Gee, and I thought last week's episode was about gaseous creatures from outer space.

It had me puzzling how such an episode, containing some of the most untraditional ideas ever seen in Dr Who, could actually feel so much like the old show. First up, we have the Doctor delivering Rose back to her home in an uninspiring London estate, asked by a policeman if their relationship is sexual and getting slapped by her mum. And then there are the flatulent frivolities of our erstwhile alien invaders, which even the writers of Red Dwarf might have deemed to base to include in their own little laid-back comedy space series, and which has spawned such a supercilious stream of negativity - on this website, at least - it would seem some of us have been forever disillusioned.

But the domestic scenes, whilst not as riveting as other elements of the show, still serve one or two important purposes. We are still viewing the Doctor and his travels through the eyes of his young companion - nothing wrong in that, especially at this relatively early stage. It adds depth to her character and let's us explore a little further this strange phenomenon in her life from the newcomer's perspective. This said, the relevance of such scenes will inevitably fade; I'd even say they're just about played out already, but I also think RTD is too experienced a writer to keep on penning redundant scenes - or at least I hope not, then it truly won't be anything more than Eastenders with a Dr Who credit sequence.

Now for the much-debated farting, and it's tempting to join the angry brigade here, as without doubt it is not what I would describe as a good idea. One can empathise with those screaming RTD, what are you doing to our show??? (for they do indeed think of it as theirs), and certainly there were a few rolled eyes exchanged about our house upon each boisterous release. But a few chuckles, too. We could have had a dry explaination for the aliens' compression technology, I suppose, necessarily bereft of wit or flair - but infinitely more tasteful! Shame, too, how so many fans have been alienated by it, as RTD should have known and considered. Still, it by no means ruined the episode, and there was plenty else to enjoy.

Of all the past eras, one is of course reminded most of Jon Pertwee's first couple of years. Nice to see the military given a modern spit and polish (no Action by HAVOC, thank the Maker), and to actually see a few UNIT personell; they haven't said a word yet and still look more promising than that sad bunch we came across in Batlefield. Nor could diehards miss that shot of the General and his aides striding down an Albion Hospital corridor, identical to the one of the Brigadier and UNIT officers in Spearhead from Space.

The spaceship's crash landing was very well done, and kudos to the idea of an augmented pig-in-spacesuit. I also had a satisfying chuckle when Jackie tripped the alert by mentioning Doctor, Blue Box and TARDIS over the alien hotline. Then we come to the Slitheen who, faulty compression technology aside, fit snugly into the Doctor Who canon (hey, our first bona-fide monsters!). And that cliff-hanger - what a cracker! If no one minds, I just have to talk about this sequence in detail (skip it if you aren't interested in a technical analysis), because to me this is what Dr Who's all about, and this one was textbook stuff, precision in compilation and editing. Starting off, we don't just see one Slitheen unmasking, but three, in different locations and each in front of one of our three main characters, whose predicaments appear equally perilous (allowing for great scene juxtapositioning): the Doctor ends up writhing from electrocution, Jackie's all alone in the house and Rose gets to see one of the guest characters tossed around like the proverbial rag doll. Lovely sound effects all the way through, from an unnerving electronic buzz as the Slitheen unmask to a couple of vicious, blood-curdling monster roars as the aliens emerge from their human skins and proceed to grow bigger...and bigger...and BIGGER. End with Jackie backed into a kitchen corner, one of the Slitheen towering over her, cue music sting and end credits, and phew! Want to watch it again!

As others have pointed out, some of the hard work put into this was then diminished by the immediate inclusion of next week's trailer. Now, the purpose of such a device is to generate anticipation, which works fine at the end of a story but is as detrimental as it is redundant when following a good cliff-hanger, and so easy to leave out.

