Doctor Who - The Unquiet Dead

Blimey, talk about pushing the boundaries on early evening tv scariness, this was a zombie episode, on BBC at 7pm!! Starting with a zombie killing someone! (Of ocurse in the episode I think it is only Rose that calls them zombies).

The first thing that was cool was that travel in the TARDIS seems incredibly hazardous, with The Doctor and Rose bouncing all ove rthe place and trying to hold onto switches and generally making it seem very chaotic. I liked that. The TARDIS always did seem to have a personality of its own and this series is no different. Also cool was a mention to the size of the inside of the TARDIS, when The Doctor tells Rose to get changed he gives a long list of directions for getting to the wardrobe, which made me laugh. I've heard the talk about wanting to make the TARDIS bigger, but the production team had to balance it with a size that the actors could cover in a few seconds, this reference was a good way to illude to its size.

The way The Doctor looked at Rose in her 19th century dress was nice too, he obviously fancies her saying "you look beautiful" but then quickly tries to cover it up with "considering....for a human". In fact the start of the episode really imbues The Doctor and Roses' relationship with a new sense of enjoyment, they're beggining to really like being together. This is highlighted later in the episode when they're in mortal peril (of course) and Rose says "I'm really glad I met you." To add another dimension to that Rose doesn't let The Doctor walk all over her, she isn't a dozy, screaming companion like past companions (although she does seem to be developing a habit of getting locked in dangerous rooms). I've heard Billie Piper say that she wanted to make Rose a role model for young girls, very 21st century, knows her own mind etc and she really pulls it off. Her acting was top class again.

The Doctor showed more energetic enthusiam again, he hears screams and runs towards them saying "that's more like it!". Christopher Ecclestone is again very good.

And there's Charles Dickens. Simon Callow plays him brilliantly. The scene where The Doctor gushes over Dickens' stories Was funny.

Of course the zombies aren't mystical, it's Doctor Who, they're aliens (the Gelth), from the other side of the rift and they're dying so they want to use dead bodies. Interestingly they say that the reason they are in trouble is because of "the time war", which is the first time that the war previously mentioned has been elaborated upon. Although not much is given away, but The Doctor looked... I guess it was sad?

So then The Doctor suggests that the Gelth be allowed to use the dead, until he can ship them off to build new bodies. Rose is agahst. It's the first time we've really seen that The Doctor is an alien, with alien morals. And it backfires on him, because the Gelth turn out to be a bit nasty and Dickens has to blow them up. All very fantastical, but very engaging and enjoyable.

This is the first episode shown of the new series that hasn't been written by Russell T Davies, it was written by Mark Gatiss (although apparently Russell T Davies acted as executive scriptwriter on all of them). I think the addition of other writers is going to add strength to the series overall, avoiding repetition and adding some different styles.

As usual the website has now been updated and includes a new splash page advertising the episode, a photo story of the episode, and some new videos with Mark Gatiss, Billier Piper and Rusell T Davies (all available in the media player window).