So another Saturday night and another sub-standard filler episode of Doctor Who. Fear her? Not really. Fear RTD? Definitely! You know, a lot has been said about this TV series over the decades with its men in rubber suits, silly stories and supposed 'wobbly sets', but one thing it would be difficult to accuse this show of is a lack of respect for its audience ... until now. It's alarming to see how - from the 'Christmas Invasion' through to 'Fear her' last Saturday - Doctor Who has become horribly formulaic, dull, smug and silly. Indeed, we may look back at this entire current series in the not-too-distant future and view it as nothing more than a warm-up act for Torchwood. The stories have been high on originality, but low on substance with an increasingly hackneyed and embarrassing 'monster of the week' structure to each episode. It doesn't seem to matter who or what the monster is, why it exists, where it comes from, or what motivates it (i.e. the 'pilot fish' of the Christmas Invasion, the cat nuns, the monks and werewolf in Tooth and Claw, 'The Wire', the demon/devil in the Satan's pit, the Absorbalov and so forth. All that matters is that it's a monster and it needs to be stopped. Oops, sorry, first it needs to threaten Rose so that the Doctor can get angry and righteous and then stop it (usually with a combination of sonic screwdriver and psychic paper). Then we can end the show with some long monologues explaining what just happened and the moral lesson learned. Of course, leaving some monsters mysterious is great (as with 'The Satan Pit), but there has been a long tradition in Doctor Who of starting with a 'monster', but by the end of the story we (i.e. the audience, the Doctor and his companions) come to understand this monster as something more complex - and often something much more challenging and/or terrifying. More than this, efforts have always been made to explain, or at least make some kind of sense of monsters and events within the narrative of the story told. Indeed, it's the Doctor's ability to reason through a mystery that has been the attraction of the series for young and old since the show first began.

What seems to have happened this series is a move from having an essential 'realism' to the Who universe, to an attitude that treats the whole world in which the story is set as an ironic in-joke that RTD can share with his audience. Even the Doctor and Rose seem to exit the TARDIS each week with a smug self-knowing grin waiting for the next 'monster' (nudge-nudge-wink-wink) to appear. This kind of irony can be used to great effect, and has been used on successful shows like Buffy, The X-Files, the various Star Treks, Lost, etc. But it only works as the exception to an established and respected rule. For RTD, his ironic take on Doctor Who IS the rule and as such it makes for stories which appear silly and childish to newcomers and embarrassing and alienating to existing fans. Worse still this ironic bit of fun then jars terribly with the sudden gear shift that inevitably happens midway through each episode when the monster becomes an actual (albeit short-lived) threat - again, usually to Rose - leaving the audience to reconcile these strained and conflicting elements in a very limited and often rushed time frame. The trouble is that there isn't an adequate pay-off for audiences wanting to go through this and as a result we have seen a steady drop in audience figures and general lack of interest in the show from the media. As it did in the late eighties, the show is fast becoming thought of as 'a bit of nonsense', or a kid's show. This is made all the worse by RTD admitting as much each time he is interviewed on Doctor Who Confidential and through his scripts which create and then hinge on his worrying mix of ironic childish silliness and adult innuendo. Of course what the makers of this series are forgetting is that great children's books, films, television, you name it, weren't 'good' because they were written for children. They were just good. Also they were not as a rule ironic, simply good stories that took themselves just seriously enough for the reader/audience to do the same. Arguing that we shouldn't take some of these stories too seriously because they were written for a young audience is a tired old excuse for rubbish and badly made TV. I don't know about you lot, but this excuse as used by both the programme makers and fans alike is something the children on my planet would find insulting ... now where did I last hear that?

Last Saturday's episode 'Fear her', like 'Love and Monsters' and the 'Idiots Lantern' before it, is an all too familiar form of this 'ironic' and ultimately corrosive attitude to good science fiction and fantasy storytelling. What is far worse in this episode, however, is that for a second week fans are short-changed in another blatant attempt to save money by having a 'monster in suburbia' story in which the Doctor and Rose become hermetically sealed in a tiny and dull earthbound world in which people merrily trust them enough to tell them everything they need to know and let them roam around their houses and streets as children vanish. A world were suitably ethnically diverse homeowners wander around their dead end street like characters in a computer game, and were 'cockerney' council workers not only take great pride in tarmacing a small section of road, but are also a great means of moving the story along with their senseless exposition. This kind of sterile fantasy of Britain is fine on other BBC shows like Eastenders, Holby City, Doctors (pardon the pun) etc., but its insulting and just plain weird on a show like Doctor Who. Add to this the (god it hurts just to think of it again) torch of love crap with the Doctor running up to light the Olympic flame!

