Doctor Who Series 3

The third series of Doctor Who was, in many ways, a milestone. The departure of Rose Tyler at the end of the previous year meant that for the first time since its return, the series had undergone a clean sweep in front of the camera, with David Tennant replacing Christopher Eccleston and Freema Agyeman scheduled to replace Billie Piper.

However, the first episode included here is the second Christmas special, ‘The Runaway Bride’ which sees Tennant paired with comedienne Catherine Tate as Donna Noble. Donna, it's fair to say, is having a pretty bad day; yanked from her wedding into the TARDIS and caught up in a plot which involves the destruction of the Earth, an ancient enemy of the Time Lords and something really unpleasant under the Thames. What follows has been, unjustly, maligned as little more than an excuse for Tate to shout and whine but in reality is a tremendously fun and unusually large scale story. Tennant’s Doctor is explicitly a far, far darker individual than Eccleston’s and there are several moments here where, under the killer Christmas baubles and robotic Santas, the series ploughs some very dark territory. Donna’s line at the close, that she feels the Doctor needs someone to stop him, is both an extremely perceptive and extremely brave things to say about a heroic main character and its fascinating to see the truth of that line play out in the third season.

The criticism of Tate herself, already strong, rose to a near hysterical crescendo with the announcement that Donna would return as a full-time companion in series four and frankly, it's difficult to see why. She’s best known, true, for the grotesque caricatures of her TV show but she’s also an experienced and subtle actress, one who has worked with the RSC in the past and that subtlety and intellect raises Donna far above the stereotype she could be. There’s a clear transition here from an understandably angry and confused woman into someone with immense strength of character and compassion. She’s a fascinating addition to the cast and her presence in the fourth series promises something very different.

Also on this first disc is the Children in Need concert that sees Murray Gold’s score performed by full orchestra with introductions by the cast and a full on stage show. It’s a very odd, but completely engrossing experience and it’s nice to hear Gold’s score given the opportunity to stand so well on its own.

The third series proper opens with ‘Smith and Jones’, which sees the Doctor’s world explored through the eyes of Martha Jones. A young doctor at a London hospital, Martha’s a pleasant, smart young woman who has her life under control, despite the total self destruction of her family. Until, that is, the hospital she works at is torn off the planet and dumped on the moon...

It’s a tremendously fun opening episode, and Tennant clearly revels playing the role with a little more authority and a little more mania than he has in the past. Plus, in the Judoon, a Rhino-like group of interplanetary police for hire, the episode has one of the new series’ genuinely iconic villains who, hopefully, will be seen again. Throw in the Slabs, one of the cheapest and most inventtive aliens the series has ever done (Effectively motor bike leather golems) and a vampiric granny and you’ve got the series’ classic elements of ‘kitchen sink’ drama, science fiction and pure pulp glee.

Plus, Freema Agyeman as Martha is a real asset, smart, no nonsense and completely independent. The closing episodes of the Rose era were criticised for being too smug and whilst that was clearly set up as a plot point, it's also a valid criticism. With Martha, that's replaced by clear intelligence and a pragmatism that remains the character's most endearing and, unfortunately, least consistently used trait.

Despite this, it never quite comes together. The central concept, of language as technology is smart but too obscure to ever be handled fully and the Carrionites, modelled on the witches in MACBETH look terrible, the creature effects coming off as nothing more than bad make up. To make matters worse, Martha, at this stage, is effectively a watered down version of Rose, the intellect and charm of 'Smith and Jones' replaced by a woman whose job it is to look decorative, find the answers and nothing more.

'Gridlock', the next story, is both a clear improvement and a return to one of the new series’ favourite stomping grounds, New Earth. However, twenty five years have passed on humanity’s new home and something has gone terribly wrong. Now, an entire society has grown up around a traffic jam that lasts years, Martha has been kidnapped by a young couple desperate to enter the fast lane and something is moving in the exhaust fumes...

With a knowing and open nod to classic era Judge Dredd comic strips this is a great episode which not only manages to enhance the Doctor/Martha relationship but also bring the New Earth plot to a definitive end and kick off the series’ plot arc. The eventual revelation is extremely well handled and actually deeply moving, the broken society of New Earth and it’s bizarre inhabitants proving to be, again, one of the series’ most interesting elements. Likewise, the return of the Face of Boe, whilst holding few surprises is both poignant and more than a little sinister whilst the Doctor's flat out denial of what he's been told the first chink in the character's armour.

