and once again he’s the brave, happy, heroic adventurer we’d all love to travel with, which it has to be said he hasn’t always been at times this season. Moffat also gives a knowing wink to the suddenly all-purpose sonic screwdriver – “Setting 2428!” – and creates possibly the first instance in the entire history of the series of the time honoured “Doctor who?” gag being used and not being embarrassing or annoying.

Interestingly, this handling of the Doctor leaves Rose at times, particularly in the first episode, slipping back more into the traditional companion role than ever before, although this isn’t a complaint. It’s nice to see her taken down a peg or two, namely by being left dangling from a barrage balloon hanging over London! She does get more into her typical Rose style as the story progresses, however, and her teasing of the Doctor over his dancing abilities. Of course, she also manages to swoon into the arms of the story’s leading guest star, and new companion, Captain Jack Harkness, excellently played by John Barrowman. Having only ever experienced Barrowman before as a presenter of Live & Kicking on Saturday mornings a decade ago I wasn’t really sure quite what to expect from Captain Jack, but I absolutely loved him – charismatic and confident without ever seeming too irritatingly cocky or arrogant. He brings an interesting new dynamic to the TARDIS crew, and I’ll be extremely interested to see if he continues to be handled as well in the next three episodes of the series, with Russell T Davies this time feeding him his lines.

Barrowman may have made an impact as Jack, but if awards were to be handed out for this episode then he’d have a hard fight for ‘best supporting character’ from Nancy, as wonderfully played by Florence Hoath. She’s a real discovery, and I hope that on the strength of her performance here Hoath goes a long way in the future. Nancy is part lovable cockney sparrow braving the Blitz, but there’s a lot more beneath the surface, shades of darkness as well as a world-weary kind of knowledge she seems too young for, and of course the secret eventually revealed by the Doctor at the end of the story. In fact, all of the child actors in the story deserve credit – Doctor Who doesn’t have a fantastic record with the performances of youngsters, but all of Nancy’s urchins were superb, and they never felt false or awkward, as is often the danger with putting young children on screen.

Mention too should go to Richard Wilson as the only other really notable turn in the story – he has a surprisingly small role, but he plays it excellently and gets to deliver one of the laugh-out-loud comedy lines at the end of the second episode, having had one of the most horrific moments in the first.

That blend of humour and darkness is this story in microcosm, really. Moffat’s background in television comedy means that some humour was probably to have been expected, but none of it is overly obvious or ever seems out of place. Indeed, the humour works well to contrast with the darkness present in much of the story. So for every scene of the Doctor becoming an unwitting stand-up comic, Jack wielding a banana or Constantine asking a patient if she’s sure she counted her legs properly, we have the oddness of the TARDIS phone ringing, the blank-faced ranks of the gas-masked zombies, and of course the haunting cries of ‘are you my mummy?’ There’s also a definite Quatermass tinge to proceedings with the influence being caused by a crashed spaceship in the heart of London, although the influence of Nigel Kneale’s serials over British television science-fiction is so great that it’s perhaps hard to tell whether such referencing is conscious or whether its simply bred into the psyche of enthusiasts of the genre in this country.

Yes, this story has the spookiest imagery we’ve seen so far in this series, and just as a generation of 1970s children seems to remember The Green Death as “the one with the giant maggots”, so the children of 2005 will probably grow up to speak nostalgically of “the one with the gas masks”. As well as being scripted as such, a lot of the literal darkness of the episode has to do with the highly accomplished direction of James Hawes, who shoots the thing like a feature film and has some delightfully noir-ish touches. My particular favourite shot was the pull-back from Jack’s cockpit through the open doors of the TARDIS into the console room to reveal that the Doctor and Rose had arrived to save him – a bit of a cheat in having the TARDIS land without the usual sound effect, but I’m more than willing to excuse that for the sake of such a nice piece of camerawork. Certainly, it’s good to know that Hawes will be returning to the series to helm the forthcoming Christmas special, at least.

The only instance where I felt Hawes did mis-step slightly was with the cliffhanger ending to episode one. While it was certainly much tighter and more effective that the conclusion to Aliens of London, it did still linger a little too long on the approaching menace. Similarly, Murray Gold’s incidentals – which fitted the action very well on the whole throughout the story, with some nicely atmospheric, suitably creepy moments – went all Rose on us during the cliffhanger recap in the second episode, for no apparent reason and completely against the mood of the story.

