Well, what a finale. Daleks vs Cybermen, all out war, Torchwood and Rose's departure. So how good was it exactly? To be honest, I've read a lot of reviews poo-pooing Russell T Davies' scripts, but I think he's a bloody brilliant writer and I'd like to see his nay-sayers do any better. Of course, the main attractions were the war between Doctor Who's biggest baddies and Rose's impending (supposed) death. The all out war between the Daleks and Cybs was on a huge scale and well worth watching. Fanwank? Yes. Wishlist? Yes. But by God, as I've said before, we may never get to see another chance for this to happen so it HAD to happen now. The bitchy Black Dalek sparring with the Cyberleader was superb and a lovely touch to what otherwise could have been boring robots talking to each other. The Black Dalek had obviously been taking lessons from Cassandra. And I know what you're gonna say, but the Daleks have always been a touch camp, so just let it be, OK?

RTD, in the allotted time, managed to squeeze in a hell of a lot, and chief among them he did not commit the cardinal sin of forgetting to expose exactly why these two races are so monstrous. Firstly, the Cybermen yet again impressed me and touched me more than the Daleks. They are Us. When they converted Yvonne (who genuinely liked) and her as a cyberman later crying oil that really shook me. In Yvonne, we had a wonderful portrayal of a deeply flawed but very human woman who was more than aware of the fate she awaited (and more than aware after, which is so bloody gruesome. Just chilling). The Daleks, too, mass produced killing machine's emerging from the Genesis Arc prison TARDIS reminded me of a plague of killer wasps long before the bit where they were all sucked back into Canary Wharf in a giant swarm. Funny, I've never thought of a prison TARDIS before, but what a good idea!

And of course, there's the Tylers, which is where the only major flaw in the whole story comes about. Well, I say flaw, more of a hindsight suggestion - constructive criticism. I really think it would have been better introducing Pete and Jake in the first episode instead of shoehorning them into the second and just allow the whole script to b-r-e-a-t-h-e a little. That way, when the Daleks emerged at the end of Army of Ghosts, we would have been concerned for them too and still be wondering how they and Mickey had got through the void. But hey-ho.

The big thing we needed for this episode was a big pay-off. A pay-off to wrap up the whole Rose story spanning two years, complete with all the Tylers and hangers on. We got them all - the whole family, and it was wonderful to see Jackie and Pete fighting in the corridor then suddenly realising that they really are who they are (if you see what I mean) and they need each other. I am incredibly fond of happy endings, and RTD is right when he says Doctor Who is ultimately optomistic. The story of the Tylers and Mickey had to be rounded off in a neat way to allow the Doctor to move on and be that lonely old traveller again, the way he's always been. I think we got it, too. A bigger role for Jackie went down a storm, and deservedly so, as Camille Coduri has been an utter delight. It was brilliant to see her sparring with the great Shaun Dingwall again, who really should have been cast as Max Branning in EastEnders. We got a lovely bitter-sweet ending with all the Tylers together, shut away from the Doctor forever (?) and Rose is back in her shop with a complete family. Bitter sweet indeed. But somehow, it's probably saved her.

David Tennant has proved he really IS the Doctor. By turns, he wild and maniacal, deep and brooding, intense and funny and lovely. The only other person to achieve this in his portrayal of the Doctor was Lord Tom of Baker. I love David Tennant as the Doctor. He carries me away with him to the point I forget he's acting and he actually is the Time Lord. Now that really is acting. Well done, David.

And we had Catherine Tait at the end. Bizarre.

I am a huge fan of RTD's vision of Doctor Who and I am not ashamed to say so. Thank you to the production team for another year of the best programme in the world. And thanks to Joe Ford, my fellow reviewer, for such an entertaining read over the last three months. I've heard the Ice Warriors are the big baddies for Season Three... shame... I was kind of hoping it would be the Sontarans or Sea Devils...place your bets now! Til Christmas then!!

Now this was a perfectly enjoyable piece of television. It had emotional content, it had drama and it had action. It just didn't feel like the climax to anything, and I don't think it was anything to do with Catherine Tate (I don't see how that couldn't have been part of a 'Next Time...' trailer though).