Come on people! Please God, look at what I've just written - the Doctor carried the Olympic torch to the sound of a faux BBC commentary talking about love and unity!! As fans we've got to stop being apologists for RTD and start opening our eyes to what is going on. Our favourite TV show is being hijacked by a glossy, morally hygienic, and ultimately hollow British Broadcasting Corporation vision of England and Doctor Who. It's an insidious form of propaganda and we're the ones cheering it along for fear that if we don't then our favourite show will get cancelled! Yet with every uncritical and apologetic review we as fans are giving RTD and co. an even more powerful warrant to make this kind of nonsense and then to abandon the show (and its spin offs) when the BBC and all concerned have made enough money. If we are happy to sit and accept this kind of ironic simplistic rubbish as a good example of British television (let alone science fiction) then we deserve the show to be cancelled after Series 3 - which is undoubtedly what the BBC will do if viewing figures continue to drop (World Cup or no World Cup). One final thought, this series (like the previous one) is obsessed with 'those that get left behind'. Is it just me, or have we spent so much time in the company of these people that it is now us, the Doctor and Rose that are getting left behind? Left behind whilst the rest of the potential Who universe of time and space is left unexplored, as well as increasingly left behind more exciting and challenging imported TV shows.

After the mixed 'Love and Monsters' comes an episode which is far more successful at giving us a good one-off story on a reduced budget.

'Fear Her' cracked on at a good pace, with the Doctor and Rose posing at detectives on a street where children are vanishing mysteriously and a local girl spends all her time penned up in her bedroom, surrounded by drawings of the missing.

Matthew Graham, writer and co-creator of 'Life on Mars', includes some nice allusions to his own series, with David Tennant and Billie Piper playing up the copper stereotype wherever possible. Graham also manages to slip several genuinely funny gags into the proceedings - the best probably being the Doctor having to repark the TARDIS when he can't open the door.

Despite the season-long issue of the episode being just a bit too well-lit (wasn't everything a little darker and moodier last year?), 'Fear Her' manages to create a genuinely unsettling sense of something nasty under the surface in everyday suburbia, with nods to 'Poltergeist' and 'The Exorcist' in the manner in which Chloe is possessed. The explanation for what is going on is quite nice, too. This is not a malevolent being looking to conquer or kill, it is a child who has lost its family and is acting out in anger against its loneliness. The London Olympics setting is used to good effect, also.

In the end, Rose manages to save the day without the Doctor, putting her nicely back in focus for the upcoming finale. If I have one criticism, it's that the foreshadowing dialogue which closes 'Fear Her' feels just a little shoehorned in, not to mention cliched ('There's a storm coming ...'). Still, the sight of the Doctor and Rose sharing a precious moment in the midst of celebrations is a nice way to set up the darkness to come.

And then we come to THAT trailer.

Clearly a lot of work has gone into the finale of season 2. This was not a standard 'next week' preview, but a proper build-up to something big. Even the music was ominous. So many questions ... was that a Dalek ray we saw a brief snippet of? It certainly seemed to share the same SFX and sound effect. Is Earth mergeing with the parallel world of 'Rise of the Cybermen'? Does this mean Mickey will make an appearance? And will Rose actually die?

I've genuinely no idea, for all The Sun's attempt at spoilage. It could be that Jackie and Mickey will be the ones to die, prompting Rose to abandon the Doctor in a Tegan-style, 'It's just not fun any more' moment.

Of course, the biggest surprise would be if it was Tennant who took the final fall, but I can't see that happening. Besides, I really want the Tenth Doctor to be given some darker material to work with next year, so I hope he's sticking around.

