Doctor Who : Complete BBC Series 4 [2008] [DVD]

Amongst fans, series four of Doctor Who has probably been more divisive than any of the the preceding three, causing some to lament that it had become little more than a soap opera, while others applauded its desire to push boundaries and experiment.

Personally, I fall into the latter camp. As time has moved on, the bar has been moved ever higher in terms of performance, scripting and production values, even since series 3. As good as David Tennant is, and he is VERY good, this is most definitely Catherine Tate's series. When she was cast, there was a vocal tranche of opinion that dreaded her appearance, based purely on her role in the 2006 Christmas Special (in the series 3 boxset). Even that was a little harsh; she had merely played the part as written, though there were clear echoes of her sketch show in it. However, as time went on, the audience went on a journey with Donna and gradually warmed to her, as she gained some kind of enlightenment and a sense of wonder at all the things she saw. Not just that, but her relationship with Tennant's Doctor, though platonic, had that wonderful kind of spark that Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn shared in their movies. I think the perfect example of that comes at the very end of the series; it was the major highlight of the series finale for me.

So, what of the episodes themselves:

First episodes of a series are tough to judge at the time and while series 3's 'Smith and Jones' had been the best at that point, 'Partners In Crime' trumps it. The Adipose plot was admittedly barely a cypher to bring CT and DT back together, but Sarah Lancashire held her own and there were obvious signs of the great chemistry to come. And if that wasn't enough, there was THAT scene to finish the episode off. Hands up who saw that one coming? ( Liars! :-) )

I really loved 'Fires of Pompeii', with its (in hindsight) predictions of what was to come later and in-jokes ofr all those Cambridge Latin Course veterans. 'Planet of the Ood' was a relatively low-key and downbeat affair, though it too subtly presaged later events. It did still give us glimpses of the fact that Tate's Donna was not going to be content to be a mere mute (or screaming) ornament in proceedings.

The Sontaran double bill, a Helen Rayner effort, was infinitely better than series 3's misfiring 'Daleks In Manhattan'. And Chris Ryan was wonderful as Staal. While it didn't hit the stellar heights of later stories it was certainly much better than merely adequate.

'The Doctor's Daughter' was, in hindsight, probably the weakest episode of the series, which sounds bad but isn't really meant to be. I rather enjoyed it, Its very simple premise and its sense of time and history being compressed as they were was a very interesting one. And of course we have a new character floating around the universe. Who knows when we'll bump into her again...

'The Unicorn and the Wasp' managed to keep up a tradition of doing nice historical author-ish episodes with some style and elan. Some quibbled about the effects and the climax, but such things border on the churlish in retrospect. The episode is a fun one, and perfect for peak-time Saturday family viewing.

From this point onwards, however, the series seemed to hit another gear entirely. Steve Moffat's Library double was, quite simply a stunning tour de force on so many levels. By now though, this is what we have come to expect of the man who manages to put the fear of God into the nation's ten-year-olds every series. Job done this time round - "stay out of the shadows"

For me, the two most surprising episodes were 'Midnight' and 'Turn Left'. The former's simple one-set staging reminding me very much of 'Twelve Angry Men'. It left RTD able to concentrate on what he does best, more than ably assisted by Lesley Sharp's performance. The mysterious and unresolved menace was beautifully realised. 'Turn Left' though, was the biggest shock of all. The usual Doctor-lite episode threw us into a world without the Doctor and shows us the consequences. It shows also how important Donna is in this context. And of course we get the return of Rose...

Then, the finale: if this really is to be RTD's swansong then I think the intention was to comprehensively clear the decks and prepare the way for Moffat to do his stuff. As a result, there was an awful lot to pack in and, towards the very end, a suitably RTD-ish tendency to ladle on the cheese, but he largely gets away with it. Once again though, Tate steals the show, with her half-timelord, half-human meta-crisis showing just how fabulous she was all along. The best bits for me were the crackles of dialogue, like when the half-human Doctor regenerates:
"It's you!"
"Oh yes"
"But..you're..NAKED!"
"Oh YES"
and then taking control of things once the threefold man is reunited with all the parts of himself.

There were lots of nice touches, such as the Sarah-Jane references concerning Genesis of the Daleks, especially the moment where Davros recognises her: chilling.

That all this was so wonderful makes Donna's fate all the more heart-rending and pathetic. We'll miss her. And Bernard Cribbins too: a national treasure. I'm not sure about Rose's resolution either, though it does tie up all those floaty, "wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey" bits, to steal a quote.

In the end, what is series 4? Well, in my eyes it is certasinly a progression from the series 3. This season had no clunkers at all and was of a generally high standard. Tennant's Doctor is now utterly fully formed, having recovered from some of the overwrought gurning of series 2. Now he's alone again, next year's specials and 2010 series give the writers and team a blank slate to work from. It alsd helps to have such a talent of cast and crew talent and a wealth of goodwill to go wit hit. You really do get the sense that eveyone concerned loves this show.

RTD has done a great job in reviving what many thought was a dead show and making it consistently the most popular, best produced, mote inventive and simply best drama on British TV.