Aliens of London was amusing and often exciting. Overall, the series lacks a little intensity for my taste; most of it isn't being treated seriously enough, an ever-present danger on a show such as this, but the death-knell if they ever give up and start playing it all tongue-in-cheek. This is why Billie Piper is the stand out actor so far; she plays it straight and convincingly. The Doctor, on the other hand, is a little too jokey, too frivilous much of the time. It's OK for him to have these moments and Chris Eccleston plays them fine, but I hope to see more serious stuff (he plays that even better).

Anyway, time to step off the soapbox, touch it up so it can take the strain again next week. Am enjoying the new series. The ratings prove that whatever RTD is doing works on the whole. There is cause for optimism.

I’ll be honest. I was affected by the fans’ reaction to Aliens Of London well before I’d seen it. Below par was the general consensus, it seemed – at best, amusing but pointless. Of course, there were only two reasons for this reaction – a pig in a spacesuit, and gratuitous flatulence. But rather than jumping straight into that, I’ll start from the beginning.

As we all now know, Rose is twelve months late for tea. This is dealt with beautifully, and even Jackie Tyler is easier to handle than she was a few weeks ago. Soon, an alien spaceship skims over their heads and crashes headlong into Big Ben, in a spectacular effects sequence, prompting a classic line from Rose. (Only works in context, sorry.) So far, so good. As the streets fill with military and onlookers, there is a sense of The Dying Days about this… but nobody seems, I don’t know, interested enough. There’s not much panic in these streets. At least, not any that’s being filmed. I realised a fundamental difference between this episode and the previous two – the style, the direction. Put simply, Keith Boak. The man behind Rose, my least-favourite among the first three episodes. Could Boak have pulled off a space-station whodunnit, or a Victorian ghost story? Somehow I doubt it. He’s good at certain aspects of this new Doctor Who, but to me he just doesn’t gel with the show as well as Euros Lyn. At the beginning of the episode, I was sure I’d be blaming Russell T. Davies, like everyone else… but it was clear from even this point in Aliens Of London that Davies still knew how to write for this show. It’s the direction, guys, the direction!

Anyway. Mickey’s turned up, and lo and behold, the guy’s got depth! Kudos to Noel Clarke for pulling his finger out and actually acting. Meanwhile, the Doctor’s inside Albion Hospital, while a defenceless scientist is attacked. He immediately gets the military onside… brilliant! Traditional Who again! And then a pig in a spacesuit turns up. I didn’t quite know what to make of this, until it got shot, and the Doctor reveals that it was just a poor, helpless little pig. For a moment, my heart ached, and I considered vegetarianism.

As for the scenes inside Number Ten, it’s like a casting-call for British actors. Thankfully, they’re all good, especially Navin Chowdhry and Penelope Wilton – their dialogue together is lovely. Then someone farts. The first time I watched this episode, I cringed, mainly because I’d seen it coming. But on my second viewing, I actually chuckled. I mean, look at the guy’s face! Granted, it wasn’t a huge guffaw, but I was duly tickled by it, just like the wheelie-bin in Rose.

The TARDIS reappears, and suddenly it’s a domestic. But oddly enough, the dynamic of the Doctor, Rose and Mickey works quite well. I got a nice warm feeling when the words “Doctor” and “TARDIS” triggered a red alert at Number Ten. Again, I felt like I was watching traditional Who. I also got a flashback to the TV movie (for some reason) when the Doctor and Rose are surrounded outside the TARDIS. But the Doctor knows better – this is UNIT. And they’re being escorted to Number Ten. I cheered at the mention of UNIT, and again when the Doctor takes over their emergency meeting with his own hypothesis, only to realise they’ve all been set up, and they’re now all trapped like mice. Yes, I actually cheered. Sad, I know. And we have a triple-pronged cliffhanger – has this ever happened before? The first time around, I was a little distracted, but when I watched it again, in the dark, a Slitheen turned to me – to me – and laughed. For a split second, I was terrified. That sting didn’t help either.