Aside from these very negligible points, however, the entire production team seems to have really pulled together to turn this story into something special. Set design, costume, lighting, and of course the wonderful effects from both Mike Tucker’s model team and the CGI specialists at The Mill… This is a perfect example if ever there was one of a massive group of people pulling together and giving their all to create a really special piece of television, reminding you of just how good this medium can be when it’s at its best.

The whole story is just so brilliantly made, written and acted that it’s impossible for all but the most churlish to find much more to criticise, I would think. And all the more intriguing for being a rare example of a Doctor Who story where there isn’t really a villain to speak of. The ending is uplifting and it really is nice to see the Doctor actually get to save everybody for a change, even the nobly self-sacrificing Jack. It’s so Jolly, the TARDIS team even get time for a nice little happy dance at the end, which despite seeming almost tacked-on and not part of the main story, works perfectly, and I wouldn’t have lost it for the world.

In short, this is wonderful, wonderful stuff. Doctor Who at its very best. If every other episode of the new series had been a complete disaster – which they haven’t been not by a long shot – then it still would have been worth bringing the show back for these two episodes alone. I already can’t wait for Moffat’s episode in season two, but for now I shall just have to content myself by going to watch the story again…

Piper’s leaving Doctor Who! So what? Is the current wave of media panic finally evidence of the companion’s superior cult status to the Doctor’s? Well, this never should have been the case anyway. Develop the character of a companion, fine, but not to that degree. As someone said recently somewhere among the mass of media publications touching on the subject, ‘companions come and go’. Well, yes, since Colin Baker, so do Doctors, admittedly, and we have that with Number Nine now too don’t we? Not that I’m all that bothered on that score either, as although Eccleston is a great and intense actor, and has shone sporadically in some recent episodes, he is in my mind not suited to the part of the Doctor, at least, certainly not in the way he has been directed to portray it. So, I’m not bothered about the Tardis crew being replaced. In fact, I think it can only be a good thing, especially given the untoward attentions rather unsubtly lavished by this current Doctor on his superficially attractive companion – and one hopes such tedious developments will be swiftly abandoned when Tenant is poised at the console, although this is unlikely given RTD’s obsession with ‘sexing up’ Doctor Who (predictions of a new leggy companion in short skirts doesn’t bode too well; not to mention a leggy Doctor in a kilt to boot!).

Onto this last two-parter. Well, overall it was pretty good wasn’t it? Visually well-realised, sufficiently (though not exceptionally) creepy and suspenseful (the child’s voice down the Tardis telephone; Dr Constantine morphing into a gas masked zombie) with some very original imagery (the eerie gas-masked child) and concepts (the gas masks welded to the skin of the bodies as if part of their anatomies) and nicely (though not exceptionally) directed. Though the shot of the monkey toy with the child’s voice coming through it was quite disturbing, as was the child trying to get into the house, overall this story did not unsettle quite as much as I had hoped (though as it is on at 7pm that’s probably fair enough) and I think what it lacked very slightly was the sort of subtle and almost dreamlike eeriness of old chillers like Sapphire and Steel, a series which achieved a surprisingly tense and dread-filled atmosphere considering it was very cheap and all on video camera, and one which is still palpable on viewing 25 years later (it played on our latent fears such as people without faces, photographs etc. and so in this vein, Empty Child has at least touched, albeit slickly, on this genre of ‘not showing but suggesting’). To be more germane: take the Gothic era atmos-gems such as Brain of Morbius, Pyramids of Mars, and in particular Seeds of Doom, Planet of Evil and Terror of the Zygons – those later two are genuinely chilling in places, and that’s a lot to do with that bleak, darkly-lit seventies style of direction. Then there’s the slightly more unsung post-Gothic chillers, Kinda and Snakedance; even aspects of Ghost Light. And what about that incredibly disturbing salvaged scene from Fury from the Deep? What a loss that is. Still, I suppose Empty Child/Doctor Dances has at least come a little nearer to suggesting the nightmarish than the other episodes so far, save Unquiet Dead, which is also on a par in this regard with the screaming zombie woman walking towards the camera (a classic shot).

