I was quite impressed by Daleks in Manhattan, and thought it was a nice touch to take Martha to the "real" New York after a trip to "New New York" last week. I have to say that whenever the Daleks appear I always hold my breath somewhat, because in the past Daleks have not really seemed menacing enough. In "Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways" for instance, it was only the presence of the Emperor that took away the impression that here we simply had hordes of ranting pepper pots. However, in "Daleks in Manhattan" the Daleks seemed to exhude menace in every moment on screen, and one really got the impression that here was something dark and powerful and dangerous. The conversation between the Dalek and Mr Diagoras high up in the uncompleted Empire State building was scary. "You have rare ambition". and "Humans are weak, you shelter from the dark, and yet you have built all this". and "You think like a Dalek". What brilliant and scary lines from one of the "children of Skaro".

Martha is now beginning to be embroiled into the Doctor's world to the extent of more than "just one trip, and then home". Freema Agyeman is really putting her stamp on the character, and showing just what a fine actrees she is. Also from her conversation with Tallulah, we get an insight into how she really likes the Doctor, while not admitting so to him. Hugh Quarshie looks very convincing as Solomon, establishing his supposed presence in "Hooverville" to such good measure that I almost forgot seeing him as Dr Ric Griffin in "Holby City". Solomon comes across as one of those wise characters who is old and experienced enough to know how life turns from good to bad, or vice versa, and yet still young and strong enough to show great strength of leadership in a firm but fair manner, something which must have took guts for those who actually lived in those circumstances back then, and which makes for a strong character who one can both like and respect. Ryan Carnes came across well as Laszlo, but I cannot make an assessment to compare from his previous roles as I have not seen "Desperate Housewives". However, it would seem that Laszlo is going to have a key role in what happens in the next episode, "Evolution of the Daleks". Miranda Raison's character, Tallulah, - three ells and an aitch - I can really like, and she comes across as a gentle, yet at the same time, feisty young woman, ready to ask questions and to stand her ground, indeed doing so quite firmly with the Doctor, and I could quite imagine the Doctor asking her along for the ride, so to speak, a real candidate for the Doctor's companion if there was room for another one. Again, as with Hugh Quarshie's character, I quite forgot seeing Miranda Raison in "Spooks" as well. The great thing about these characters, and the other supporting characters as well is the accents. The American accents come across so convincingly from so many English actors, making me feel that we really were visiting 30s Manhattan. And so, to the Doctor himself. David Tennant has - in my opinion - reached a point where I now feel he IS the Doctor. David Tennant is arguably one of the UKs finest actors anyway, but his role as the Time Lord - not the last, it would seem - has reached heights that have never been reached since the Tom Baker years, and which Chris Eccleston never had a hope of reaching. The key moment that does it for me is the scene in the sewer, where the Doctor tells Tallulah what she had just seen. "It's called a Dalek, and it's not just metal, it's alive." "You're just kidding me". "Do I look like I'm kidding? Inside that shell is a creature born to hate". In this scene, David Tennant epitomises everything that the Doctor is, was, and shall be. His acting ability is so deeply convincing in that scene, that one feels just for a moment, that the Doctor, Tallulah, the Dalek, and the Manhattan sewer are all so very real, that one can almost smell the hate in that metal shell, and the anger in the Doctor's two hearts that "They always survive, and I lose everything", is almost tangible.

Now to a mystery or two. Since this series started we have had four excellent episodes of Doctor Who which in my mind are close indeed to being modern classics. But have we got a "thread" running through this series or not? By that I mean the following; In 2005, Eccleston's Doctor was dogged by the mystery of Bad Wolf. Then last year, for fairly obvious reasons we heard Torchwood mentioned in every episode. But what this time? If indeed there is a thread at all? Well, what about all these numbers? There appears to be a sequence of numbers in each episode, and each meaning or doing something different. In episode one "Smith and Jones", there was 5,000, then 50,000, then lastly 250,000. The Doctor increased the radiation of the x-ray machine by 5,000%, killing the slab dead. Then later, Florence Finnigan tells the Doctor that she has increased the setting of the MRI scanner to 50,000 tesla, and that this would fry the brain stem of every living being within 250,000 miles, thus encompassing the side of the Earth facing the Moon. This went unnoticed by me,until more numbers came in episode two, "The Shakespeare Code". In this, Shakespeare is coerced by the carrionites into writing down a sequence of words and numbers to end the play, and to summon up those witches/spirits/others of their kind/or whatever they were meant to be. And so we get "Linear 5930167.02". Then in "Gridlock", the sequence of numbers might again have been unnoticed but for the frequency of mentioning, and so we have the identification number of the car in which Martha had been kidnapped/car jacked - but not really - , "465 diamond 6." It was at this point that I almost dismissed the numbers as a coincidence. However, in episode four, came the Doctor's elaborate - but crude - DNA scan of the blob of "not human" green material found in the Manhattan sewer. "467-989", "Which would make the planet of origin..., Skaro!" At this moment, I am guessing that these numbers mean nothing, as there does not seem to be anything about them which makes sense. Maybe they are just random? Or what? It remains to be seen if there will be any more number sequences in subsequent episodes.