Either way, we've come to the last adventure of a pretty strong season. There have been some issues along the way and I don't feel the end has been built up quite as successfully as it was in season one, but I get the feeling we're in for something really special. Russell T Davies has promised payoffs not only for this year's setup, but for eveything which has happened since the show came back.

Count me excited.

Last year we had “Boom Town.” This year’s filler episode is Matthew Graham’s “Fear Her,” an episode written quite literally to fill the gap left by Stephen Fry’s unfinished episode. I don’t think I’m being unduly harsh by saying that this is the worst episode of the season yet, especially bearing in mind the competition. In fairness, for a really cheap little episode, there is a hell of a lot to love about this episode. For me, it’s greatest strength is its humour. Last week I thought “Love & Monsters” was funny, but at times “Fear Her” had me rolling in the aisles. Scenes like the Doctor coming face to face with the burly Dad, all the “Fingers on lips!” stuff and the immortal line from Kel – “You just took a council axe from a council van and now you’re digging up a council road! I’m reporting you to the council!” – really dragged the episode up from being a (relatively) average episode to a quite decent one.

“Five, six, seven, eight. There’s a Doctor at the gate.”

Ironically, one of this episode’s greatest strengths is the cheapness of it all. What could be creepier than kids going missing on a normal, suburban street in the not-too-distant future? Moreover, although it’s been done before the ‘spooky little girl’ angle really works. What makes Chloe so frightening here is her intensity rather than her power. Abisola Agbaje brings so much to the part for someone so young, and that voice is just disturbing! Her strange power itself is fascinating, only in Doctor Who could you have one of your main characters being attacked by a scribble! The special effects in this episode may be few and far between, but when they are used they look superb – the cartoon boy coming to life in the pre-title sequence is quite horrific; he looked like something off the artwork of a Radiohead album!

Although it is the Doctor who works everything out about the Isouls creature that has taken over young Chloe, when he becomes one of her drawings it is up to Rose to save the day single-handedly. It’s strange to think that this is Rose’s last chance to really do something on her own – in a fortnight’s time she’ll be gone (one way or another!) and so “Fear Her” is really her last chance to show what she can do. Billie doesn’t disappoint – she kicks ass! Digging up council roads with council axes… Smashing through doors with axes… Rose rocks! Even when the Doctor is still around, in Chloe’s bedroom it is Rose who does most of the explaining, not the Doctor, and it is Rose who really stands up to Chloe’s Mum Trish (Nina Sosanya of Teachers fame) and blames her for making Chloe feel so isolated. It’s also only fair to mention that Billie looks absolutely stunning in this episode – we’re talking nearly “New Earth” standard!

The story’s conclusion is very uplifting and reminded me very much of the “Everybody lives!” finale to “The Doctor Dances.” Even the music is the same. This Isouls creature has taken Chloe over because she feels lonely, and the Isouls see that as suffering beyond imagination. The Isouls feed off each other’s love you see – not your typical Doctor Who baddie, I’ll admit. The Isouls’ pod needs some love and so Rose throws it into the Olympic Torch that the Doctor carries all the way into the Olympic Stadium! It’s a wonderful Doctor Who moment, a definite calm before the storm.

“Never say never ever.”

“We’ll always be okay you and me, don’t you reckon Doctor?”

“Something’s in the air. Something coming. A storm’s approaching.”

And so next week it’s the big one. We all know she’s leaving, and the question everybody is asking is “is Rose gonna die?” Personally, I hope not, but I really can’t see any other way of getting her to leave the Doctor. She’d rather die. Moreover, if they kill Rose millions of kids are gonna be scarred for life! No one even liked Adric and look what his death did to people!

On one final note, I’ve noticed that the writers have been much braver this year about slipping in more and more references to the show’s past, and “Fear Her” marks the biggest one yet. Blink and you’ll miss it, but in the TARDIS Rose says to the Doctor, “…easy for you to say, you don’t have kids,” to which he replies “I was a dad once.” It won’t matter to a lot of people, but I for one am glad that the new series is a definite continuation of the show that began back in 1963 with the Doctor and his granddaughter Susan. Whether she actually is his granddaughter or not is another matter, it depends where you stand on the whole ‘Other’ issue… but regardless, it’s the latest in the long line of nice little touches that certainly sit well with this fan.