Anyway, this story was as I say sufficiently creepy. The best thing about it though is its fully comprehensive, multi-layered, even slightly polemical (re the young girl being a single mother; the Doctor commenting on her communal altruism with the children as ‘either Marxism in action or…’; the Doctor citing the Welfare State at the end of story) storyline which is given a full explanation at the end which is truly unusual and quite inspired (and one in which the Doctor takes his true central place as a deductive character surrounded by less incisive compatriots). In this sense especially this is a true pseudo-historical in the old Hinchcliffe/Holmes sense of the word: alien intervention in Earth history causes seemingly supernatural occurrences. Moffatt has surprised me with a sharp, well-scripted and inventive script: surprised me because although Coupling could be very witty in places, essentially it was slightly elevated doggerel with vacuous gender stereotypes and unconvincing situations; a sort of post-modern Carry On for the Blairite era.

Aspects of the story which I dislike and find unnecessary however are symptomatic of this writer’s former TV output: namely preoccupation with sex to an almost juvenile degree. Not that the sexual semiotics of this story were juvenile as in Moffatt’s sit-com output. But the mere fact that they were so palpably present and indeed integral to the script of this story warrants some comment. Far from having ever really explored even the ins and outs of heterosexual relationships, Doctor Who, under the rather visceral and scatological direction of RTD, and in this story, by the pen of a similarly driven writer, has jumped light years ahead in its sexual didactics and is now quite openly examining bisexuality as manifest in a new companion, Captain Jack. I know kids of today are far more sexually literate than back in 1989, but isn’t this perhaps the least appropriate fictional scenario in which to investigate the increasingly public (though this is fine in society itself) heterogeneity of sexual preference? Or am I just old-fashioned? I don’t think so. The point is: what does this sexual sophistication add to a programme like Doctor Who? As far as I can see, nothing at all. It simply raises the question once again: just who exactly is RTD’s target audience? Seemingly not the under-12s. In that case then, add more drama, add more horror, and show it later in the evening. The Doctor alludes to Jack being a 51st century man in terms of tastes or ‘how he dances’ as the metaphor goes, but again this begs my other chief (rhetorical) question: So what? I just don’t care to be honest whether Jack has a fetish for Movellans in rubber! What’s this got to do with anything? It seems this new companion’s character is being defined solely on the basis of his bisexuality! Isn’t that a little bit…well…puerile? Not to mention arguably unsuited to a fantasy adventure programme. It seems RTD/Moffatt want to go one step further than the suggested incest in the old Star Wars films here. Lucas missed an obvious innuendo with Obi Wan-Kenobi showing Luke Skywalker his light saber!

I’m not going to hark on about this endlessly like some sort of TV Puritan, but again I felt this thread to the story was unnecessary and detracted from the inherent drama of it. What was especially unnecessary was Harkness’s implication that he knew the officer at the bombsite intimately and most ridiculously of all, the implication that the man with all the food in his house was ‘messing around with the butcher’. What seems to be irrational about the new Who universe is that far from just touching on the social reality of sexual diversity, which in itself and in the right context is fair enough, it seems to be going to the other extreme with implications that anything other than heterosexuality is the universal norm!!! Again I urge the producer to get the balance right here and not indulge in a frankly irrelevant fantasy based on his own sexuality which is arguably beginning to hint at a Homoerotic Who. What I’m saying is, unless it comes pertinently into a storyline, just jettison the sexual politics altogether! What partly made the series so fascinating before was the intellectually lifting feel to it, the inspiring otherworldliness, and the enigmatic androgynousness/sexlessness of the central character. I know the first great error was with the repeated kissing scene in the McGann film, but that’s not an excuse to open up the floodgates to a continual stream of sexual innuendo and metaphor in virtually every single storyline.

That all said, the strength of Empty Child’s storyline manages to still elevate it far above its writer’s/producer’s puzzling attempts to anchor it with sexual/romantic tension, and this is overall a satisfying and well-realised story with the best plot in the series yet. Stylistically and dramatically however I find Unquiet Dead and Dalek superior, and Father’s Day may still have a slight edge in terms of its refreshingly emotive take on the concept of time travel. I think the key point to end on here, and for all involved to remember, is that, ironically, the pivotal sublimity to Empty Child’s plot was indeed sexually pertinent and socially incisive in its subtext of the single unmarried mother pretending her son is her younger brother, for fear of social stigma. This then is a perfect example of how the nature of sexuality, if touched on in Who, should be done: as germane to the historical context and thus challenging, didactic and plot-enhancing. Moffatt made a profoundly good judgment here and this plot revelation at the end lifted the story’s conclusion to a higher, more thought-provoking level than the initial conclusion did in serving its own function as first twist; so we had this nice, socially polemical second twist. Very well done. Jack’s bisexuality can be partly vindicated in that it shows a massive contrast in the society of 51st century Earth to that of the mid-20th. But it could have just been very subtly hinted at, not so blatantly implied as it was. Suggestionism is the key. Let’s have more of that. Next week’s episode, judging by its absurdly unimaginative plot and return of farting aliens, obviously isn’t going to have any at all.