And finally, in the end of episode spoiler, we hear a Dalek cry "Exterminate". I think the Dalek exterminates the result of the final experiment, The Human Dalek which we saw emerge from the shell of the former "Dalek Sec". Why? Because I cannot imagine that the other three Daleks will accept their "evolution" into something so obviously grotesque, and importantly, so obviously very weak. They had after all argued with Dalek Sec against the nature of this experiment, saying "We must remain pure". and Dalek Sec's counter argument, "Remaining pure has brough us to Extinction". Saturday will tell. Only 9/10 because of the "Human Dalek". On second thoughts, 9.5/10.

The first two parter in each of the new series has always been something of an anticlimax for me. Aliens of London had a good cliffhanger that was then immediately undermined by showing the Doctor running about with the words 'Next week...' floating below him, but otherwise was still a show finding its feet. Rise of the Cybermen was massively underwhelming upon first viewing, but got going in part two. Daleks in Manhattan has more in common with Rise... in that it was slower paced than most single episode stories and felt like there was a major part of the story that was somehow lacking. In the cybermen's case it seemed like the script was padded and full of stale dialogue, whereas here there is a helluva lot of talking but most of it is saying something interesting, even if it isn't pushing the story forward in any obvious way.

The script oozes potential. The tone is fairly grim throughout which makes sense giving the time and place. When good lines come they are ones that are intriguing rather than amusing (less one-liners, although still time for the odd splash of humour) and many, many questions are begged by the first episode. The two leads do their best with the material. In Freema Agyeman's case this is to make her character feel like she is reacting as we would expect her to, without any really meaty scenes for her to perform. In David Tennant's case this is to keep getting better with every episode. Expect the backlash to start sometime around 2030. The supporting cast are varied. Solomon, Tallulah and Laszlo are well played (although who else felt sorry for one of the few Americans in the case to be told 'Hullo, you're playing a pig-human hybrid! Put this on!'?) but some of the other parts veer into what New Series fans may recognise as Lumic-territory (Would you like mayo with that ham?) and accents slip every now and then as characters we know nothing about have not very nice things happen to them for no reason that will be explained in this episode. Mr Diagoras is the least convincing character of all the major players. So many questions arise ? why him? Raynor attempts to answer this but the attempt fails to raise the character to anything more than a cypher. I could not make myself feel interested in him at all. Other than this and the handling of minor characters the script is very good and should have come across better than this.

In Rise of the Cybermen, while we were all reeling from the stultifying dialogue, at least there were pretty pictures to look at. While James Strong manages to get some good shots in there are parts where he and the Mill seem to have been possessed by the spirit of the Nadir of Eighties Who. There's a good story here, why waste it on appalling CG (how can anyone be scared of Dalek Sec when he's patently not a Dalek anymore, but a curiously large squid trapped inside a poorly animated 4D hair dryer?) and direction that removes any sense of suspense from a scene whatsoever. The first time we see a Dalek, there's no hint of menace, it just emerges from a lift. Many shots in this story are cases of simply pointing the camera and pressing record in situations where this renders the shots dull and lifeless. Added to that is that fact that we know exactly what is going to happen as a result of some camera moves. It just makes it all very boring. Worse still is the realisation that Strong will probably be on the DVD commentary for one of these episodes, which will probably be as unremittingly dull as the last one he did. Another problem on the realisation front is the prosthetics. While the team have done a spectacular job on the new series in general, I just felt like laughing at some of the offerings on display here. Some people say this story reminded them of classic Who, with the sewers, and the slower pace, the Daleks, the hideously unconvincing rubber masks...