“Fear Her” was a super episode of Doctor Who, well written and directed, and decently acted; though some have found it forgettable, my own opinion is that it achieves excellence more than once.

I enjoyed this episode practically the whole way through, from the comedy of the Doctor’s awkward materialisation at the start to the splendidly uplifting finale as the Doctor lights the Olympic flame – though Huw Edwards’ voiceover is perhaps weak, and the whole thing is admittedly contrived (but not more contrived than “The Girl in the Fireplace”, and who complained about that?!). Though having a sports reporter, upon witnessing the disappearance of an Olympic crowd, babbling not once but twice about the flame representing love, courage and all that, is a bit odd, at least those fine virtues took centre stage, and the Doctor – literally – became their torchbearer. Even apart from the justification in plot terms of that finale (the alien ship needed the power boost and a helping hand from him), that symbolism made the indulgence more than okay for this viewer.

Yes, I was extremely impressed by that; and despite being sidelined in exactly the same way that Rose was deleted from the plot of “The Idiot’s Lantern”, the Doctor still managed to hold the episode together, with a fantastic performance from DT – and, while we’re on the subject, David Tennant earnestly telling a frightened woman “I’m help” is far preferable to David Tennant screaming “No power on this earth can stop me now!”, or somesuch rubbish. In my humble opinion, only one of those lines could really be spoken by the Doctor!

And while the Dr Who fan in me was thrilled by the Doctor’s offhanded comment about being a father (well of course he is – and yet in forty years, he has never actually come out and said so!), and the Sci-Fi enthusiast by the good conception and realisation of the alien around whom it all revolves, the television viewer was hugely impressed by the episode’s construction. The Doctor and Rose appear in a utterly normal street, discover some fairly normal people, and spend most of their time inside a very normal house – this was an episode of a major TV drama which could, with a bit of ingenuity, have been done fairly easily on stage** – more so even than “Dalek” or “Father’s Day”. “Fear Her” benefited hugely from the low-key settings, scenarios and effects.

The resolution of the plot was another brilliant high – with the Doctor gone, Rose must prove once again just how far she has come under his tutelage. Billie (aided by perfectly-judged direction) gives a stellar performance as she conveys Rose’s struggles to bring everything to a happy end; and just as she manages it, she has to contend with the monstrous drawing of Chloe’s father, coming to life in the cupboard upstairs! But Chloe and her mother manage to sort that one out fairly well themselves, showing, in turn, how far they have come – thanks to the Doctor. Good old Doctor!

Following Alan W. E. Dann’s rant about “po-faced, sexless, conservative” Who fans in the “Love and Monsters” reviews last week (and I am proud to be a conservative, in all walks of life as well as Who fandom), I would say this – “Fear Her” is a shining example of the kind of programme Dr Who can still be, even in 2006. It gives lie to the simplistic “radical versus conservative” argument – as Steven Moffat said on the “City of Death” DVD, previously Dr Who stories have been about maintaining a status quo (for those not in the know, City of Death ends with a fake Mona Lisa, underwritten with the words “this is a fake” in felt-tip, hanging in the Louvre), and “Fear Her”, with its mass-disappearances, doesn’t bother with anything like that; none of the new series episodes have. And yet! “Conservative” to its core – in that it retains Dr Who’s historic values and techniques, and starts with the TARDIS materialising and features the Doctor in most scenes (more or less) – “Fear Her” lives up to the promise of the new series, which things like “Love and Monsters” (despite all that episode’s initial promise) just don’t. It doesn’t have farting aliens, stupid jokes taking the mickey of the Royals, or barely-veiled references to oral sex, because it is stronger without those things. And, to be blunt, it is far, far better than most of the episodes we have seen hitherto.

**Actually no, maybe the drawings on A4 paper ‘coming to life’ would present a bit of a problem. But I’ve never made a production for the stage, so I don’t know!

Yet another disappointing entry in this hit and miss 'New Who' season. Russel T.Davies commented that this season was to be lighter - by that I now gather he meant crap incognito.

After last weeks emabarrasment, the less mentioned on that the better, we have a story that notches up the dramatic intensity to nothing more hotter than a tepid cup of milky tea.