6/10.

‘The Empty Child’/‘The Doctor Dances’ is, for me, the apex of the new series of Doctor Who thus far, a witty, creepy, and beautifully crafted tour de force in which everything comes together, from plot and script, to characterisation and acting. And best of all, we get a proactive, useful Doctor, and a use of subtext that is subtle rather than crass.

Making good use of the two episodes offered to him, writer Steven Moffat crafts a story with a gripping, intriguing plot, set against the well-realised backdrop of the Blitz. Although there is inevitably a science fiction explanation for the child that haunts Nancy in the first episode, ‘The Empty Child’ has lashings of ghostly horror, as a creepy, gas-mask wearing boy wanders the streets of war-torn London crying for its mummy in a hollow voice that reflects Nancy’s assertion that he is “empty”. There are some genuinely chilling moments in the first episode in particular, from the impossible phone call to the TARDIS, to the child’s forlorn cries as its attempts to enter the house whilst Nancy hurries her charges out the back door. Director James Hawes wrings every drop of tension out of the child’s scenes, with fast cuts to show the child appearing suddenly, and point of view shots from behind its gas mask, and the sound of its voice coming from the telephones, typewriters, wirelesses, and in one case a toy monkey are extremely eerie. The fact that it never says anything other than “Are you my mummy?” and variations on this line make it seem less than human, but as the Doctor realizes during ‘The Doctor Dances’ it may seem like a confused, lost child, but its also unstoppable, something illustrated by its remorseless pursuit of Nancy. Once the Doctor reaches Albion hospital and finds its other victims, the horror builds, as the army of zombies lying in the hospital reinforces the threat posed by the sinister boy. The cliffhanger ending to ‘The Empty Child’ is exceptionally effective, as the mindless patients come to life, advancing on the Doctor, Rose and Jack, all of them chanting the child’s habitual refrain. With two episodes to play with, Moffat is able to devote all of the first to such unsettling build up, and another scene especially worthy of note is the Doctor’s meeting with Doctor Constantine and his horrified realization that not only do all of the lifeless patients have the same wounds, but that their gas masks are fused to their heads. His grim assessment of “physical injuries as plague” is a disturbing moment, topped shortly afterwards as he tells the Doctor, “They’re not dead” and makes a noise, whereupon they all sit up suddenly. The emphasis of the story shifts during ‘The Doctor Dances’, as Moffat concentrates both on explanations and the interaction between the Doctor, Rose and Jack, but the episode is just as effective and still boasts a few creepy moments, such as the Doctor’s realization, “I sent it to its room. This is its room.”

The decision to set the story during the Blitz is inspired, with both Moffat and Hawes exploiting the potential of the setting, which is already pretty horrible. The location filming, sets, and costumes are all highly convincing, and although tape recorders may not, apparently, have replaced wire recorders until several years after the war, and although London looks surprisingly well lit during the blackout, these are minor details. Moffat is able to use the situation to complicate the Doctor’s task of finding his rogue space junk, realised in a brilliant scene as he leaps on stage in a club, and asks, “Might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?” only to be met with howls of laughter. The look on his face when he hears the air raid siren and sees the Hitler poster is priceless. Moffat exploits the era in other ways too; as the story unfolds, the Doctor asks Nancy whom she lost, and she mentions her little brother Jamie. It soon becomes obvious that Jamie is the empty child of the title, and from there it doesn’t take long to realize that his relentless pursuit of her with the question, “Are you my mummy?” is hinting at a greater truth, especially when, during ‘The Doctor Dances’, Rose ponders, “Always, ‘Are you my mummy?’ like he doesn’t know. Why doesn’t he know?” It isn’t terribly surprising when the Doctor finally realises that Nancy is the boy’s mother, but the setting justifies her secrecy, as the Doctor understandingly refers to the terrible stigma of being a teenage single mum in Britain in the nineteen forties. Also worth mentioning is Nancy’s blackmail of Mr. Lloyd, whom she accuses of “messing about” with the butcher. There is already some debate as to whether this is an illicit gay affair, or whether Lloyd’s possession of wire cutters points to black market dealings in partnership with the butcher (either that, or extremely hardcore S and M sessions!), but either way, Lloyd has a secret that he can’t risk being revealed at that time and place, because he’ll either become a social pariah or find himself arrested, or both.