So, in conclusion, I still think this is the worst of the bunch. But that’s not to say I didn’t like it. It made for quite good entertainment. I’m actually looking forward to the second part. Doctor Who can be great TV at times – look at The Unquiet Dead for a recent example – but it can also, like Rose and this episode, be simple escapism. Which is good too.

I love the way Russell T Davies is structuring this season. Present, Future, Past – followed by a return to Present. It shows the massively flexible format of Doctor Who for new viewers, and gives variety for us old timers. It’s also lovely to break with the long held tradition of Doctor Who that companions can’t return home. But it does this with a fabulous twist.

My initial reaction after having watched Aliens of London was mostly positive, but with a few reservations. I had laughed a lot, yet been fascinated and enthralled too. The Doctor bringing Rose back a year late brought all kinds of emotion to the surface. The situation is potentially tragic, but Russell T derives some humour mixed with the trauma – there’s a realism absent from virtually all of previous DW. The touching base with Roses home is unique in the annals of Who – and I think Russell T has really brought something special to the show by doing this.

The homely feel continues as the Doctor and Rose watch the unfolding drama on TV – something that we all would do. I loved the chaos of the Tyler household, with the Doctor desperately trying to concentrate on the reports. This was the scene too where Christopher Ecclestons Doctor really seemed other-worldly, even though he really should fit right in dressed as he is. It’s his attitude to the whole adventure that isolates him.

The spaceship crashlanding into the Thames is magnificent, particularly the much-advertised-already destruction of Big Ben. It’s a real surprise for us that it’s a surprise for the Doctor (if you know what I mean!). After Jackies concerned phone call it’s also wonderful to see the Doctor get ushered in to help. Learning from the missed opportunity of the 1st episode (the Internet Doctor Who) it’s also nice to see references to the past - UNIT, even if this organization have clearly moved on in the army from the past.

There’s a tremendous amount of humour in this episode, some of which initially had me squirming, before I remembered the target audience, and the realization of why emerged. The celebrated bodily functions of the Cabinet, for example, which is explained away as the aliens getting the gases of Humans wrong – fair enough. Also my nieces and nephews (4-10 range) loved it, and thought it was the best thing about the episode! The pig pilot took me a while to get my head around too – but then the Doctors explanation of this frightened enhanced creature brought the whole escapade into tragedy. Amazing I could feel sorry for a pig dressed in a spacesuit!

It was lovely to see Jackie Tyler again, wonderfully played by Camille Coduri. She was one of the stand-outs of episode 1, and I’m glad she pops back throughout the series. Roses character is considerably stronger with these touchstones to home. Mickey was better in Aliens of London. Like many others I found him a bit wet in episode 1. There’s better material for the actor here – and it’s great to see the rivalry between him and the Doctor thrive.

Of special mention too is Penelope Wilton as MP Harriet Jones. I’m absolutely delighted this is a 2-parter simply because we get to spend more time with her. It’s a lovely part, and already rivalling Simon Callow for best Supporting Character of the series.

Then there’s the Slitheen. There’s a strong Monster presence in Doctor Who – many claiming Doctor Who wouldn’t be DW without the Monsters. They are big part of the whole mythos, and it’s good to see them in force in the new series. Episode 2 showed the monster makers were up to the challenge for this series, and the Slitheen further enhance that. I loved the fact too that they were made, complete with nodding dog heads, rather than totally SFX. They are a bit cheesy as a result – but let’s do the DW thing and suspend our disbelief. SFX enhances them, but they seem to definitely be a product of Creature Workshop, complete with men inside. I loved that emphasized blink they have, kind of like a camera. It will be interesting to see them more in the over dramatically titled next episode World War Three.

Nice to see a Cliffhanger too, even though the Whats On for Next Week pretty much destroyed the reason for it! Great to hear the DW screech again.

