Who says Russell can't write Doctor Who? Eat your words all who say such a thing, and enjoy. An erratic Tardis takes the Doctor and Rose to 1879 instead of 1979, and in so doing, they meet Her Majesty Queen Victoria herself. Pauline Collins excelled herself here, as she does in almost every part she ever plays.

The Torchwood estate promises something unusual anyway, but what actually happens with the werewolf and the telescope and the excitement and the fear, and, well, this was pure genius. This was an episode that I could not fault at all. The lighting was excellent, the plot unfolded scarily, and wonderfully. The acting, especially the fearful expressions, was absolutely first class.

The host provided an uneasy moment for Rose even before he transformed into the best werewolf I've ever seen, when he said that there was something about the wolf about her.

The bestowal of knighthood and damehood on the Doctor and Rose, and then their immediate banishment was a surprise. The only bit that puzzled me was at the beginning where Father Angelo told the Steward that he would take the house "by the fist of man", and then proceeded to hit him with a stick, but it doesn't really matter much. Yes every writer has some foibles, and Russell T. Davies has had criticism for his in abundance recently. But surely, this episode shows us that Doctor Who is in very safe hands indeed.

If perfection is possible, then this is as near as it can possibly get, even notwithstanding that next week, we will see the return of Sarah Jane Smith. Does lightning strike twice?

Way back in 1981, after his opening series as Producer had been aired, John Nathan-Turner gave the first of his annual Doctor Who magazine interviews. When asked at the end of the interview what heВ’d like to see in future stories, he said heВ’d like to see an adventure featuring a Werewolf. As IВ’d always found these creatures very creepy indeed, I kept my eye out for a story featuring them, and low and behold along came The Greatest Show in the Galaxy in 1988, and Doctor WhoВ’s first Werewolf, in the form of Jessica Martin as Mags. But although the transformation was quite effective and pretty scary in an old Hammer Horror type of way, the resultant beast failed to impress, being more or less a green skinned woman with hair stood on end and a mouth full of fangs, not to mention the sequence being over as soon as it had started.

So naturally, when I heard that this series of Doctor Who was to feature a Werewolf I was enthusiastic, but hesitant, after all, its last attempt hadnВ’t been wholly successful, and even big budget films had rarely got the beast right; American Werewolf in London had a brilliant transformation, but a pretty dismal Werewolf and the effort in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was pretty much the same, good transformation, but a beast that looked like a strategically shaved poodle!

So what of Tooth and Claw? Well, the TARDISODE alone put the fear of God into me, which served me right for watching it alone at half past twelve at night before I was about to go to bed. But the very best Doctor Who stories always tend to be the ones with what I call the В“WouldnВ’t Wanna Be In Their ShoesВ” factor, basically a situation you really would not want to be in yourself! Off the top of my head I can only think of the DoctorВ’s predicament in Alternative Earth in Inferno and being on the Games Station with that trigger happy Dalek army about to attack in The Parting of the Ways that made be think I really wouldnВ‘t want to be there. Now I can add this story to that shortlist, thereВ’s no way IВ’d have been within a hundred miles of Torchwood House given a chance!

The story itself, while using most of the mythology of Werewolf folklore and itВ’s setting of an old house in the middle of nowhere is straight out of every horror clichГ© there is, but itВ’s application in this story into the world of Doctor Who and the way the overall plot was woven was almost perfect, with the exception, as has been mentioned by others, that the Monks outside the house appeared to vanish without any explanation. A brief addition to the script stating that they had fled, once the werewolf was destroyed, would have helped towards making this a near perfect script. But as this was my only niggle towards the plot, there canВ’t have been that much wrong with it.

David Tennant and Billie Piper, as usual, gave their all, and yes, in parts they do behave like a couple of unruly children, but didnВ’t some of the best Doctor/Companion relationships? And the scene where the Doctor was frantically trying to work out AlbertВ’s plans to save his wife was played to perfection. The guest cast were also very strong, from Pauline CollinsВ’ superb portrayal of Victoria, who I was glad to see didnВ’t become a Doctor friendly goody goody in the story, as Charles Dickens had done in the Unquiet Dead - anything but, to the always dependable Derek Riddell (I especially liked the line where the Queen told his character, Sir Robert, that he was her Sir Walter Raleigh, a part Derek Riddell played in The Virgin Queen, which appealed to the pedantic side of my nature).