Of course, ‘The Empty Child’/‘The Doctor Dances’ is also notable for the introduction of new companion Captain Jack Harkness, who makes an immediate impression, not hindered by the fact that he’s dashing, charming, and gets some of the best lines. John Barrowman is superb in the role; it would have been easy to make Jack irritatingly smug and smarmy, but he’s very likeable and Moffat’s script reveals various facets of his character as the story progresses. Initially, he seems very heroic, a member of the air force and a mysterious time traveller who saves Rose from certain death as she drops from a barrage balloon from which she has been unwisely dangling in the middle of an air raid whilst wearing a Union Jack flag across her rather prominent knockers. Jack then demonstrates his romantic side as he offers her champagne on top of his spaceship whilst Glenn Miller plays in the background, as well as his reckless streak as he makes the ill-advised decision to illuminate Big Ben in the middle of an air raid. He then tells Rose, “I like to think of myself as a criminal”, and it doesn’t take long before he admits, “It’s a con. I was conning you, that’s what I do. I’m a con man”, and we learn that he spends his time selling various pieces of space junk to time agents, of which he used to be one. He also spends a great deal of time trying to evade responsibility, insisting, “I harmed no one! I don’t know what’s happening here, but I had nothing to do with it!” until the Doctor rather witheringly points out that Tula ambulances don’t contain bandages. As with Mickey and Adam, the Doctor is automatically distrustful of any other men in Rose’s life, and is very cynical about the likelihood of Jack returning to rescue them after he teleports to safety without them, but by the end of the episode Jack has proved himself, risking his life to dispose of the bomb, and he fairly quickly forms a rapport with the Doctor, who seems happy to have him aboard the TARDIS. This, along with the intriguing background detail of his two years of missing memories, bodes well for the remainder of the series.

Jack also spends a lot of time bantering with the Doctor, and Moffat’s pedigree as a comedy writer comes to the fore during these scenes. With Rose clearly taken by Jack’s good looks and charm, there is an inevitable game of one-upmanship being played out between the Doctor and Jack, and it is nicely demonstrated before they even meet; having begged the Doctor, “I think you should scan for alien tech. Give me some Spock!”, Rose is visibly impressed when Jack does just that and she happily murmurs, “Finally, a professional!” The similarities between Jack and the Doctor, both single time travelling men, are played up further, as Jack also uses slightly psychic paper, in this case prompting the amusing line from Rose, “You just handed me a piece of paper telling me you’re single and you work out.” Then of course we have the Doctor and Jack comparing their tools, with Jack announcing that he has a sonic blaster and the Doctor grudgingly admitting that he has a sonic screwdriver, which results in more wit as Jack asks, “Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, ‘this could be more sonic?’”

All of which brings me to one of the triumphs of the storyline, as Moffat addresses the obvious sexual tension that Russell T. Davies has been establishing between the Doctor and Rose. There are many fans that feel that sex has no place in Doctor Who and that the Doctor should remain asexual, and it’s a view with which I can sympathize. Nevertheless, Davies has introduced sexual tension between Doctor and companion and is the series has progressed its become increasingly difficult to ignore. What Moffat does is to not only explore this issue, but also to complicate it by adding Jack to the mix, but he examines it subtly through the use of metaphor. The significance of the episode title ‘The Doctor Dances’ takes on new meaning as dancing becomes a metaphor for sex; Rose dances with Jack on top of his spaceship, and when the Doctor asks why she trusts him, she replies, “I trust him ‘cause he’s like you, only with dating and dancing”, a line that is absolutely crammed with potential deeper meaning. Especially when the Doctor responds, “You just assume I don’t dance… I’ve got the moves, but I wouldn’t want to boast”, which can be interpreted as an admittance of sexual prowess. The subsequent exchange on board Jack’s ship as the Doctor says that he and Rose “were talking about dancing”, Jack amusedly notes, “It didn’t look like talking” and Rose, puzzled, adds, “It didn’t feel like dancing” creates the impression of inexperienced teenagers fumbling in the dark. If the episode is interpreted in this way, Rose’s line “the world doesn’t end because the Doctor dances” can of course be seen as a nod to those fans who want none of that sort of thing in the series thank you very much. Later of course, the metaphor is made even more obvious, as Jack cheerfully notes that he’s got a much better chance of distracting Algy than Rose has; the Doctor informs the dumbstruck Rose, “He’s a fifty-first century guy, he’s just a little more flexible when it comes to dancing” which of course opens the door to even more sexual tension on board the TARDIS. Indeed, at the end the Doctor remembers how to dance and sweeps Rose off her feet; she tells him, “Actually I thought Jack might like this dance” and the Doctor raises an eyebrow at his new companion and replies, “I’m sure he would. I’m absolutely certain. But who with?” All of which is great, and subtly done, although with this metaphor in mind, it’s rather worrying that when the Doctor claims he’s remembered how to dance, he does so like a teacher at a school disco. Make of that what you will.