Episode 1 of this 2 parter left me wanting more of this story – exactly the idea surely. The light-heartedness was more centre stage for sure, but DW is very much part of the fun/entertainment industry after all. I really enjoyed it. 8/10

Well, after a week's break from the pen of Russell T Davies, the man himself has returned with a brand new script, this time dealing with the after effects of Rose's departure with the Doctor. Thanks to some fantastic acting and writing, the audience gets to experience a whole gamut of emotions, as we are taken back to England, where Rose is reunited with her family and friends...

Russell T Davies has often said that he can write sparkling dialogue without any effort whatsoever. 'Aliens of London' proves that he is certainly capable, but if he does it as easily as he says he does, then I am in awe. This script simply crackles with life and vitality, and I was in awe at the structure and balance. We move from domestic drama all the way to Earth-shattering revelations, so large is the scope of this tale.

The story arc doesn't seem to move any further forward, although an initial scene with a young boy spray-painting Bad Wolf made me sit up and take notice. That aside, Russell simply focuses on telling a gripping story, with revelation piled upon revelation. In my mind, he is quickly earning the title of the 21st Century version of Bob Holmes, in all honesty. I love this guy's writing, and this episode has everything I love in scripts.

Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper turn in some charged performances, with Chris getting a chance to really show off his comic ability. Meanwhile, Billie gets to take the dramatic focus, with her really showing off her range as an actor in scenes with Camille Coduir and Noel Clarke. We've been very lucky, as an audience, to get such a fantastic pair of actors for our leads. Almost makes me sad we're losing Chris very soon.

The guest cast are generally rather good, although I must admit to being rather off-put by the cabinet officials who have been replaced by the Slitheen. Their constant giggling and grinning seemed a bit excessive, especially when you consider they were constantly farting (which ended up being better handled than I'd originally imagined). I must admit, however, that Naoko Mori gets my vote as the sexy female scientist!

The production values are generally very impressive, and the locations and sets used to realise this episode are all pretty much flawless. Not a wobble in sight. I was very impressed by the use the production team put the Cardiff Royal Infirmary to, as it looks damn nice on screen. As well as that, 10 Downing Street looks nice inside, even if it was a bit over-satured with red. Oh well - a minor flaw in a very impressive episode.

Obviously, in future years, when it comes to looking at the special effects, everyone is going to almost always talk about the space ship which crashes into Big Ben. It's a well realised scene, looking fantastic. The combination of CGI and model work looks great, with special thanks to Mike Tucker for his work. I do, however, have to admit that the Slitheen transmutation sequence was a bit ropey, as was that space pig costume.

Keith Boak generally does a pretty good job with the direction on this story, with his use of the camera giving the whole thing a rather important feel about it. One was never left in any doubt that the events we were witnessing were big. However, no overview of this epic quality would be complete with special mention of Murray Gold's incidental score, which is fantastic. He's been great on the series, and this episode is tops.

Overall, 'Aliens of London' is a great episode of Doctor Who. I doubt it will ever go down in the history books as a classic, but it's certainly a gripping piece of action-adventure, with some wonderful gags chucked in to keep everything in balance. Russell T Davies is quickly showing just how well he can handle the series, and with examples like this it's easy to see why. He can even write great cliffhangers!

Overall Score: 5 / 6 (Very Good)

Having criticized the new series for being rather light on plot due to the constraints of single forty-five minute episodes, I had high hopes for the first two-part story, since it would allow more time for the story to unfold. In fact, I found myself watching ‘Aliens of London’ and ‘World War Three’ and thinking that the rot has started to set in; there is much to enjoy here, but the two episodes are also horribly flawed in some major respects.