In fact, the whole production was well executed; from the stylish direction of Euros Lyn, whose skills as a director seem to improve with every story he handles, through to the music, which didnВ’t initially seem to feature any themes weВ’ve heard before in the series. A superb opening cliff hangar, a truly chilling conversation between Rose and the Host (for me, the scariest part of the episode) leading up to the excellent transformation.

A well paced episode, punctuated with good В“breatherВ” scenes, such as the sequence in the Library. If the rest of the series continues in this trend then weВ’re in for a treat. I know everyoneВ’s opinions are different, and wouldnВ’t it be a boring world if we all thought the same way, but I have to say that it just boggles my brain reading some of the forum pages on this site, that there are STILL some В“fansВ” who slated this one. Perhaps for you few people, Doctor Who has had its day. May I suggest Heartbeat or The Royal as being more your cup of tea?

For me though, I have to give this a very rare 10/10!

If there's anything the latest Star Wars trilogy taught us, it's that just because you can render and realize an impressive looking digital character on screen, that doesn't necessarily make it a good idea to do so. (Jar Jar, anyone?)

To work well, a digital character have a solid story surrounding it, not just the latest in modern effects. (Gollum from Lord of the Rings, for example).

So while the good Doctor has met a variety of the classic monsters over the years--vampires, zombies, etc--he's never really done battle with a werewolf as the central antagonist of a story. I think a large part of that was the BBC wisely realizing that a werewolf, if not done right, would look even less credible than usual and really away the willing suspension of disbelief that is so vital to Doctor Who stories. (We can accept the sets wobble, but if the monsters are too shoddy, it ruins the illusion).

But with "Tooth and Claw" we get a story that features the Doctor facing a werewolf.

And yet as I come away from the story, I'm less impressed with the effects (though they are quite good) and instead I pull out the old mantra of Doctor Who--"It's the stories that make the show, not the effects."

I think we all thought deep down that Russell T. Davies had a really great script in him. And, so far, this is the closest we've got to a great script from Davies. I'll go out on a limb and say it's his best story since the first two episodes of series one. Certainly, it's the least complicated and the most straightforward. The Doctor and Rose arrive in a place, get caught up in a series of events and have to work to defeat some monster or evil by story's end. "Tooth and Claw" feels like it was a lost script from the Gothic era of Hinchcliffe and Holmes. It's a fun, entertaining little story that doesn't have an agenda beyond entertaining the audience for 45 minutes and being pretty edge-of-your-seat for much of that time.

That said, it's not perfect. I'm still not quite sure what the Monks' overall plan was and why they felt they wanted to infect Queen Victoria with the werewolf mutation. Sure it set up a nice joke at the end and maybe it's part of the overall plan for the season, but that part didn't make a lot of sense upon initial viewing. Also, I have to wonder why the Monks left the house after the werewolf is destroyed. I wonder if something was cut in the final edit and if a deleted scene on the DVDs will address this (not that you should rely on DVDs and deleted scenes to cover up plot holes...but we can hope).

And while the foreshadowing about Torchwood was about as subtle as two by four to the head, I like the way its been set up. To have it established as a reaction to the Doctor's involvement in the affairs of humanity was a nice touch. And the final scene while it was a bit like "Wow, did you know we've got a show coming soon called Torchwood?" wasn't quite as wince-inducing as I feared it could be. I do hope that as the season goes along, it's not some massive preview for Torchwood. I don't mind setting up the spin-off, but I do mind if the spin-off takes over the parent show.

Overall, the cast is quite solid. Tennant continues to impress though I still get this feeling he's waiting to be really unleashed. Of course, it did take until "Dalek" last year for Eccleston to knock one of the park. I get this feeling Tennant is on the cusp of greatness in the role, though each week he gets better and better.

I will also admit that it's kind of a relief to get past "Tooth and Claw." After five solid episodes by Davies, it will be nice to get some different writers in the mix next week. But I will give Davies credit--"Tooth and Claw" is a great script to mark as your last for a while. It's memorable, fun, scary and entertaining. It's a solid, if not perfect Doctor Who story.

This was an absolute belter of an episode, in which Russell T. Davies has shown that he can be an excellent Doctor Who writer.