One concern that I had after watching ‘The Empty Child’ was that in ‘The Doctor Dances’ Jack might prove to be a Mary-Sue character, who would be made to look good at the Doctor’s expense. Instead, in a series that has seen a curiously ineffectual Ninth Doctor, ‘The Empty Child’/‘The Doctor Dances’ redresses the balance, as the Doctor proactively sets out to solve the mystery of the child and resourcefully works out what is going on from various clues that Jack has completely missed. It is the Doctor who resolves the cliffhanger, realizing that on some level the child really is still a child and ordering it, “Go to your room”, and later he keeps his sonic screwdriver hidden so that Jack will use his blaster, allowing the Doctor to see some of his technology and work where he’s from, or at least where he’s been. He spots the similarities between the ability of the nanogenes in Jack’s ship to heal tissue and the ship’s ability to “on-com” with the powers exhibited by the child and realises that nanogenes released from the Tula ambulance are responsible for what has occurred. He works out that Nancy is Jamie’s mummy, and in doing so saves the day; the scene in which Jamie is restored and the Doctor jubilantly swings him up in the air is a joy to behold, as the Doctor’s plea, “Oh come on! Give me a day like this! Give me this one!” is answered. Best of all, he saves everybody, performing a “software patch” on the nanogenes, as a result of which, “Everybody lives Rose! Just this once, everyone lives!” And he saves Jack too, materializing the TARDIS on his ship in the nick of time. Perhaps not coincidentally, Christopher Eccleston gives his best performance in the role to date, and he gets some great lines and scenes, including his inspiring “a mouse in front of a lion” speech to Nancy. Later, Billie Piper gets a similarly touching scene, as Rose tells Nancy, “You win”.

The supporting characters are also well crafted, and superbly performed by the guest cast. Richard Wilson’s Doctor Constantine is a great character, a tired and dying man who tells the Doctor, “Before this war I was a father and a grandfather. Now I’m neither, but I’m still a doctor” and who has resolved to spend his remaining time caring for those whom he can’t help in any other way. Wilson brings great dignity and gruff compassion to the role, and after Constantine is restored at the end, he also gets a comic moment (something Wilson is well known for thanks to One Foot in the Grave), as the old lady indignantly tells him, “My leg’s grown back” and he deadpans, “Well, there is a war on. Perhaps you miscounted?” Nancy too is a great character, and Florence Hoath conveys her grief and fear convincingly throughout, but also her resolve and the strength of character to protect her charges and stand up to Mr. Lloyd.

Finally, although I’ve mentioned several examples above, it really is worth noting that Moffat’s experience at writing Coupling results in some genuinely funny lines that are a world away from Russell T. Davies’ increasingly sledgehammer wit and propensity for toilet humour. Examples not mentioned above that I can’t resist mentioning include the Doctor’s “Not sure if it’s Marxism in action or a west end musical” when he finds out what Nancy does, and Nancy’s response to his claim that his nose has special powers with, “Yeah? Is that why it’s, er… Do you ears have special powers too?” His switch of Jack’s gun for a banana is a very amusing moment, especially when he adds, “Don’t drop the banana!” and answers Jack’s urgent query “Why not?” with “Good source of potassium.” Later, after Jack has mocked his sonic screwdriver, he asks his companions to list their assets, prompting the caustic response, “Well I’ve got a banana and in a pinch you could put up some shelves.”

Overall, ‘The Empty Child’/‘The Doctor Dances’ is my favourite story of the season thus far, and quite possibly destined to be regarded in the future as a genuine classic. One question is left unanswered however; what exactly are subatomic robots made out of?!

