Time for another confession: Series 4 isn’t for me. I remember watching Sound of Drums on broadcast and reaching a very specific point where I thought of RTD “Doesn’t he look tired?” and it was time for him to move on. I don’t think as Doctor Who fans we can ever repay the debt to Rusty for not just bringing the show back but making it the success it was – something that guaranteed its future for the next couple of decades – but all good things come to an end… And so it was I headed into Series 4 thinking that the show was starting to wind down, run out of ideas, and that we needed change, my dear – and not a moment too soon…!!!
Series 4 follows the same old pattern as the three before it – and, indeed, that the following 9 do to a greater or lesser extent: You start of on Earth to introduce your new companion/Doctor, go forwards then backwards in time (or the other way round) then come back to Earth for your two parter. Put any high concept & Doctor-lite stories here, another 2 parter before your low-key (preferably Earth-bound) penultimate episode leads into your all singing, all dancing, word threatening 2 part finale. As the story before the finale, “Turn Left” fills the same slot as “Fear Her”, “The Lodger”, “In The Forest of the Night”1…
So far so predictable then. And my big issue with this Series is not just that it feels like we’re just getting more of the same, but the individual episodes themselves fall flat of the previous years. “Fires of Pompeii” is no “Girl in the Fireplace”; “Planet of the Ood” doesn’t measure up to “Gridlock”, and so on and so forth. hell, even the Moffat 2 parter falls short of “Human Nature/Family of Blood”.
And then, just as I’m being a one man version of Statler & Waldorf, Rusty drops this episode as his penultimate story. BANG…!!!
There’s not many of the well worn sci-fi ideas that Doctor Who has managed to steer clear of in the past, but the idea of parallel worlds is one of them. Sure, we’ve had Inferno and Age of Steel / Doomsday, but that’s relatively slim pickings from the last 60 years. And those deal very broadly with worlds that are massively different than our own; none of them ask the key question that we deal with here: What would happen if we didn’t have The Doctor?
Much like yesterday’s Doctor’s Wife, it’s a deceivingly simple idea that actually takes a genius to ask. It’s dressed up as “What happens to the Doctor without Donna?” but that’s dealt with really quite quickly – spoilers, he dies – and so the rest of the episode deals with what happens without him. The stakes are always high with RTD but you always know the day will be saved; what if it isn’t, though? It’s a fascinating question, and we’re given a fascinating answer.
But you don’t watch an RTD story for the plot, do you? You watch it for the characters, and this story gives two of them some time in the spotlight to shine: Donna & Wilf. I have some issues with Donna and how her character is served in this series that are best kept for a blog where I’m not celebrating things2, but there’s no doubting just how good Catherine Tate is in the role. Donna could have been a very one dimensional character, all mouth & no trousers, but Tate gives her depth & pathos, without losing that spiky fire. She has to carry this story as the world around her crumbles, before facing her fears and making the ultimate sacrifice, and she does it magnificently. I don’t think this is the best episode that shows the impact that Donna has on The Doctor himself – that would be The Doctor’s Daughter – but it’s Catherine Tate’s best episode. In fact Tate is a revelation for the whole series year, jabbing everyone who questioned her suitability for the role of companion squarely in the eye.
As is dear departed Bernard Cribbens. I hope Rusty realises just how lucky he was to cast Cribbens in Voyage of the Damned; I suspect he does, because after bringing him back he gives him more & more to do – and he never lets him down. By this point Wilf is having to provide just as much heart to the episode as Donna would in all the others – he has to convey the heartache of a man seeing the past repeat itself while staying upbeat & keeping his family going. It’s dynamite stuff that Cribbens is given to work with, but he blows the bloody doors off it – not bad for a bloke best known for Wombles & telling stories I dearly hope we have one last bit of Wilf to come in the 3 specials; he was a talent we were so so blessed to have in Doctor Who.
OK then we’ll talk about the plot a bit then. Plotting isn’t Russell’s forte but he actually nails it here. It’s actually a bit of a precursor to what he’s going to do in the next episodes: it’s a sneaky sizzle reel of all his greatest hits, as we go back over all those threats the Earth has faced in his time, and then systematically strip away all those other Defenders of the Earth that he has put in place. The ending feels perfectly valid for once: not a deus or Jesus in sight! It’s just Donna having to make the ultimate difficult choice to prevent the nightmare she’s living in ever occurring. And there’s still a tonne of drama here. RTD has never shied away from putting his politics on the screen – he is unashamedly left wing, and has no hesitation in highlighting the dangers of xenophobia in the face of a crisis here. The scenes with the Colasanto family being taken off to the concentration camp are heart-breaking & important to watch.
Oh, and to top it all, Rose Bloody Tyler walks in! Having teased her appearances throughout this series, up she pops again, a full week before you’d expect her to. Rose fancies herself The Doctor here, the woman of mystery popping up to save the day. It’s a performance a mile away from the last time she was left without The Doctor & had to save the day – The Christmas Invasion – and shows how far she’s come since Doomsday.
While I pointed out that the penultimate story can sometimes fall flat, they can also produce some of the best Doctor Who – we’ve had 1 already & we have more to come. Likewise, the Doctor-lite episodes can actually turn out to be some of the very best3, and this is a perfect example of both. In an imperfect series it is also a perfect example of what the show can do when you try something a bit different; and of the genius of Russell T. Davies. Easy fit for the Top 60.
COMING TOMORROW: “The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common….”
Skies Full of Diamonds 