The dialogue was good throughout, and while it felt strange to see the Daleks and the Cybermen essentially having a massive bitch fight at each other, no-one could deny that it was not very entertaining telly. The Daleks were portrayed as the ultimate evil in this episode to the fullest extent possible, but at the cost of the Cybermen being humiliated almost as badly as they were in Silver Nemesis. Okay it took special effects to kill them this time, but it was still ridiculously easy to do so. Also why did they just stand around in the family home looking dramatic? Where they baking them muffins? Cybermen would either take the family for conversion or kill them, not hang around like an annoying relative at Christmas. And for two of the Doctor's deadliest enemies, you really think one of them would've thought 'Hang on, I could just shoot him!' by now, especially in this episode. David Tennent is, of course, possibly the best Doctor when it comes to just talking at his enemies. Not to death, like McCoy, but just into confusing them into telling him enough information to continue the plot. For the two biggest enemies to be involved it does take a lot of suspension of belief that they don't even attempt to kill the Doctor.

Otherwise, a fun fast paced episode ensued, but it felt more like a middle of the series episode. Wotsername of Eastenders got converted, and we didn't especially care. Then just as there was some sort of setup with the Doctor being in one dimension and Rose being in another, which seemed very promising, it was straight into the emotional stuff. The Jackie and Pete scene went on a bit without really affecting me on an emotional level. I was glad when the aliens who were supposed to be invading the planet FINALLY catch up with the heroes. I could imagine the Cybes saying to each other on the stairs 'Are we good to go?' 'Nah, the cleavage lady is talking to the cockernee ragamuffin, we have to wait until the music gets drama- OH CRAP IT'S US! WALK LIKE YOU'RE CONSTIPATED! WALK LIKE YOU'RE CONSTIPATED!' The Jackie/Pete interplay got better as it was established that the characters had grown apart due to the differences in their respective realities. Nice bittersweet moments ocurred later in the episode.

Oh aye, and the Genesis Ark is a Time Lord artefact which the Doctor hasn't heard of (which I personally find hard to believe). It is also a Time Lord Prison for Daleks. How monumentally stupid are the Time Lords that they decide to IMPRISON millions of the most evil and dangerous beings in the Universe in a handy travel sized container? A race they are at war with? Did Romana bring them in line with the Geneva convention? How stupid would you have to be? On the plus side, a very nice idea by RTD to have named Daleks with slightly more character to them. Made these Daleks seem slightly more dangerous, apparent inability to shoot anything while they're in Exposition Mode notwithstanding.

Then the episode appears to be extremely rushed in order to fit everything in. The Doctor has a very simple plan which he executes flawlessly apart from Rose. She stays behind either: A - because she is brave and loyal, or B - because she is bloody minded and silly.

Technically she wouldn't have had to be a hero if she had obeyed the Doctor's instructions and stayed in the other universe, and if the Doctor wanted her to go through in the first place presumably he had a plan to get both levers down then she didn't have help in the first place. Meh, I suppose the Doctor was just wrong or something.

Then we arrived predictably at the heroic set piece complete with slo-mo 'Noooo!' moment and fortuitous if completely unlikely piece of redemption for Cyber-Pete as I shall be calling him (he went all cold and clinical, rather like a Cyberman no less. Gosh RTD is clever sometimes). Then we got the leaving scene. This was lovely. That's the third or fourth time this series we've got the Doctor hovering on the 'L' word (Sarah Jane, Mme de Pompadour and Rose twice), and it was nice to see him cry on screen as you imagined he may have been on the verge of doing all these years.

Then Catherine Tate appeared and the drama was undercut somewhat. Not Catherine Tate's fault of course, I just felt like they could've put that after the credits.

All in all less of a big climax that PotW, but overall a fun episode with a load of nice scenes to remember it by.

A thrilling episode, with some genuine moments of greatness, that had an awful lot of work to do in its short time and just about managed to do so. However, as a conclusion to the Rose story, it became a victim of its own sentimentality and, just as it approached its apotheosis, the whole thing came crumbling to the ground.

Firstly, how appropriate it was that the coda to this episode was played out on a windswept beach in Norway. Well, an alternative Norway. The Scandanavian sagas see the progression of the cosmos not as a smooth and stable progression but as a constant struggle between opposing forces, those of creation and order against those of destruction and chaos. The War In Heaven played out with Cybermen and Daleks over Canary Wharf.