Seriously, who was scared by the pigs? I really hope the following dialogue occurs in part two:

Doctor: These pig creatures? What are they? Why pigs?
Dalek: We needed slaves who inspired fear. Pigs were readily available for experimentation.
Doctor: And why the boiler suits?
Dalek: There was a sale on. Plus you'd see the joins.
Doctor: Have you been watching Spearhead from Space?

They looked like Halloween masks. Dalek Sec was somewhat reminiscent of Scaroth as well. I'm sure kids found it frightening but I remain unconvinced as to how his current form is better than his previous one. Of course I hope to be proved wrong. I hope Evolution of the Daleks will be realised in a way that renders it exciting, exhilarating and thrilling as the script deserves, unlike today's story. Time will tell, it always does (as a famous mass murderer once said).

I find it's always difficult to accurately review the first episode of a two-part story without having seen the concluding episode. It's akin to doing a half-time report at a football match. So, to continue the analogy, was the first of this Doctor Who game of two halves full of goals galore? Or a no-score bore?

The story so far . . .

Having been to Multiple New York five billion years in the future, The TARDIS has landed in 1930 New York, where The Doctor and Martha Jones discover an America in the throes of The Depression. They visit Hooverville, a camp in Central Park, where impoverished inhabitants are forced to live.

Unbeknown to The Doctor, he's not the only alien in the city - The Cult Of Skaro, with the assistance of Dalek Sec's Emergency Temporal Shift, have escaped being sucked into the void at the end of their last encounter with The Doctor, and those last four Daleks in the Universe have plans for the human race and the under-construction Empire State Building.

They have enlisted the help of a local high flyer, Mr Diagoras, who has been "recruiting" residents of Hooverville for Dalek experiments under the pretext of working in the sewers. The Doctor and Martha join the latest work party, and discover terrifying Pig Men lurking in the depths - as well as remnants of what appears to be an alien lifeform.

Escaping to the surface, The Doctor, Martha and the leader of the Hooverville camp, Soloman, encounter a local showgirl, Tallulah, who explains her boyfriend, Lazlo, has disappeared.

To The Doctor's horror, research on his discovery in the sewers reveals that it's of Dalek origin - but he has a more-pressing concern. Martha has gone missing (again) and he believes she has been taken back to the sewers. He and Tallulah head down there in pursuit, where they discover Lazlo, his face disfigured into pig-like form by the Daleks.

Martha has been captured by the Daleks and, while The Doctor watches from the background, the Daleks reveal the secret of their "final experiment" to her - Dalek Sec has absorbed Diagoras inside its casing, and created a human Dalek hybrid. Their plan is to evolve into a new species . . .

Sounds like a goalscoring feast to me!

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode, as I have this whole series so far. Four episodes in, and I've found Series 3 has stepped up considerably on the previous two series, as the production team gain more confidence and experience.

I'm a fan of the two-episode format. The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances and Bad Wolf/The Parting Of The Ways in Series 1 and The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit and Army Of Ghosts/Doomsday in Series 2 are widely regarded by Doctor Who fans as the pick of their respective seasons, and the fact that these were longer stories is no coincidence. At the "old-style" four parts, the story has much more time to breathe and affords the writer space for improved characterisation. It would always be five two-parters and three single-parters for me. Possibly, some viewers are now accustomed to the faster pace of single episodes, and find two-parters slow by comparison but not me.

Script Editor and Doctor Who writing debutant Helen Raynor (doubtless with assistance from her mentor, Russell T Davies) delivered a fine script, with good background work and some promising ideas, notably the human Dalek, of course. The Pig Men - although why they were actually in that form is a curiosity (file in the writers' prerogative box) - were horrible-looking things. Kudos to the prosthetic team!

The Daleks were great here. Excellently voiced by Nick Briggs as always, seeing the individual Daleks with personality (of sorts) and interacting with each other as opposed to simply the "I obey" and "Exterminate" mantra, gives them an added dimension. Doctor Who moves up a level when the Daleks are around. And that was the case here, without them even engaging our eponymous hero. Loved the idea of the human Dalek, and it was superbly realised - a really great, dramatic cliffhanger, right up there with the end to Army Of Ghosts. And the Dalek Sec prosthetic was another triumph.