The first five minutes of ‘Aliens of London’ are abominable. With the TARDIS returning Rose home to visit her mum, the Doctor tells her that she’s been gone for twelve hours, only to sheepishly reveal moments later, “It’s not twelve hours, it’s, er, twelve months. You’ve been gone a whole year. Sorry.” Cue extended scenes of pure soap opera, as we see the consequences for one’s family of vanishing into space and time. As an attempt at realistic characterisation I can understand the reasoning behind it, but this isn’t in depth moving adult drama, it’s overwrought slop in the vein of such televisual excrement as Hollyoaks. The problem is not simply that it is present at all, but that it feels like it’s been crow barred into the series and it is mind-numbingly dull. Some of it has potential such as the fact that as the missing Rose’s boyfriend Mickey was quizzed five times as a murder suspect, but it’s hard to separate such promising strands of dialogue from Camille Coduri’s profoundly irritating performance as Jackie, who shrieks lines such as “What can be so bad that you can’t tell me sweetheart? Where were you?!” in a voice that could strip paint. In fairness, such soap opera leanings again juxtapose banality and fantasy as in ‘Rose’, such as when the Doctor is slapped by Rose’s mother, prompting him to complain, “Nine hundred years of time and space and I’ve never been slapped by someone’s mother.” Several times during the story the Doctor proclaims, “I don’t do domestics” which begs the question, why do we have to then?

However… despite my feelings on this subject, the unexpected side effect of Rose’s return home is to make Mickey work extremely well. Having been more artificial than an Auton in ‘Rose’, Noel Clarke puts in a much better performance here, for example getting a great deal out of the simple line, “Oh my God!” when Mickey sees the Doctor. When Rose asks him, “So, in twelve months have you been seeing anyone else?” his reply is, “No. Mainly because everyone thinks I murdered you” which made me chortle. Mickey’s banter with the Doctor I found genuinely entertaining here, especially the Doctor’s eye-rolling exclamation, “Yes, I get the football” when Mickey is presented with the sheer marvel of the TARDIS’s technology and thinks first about sport. Understandably angry with the Doctor, Mickey asks him, “I bet you don’t even remember my name?” prompting the Doctor glibly reply, “It’s Ricky” What follows is a daft but amusing battle of wits between them, as Mickey corrects him, “No, it’s Mickey… I think I know my own name” prompting the withering response, “You think you know your own name, how stupid are you?” Other nice touches for the character include Mickey awkwardly comforting Jackie, and the fact that Rose knows where to find vinegar in Mickey’s flat whilst Mickey doesn’t, which strangely is far more convincingly done as a piece of realism than Jackie’s squawking about her missing daughter. This also prompts one of the Docor’s wittier lines here, as Jackie finds pickled gherkins, onions and eggs, and the Doctor incredulously asks Rose, “You kissed this man?” Most notably however, Mickey gets to make up for his (admittedly realistic) gibbering cowardice in ‘Rose’, as the Doctor tells him, “Mickey the idiot, the world is in your hands.” The scene between the pair at the end is rather touching, as they reach an understanding and the Doctor even offers, “You could look after her, come with us.” Mickey declines, unable to face such a lifestyle, but asks the Doctor not to tell Rose, whom the Time Lord tells, “No chance, he’s erm, a liability, I’m not having him on board.”

So I liked Mickey here, but found most of the human drama cloying and tedious. Happily, this being Doctor Who one can always rely on the plot to entertain. Unless of course, it’s complete bollocks. ‘Aliens of London’ starts out quite promisingly in this regard, as an alien spaceship weaves around the London skyline before crashing into the Houses of Parliament clock tower and then landing in the Thames. However, reasonably exciting though this is, it soon leads into the larger plot, and we learn of the Slitheen plan, which is ridiculously overcomplicated. The audience is expected to swallow such claptrap as the fact that the UK has given all of its nuclear missile codes to the UN, that the Slitheen aren’t nuclear capable (it would have been far easier for them to nuke Earth from space), and that British naval missiles can be launched from a website that is protected by a ridiculously easy to hack password. The return of UNIT is nice, except that it will be meaningless to new fans, and will leave old fans trying to swallow the implication that the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce consists of four men in suits, all of whom are killed here. The politics are fairly badly mangled as well, with suggestions that the Prime Minister is the head of state. There is some interesting stuff in here; the whole Iraq war metaphor is too unsubtle to be called subtext, with non-existent weapons of mass destruction that can be deployed in forty-five seconds, and an illegal war fought for the world’s resources. Doctor Who has been doing barely disguised social commentary almost since it began, and it does at least mean that there is more to the plot than the simple message of not judging by appearances that we got a brief nod to in ‘The End of the World’. Nevertheless, the inclusion of such subtext is bound to annoy some audience members, whatever opinion they actually have on the Iraq war; a brief but similar throwaway line in ‘Scream of the Shalka’ proved rather controversial, and this is being watched by a lot more people.