'Doomsday' situates its themes very firmly in Scandanavian myth, from their concept of the beginning of the cosmos as one vast open void that could easily stand in for the denoument of the Cybermen and the Daleks being swallowed into the Void to Torchwood Tower representing the mighty tree at the centre of the world that spreads its roots into the lands of the dead and the living (the two alternate universes perhaps?)

'Doomsday', for me, was more about about symbolic and actual acts of reproduction, surrogate mothers and fathers and their children than playground shooting matches between the two big bads of Who.

Ever since 'FatherВ’s Day', weВ’ve realised that Rose has been in search of a father figure, a proxy Pete, and the Doctor has been that to a point. Here, the Doctor and a version of Pete swap places. RoseВ’s story has been about creating an alternate family unit and both she and Jackie have, through the Doctor, been striving to find a catalyst for this. The series has very much from the start been about the feminine principle, the bonding between mother and daughter and lost or surrogate children, especially Mickey and perhaps even the Doctor himself. The series has focused on the relationships between parents and children as representative of eternal self-renewal. JackieВ’s scene in В‘Army Of GhostsВ’ when she predicts Rose will become a stranger is her way of infusing her daughter with knowledge of the larger dimensions of life and death and to provide her with a sense of her problematic destiny.

The Rose story has very much been about a teenage girl having her personal relationships overloaded with archetypal content (e.g. the Doctor) and in the end it is down to her mother to enable her to detach from this and become her own woman. The death we witness is of the Rose weВ’ve seen with the Doctor, the child Rose. By the end of 'Doomsday', and her separation from the Doctor, she recognises that she has been forced to become the woman she needs to be to survive and carry on.

Jackie and Rose have, as IВ’ve said, been looking for another Pete Tyler and in 'Doomsday', the alternate Pete replaces the Doctor as a catalyst and reunites the disparate elements of the В‘familyВ’ В– Rose, Jackie and Mickey. The crucial moments where this happens are in the first meeting in the corridor between Jackie and Pete where despite their own counter arguments they discover they need each other. ItВ’s beautifully played and the reaction shots from Noel Clarke, David Tennant and Billie are superb, especially the raised eyebrows at JackieВ’s В‘thereВ’s never been anyone elseВ’. Later, the Doctor and Pete exchange looks of understanding and complicity when they mutually agree that the best course is to get Rose and Jackie back to the alternate Earth. Pete drives much of the narrative and ultimately returns in time to save his daughter before she plunges into the Void. In fact, Pete and Jackie are operating on the same level as the Doctor and Rose, individuals in each couple willing to sacrifice and redeem themselves to save the other.

The feminine principle also runs throughout other areas of the story В– the Daleks and their Genesis Ark (a mobile womb perhaps), YvonneВ’s upgrade by the Cybermen and JackieВ’s pregnancy are all aspects of symbols of fertility in the story.

With the main plot concerning the reuniting of the В‘familyВ’ unit, the sub-plot is driven by the Daleks at the expense of the Cybermen, I feel. They did descend to being little more than cannon fodder which I was hoping the current series and this particular story would avoid. It was the Cyber slaughter ofВ’ The Five DoctorsВ’ all over again.

So, whilst the idea of a Cyber-Dalek confrontation was in principle a good idea, it didnВ’t completely live up to its promise. It looked spectacular, particularly the flying Daleks over London, but in the end, much as I enjoyed it, I wondered what exactly was the point. At times, it seemed little more than two street gangs amusingly name calling and pulling tongues at each other. Despite this, I think the further echoes of the Time War, use of Time Lord technology (a genuine twist which no one saw coming) and the Cult Of Skaro were very exciting additions to the ongoing mythology.

Unfortunately, you couldnВ’t really say the same for the Cybermen. In fact, a scene which could really have embellished the true horror of Cyber conversion was badly misjudged. The Cyber-Yvonne was risible in my opinion and it struggled to emulate similar scenes in Mark PlattВ’s В‘Spare PartsВ’ which handled this sort of material considerably better. The Cyber-tear was just another tear too far and a contrived plot point.