More marvellous work from The Mill, too, with the absorption of Diagoras into Dalek Sec's casing and converting Cardiff into New York, and Murray Gold's show tune was great fun and a welcome spot of light relief. James Strong, who did such a sterling job on The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit is a good director at the helm. He really has the knack of making a TV series look anything but.

The performances (because that's what they look like) of the extras and sometimes the supporting cast is a slight negative in many Doctor Who stories, I find, and some of the back-up and the accents did leave room for improvement. Hugh Quarshie was pleasing as Soloman, though and Miranda Raison was great as Tallulah (three els and an aitch). Obviously introduced as a lighter character to contrast the bleakness of the Daleks' plan, her Phantom Of The Sewers love story with Lazlo is another nice addition which couldn't really have been expanded upon in a single-episode story.

There was also a brief reminder of the background one-sided love story between The Doctor and Martha, in her exchange with Tallulah (amusing that she observed that The Doctor's liking of musical theatre meant he must be gay!). The Doctor's aside to himself that "(the Daleks) always survive, while he loses everything (he has)" shows his hostility towards his bete noir will never diminish - and that his loneliness has not been eased by Martha's presence. His feelings towards her are much more in keeping with the classic series Doctors' aloofness. This may change later in the series, but there's little sign of it so far. I've come to take Freema Agyeman and David Tennant's excellence as read this series. The latter has this role absolutely nailed with last year under his belt. He is going to be very difficult to replace when the time comes.

Very much looking forward to seeing how the adventure unfolds next week. Eight and a half out of 10 so far.

I'm wondering if we really need Daleks every year. Perhaps a Dalek-free year wouldn't be a bad idea...but the production team seem to think we need them every year and that means an extra special story is required. As the Doctor said during this episode, he keeps defeating them but they always return.

The Manhattan setting is truly stunning, though at least one composite scene didn't quite work blending the real NY footage with a studio shot. But given what The Mill are being asked to achieve, overall they do a fantastic job.

The idea of the Daleks being behind the building of one of the world's most iconic structures is very clever, as is the plan for the antenna atop the Emipre State Building. We still don't know what they are hoping to transmit (or recieve) with that antenna.

So the Doctor and Martha arrive in NYC, 1930...the depression and Hooverville - poverty living alongisde the wealthy with the latter apparently doing nothing to help the former. Politics over with we learn that some of the poor in Hooverville seem to be disappearing. This is classic Who, the Doctor arriving and everything seems OK except one thing is badly wrong...and he must investigate.

Cue atmospheric scenes in dark tunnels, and pig-men. I was a bit worried this might turn out to be as unsatisfying as the genetically engineered pig in "Aliens Of London" but here the pig-slaves are given more personality, explanation, and they get our sympathy. The prosthetic faces are superb.

But the stars are the Daleks, the "masters" behind the push to complete the building almost impossibly early. The cult of Scaro has survived the Doomsday battle and ended up here, where Dalek Sec has decided they must evolve...they can no longer afford to be "pure Dalek" and must meld with the humans.

Whether the 'half man, half Dalek' monster works as an adversary will be seen next week. I have a hunch that this story will be a significant part of the overall arc for this year's series. My suspicion is that the cult of Scaro will be wiped out, but when the Doctor discovers some weeks hence that he "is not alone" I believe we may get Gallifrey back. There's been a lot of talk about Gallifrey lately, the Doctor naming it in th Christmas special, reminiscing, describing Gallifrey to Martha...even some GCI scenes last week. Russel doesn't place references like these for no reason. Indeed we've seen and heard more of Gallifrey than we have of Mr Saxon.

And what of Martha? She continues to be likeable, and very intelligent. I felt she really hit her stride in this episode, somewhere in those tunnels completely won me over.

James Strong, as I expected, did a marvellous job of directing. The tension built up well, even though the Daleks were revealed early on and the new monster was shown in the Radio Times.

8.5/10

Ok, crass title aside, I will put my hand up now and say that all concerned are trying to pull all the stops out. This is certainly a far more promising opening episode to the touch-and-go Rise of the Cybermen of last year, and its pointless parallel Earth approach.