We are perhaps in safe territory for Doctor Who, or the BBC in general, when we go into the Victorian era. But even so, it was wonderfully recreated and I was personally pleased to see that the period was accurate and dignified without easy resort to Empire-bashing. Ms Collins was very good as Queen Victoria, just occasionally let down by slightly weak dialogue. I was also impressed with the rest of the supporting cast, and I applaud the number of heroic characters - Captain Reynolds, Sir Robert and Lady Isobel too. It is always nice to see the Doctor save the day, as he does, but it is also good to have some other role models - you don't have to be the cleverest man in the universe to do the right thing. Father Angelo was also suitably chilling as a bad guy: I don't know where the monks learned their moves, but maybe worshipping the wolf has some unknown advantages?

We are only a few episodes into his time as the Doctor, but I am going to go out on a limb and say that David Tennant is brilliant. I love his portrayal. For all that I shall be grateful to Mr. Eccleston for reviving the character, I always felt that he never quite got it right with any degree of consistency. I am so excited by the Tenth Doctor, he has boundless energy and fun, which also makes his serious more pointed and his mystery more mysterious. Good job, keep it up! And loved the Scottish accent. Ms Tyler was average here, although for her that is still Oscar-winning good in my book. The attempted joke on 'we are not amused' was awkward, a little embarrassing, and made her look dumb, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment overall. I also thought she made a good companion, showing strengths that the Doctor does not always have - good interpersonal skills with Flora the maid, for example - and helping others get out of trouble. Her attempt at a Scottish accent was laugh-out-loud funny, and indeed the dialogue was snappy throughout.

The best thing about this episode was that the plot was so well devised. Not only did everything fit together well at the end, but I did not see it coming because the buildup was so subtly done. It is so much more satisfying when pieces carefully laid out tie together, especially when it is the Doctor who works it all out. The scene in the library was memorable for several reasons - the wonderful pan shot to the Doctor and the Wolf either side of the wall, the sound of the wold creeping round the room, the Doctor's comments on books being the greatest arsenal, and then his realisation just before the wolf comes crashing down. Great entertainment, unbeatable.

This was one of my absolute favourite episodes of the new Doctor Who. Even so, some minor criticisms: what were they screaming at in the pre-credits sequence - just a man in a cage? Shouldn't the diamond have been in the machine, rather than on the floor? And please, spare us the terrible overacted monarchy-are-werewolves stuff - could have been funny, but was simply too much as it turned out.

Interesting to see Queen Victoria announcing the creation of Torchwood, although as an end-of-episode teaser it simply couldn't live up to the textbook- enigmatic Face of Boe from last week!

Overall, a great romp!

In short, I hated it.

No, really, this has to be the single worst episode of RTD's run to date.

I mean, let's ignore the fact that this was basically just Spin Off Setup #2. Let's ignore the fact that that whole ending dialogue between the Doctor and Rose was really ripping off: Kim Newman's "Anno Dracula" novels, Clive Barker's comic series "Night of the Living Dead: London", and that one Garth Ennis Hellblazer storyline ("Royal Blood"?) in which a royal is demonically possessed.

No, let's instead focus for a wee moment on how for the most part this episode made Queen Victoria out to be a charming doddering old nanny type, who really really missed dear old Albert (indeed, Alan Moore's From Hell made references to Victoria possibly using psychics to try to contact Albert from beyond), as opposed to the HAG who helped set human sexuality and development back about, oh, 200 years or so? Now far be it for me to dispute the notion that just because Something is True, Something Else Can Also Be True, but I'm watching this, as Vickie spends half the episode acting like the maid from the Disney cartoon version of 101 Dalmatians, and I can't help but think of something I learned in freshman year Honors Family Studies class, in which something like 20% or so of all births ended with death to the baby and mother because of Victoria's attitudes about nakedness, so well jolly joked about in this episode, because doctors WOULDN'T LOOK AT THE WOMAN'S VAGINA AS SHE'S PASSING A BABY OUT OF IT, instead delivering babies with THEIR HEADS TURNED?! Yes, these are the things I think about watching Doctor Who.

[Yeah, OK, Victoria "banishing" the Doctor and Rose was more along the lines of what I envisage Victoria as, but I mean, come on. Really.]

But hey, yes, instead, let's gloss over the completely historically illogical quaint idyllic Scottish KUNG FU FLICK we get at the beginning. Hey, I actually thought that was pretty cool when I saw it in the trailers but as we actually get into the story it MAKES NO FRACKING SENSE. How the Hell you gonna tell me Scottish monks are learning wu-shu in a time when Japan had JUST opened its borders and China was a feuding warlord state from Hell? And the worst thing is, the only time we ever get any HINT of it again was the HMIC disarming Victoria's captain of the guard, and then THEY DISAPPEAR FROM SIGHT! The Hell!