Talking of tears, when we get to the last ten minutes of the story, why are we then subjected to a very drawn out epilogue? I felt the tragedy of RoseВ’s departure worked perfectly well up to the section where the Doctor walks away from the wall in Torchwood HQ and the screen goes black. Murray GoldВ’s music, which hadnВ’t really distinguished itself this time, picked up and the beautiful scene of the two main characters separated literally by a wall of their own grief was fantastically played by Tennant and Piper. There was then the longeur of Rose being woken by a dream and all of them packing off in the jeep to Norway.

The last goodbye on the beach was again over-long but played very well and beautifully shot. However, the cut to Tennant in the TARDIS with some rather obviously applied trails of glycerine on his cheeks really sent this crashing to the ground. It smacked of fake sentimentality for me and sucked away any genuine feelings that were being articulated. I have no problems having the Doctor in tears and being upset at leaving Rose but this was a bungled scene and, for example, JoВ’s departure in В‘The Green DeathВ’ was better handled and felt subtle, honest and genuinely moving. It was very odd watching these last scenes, as I felt IВ’d got more catharsis out of Pete and Jackie reuniting earlier and now I really didnВ’t feel that moved by all of this. Certainly the final scene of В‘The Girl In The FireplaceВ’ wiped the floor with this and Tennant played that so much better and it evoked more emotion without the recourse to tacked on tears. In the end I was rending my garments in frustration rather than sadness.

Other than the ending, this was a great episode, not a patch on last yearВ’s В‘Parting Of The WaysВ’ because it really had too much to clear up for 45 minutes to cope with and it tried much too hard to impress and came undone with the burst of over-sentimentality at the end. Graeme Harper marshalled the action with his customary skill (the lovely mix between the two TorchwoodВ’s was great), it looked a million dollars, moved along at a good pace and was genuinely thrilling at times.

And did we really need the rather jarring Catherine Tate cameo? Only 170 days will tell.

In Series One of the new Doctor Who, Russell T Davies's scripts, quite correctly in my view, came in for a lot of criticism. I think it has taken him a while to find his feet writing Science Fiction, but this series (apart from New Earth, which was a bit lacklustre) his scripts have been daring, exciting, courageous and bold. This was no more evident than in the finale of Series 2, Doomsday.

The first 35 minutes of the episode were classic Doctor Who, with the twist that so much money had been spent on it, it looked incredible. Daleks and Cybermen looked just superb and it was almost impossible to imagine how they were going to get out of the situation when millions of daleks started to pour out of their Time Lord prison, the Genesis Ark. Perhaps there wasn't quite enough Dalek vs Cybermen action, but what there was made the hairs stand up on my neck, and I was on the edge of my seat for most of the episode.

I'd also like to say here that I loved the Dalek vs Cybermen bitch fight. Russell T Davies managed to breathe some new life into the Daleks when he reintroduced them last year, so that they ceased to become one-dimensional tinpot dictators, but actual characters. He continued that this year, and the result was hilarious and entertaining. I want to see more of these bitchy daleks in the future, and as the chief bitch Black Dalek managed to escape, let's hope there'll be more soon...

The death of Tracy Ann Oberman's character (or, as Russell calls her, Tracy Ann Cyberman) was amazingly noble, and an emotional moment. She acted beautifully in this episode, and you almost wanted more of her. Luckily her sacrifice gave Jackie Tyler a few moments grace, enabling her escape down a stairwell and an emotional (and well-played-out) runion with Alt-Pete. What could have been a mawkish, sentimental moment was beautifully written, beautifullly acted and shot. Russell's brilliant blend of humour and pathos worked amazingly well here and gave us a much needed breather from all the chaos and shooting going on above ground between Daleks and Cybermen.

