Doctor Who: Series 1 - Volume 3 [DVD] [2005]

"The Long Game" is an ironic spin on the ability of a corporate network to exercise control over the news - hard to believe it's not reflecting on efforts of Blair's cabinet to manipulate news and demand that the BBC come to heel? Humanity is shaped and guided by its consumption of news, by the ability of the media to define what shall reach the public consciousness. Here we have news as the religion of the universe, information as the opiate liturgy of life. And only the Doctor can peel away the spin and reveal that by creating a climate of fear, the ruler of the media can manipulate people to do whatever he wishes. Beautiful performances from Simon Pegg and Tasmin Greig enliven an excellent story.

"Father's Day" has Rose return to meet her long dead father. The Doctor succumbs to her sentimental urge and is not unduly surprised to discover that, yet again, one of the monkeys has fouled up the timeline and plunged the universe into disorder. It's a good story, a bit maudlin in places, but entertaining enough.

"The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances" are the halves of a two-parter, neatly split by a cliff-hanger end to the earlier episode. This is a seriously good piece of drama, set in London during the Blitz, the special effects creating both a realistic atmosphere and a comic book feel, with Rose flying above London courtesy of a rogue barrage balloon. This could become an iconic image.

This is excellent: a gas-masked child roaming the streets searching for its mummy transforms science fiction into horror and creates a strong, cross-genre narrative. It's a wonderfully choreographed story, tension and humour used with commendable skill, plot and subplot woven tightly together.

All in all, the new, revived Doctor Who has proved outstanding, able to use special effects to good effect, to weld quality storytelling with a new, riskier direction and production outlook, and to present science fiction as not simply speculating about arcane scientific developments but as a vehicle for dissidence, for a fresher understanding of the contemporary world ... and an opportunity to satirise and ridicule. Eccleston, of course, is a very fine actor, and he has brought real authority back to the character, his persona beautifully complementing the dissident dynamic of the series.

Excellent production, well worth waiting for ... but then, what's time to the Doctor?

Writer Russell T. Davies delivers some of his best work on the series with the prescient 'The Long Game', a story about the news media shaping the culture that it purports to serve. A great story with a satirical edge to it.

Billie Piper has been a revelation in this series. Her portrayal of Rose has been one of the high points. She takes centre stage in 'Father's Day', one of the best episodes of 'Doctor Who' ever, in my opinion. It's rare in the show's history that a storyline has packed such an emotional wallop on a major character. We perhaps feel it more because, in this case, that character is the Doctor's companion: the person the audience most easily identifies with. In this story, Rose, whose father was killed when she was a baby, goes back in time and saves his life. This has disasterous consequences, causing a wound in time. Admittedly, the story is derivative, but it's beautifully acted and only the coldest of hearts could fail to be broken by it.

Having met her daddy, Rose (and everyone else) is suddenly being asked, "Are you my mummy?" by a small boy in a gas mask. The last two episode on the DVD are 'The Empty Child' and 'The Doctor Dances'. Set in London during the Second World War, this is a delightfully atmospheric and creepy story about a plague that descends on the city thanks to a derelict alien space craft. We are introduced to the mysterious Captain Jack (John Barrowman) who joins the Doctor and Rose in the Tardis. We also have the spectacular sight of Rose dangling from a barrage balloon during an air raid while wearing a T-shirt with a huge Union Jack on it. This is one of the most visually effective stories in the series and the depiction of wartime London is excellent.

Four of the best episodes in the new series. Great stuff!