There are other problems with the episodes as well. Most of these are minor irritations, such as the fact that there isn’t any blood left in the cabinet chamber after Asquith is killed and apparently skinned, and the sheer incompetence of the Police backing the Doctor against a lift is unbelievable, as is the fact that they just stand around looking gob smacked whilst he escapes, instead of riddling him with bullets. Indeed, gormless would-be comedy policemen litter the storyline like dog turds on a pavement. And in the midst of all the factual inaccuracies about the British government, Harriet delivers lessons for the kids about Hannibal and making acetic acid from ethanol, which is strangely twee. I also have issues with the production, including Keith Boak’s direction. Whilst I like the Slitheen spaceship (which reminds me vaguely of Thunderbird Two), the Slitheen themselves, and the infamous Pig, the CGI used for the first two occasionally looks unconvincing, and the decidedly rubbery nature of the Pig doesn’t do anything to silence its detractors. The Slitheen costumes are also obviously men in rubber costumes, which this being Doctor Who I don’t have a problem with; they are occasionally realised purely by CGI however, and it doesn’t mesh convincingly with the costumes, especially during the chase through Number 10 in ‘World War Three’. Mind you, the destruction of Number 10 Downing Street is well realised, and if that bloke who complained about the BBC blowing up a church during ‘The Dæmons’ is still alive and watching, he must have soiled himself. The incidental music also grates once more, acting yet again as a pompous intrusion during the more dramatic emotional scenes in the second episode. What really annoyed me however was the horribly mangled cliff-hanger, which showed various characters in peril, only to be immediately followed by the trailer for ‘World War Three’, which showed the same characters in rather less peril. I didn’t think that the Doctor or Rose would get killed, but I didn’t even get to spend a week hoping that I’d be spared any further appearances by Jackie. It didn’t help that the resolution at the start of ‘World War Three’ was effectively a pre-credits sequence, making the whole thing feel horribly disjointed.

‘Aliens of London’ and ‘World War Three’ also mark the point at which I finally start to find the Ninth Doctor irritating, although still not as much as some critics. It’s Christopher Eccleston’s gurning that irritates me, and there is an appalling scene in the TARDIS as the Doctor repairs things in fundamentally annoying slapstick fashion, grinning like a tit throughout. On the other hand, he gets plenty of decent moments here, including the Doctor’s laugh of delight when the ship crashes (and Rose’s stunned “Oh, that’s just not fair” is great). There’s a nice moment when he gives Rose the TARDIS key, but best of all is the fact that he’s at his most proactive here, such as when he takes charge of the military in the hospital, overcomes the Slitheen trap at the end of episode one, works out how to defeat them with vinegar (The “Narrows it down” scene allows Eccleston to show the cogs in the Doctor’s mind whirring overtime), and gives Mickey instructions on how to blow up Downing Street. Eccleston conveys the Doctor’s fury at the shooting of the pig, of which he snarls, “What did you do that for? It was scared!” and the Doctor’s obvious glee and waving at the cameras when he’s escorted to Downing Street is amusing. The Doctor quietly saying sorry to the dead, nameless secretary also achieves minor greatness. Eccleston sounds deadly serious when the Doctor tells the Slitheen, “I’ll give you a choice, leave this planet or I’ll stop you” and his line, “This my life Jackie, it’s not fun, it’s not pretty, it’s just standing up and making a decision” is designed to be quotable. However, I do find the Doctor’s dithering over whether to save the world and risk losing Rose frustrating in a way that brings back unpleasant memories of ‘Neverland’ and it again suggests that he’s lost some perspective since Episode Seven of ‘The Evil of the Daleks’. Rose incidentally gets less to do here than in previous episodes, most of her scenes revolving around the tedious domestic rot of her relationship with her mother, and attempts to explain her non-sexual relationship with the Doctor via dialogue such as “’E’s not my boyfriend Mickey, he’s better than that.” She also utters the controversial line, “You’re so gay” which I find more crass than offensive.