After a fun little roller-coaster ride comprised mainly of "one-off" stories, we are treated to our second two-parter of the season. Admittedly, I was approaching this story with a bit of hesitancy knowing it would not be resolved by the end of the episode. The new format of the series seemed to be working much better with just one-episode stories and although a cliffhanger ending seems to constitute a sense of "truer Who", our last two-parter seemed bit weak in comparison to the many "fantastic" (as the good Doctor seems so fond of saying these days) one-parters we've seen this season. I was starting to feel sure, already, that the day of the cliffhanger needed to be done with. That this latest story would, like the little Slitheen debacle, be half-decent, but would pale in comparison to such great one-part stories as "Dalek", "Father's Day" or "Unquiet Dead".

I was already starting to feel right in my convictions as the story began. The whole pre-title-sequence-intro was nice and very "Whoesque" (I always like it when there's a little bit of dialogue in the TARDIS interior before our heroes go and face their new adventure) although a tad difficult to understand over all the noise and mood music. But then, we arrive in war-torn London. And, for a while, my doubts about two-parters tend to deepen....

The story seems off to a bit of a shaky start. I almost wondered, as we are treated to a series of nearly proposterous sequences involving ringing TARDIS phones, overly-redundant gas-mask-wearing boys and companions hanging on to blimps if maybe the whole story wasn't actually taking place on Earth. If, perhaps this some kind of surreal "dreamscape"-type story like "Mind Robber" or "Celestial Toymaker". It would certainly tie in nicely with all the other neat twists and turns the series has been taking in its first new season. But no, we are expected to believe that a woman can hang somewhat indefinitely from a blimp while being bombed by German fighters and that Rose is just dumb enough to grab onto a rope without checking out, first, how its tied (shades of the Doctor at the end of Episode one of "Dragonfire"). As I watch these developments, I'm almost starting to wonder if this will be the one story of the season that "got it wrong" and will be the equivalent of a "Time Flight" or a "Creature From the Pit". But I hang in there and try to keep my mind open.

But then, along comes Captain Jack Harkness and the story starts taking some better turns. It helps, I think, to know that he will be a recurring character and so I'm paying better attention to him than perhaps one needs to this early on in the story. But even if I hadn't read the spoilers about him becoming a regular on the show, I found myself warming up to the Captain quite quickly. Although I can agree with some of the points made in negative reviews I've read regarding this character, I still find myself really liking him. In fact, as the series progresses, I almost feel like he could merit his own spin-off show since he is so multi-layered. But, at this point, we are just getting introduced to Jack and the introduction is going along very well. He's a bit roguish, bringing back to me hints of some of the old Robert Holmesian scoundrels like Garron or Sabalom Glitz. And I've always enjoyed the intergalactic conman character - he's a fun little icon to play with in a sci-fi series.

As we return to the Doctor's storyline, some of the surreal elements seem to be getting better treatment now. The Doctor appearing mysteriously at the dinner table is definitely a bit of a "magical" moment and the ensuing arrival of our mysterious boy becomes a bit more scientifically plausible. Although, the constant asking for his "Mummy" is beginning to grate a bit. Still, some of the spookiness is really starting to set in nicely. And this is easilly the "darkest" of the Who stories to come out in the season. I'm also starting to warm up to the overall "feel" of the story at this point. And some of the commentary going on about the Second World War is very moving too. Particularly the whole "mouse standing up to a lion" speech given near the end of the episode.

Then we go to the hospital and get yet more explanation of what's going on. Mister Moffat, I will agree, is masterful at building up a sense of intrigue - he seems to know exactly when a viewer is about to get tired of not getting any of his questions answered and gives us just enough hints to keep us interested. We can see that something is obviously messing around with human DNA but we still can't figure out who or what is at the bottom of this. And that is enough to keep us wanting to tune in next week as the somewhat subtle cliffhanger comes in to play.

Whatever doubts I had about the quality of this particular story get very quickly dismissed as episode two starts up. There is a great little chase sequence going on in the hospital and the banter with the Doctor and Jack is very amusing. Jack is blending in with the TARDIS crew really well and we can see some character development going on already as our conman begins to develop a bit of a conscience over what he's done. And the eeriness of the story is now going through the roof. With some genuinely bone-chilling moments that the classic series could never achieve. Oddly enough, the empty child chiming out "and I can hear everything you're saying" over the radio was the moment that spooked me out the most. Even though there were several other occassions that would seem to be more effective in their "scariness"! Just goes to show how quirky I can be, I suppose.