When release time finally comes it will be an essential purchase for me. I hope it will be for you too.

Normally, when a series reaches its fourth season, signs of faltering start to show. Or you find that a programme is way past its best, recycling old material/plot ideas and is no longer as fresh and quality as you fondly remember.

Mercifully, though...that is not something that applies with the fourth series of Doctor Who. Far from being tired and overdone, the fourth season of the new series was just as inventive and deep as ever, with Russell T Davies taking the show in further directions. In fact, I'd call it the best series of new Who. Aside from being my personal favourite, I found Series 4 more consistent and epic than anything that has gone before or since. And most importantly, it turned me from an admirer of the show, into a die-hard fan.

Here, David Tennant was now entering his third series as the Tenth Doctor, and had established himself as both an icon of television and arguably the greatest incarnation ever of the Time Lord, supported by great companions whose chemistry drove previous series to such classic heights. After choosing Billie Piper and Freema Agyeman to share the spotlight with David, Russell T Davies shocked the world by unveiling high-profile comedienne Catherine Tate to reprise her role as loudmouthed temp Donna Noble to return to the series; as the Doctor's FULL-TIME companion.

The reaction was understandable, given that the Donna Noble character (from the ill-received episode `The Runaway Bride'.) was absolutely unbearable and that Tate herself was a comedienne whose style some people find (myself included) hit-and-miss. But Davies clearly knew what he was doing by bringing Tate back. Here, Catherine once again showed absolutely tremendous chemistry with David, and won millions of viewers over (myself included) with her brilliantly funny and heartbreaking portrayal of Donna.

The character itself was reinvented drastically for Series 4, maturing from a real gobby idiot to a much more well-rounded and deeper companion, truly worthy of the Doctor. What's so refreshing about this series was the relationship between the time traveller and his companion. Here, Donna is truly the Doctor's best mate, the big sister he never had. No romance whatsoever. With Rose in series 2, the soulmate premise and implied love felt natural. With Martha and her unreciprocated love, it made for an interesting sub-plot in Series 3. But the relationship here is just two true friends going around and having a good time, and that's what gave Series 4 its heart.

Right from the first episode, "Partners in Crime', you can expect nothing but laughs and quality. It's such a solid start to the series and is terrifically paced, with Donna having long realised to open her eyes and show everyone just how brilliant she is as she seeks out the Doctor, both (independently) investigating an insidious scheme to seed aliens as...weight loss pills (!). In terms of plot, the episode is laughable, with the whole Adipose premise being overly silly. But why the episode is such a winner, is the character depth/interaction, the look at Donna's life and the Doctor and Donna finally reuniting after constantly missing each other. You find yourselves cheering the reunion when it happens, and when the Doctor and Donna team saves the day and sets off, you know you're in for a brilliant ride across the series.

And right throughout, that's what you get, with both David and Catherine at the top of their game, bringing drama, comedy and flat-out excellence, both together and by themselves as they provide so many unforgettable Doctor-Donna moments. In terms of general plot of the whole `Medusa Cascade' arc, Series 4 delivered in a way no other series did, with cracking sub-plots, ominous omens, high-stakes, daunting questions about the futures of both Donna and the Doctor and outstanding guest appearances from the likes of Billie Piper (Rose), Freema Agyeman (Martha), Elizabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane) and John Barrowman (Captain Jack). As for monsters, you can expect some great frights from returning creatures like the Ood and the Sontarans, the insidious Vashta Nerada and dangers of planet Midnight, and of course, the ULTIMATE horror in the Doctor's life (give you a clue, begins with `D'!) and the long-awaited return of its CREATOR.

In terms of overall consistency, Series 4 can still be viewed as being an absolute triumph. Very few episodes are below par, with the majority being either great or must-see classics. Ones to watch are definitely "Partners in Crime", "Planet of the Ood", Steve Moffat's phenomenal "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead" two-parter, Russell T Davies' staggeringly good "Midnight", and the utterly essential three-part finale, consisting of "Turn Left" (Catherine's greatest ever performance), "The Stolen Earth" (a rollercoaster epic) and "Journey's End" (an exceptional finale with a climax that's initially uplifting, then utterly heartbreaking).

Special-features, there's loads to sink your teeth into. Commentaries, deleted scenes, trailers, a whole disc full of Doctor Who: Confidential pieces, featurettes, David Tennant's video diaries...Oh, and there's also the 2007 `Voyage of the Damned' Christmas special (featuring Kylie Minogue) and the absolutely brilliant "Time Crash" Children in Need special (featuring the Fifth Doctor himself, Peter Davison). Quality-wise, the picture and sound are typical 2Entertain crispness, there are subtitles and audio navigation (for those who need them) and the package itself features beautiful panoramas that fold out.

Even though Catherine Tate's Who days are long over and David Tennant has now regenerated into Matt Smith, Doctor Who: Series 4 still remains utterly essential viewing. I still consider it the best series ever and its impact can never ever be forgotten. At such a bargain price, there's all the more reason to purchase this boxset. It just doesn't disappoint. Classic, quality viewing. Relive the days where the Time Lord continued his travels with (truly) his best friend by his side.