The Doctor is a punk? With a hint of Rockabilly? IN WHICH UNIVERSE, BABE? In THIS one he just walked off the set of Quadrophenia and wears Buddy Holly glasses. Meanwhile, hey, I know, let's rehash all the Ace-"noble-savage" jokes from "Ghost Light" but never actually get Rose INTO the period dress now that we've made a big frakkin' deal over how "naked" she was.

The werewolf is an alien? Get outta here, we've never seen Supernatural Explained As Aliens before, naw! Especially not in the Victorian Era, a time period we've NEVER been to before, especially not accidentally or anything! *koff*UnquietDeadwhichIalsodidn'tmuchcarefor*koff* And in the end, all this leads up to the Super Sekrit Origin of...the big honkin death ray in "The Christmas Invasion." Um, yay.

I was so so looking forward to this one, and I was so so let down. I just don't get it. What the Hell is going on with this season so far?

Oh, and look, Sarah Jane Smith, K-9, and Tony Head next week. Maybe once I scrape the fanwank glaze from my monitor, there'll be a good episode. Maybe.

We were not amused, tho. Oh no, not by half.

I thought this episode of Doctor Who was a decidedly mixed affair. It had a fairly silly beginning, a good middle and a groan inducing end.

The beginning sequences - the ninja monks, the ease with which the Doctor and Rose latched onto the Queen and Her Wooden Bodyguards and the Doctor not cottoning to the Shifty Goings On at the Spooky House - were quite dire. As the story picked up its pace, it improved. The actual appearance of the werewolf and the pursuit through the halls of the house were moments replete with film horror and classic gothic imagery. The middle segments also featured the Doctor and Rose being a true partnership and employing the detective work which brings out the best facets f their personality and makes them the heroes of the story. The end returned us to twee again, as the Queen gave the Dcotor and Rose fairly pointless knighthoods and then banished them. Russell T Davies also trew in an overt mention to 'Torchwood' for anyone who did not watch the 'Christmas Invasion' episode or catch the name of the huse in which this week's action took place.

The Doctor and Rose annoyed me at points throughout this episode. Their awe and wonder at exploring space and time has now become a kind of smugness, as they giggled and whispered their way through the episode. Rose's efforts to make Queen Victoria say 'I am not amused' may have been intended to make her funny, but she merely came off as being a bit shallow.

Pauline Collins as Queen Victoria gave an equally mixed performance. Her Queen was witty and had a sense of fun as opposed to the dour widow who mourned her husband. I like the idea that Prince Albert (who was one of the driving forces behind the Great Exhibition) was secretly working towards defending the empire from supernatural forces. However, her scenes at the end were grating. The cheesy and silly 'knighting' of the Doctor and Rose was followed by an equally ludicrous U-turn in which she told the Doctor he was banished from the Empire. The Doctor hardly took this seriously; mainly because he and Rose were in such a giggly mood.

Davies decided to give Queen Victoria the task of shamelessly name-dropping 'Torchwood' into the end. The idea that she founded Torchwood was an inspired one. However, I would have appreciated a bit more subtlety, as opposed to her saying the name Torchwood a multitude of times in the space of about 45 seconds. 'I will call it Torchwood, the Torchwood Institute....the Doctor should beware, for Torchwood will be waiting.' Queen Victoria also brought a dose of scepticism to the Doctor Who adventures - her disapproval of the two travellers' almost cavalier acceptance of the dangers surrounding them was obvious but not overdone and her Queen maintained a quality of being aloof despite the Doctor's knowledge and his overtures of help. However, as I mentioned before, our Mr Davies managed to destroy this undertone of mistrust and make the Queen's concerns over the Doctor a near full blown emnity in their final scene together.

The episode also touched on the theme, once again, that the Doctor's actions have conseqences and that his seemingly innocent travelling in time can bring destruction in its wake. His adventures this week have given form to the same Torchwood that will one day invoke his anger when it destroys the Sycorax. The Doctor's actions cause ripples in time and are not simply self-contained adventures every week.

To sum up, a fairly unoriginal offering which made me cringe for the most part but which also continued several of the series' long-running themes and had the occasional moment of brilliance.