Unfortunately, the two part story that follows it is another dip in quality. ‘Daleks in Manhatten’ and ‘Evolution of the Daleks’ sees the TARDIS arrive in depression-era New York, where the Doctor soon discovers that something is badly wrong. The inhabitanrs of the Hooverville shantytown are being picked off, something odd is being built on top of the Empire State Building and the Doctor is starting to find things odddly familiar...

There’s no real reason why this story doesn’t work as well as it should, it just never seems to fully click. The central idea, of the Daleks trying to gain an edge by evolving and absorbing human qualities, actually works very well and the Dalek hybrid, surely the most snappily dressed Who villain in years is a great idea but again, somehow, it never comes together playing more like a contractually obliged story, and an enforced break in the plot arc, than a coherent story in its own right.

Thankfully, ‘The Lazarus Experiment’ sees the Doctor and Martha return to the present day and is a massive step up in quality. The pre credits scene, which sees the Doctor leave Martha only to come back to hear the end of a newscast is vintage Tennant, his 10th Doctor a cheerful, energetic and fiercely intelligent figure who always seems to be thinking about nineteen different things at once.

Plus, in this episode, he gets a worthy nemesis. Mark Gatiss, who has himself written for the series as well as appearing in The League of Gentlemen, is on top form as Richard Lazarus, a scientist who has developed a machine which seems to reverse aging. Of course, Doctor Who wouldn’t be Doctor Who if something didn’t go horrifically wrong and the result is something which manages to borrow from sources such as The Relic and The Quatermass Experiment whilst still making something more than the sum of its parts.

'42', on paper, should be a winner. Set on a freighter falling into a star, it’s not only vintage science fiction fare but in an audacious move (Which writer Chris Chibnall freely admits is a nod to both 24 and The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) unfolds in real time. The Doctor and Martha hit the ground running and are instantly separated as the Doctor struggles to find out the truth of what’s going on and get the engines restarted whilst Martha and one of the crew try to get to the bridge.

It should play like the TARDIS has landed in an episode of Firefly, with the freighter crew a vital and interesting bunch of characters. It should feel urgent, frantic, the ticking clock a constant reminder of just how little time is left. Instead, it largely falls flat, with little or no sense of urgency and some extremely bland turns from the guest stars. There’s one genuinely great scene which involves Martha and the Doctor on the wrong sides of a very important door which works beautifully and unfolds in silence but aside from that, this feels, for the first time, like a ‘bottle’ show, like running in place. It’s a shame as Chibnall, on form, is a phenomenal scriptwriter, but this isn’t his best work and, combined with the flat guest turns, it drags the episode down.

The second two part story, 'Human Nature' and 'Family of Blood' is adapted by Paul Cornell from his acclaimed novel of the same name and is, not to put too fine a point on it, astonishing. Everything is different, the doctor is now John Smith, a school teacher in 1918 and Martha is his servant. Something terrible happened, something that meant they had to hide in tthe past, something that forced the Doctor to change his entire identity, personality and genetic make up and it's still not enough.

Cornell’s story does everything right, it’s really that simple. No element of English society at the time, from class to race, is overlooked and some of the series’ darkest moments are contained in these episodes, with Martha in particular catching the full force of casual, institutionalised racism and the Doctor, as John Smith, calmly preparing boys for a war which is far closer than anyone could know.

However, the real gem in this story is Jessica Hyne, known to sitcom fans as Daisy in the magnificent Spaced, as Joan, the school nurse. She and Tennant change their styles completely, gearing down to play two people who are desperately proper, remarkably well brought up and completely in love. The conflicts between them, the reasons why they can’t be together and the final choices the Doctor makes are one of the new series’ finest moments and make for heartbreaking viewing. Most notable here are is the scene where John Smith realises that, in essence, he must kill himself in order for the Doctor to return. The combination of the life Smith almost has, the life that the Doctor in many ways richly deserves and the heroism of making the choice is almost impossibly moving. Played out against the backdrop of the impending First World War this is a story about small acts of heroism, about individuals trying their best to do what's right and about, most of all, the Doctor himself'; a figure who is as magnificent as he is terrifying.