But if Alt-Pete and Jackie's reunion was emotional, Russell had something much bigger up his sleeve for Rose Tyler's departure. OK if I want to be critical, the way to destroy the Daleks and Cyberman was a bit deus ex machina but that's nearly always a problem with Russell's scripts, but Russell doesn't care about that anyway. He wants to get to the emotional heart of the story: how you get there is less important to him. And so what really worked, so fantastically well, was Rose being almost sucked in to the void and rescued by her Dad (what a beautiful way to end that particular story arc) and then trapped in another dimension unable to ever travel in the TARDIS again. Their final meeting, at Norway's Bad Wolf Bay, was touching, desperately sad, and beautifully written. But even better than that the acting was the sort of acting that you would never expect to see in a TV science fiction show. David Tennant proved what a superb Doctor he is, and Billie Piper played her despair and grief in such a way that I couldn't hold back the tears. I didn't realise just how much I had come to care about these two characters over the last two years, and once the tears came they didn't stop. It was beautiful writing and wonderful acting. And when the camera returned to the TARDIS, with tears streaming down The Doctor's face, I wondered if I'd ever recover! He'd never looked so lonely in that enormous TARDIS as he did at that moment. Yes, if you want to be picky, this 'trapped in another world' thing was a bit "His Dark Materials", but in story-telling there is no such thing as a new idea really, and it worked brilliantly for these two characters. And anyway, have we really seen the last of Rose? I'm not convinced.

But how could the programme end there? Luckily we had the arrival of the brilliant Catherine Tate as The Bride, which ended the episode on a real moment of humour. Tate's eponymous comedy show on BBC2 has received numerous awards and divided the nation. You either love her or hate her (I happen to think she's brilliant) but, like Love and Monsters, I think her appearance will divided Doctor Who fans, until we see the Christmas special. Nevertheless the look of shock on the Doctor's face was absolutely brilliant, and it's a great set-up for the Christmas episode. I can't wait (only 170 days to go!) and before then, I'm getting married, so life is going to be eventful, to say the least.

Now the rumours abound that Russell T might leave the show at the end of next series. I really hope not as he's really come into his own this year with his brilliant scripts. They're more daring (Love and Monsters was a bold, brave and brilliant attempt to try something different with the show's format) and much more rounded and, let's face it, if it wasn't for him, Doctor Who wouldn't have been back in the first place. And so, next from the Whoniverse we get to see Torchwood. Once I've recovered from the emotional trauma of Rose's departure, I'll be ready for more Russel T. Bring it on!

The season finale for David Tennant's first season as the Doctor ends with a bang - or rather, quite a lot of bangs. Russell T. Davies and his production team did the impossible and created a season finale even more thrilling than 'The Parting of the Ways'. And not only thrilling, but emotionally satisfying as well.

Waiting a week for 'Doomsday' to air seemed like a century after the revelation of the final scenes from 'Army of Ghosts'. Davies took a big chance bringing the Daleks back again for another season finale, and it paid off with interest as far as I'm concerned. I'm sure my mouth was hanging open when the voidsphere revealed its cargo, and I had to lift my jaw off the floor when the Genesis Ark opened up and revealed its contents.

There's not much more that a Doctor Who fan could want from the series than to see two of the Doctor's greatest nemeses in battle with each other. But to top that off we also have the departure of a companion from the series - a companion who's forged a deeper bond of attachment with the Doctor than any companion we've seen before. This episode will no doubt be one of the most memorable farewells in the series history. It was done tastefully and effectively, for all practical purposes killing off the character, which is much more satisfying than seeing her suddenly decide to go home or remain on some alien world, and much less shocking than actually letting her die. Kudos to Davies for coming up with such a clever resolution.

I was particularly impressed with how well the script balanced the action plot with the quieter emotional moments. Taking several minutes out of the story to reunite Jackie and Pete was risky, as it could have interrupted the flow of the action and cut the suspense, but it didn't. I loved Jackie's dialogue, revealing her as a genuine person with all the flaws and weaknesses that entails. The dialogue throughout the episode felt very geniune from all the characters. In such an action-oriented story with a big finish, it would have been easy for Jackie and Mickey to get lost in the shuffle, but their parts were carefully managed to give them special moments without taking anything away from the rest of the plot.

The best emotional scenes, of course, were the scenes between the Doctor and Rose, first grieving over their parting and then struggling to find the right words to say goodbye. The dialogue was again excellent and very real, particularly the Doctor misunderstanding Rose when she tells him the name of the Norwegian beach she's standing on. David Tennant and Billie Piper have already impressed me with their acting talent, and I was fascinated by David Tennant's performance as he revealed a range of emotions, often just through his eyes.