As in my opinion last years 'Boom Town' , its one of those stories that really didn't matter if it had been aired or not, a definate 'skip' forward on the forthcoming DVD releases.

The syrupy reason for the children disappearing was not particularly scarey (to see how its done properly see last years 'Father Day'-kid on a swing). Another major let down was the monster in the closet , a crude etching with red glowing eyes that puffs smoke.

Obvious to us all that the money for effects has run particularly dry by now but there was at least one redeeming instance 'the graphite attack' which moementarily built up ones' hope that this would be a good story, from then on it went completely the opposite and plodded along lamely with a few bits of 'fizz' scantily dotted here and there. The rest of the effects on display were feeble attempts at keeping us awake or not go and do something else.

I am sorry but the 'Flower Jelly Fish' - a sort of poor mans 'Matrix' worm did nothing for me either, it was awful, its' main purpose it seemed was to provide the story an ending to a wholely lacklustre affair.

With the cringe worthy vanishing spectator scenario and the Doctor lighting the flame of peace so the aliens could be released to go home this made me want to reach for the sick bag.

Nina Soonaya did a a good job as the fretful mother but her acting ability seemed seriously underused just like the main cast. Most of the time the script called for her to be worried and weirded and....very little else.

The child actress who played Chloe achieved admirable acting capability in and out of her 'possessed' scenes. These scenes were crudely executed however and on the whole were cheaply carried out by getting the child to hoarsely whisper when the alien speaks through her - this was bargain basement effects that caused potential vigour and robust thrills in these scenes to go completely out of the window. So all we had was a child sounding like she needed a good gargle with salt water and that folks was the 'menace'.

Tennant seemed hyperactive as usual squeaking and spitting out his lines throughout the irksome narrative, he seemed more happier and 'bouncy' than normal - probably a lot more than the viewing audiences.

'Fear Her' could have had potential if more care and effort had been applied to it, it wasn't creepy, menacing or scarey just wishy-washy sci-fi soap that seems to epitomise the style that T.Davies wants and is seeminglycontent with - how selfish.

I have drawn to the conclusion that this seasons scripts with the exception of a few rare beauties are to blame for the sheer lack of quality and enthusiasm this time around. Tennant and Piper can and have achieved vignettes of super drama in previous stories but this is constantly let down by unnecessary 'over-the-top' stupidity and far too many 'IN YER FACE!' moralist preachings. This instalment was a prime example of such shoddy fayre.

Jacob Clifton, who writes the Doctor Who recaps over at the Television Without Pity website – and very good they are too – has a theory about the series. Well, actually he has many and varied theories about the show, which are often expounded upon at length in his pieces – never one to shy away from analysis and subtext, is Jacob – but perhaps chief amongst them is the idea of Doctor Who as an unconscious depiction of the United Kingdom’s low sense of self-esteem. “The Healing of Albion,” the idea than Britain and the British should be put through the wringer and subjected to all manner of evils before they come out clean on the other side.

He’ll certainly have a field day with Fear Her, if and when the US Sci-Fi Channel ever gets around to showing it. For one of the chief ideas the episode carries – and probably one of its most accurate – is the boost to national self-esteem and sense of worth that hosting the Olympic Games in 2012 will provide. We have seen before in just about every other country that’s held the Games that the pride and patriotism which comes from being chosen to be the custodian of the grand tradition of sportsmanship and something great and good about the human condition can be a boost to even those who are not directly connected with anything going on at the Games. Merely being there, in the country and seeing the verve and joy it brings to the nation, is enough.

Occasionally such pride and patriotism can go too far – I know that the Atlanta Games of 1996 made some people feel almost physically ill, and it’s perhaps very appropriate that this episode first aired in the UK the day before England played their second round match at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. An episode based against one of the two greatest and most-watched sporting events on the planet, being shown while the other one is taking place – no accident on the part of the production team, you’d think.

But the World Cup, like the Olympics – although the Olympics suffers this to a lesser degree, being mainly about individuals rather than groups – is often criticised for the flag-waving patriotism being only a stone’s throw away from nationalism, which leads us down the ugly path of superiority complexes and racism. In Fear Her we see the streets bedecked with Union Flags, although the number of them around and about is pretty tame compared to the swathes of St George’s Crosses currently covering English front room windows, car aerials and pub beer gardens.