In any other series, this story would be the highlight. However, that honour must go to 'Blink' by Stephen Moffat. This season's 'Doctor lite' episode it follows Sally Sparrow and her friend Kathy Nightingale as they break into an abandoned old house to explore and find, against all odds, a message for Sally. A message which hints at something awful in the house and in her future...

'Blink', simply put, is a masterpiece. Moffat uses two different time periods, an iconic monster and a beautifully realised set of characters to tell a story which is simultaneously a mystery, a character piece and an examination of the incredibly dangerous universe the series is set in. Packed full of one liners, dizzying concepts and moments of surprising poignancy, this is the finest episode of the new series to date and more than makes up for some of the earlier, weaker scripts.

At first, 'Utopia', looks like a welcome return to an old Doctor Who stalwart' the quarry as alien world. However, as the story progresses a number of surprising extra dimensions come to light. Featuring the return of Captain Jack Harkness(John Barrowman), the story sees the Doctor, Martha and a hitch hiking Jack arrive in the far, far future. The universe is dying and on a barren world, the last remnants of humanity are fleeing towards Utopia, led by Professor Yana (Sir Derek Jacobi).

So far, so 1980s, but the script is startlingly clever, playing its aces one at a time and with consummate professionalism. The revelation that Jack, now immortal and a 'fixed point' in time actually causes the Doctor discomfort to look at is nicely played and Barrowman is clearly revelling in playing the care-free, casually flirtatious version of Jack as opposed to the dour figure of early Torchwood. Likewise, Agyeman and Tennant clearly relish having someone new to bounce off.

However, the best work in the episode, both dramatically and narratively, is the final fifteen minutes. There's a single moment, where Martha tells the Doctor something impossible that is the finest piece of acting Tennant has done on the series to date. His manic, hysterical response, intercut with Yana finally remembering what he is is almost impossibly tense and Jacobi's transformation from the kindly, Doctor-esque Yana into a figure long term fans know all too well is horrific. Revelation is piled on revelation and by the time the story ends there's an incredibly tense cliff hanger and a sense that, for the first time, the Doctor is way out of his depth.

'The Sound of Drums' sees the series hurtle headlong into the finale. Harold Saxon's true identity stands revealed, the Doctor, Martha and Jack are fugitives and the Earth is about to be changed forever. On the one hand, oddly, it's one of the weakest episodes of the series, little more than a collection of exposition scenes surrounded by chases. However, Simm's Harold Saxon is huge fun, a cheerfully off the rails, genial maniac and his scenes, along with the sheer pulp lunacy of the final moments and the realisation that for the first time, the Doctor is not only outclassed but may very well have lost. The final scene in particular is both beautiful and staggeringly, apocalyptically horrible. Interestingly, it also places Martha front and centre, marking her out as a very different kind of companion.

It's very difficult to write about the series finale, 'Last of the TimeLords', simply because the script is by equal turn remarkably brave and predictable. A year has passed, the Doctor is Saxon's prisoner, Saxon presides over a brutal new world and Martha has spent the year travelling the world, carefully recovering the components of a gun UNIT designed specifically to deal with a situation like this. Or has she?

From the glorious, savagely funny opening to Martha keeping hope alive in a small bed sit, there are some genuinely great moments in the episode. There's a very different, very real sense of something impossibly bad having happened, of this being a problem so vast that not even the Doctor may be able to solve it and the script is at its best when it puts a human face on those problems. Martha's scenes and in particular the scenes featuring her family put a very real face on the situation.

Despite this, the episode has some serious problems which unfortunately all surface in the final fifteen minutes. The resolution in particular, whilst the only one possible in a situation like this still feels forced and whilst the idea itself is both effective and affecting, the execution leaves something to be desired. Despite this, the closing scene in particular is a real standout and for sheer scale and ambition alone it's an admirable piece of television.

Rounded out with cast commentaries and an entire, albeit cut down, disc of Doctor Who Confidential this is a phenomenal collection of a series which is at the top of its creative game. 'Family of Blood', 'Human Nature' and 'Blink' are worth the price of admission by themselves but with the extra material, this is an un-missable set. Roll on series four.