Graeme Harper's direction is superb in this story, from terrific scenes of masses of Daleks swooping over London to the intimate shots of the Doctor and Rose on either side of the impenetrable wall between universes. The lighting and cinematography perfectly complement his style. It was particularly effective how simple lighting changes and set dressing were used to differentiate between Pete's Earth and 'our' Earth. And if I were Billie Piper I'd keep a still of that shot of Rose on the beach (from the opening recap) in my resume' portfolio.

The music, too, was a highlight for this story. The theme that plays while Rose and the Doctor stand forlornly with their cheeks pressed against a wall is caught in my brain now and won't get out. It was an interesting combination of musical elements that created a very appealing tune and emphasized the emotion of the scene very effectively. I hope the BBC will release a soundtrack CD soon if they haven't already.

I've now viewed this episode on 3 occasions, and while I don't feel that any single episode can be considered 'the best episode ever' this one certainly ranks in my Top Ten list. I may not watch it as often as I watch some of my other favorites, however, because it's just too painful to experience those wrenching emotions repeatedly. But any programme that can make me laugh, scream, and cry all in one episode is something I'll always appreciate.

So that's what all the parallel universe business was about back in episodes 5 and 6.

It speaks volumes that Russell T Davies should build such a large part of the season around finding a way for Rose to leave.

In 'Doomsday' we had a very different finale from last year's 'Parting of the Ways'. Where that was about saying goodbye to the Ninth Doctor, this year's end was all about Rose.

Indeed, the actual meat of the episode served as a mere appetiser. The war council between the Daleks and Cybermen was delicious and the shots of the two races in battle were thrilling, if a little thin, but there wasn't a great deal of mass invasion action going on. It's a pity we were so locked down to Torchwood Tower. The story didn't quite live up to the expectations built by last week's excellent precursor, but it was clear very quickly that the escalating war was merely a way to get us to the Doctor and Rose truly parting. As soon as the Doctor started to talk about 'void stuff' (the most amusing story conceit since anti-plastic) I could see where things were going.

Have to admit, though, my heart was in mouth as Rose was dragged towards the void. He can't! I thought. Davies can't do that! That's worse than just killing her! But, of course, he didn't. From this point, Piper and Tennant give their best performances of the year - the Doctor's anguished scream as he watches Rose sucked to her death is agonising. And even if Davies stole the two-people-separated-by-worlds idea from Philip Pullman, and the 'two minutes' notion from Joss Whedon, the couple's goodbye is genuinely heartbreaking. Inevitable, also, that the Doctor never gets to say 'I love you.'

As for the cliffhanger, well, Catherine Tate in a wedding dress fills me with dread (Peter Kay-itis playing up) but I'll wait until Christmas to see.

Season 2 overall has been a mixed year. I have definitely felt a gap at times where year one's darker side used to be. 'The Christmas Invasion' started things very promisingly and still features one of David Tennant's best performances. The opening of the season proper was probably its strongest point - 'New Earth' might be a little dull, but it has a colour and vividness that some later stories lack. The lack of payoff for the Face of Boe plot is hugely frustrating, though. If it's a season 3 setup, sticking it in the first episode of season 2 seems insane.

The run from episodes 2-4 was as good as anything Doctor Who has ever had and 'The Satan Pit' two-parter is my favourite story of the relaunched series by a mile. It's just a shame that in the mix we also had a rather muted 'Rise of the Cybermen', a banal 'The Idiot's Lantern' and the misstep that was 'Love and Monsters'. Too many episodes set in London locations in quick sucession, too, lead to a samey quality in the second half of the season and detracted from the otherwise-enjoyable 'Fear Her'(it's pretty bad planning that only 'The Satan Pit' two-parter breaks this pattern in a run of 9 episodes from 5-13).

Overall, though, still great television and things are really nicely set-up for season 3. The Doctor is alone again, heartbroken, and hopefully will be wary of letting anyone else in too soon. Let's just hope that Davies avoids the temptation to use 'The Runaway Bride' as a way to get the Doctor over Rose quickly so he and Martha can have merry japes across the universe. Let's see some more darkness (just look at how wonderful Tennant is when he's given more than 'wacky/angry' to play with), let's sow a denser arc (like Bad Wolf but with a nicer payoff) and let's have The Master, please. Played by Tony Head, preferably.

Now what the hell am I going to do over summer?