With more time to play with here, Davies does score with the some of the supporting characters and the guest cast is generally very good. Penelope Winton is great as Harriet Jones, who is obviously terrified by what she’s seen, but brave enough to try and do what is right, prompting the Doctor to tell her, “You’re very good at this.” As soon as the Doctor recognizes her name, it’s obvious that she’ll become Prime Minister, but it still works quite well. Mind you, her line, “When they fart, if you’ll pardon the word” is an example of misfiring would-be comedy. Navin Chowdry is also good as Indra Ganesh and whilst Davies might overdo the human drama in some scenes, the small kindness of a cup of coffee manages to be strangely poignant. Mention must also be made of Andrew Marr who does a fine job of playing himself in ever-so-slightly tongue-in-cheek style. The various “fat” actors all seem to be enjoying themselves immensely, especially David Verrey and Rupert Vansittart, and Annette Badland manages to be gleefully sinister.

But my favourite aspect of ‘Aliens of London’ and ‘World War Three’ is the Slitheen, who work for me simply because they seem to having so much fun. Yes, their plan is ridiculous, but aliens who giggle at their own colossal flatulence and are obsessed with nudity entertain me on the basest possible level. “I’m shaking my booty” is an appallingly bad line, but it is compensated for by the brilliant, “Excuse me, your device will do what? Triplicate the flammability? You’re making it up!” and “I rather enjoyed being Oliver. He had a wife, a mistress and a young farmer. God, I was busy.” They look great too, in a rubbery, traditionalist sort of way, and their big eyes are rather striking. On a less silly level, Davies makes an attempt to flesh them out as characters, with their hunting rituals and details about their rather novel calcium-based physiology, which memorably makes them vulnerable to vinegar. The fact that Slitheen is their family name, not the name of their species is a nice touch, as are their convoluted and overlong names. In a possible nod to ‘The Leisure Hive’, we also get an acknowledgement of the fact that they hide inside fat humans, as the Doctor explains, “They’re big old beasts. They need to fit inside big humans.” The fact that they sober up when they learn that one of them has died, allows them to show just enough emotion to add depth, and I also like their final scene, as they bicker over costumes before their leader casts his eyes skyward and cries, “Oh, boll-”.

Overall, ‘Aliens of London’ and ‘World War Three’ form the first real disappointment of the new series, but they aren’t entirely without merit. It might be worth noting that we get the first proper reference to regeneration in the new series, just as people are wondering if Christopher Eccleston really quit or if he only ever signed up for one series. And whatever the shortcomings of the episodes, everything suddenly feels terribly exciting at the end with the trailer for ‘Dalek’.

Science fiction has always been used to express political points of view, and some might argue that the best of science fiction is that which does so.

Fritz Lang’s passionate defense of workers in Metropolis. Fred Pohl’s scathing indictement of consumerism in The Space Merchants. George Lucas’ not-so-subtle demonstration that corporatism unchecked leads to imperialism. John Brunner’s still enormously relevant The Sheep Look Up. THX-1138. Dune. Foundation. The Cold War paranoid fantasies of the 1950s: Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Them and its collective/communist ants, balanced by The Earth Stood Still and It Came From Outer Space. Even Godzilla.