After the surprisingly entertaining and inevntive Gridlock, which seemed to defy all my previous expectations regarding RTD scrips, Daleks in Manhattan seems relatively pedestrian - a sort of Eric Saward riposte to last week's Andrew Cartmel-esque venture. Though at the time I preferred the former, in retrospect I prefer the latter. So that is a thumbs up, for once, for RTD. But then my review of Gridlock speaks for itself: a minor classic in my opinion, and not something I say very lightly.

Daleks in Manhattan is much more traditional Who fodder: a bit of spectacle, some mystery and build up, token rebels, lots of shots of Daleks hovering through gloomy catacombs, and so forth. All very traditional Who, but in a largely good way.

I would have preffered Ogrons as opposed to Pig-Men, as in the same way I would have prefered Sontarans to Rhino-faced Judoon in the facile Smith and Jones. But then, much as he tends towards the nostalgic at times, RTD obviously still seeks to put his stamp on his reinvention of the series. I can understand this to an extent - even if I don't particularly like it.

I do feel though that 'pigs' should be left alone now: a similar concept having previously cropped up in the embarrassing debacle that was Aliens of London, I did feel the old imagination was a bit lacking in this quarter. The prosthetics were questionable also I felt: I couldn't help thinking of how comparatively more convincing the old Rice Crispie-strewn mutant in Revelation of the Daleks and the visceral Lucosa was in Mindwarp.

But this aside - it was quite refreshing to have the Daleks back again with a token new henchmen race, and I think this somehow leavens their presence. As does the quite inspired debut of the evolved Dalek-Human at the end of the episode, which is brilliantly realised, strikingly reminiscent of the last of the Jagaroth in City of Death, but refreshingly more Ray Harry Haussen-esque than the usual CGI-garbage. I also appreciated the way in which this entity emerged from the Dalek in a very similar pose to that of the Cyber Controller in Tomb of the Cybermen.

Is this motif of a Dalek-Human perhaps a metaphorical projection of how we Earthlings might evolve in the future? I think it might be - and it makes it all the more disturbing for that. 'I am your future' - and maybe it is. What an irony it would be if we were to become the next Kaled race. In post-Thatcherite society, this still feels a real possibility too.

As for the rest of this episode: visually this is absolutely top-knotch (apart from the token CGI-lapse re the squid-like Kaled). I cannot fault the production team on any level. The slightly art decco set designs are beautiful; particularly the lift, and its very Dalek-esque eyestalk design. Brilliantly realised. And seeing a Dalek come up in a lift was highly memorable. Design-wise, this is a very classy episode - one of the most stunning ever produced in the cannon. It is faultless in that regard. Though the promised 'art decco Dalek' is so far sadly not forthcoming.

Re all the showbiz elements: fairly nicely done and reminiscent in a way of Talons of Weng-Chiang. The Brooklyn accents are refreshing, if arguably a bit overdone in places. Some of the other American accents are a little embarrassing in places, but can be forgiven.

The chappie from Holby City is convincing in his role - he is a naturally charismatic actor anyway, so can carry it all well (very much, to my mind, a modern day TV Sidney Pottier).

The Doctor is on form here too, continuing his much more subdued portrayal from Gridlock (bar the very irrtating opening exclamation: 'smell that Atlantic breeze').

Having said all this, I do feel Davros deserves an appearance sooner rather than later. But maybe RTD, being a fan who sprung during the Pertwee years, isn't intending on re-introducing that iconic character.

The revelatory evolution theme may just about knock out any necessity to reintroduce Davros, yes. But remember, regarding the seemingly profound twist of the Daleks seeking a more human recourse to 'imagination' in order to better survive - arguably this has already been covered in their preoccupation with The Human Factor in Evil of the Daleks.

But overall, not a bad episode - exceptionally good-looking - but it all hangs on next week's.

6/10

An episode from former script editor Helen Raynor and she gives us a dark love letter to the classic series and the Daleks. The 'ashes and diamonds' tone of the story with its sinister pig-men, Daleks gliding through sewers, musical numbers and Gothic romance immediately take us back to 'Evil Of The Daleks', 'Day Of The Daleks' and 'Talons Of Weng Chiang' for starters. For me there was also the ghostly presence of 'Once Upon A Time In America' and 'The Godfather' (Murray Gold paid homage at least with a score that bounced between Franz Waxman and Nino Rota) with the detailed 1930s New York setting.