There’s nothing wrong with getting behind your country and its representatives in a sporting event, and flying a flag to show your allegiance – indeed, the pride and passion and love and emotions of all kinds that such sporting events bring out in us all, the sense of togetherness and unity as we bind together to celebrate our nation is one of the few times when such a thing as Englishness ever exists – Britishness too, perhaps, as the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish seem strong enough in their own identities as individual nations even without the aid of sports teams.

Often a minority of morons will spoil it for the many thousands who do no wrong; they take it too far, sing the racist songs, get drunk and start violence. Less so now, but still idiotically. It’s happened the weekend this episode aired, with a tiny, tiny minority in Germany ruining the good reputation English fans have been building up there, so it was good to see Fear Her taking a stand and showing that sports events en masse can be a good thing.

That said, however, it did almost feel on occasions as if the episode could have just as easily been sent in the present day, with the 2012 setting used merely to provide that Olympic backdrop and the chance to throw in a few audience amusing novelties such as the idea of Take That, complete with Robbie, performing at the opening ceremony, or Shayne Ward bringing out a Greatest Hits CD. And whoever’s idea it was to get Huw Edwards doing the commentary ought to hang their heads in shame – getting real people in to play themselves sometimes works, as Andrew Marr showed back in series one, but Edwards is pretty awful here.

I do have to admit that Fear Her was not an episode I was especially looking forward to, mainly because of its writer. While I did very much enjoy Matthew Graham’s work on Life on Mars earlier this year, the previous effort of his I’ve seen – ITV’s 1999 post-apocalyptic serial The Last Train – was a clunker, and in every interview I’ve seen with Graham I’ve got the distinct impression that he doesn’t really ‘get’ Doctor Who. I know that’s a terrible arrogant and fannish thing to say, and many of you will doubtless think it’s simply because he’s not an out-and-out fan like most of the other writers on the current incarnation of the show. Not so – I never got the same sense of unease with Toby Whithouse or Tom MacRae when I read interviews with them before their episodes aired. Graham, however, just seemed too… Well, ‘ordinary’, I suppose. I’m not saying all Doctor Who scriptwriters ought to be hand-crafted by Telefantasy Angels, touched by Grace and handed down to us from high on a mountain top with their CVs carved on tablets of marble, but… Well, it’s hard to explain.

Anyway, the important point is that on the whole I was pleasantly surprised. The central concept of the episode is pretty damn good – the idea of a little girl who can snatch people into her drawings. Very Sapphire & Steel. The nightmare vision of her dead father, trapped in the wardrobe, was also superb, and probably conceptually the high point of the episode. I would not be at all surprised if the father was not featuring in a few real nightmares after this episode went out. There is also some very good interaction between the Doctor and Rose – when he thinks that she’s holding her hand out to him made me smile, and just before that when he reveals that he was, indeed, once a father. We’ve always known he must have had children at some point, in fact it’s practically the first thing we ever do learn about him, but it’s nice to have it referred to again for the first time in a very long time.

Mind you, not all of the Rose and Doctor scenes are spectacularly good. The very end of the episode, for example, where the Doctor broods on an approaching storm could not have been less subtle had it been painted luminous yellow and leapt up and down on the spot, singing Three Lions by Baddiel, Skinner and The Lightning Seeds in a screeching falsetto while holding up a large sign saying ‘This is foreshadowing events in the season ending two-parter!’ We do get the idea, you know – there’s no need to sledgehammer it home.

Aside from that, there was little to complain about – only the Doctor lighting the Olympic flame, which was ridiculously over the top and made even less bearable by Edwards’ continuing awful voiceover, really irritated me. The guest cast were all good – the girl playing Chloe especially, and it was good to see yet another Casanova co-star of Tennant’s in the form of Nina Sosanya, who I’m a fan of.

So, certainly not a stellar episode, and probably not one that will live long in the memory of the general audience or rate highly in the fan rankings. But a solid enough stop gap, marking time in the schedules before we come to what looks like a truly epic adventure to follow.