I’ve always been very pleased that Doctor Who, unlike much of television, a medium not known for risk-taking (with a few exceptions such as The Prisoner), has always had the guts to look to literature for inspiration and embrace political themes, delivering powerful allegories.

The Green Death shows how unchecked multinational corporations under the control of soulless automatons for whom profit has become a BOSS-like god and controller, will eventually despoil the Earth leaving only maggots and slime behind.

At an earlier time where religious strife was tearing apart Northern Ireland, The Massacre delivered a powerful warning. That message was echoed again in Genesis of the Daleks with its insane war to end all wars and the anti-xenophobic subtext of Carnival of Monsters more relevant today than ever.

The Sunmakers was a vibrant and kafkaesque manifesto against out of control government, and the manipulation of public officials by powerful financial interests behind the scenes. In Day of the Daleks, the so-called terrorists may have used the wrong methods (with unintended consequences) but at the end of the day, the Doctor sided with them against the collaborators.

In that glorious tradition, Russell T. Davies has delivered a spectacular Doctor Who allegory in his recent two-parter, Aliens of London and World War III.

From the start, the destruction of a well-known landmark (Big Ben) by a flying craft is used by the villains to whip up fear and take political power. I need not point out the similarities, including the media’s willing or unconscious participation in the process, and their failure to probe the event’s real causes. Interestingly, the pilot of the craft is revealed to be a pig, a short-hand demonization of a culture/faith for which such animal is unclean. But here the pig is a hapless tool, literally built and, shall we say, remotely-controlled by the true villains.

These villains are the Slitheen. To reuse terminology coined by Mussolini, the Slitheen are true corporatists. They use the destruction of Big Ben to take power, trigger a war, and turn Earth into a radioactive heap, in effect a source of cheap energy they can sell. More subtly, these corporatists are not just an alien race, but an actual family. The similarities between another Presidential dynasty, and its close-knit cabal, may have been unintended, but they are there nevertheless.

The “experts” – UNIT in the Whoniverse – are first coopted, then quickly neutralized by the villains, certainly echoing the outing of Valerie Plame and the recent purge of the CIA. At the end of the day, there are no forces in society able to oppose the cabal: the media are supine, the military at best confused, or a tool, the intelligence community beheaded, the political class collaborating or hostage (Harriet).

The all-too-obvious parallels in the script (“45 seconds,” “UN resolution,” “MWDs,” “We believed it the last time”) are almost superfluous because they distract from more than they reinforce the powerful sub-narrative that drives the story. The Doctor telling Mickey that the Human Race is “thick” should be enough of a wake-up call, and by being so obvious at times, Davis shows that, like the Doctor, he does believe that the people are “thick” indeed – but judging on facts, who could blame him?

Russell T. Davies’ answer to the cynical web of lies and purposeful deception perpetrated upon our population by a neo-corporatist cabal is two-fold: 1) blow them up, and 2) elect new leaders. It is a deceptively simplistic response, because it echoes the old Hindu philosophy of Destruction and Creation.

It is not enough to capture, drive away, get rid of the Old State, it must be destroyed. There must be a cost. Penance must be made. We cannot rebuild unless we tear down the corruption, pay the piper and learn from our mistakes, Such a process is not easy, cheap or painless, and it is adequately symbolized here by the destruction of No. 10 Downing Street, which acts as the closing bracket to the destruction of Big Ben at the opening of the play.

Creation is symbolized by the transformed Harriet Jones – what a superb character arc from a meek, ineffectual MP to a leader truly speaking to and from the people! – who is said to be the herald of a new Golden Age, this completing the traditional allegory.

Russell T Davies is, consciously or unconsciously, well aware that we will soon be facing the reality-based equivalents to his foretold Destruction, and in writing Aliens of London and World War III, he has given us more than a superbly crafted Doctor Who story, but echoes from our own future.