And the Daleks were back to their diabolical best, scheming and planning and exploiting the weaknesses in those around them. We haven't seen Daleks plotting away and conversing like this for a very long time and it reminded me of the similar way they were treated in 'Evil Of The Daleks'.

Their appearance also, and very cleverly I think, echoed and reflected the decoration and architecture of the period. Thematically, as Dalek Sec sought to ensure the survival of the race by reconfiguring his appearance, we see the elite of New York building skyscrapers whilst people starve and die. What's the betting that the rest of the Cult Of Skaro don't like the new improved Sec? The betterment of the species above all else fits in perfectly with the times when fascist groups were already prevalent in the US and the UK and Hitler's rise to power was only just around the corner. Also note the references to war in the script with both Sec and Solomon referring to the wars they have respectively participated in. This again reflects the post-war narrative subtexts that the original series often contained up until the mid-1970s.

The Daleks obsession with their genes and racial purity also reflects the debates on Eugenics that many leading figures were engaging in at the time. It was also an academic discipline that was funded by the Rockefellers in the States. As well as nods to Aldous Huxley we also get a big slice of Wells' 'Island of Doctor Moreau' with the Daleks transforming humans into animals to do their bidding. Not only that but we also get a merging of Dalek and human as the climax of a series of transformations wherein animalistic impulses are grafted onto the cold, controlling nature of the child psyche of the Daleks. A final image is of rebirth as Diagoras is devoured by the womb of Sec and then reborn as a Proteus like figure, the conscious being emerging from the dark, unconscious Dalek mind.

Will the other Daleks reject this figure? Can they conceivably have any reason not to? They can't behave like Tallulah who upon seeing the transformed Laszlo does not reject the man she once knew. She embraces the changed man because she can still recognise him beneath the bestial appearance. The episode plays subtly with the animal and human condition, with bestial mindlessness and human reason, with constructed bodies and natural forms. It echoes well the Gothic romance of 'Phantom Of The Opera' and the fairy-tale psychology of 'Beauty And The Beast'. All this benefits from some lovely performances from Miranda Raison and Ryan Carnes as the seemingly doomed lovers.

James Strong's direction is assured, with great pacing, and gets the maximum from the exemplary production design, whether it's the low shots of Daleks gliding through sewers or the sweep through the Dalek's Frankenstein-like lab. The episode exudes tension with a distinct undercurrent of oddness pervading some scenes such as the clever juxtaposition of hordes of pig-men chasing their victims through the sewers with the 'Bugsy Malone' musical number with its 'you put the devil in me' lyrics. The realisation of Hooverville is also very good and Hugh Quarshie puts in some sterling work as Solomon. The realisation of the supporting characters as well as the evocative atmosphere is certainly a great strength to the episode.

Tennant is again on form and has now been consistent over four episodes. His bitter 'they always survive, while I lose everything' neatly reminding us of just how badly most encounters with the Daleks tend to end. He's very in control of his performance now and he's making this series work so much the better for it. Freema continues to build on her fleshing out of Martha and we often see how the character now deals with similar situations that Rose has dealt with in the past. The fact that she has a different take on things is refreshing. Her chat with Tallulah about her relationship with the Doctor tells us volumes with her facial expressions alone without recourse to masses of exposition.

The slight downside is perhaps that there is slightly too much exposition early on between Martha and the Doctor and it's a bit clunky. Some of the effects were variable with some great plate shots of New York setting the scene apart from one of the Doctor and Martha looking at the skyline which wasn't as accomplished. The prosthetics are great for the pigs, particularly the work on Carnes and the pig-man found in the sewer but I wasn't entirely happy with the Sec/Diagoras hybrid. It wasn't realistic enough to be convincing. The digital effects of Sec opening its casing were great as was the CGI Dalek inside and the merging with Diagoras. Maybe they should have gone with a CGI hybrid?

But these are only minor problems. The episode is a terrifyingly dark piece of 'Doctor Who', atmospheric, scary and with well realised supporting characters. New York of the 1930s is beautifully captured and seemed a strangely natural home for our Dalek friends to conduct their bizarre experiments. Let's hope the conclusion is as rewarding.