This is the Doctor Who series that most requires rewatching from beginning to end. It is emotional, poignant, political, tragic, heroic, comedic, and, to my mind, the most passionate exposition in Doctor Who's forty-five year journey.

The original Donna Noble character, in the Christmas Special 'the Runaway Bride', seemed at the time to be no more than a celeb-special with Catherine Tate playing a dumpy comic heroine with enough attitude to keep the Doctor on his toes. But, from the first episode of the fourth series (not counting Christmas special Voyage of the Damned), her character builds to be the most passionate and complex of all the Doctor Who companions.

In Episode 1, Partners in Crime, we see Donna taking things into her own hands, and eventually bulldozing the Doctor into allowing her to accompany him -- though, touchy as she is, she almost doesn't go when she thinks he is being too familiar.

In Episode 2, Fires of Pompeii, she persuades the Doctor to interfere with time by saving a family that would have died. But, unnoticed at the time, a soothsayer character tells her 'you've got something on your back'. A throwaway line, it would seem.

Episode 3, Planet of the Ood, lifts Doctor Who to a new level of political awareness, with the enslavement of the Ood brought to an end at the cost of many lives. It also brings in the bizarre apparent misunderstanding 'Doctor-Donna'.

The two-parter, Episodes 4 and 5, are more traditional Doctor Who / UNIT fare, giving us back Martha Jones, and allowing for the high comedy moment when the Doctor thinks Donna is leaving, and gives her his leaving speech, only to discover she is going home to get some things.

Episode 6, the Doctor's Daughter, had me almost in tears each time I watched it. The sharply compressed timeline makes this excellent science-fiction on its own account, but it's the revival of the Doctor's daughter _after_ the Doctor and Donna have gone, so that they don't know, which lifts this episode emotionally to new highs. But notice also, it's Donna who figures out that the numbers of the rooms are dates, and solves the fundamental paradox of the civil war in doing so.

Episode 7 is the only false note in this series, for me. Perhaps others who enjoyed it would be better placed to comment.

However, the double Episode 8-9, Silence in the Library with Forest of the Dead, is to me the undisputed pinnacle of Doctor Who so far -- better than Genesis of the Daleks from the Tom Baker years, better than The Green Death from Jon Pertwee's time, even beating the multi-award winning Blink from series 3. It's no surprise that it was written by Steve Moffat, the same writer as Blink, whose forthcoming tenure as main writer promises a golden age. Alongside the terrifying plot device, which speaks to our most basic instinctive fears of the dark, the story opens up new sides to the Doctor when we meet for the first time his long-term love interest, Professor River Song. All the strangeness of a relationship with a Time Lord is brought out when we realise that this event sandwiches the first time the Doctor ever meets her, with the last time she ever meets him. But River Song's meeting with Donna, when she tells her how sorry she is, but won't say why, really sets our thoughts moving.

Episode 10, which barely features Donna at all, could have come from almost any series of Doctor Who, before or after the revival. Although light on ideas, it makes massive dramatic sense after the emotional pinnacle of 8 and 9.

Episode 11 pushes Donna right to the front, and it's also one of the most gut-wrenching episodes I've seen. Its key moment is when the Italian family are put in a truck to be taken to a concentration camp, and Bernard Cribbins as Donna's grandfather, Wilf, cries "It's happening again". Most science-fiction series on TV have a go at at-least-one alternate history episode. Doctor Who, where the rules of time travel are so much more established, understood and central to the plot, has remarkably few of them. To see another one, you have to go back to Inferno in the Jon Pertwee era. But this is the alternate history episode to beat all others: after a time-beetle-thing climbs onto her back, Donna's history is rewritten so that she never meets the Doctor. her absence from 'the Runaway Bride' results in the Doctor's death, which means that successive catastrophes are not averted, and Britain is left in post-apocalyptic dystopia. The episode is so perfectly judged that it would rival many feature films, and I was absolutely astonished to find it was just one episode -- I could have sworn it was a double.

Powerful as it is, we discover that Episode 11 is just the precursor to the extraordinary finale The Stolen Earth followed by Journey's End. Bringing all of our favourite characters back, including the ever-menacing Davros, first encountered all those years ago in Genesis of the Daleks, it is the most extraordinary roller-coaster of accidents and reversals. For once the culmination is not 'reverse the polarity of the neutron flow', but a personal dilemma which mirrors the conclusion of Genesis...
Even more extraordinary is the way in which Donna is left tragically as the only person who can never know that she saved the universe. And at that point, we understand why Professor River Song was so very, very sorry.

I was highly sceptical that Catherine Tate would make a good Doctor Who companion. How wrong I was. Coupled with the amazing presence of Bernard Cribbins, who is now more than 80, and the steadily maturing performance of David Tennant, this one gets my vote as the best series of all time.

All time yet, that is. With Steven Moffat at the helm, we could be heading for even better days.