With the chase sequence settled down and the Doctor and Rose trapped in a store room of some sort, a whole new type of atmosphere settles in to the story. One that can only be termed as "classy". With the 1940's music piping through, we discover why the story is given the title is has. And again, Rose and the Doctor have a little bit of that "eighth Doctor/Grace Holloway" formulae developping between them (albeit, somewhat more subtley since there has still been no onscreen snogging going on yet). This particular sequence is what truly and finally "sells" me on this story. The two leading actors execute it so well and with such finesse that I truly find myself regretting that Eccleston is not sticking around longer with the series. He does some things with the Doctor that no other actor in the role could manage. And though that can be said for all the actors who have taken on the part, somehow Eccleston does it in much greater abundance than other Doctors. He has truly made the role his - and that shines through wonderfully in such moments as the "near-dance" he and Rose have in the hospital store-room. As much as us fans hate to see the Doctor "getting some action", we're almost rooting for him and Rose a bit in that moment. Especially now that the competition for Rose is getting even thicker with Captain Jack in the picture.

With the "classy" bit now over, we go back into a bit of runaround. With things getting more and more interesting as more and more of the plot comes together. The mysterious gas-mask-wearing boy and his army of zombies finally makes sense. And again, we see Moffat's gift as a writer as he makes us wait just long enough before dishing out the necessary explanations. There's also some great suspense going on here. With the bomb now only minutes away from dropping and we have no clear idea how the Doctor will save the day.

And then, once more, the story takes on a very different atmosphere. Not just in the context of this particular episode - but in the entire history of the series as a whole. I was shocked and amazed to find myself "misting up" a bit during "Father's Day" as Rose's poor Dad most go off and do what we all know he needs to do in order to resolve the conflict. I didn't think Who could be that genuinely touching. But I didn't think the series would achieve such a moment again so quickly with the resolution of "The Doctor Dances". As the nano-genes swarm around mother and child, I found myself getting glassy-eyed as the Doctor removes the gas-mask and a real boy is once again underneath it. It was both triumphant and very moving. I had no idea this new series would be so deft at playing with my hearstrings - and that's one of the things that is truly amazing me about it. That Doctor Who can very legitimately bring me to tears. In the old days, of course, some of the special effects could make me cry - but those were an entirely different kind of tears!

The denouement of the whole tale takes a bit longer than most of the stories have but we are treated to yet more of that sense of "classiness" that I so enjoyed earlier in the story so it doesn't really bother me. Poor old Captain Jack is in his space ship about to die. At last, he's definitely become a good guy and we don't want to see him go. His "emergency protocol" of having the computer make him one last drink was a real hoot! And that slow pan back from his cockpit to the interlinking TARDIS console room might even qualify as a "classic moment" in the series. It's all very stylish without trying to be overly intentional about its stylishness. Something that can happen in less-carefully-crafted sci-fi stories. But everything about the new Who series seems to be handled so well by its creative team that it can get away with all kinds of neat and novel concepts. Such as actually showing the Doctor dancing in his console room with his companion and even going to such lengths as actually using the sequence as a name for the whole story! Once again, an old hardcore fan like me can enjoy just how well this series is blending "the old with the new" and feels confident that no matter what Russell T. throws at us. He'll do it well. The show moves from strength to strength with him at the helm as producer. Poor old JNT must be a bit jealous of just how well some of the revisionist work Davis is doing is being so well-accepted! After all, he changed the show just as radically back in the 80s. Perhaps we just needed to be "starved" of on-screen Who for a bit before realising that re-inventing itself regularly is one of the finest features of this programme.

Anyway, in the final analysis, "Empty Child" holds up much better if you watch it back-to-back with its second episode rather than having to wait the week you had to wait when it was transmitted. All the wierdness and mystery is much more justifiable now that you know where it's all going to go. And when you think about some other "bigger picture" aspects of this tale, you can really feel some enormous hope and enthusiasm for the series. Once again we have a truly great story being told. Making it now four stories in a row (from "Dalek" onward) that just seem to have little or no real flaws to them. And when you take into consideration that Steven Moffat can not only write great comedy T.V. like "Coupling", but can also write some great hardcore sci-fi drama, one becomes even more impressed with what Doctor Who is offering the public. In a nutshell, it's some of the best television of 2005! Whether you're a Who-fan, a sci-fi geek or just a casual viewer - this is, undeniably, some great storytelling.