We Don't Need Two Metaphors

A very silly, strange and lightweight episode that's a whole lot of fun A few weeks ago, Mark Gatiss delivered his best Doctor Who  episode to date ( Cold War ). The Crimson Horror , whilst not perfect, is now the owner of that accolade. Set in 19th Century Yorkshire, The Crimson Horror  is an unrestrained slice of twisted fun. Bodies are turning up in the river, except the flesh on the bodies has developed a deep red colouring. Local factory owner Mrs Gillyflower (Diana Rigg) is offering the chance of salvation from this disturbing fate, which has been dubbed the Crimson Horror by the people, in her idyllic village compound known as Sweetville; a place where only the best are welcome. Past seasons of Doctor Who  have attempted to lighten the workload of the Doctor and his companion by writing episodes which feature only one of the pair e.g. Midnight , Turn Left  or episodes which leave them out of the action for most of the running time e.g. Blink . This...

A nerd-tastic set up manages to stay the right side of plausible With any story which explores a previously unexplained aspect of a show's mythology, there's always the possibility that whatever revelation that is made will anger more than it might please. Or to put it more succinctly, the Midichlorian problem from Star Wars . The Doctor and Clara are meandering across space when they get caught by a passing salvage ship. The damaged TARDIS lands on board the salvage vessel (manned by the Van Balen brothers), and Clara is nowhere to be found.  After trapping the crew inside the TARDIS and activating a self-destruct timer, the episode is ready to explore the previously unexplored mysteries of the TARDIS. The salvage of a lifetime. (image courtesy of guardian.co.uk)

It's a case of the good, the bad and the inevitable as Broadchurch reaches an end After several weeks of speculation and anticipation, the Broadchurch killer has been revealed. The finale was a reminder of how good Broadchurch  has been in moments, but it also demonstrates how infuriating the show has been at times. Starting with the inevitable, it was no surprise that Joe Miller was revealed to be the killer. At the end of the day, it followed the route of almost every CSI episode; the killer being somebody who's in the episode, but never at the forefront. It's been done a thousand times before and, despite all of the crackpot theories circulating on the internet, was an unspectacular revelation. In the few hours leading up to the episode's broadcast, one of the show's producers had said that everyone should watch to the very end of the episode. Some people took this as a suggestion that there was a shocking twist at the end of the hour. As such, when t here...

There's some spooky 'n' scary goings on in this excellent "ghost" story Neil Cross' return to Doctor Who , after an absence of just 1 week, with a much less divisive episode than The Rings Of Akhaten  (though I was much more positive about it than many others). Hide  is an episode which finds the balance between the divisive whimsy of Akhaten  and the steady ground of Cold War,  and is the best episode of this 2013 run so far. Hide  is assuringly old fashioned in its set-up. A pair of ghost hunters are working in haunted house in the 1970s. The illusive spectre is most definitely with them, but never hangs around for long. The Doctor and Clara show up to try and solve the mystery of the Witch of the Well.

Broadchurch approaches its denouement at an encouraging pace. That's more like it. Broadchurch  has often struggled to balance the investigation and dramatic aspects of its story, but this penultimate episode found the desired equilibrium. After collapsing at the end of last week's episode, DI Alec Hardy's secret illness is out in the open. DS Miller is naturally both furious and worried (mostly furious). It would appear that Hardy is on his last legs, which makes finding the culprit even more urgent. In Hardy's temporary absence, DS Miller gets her chance to shine as she attempts to rally the troops. While Hardy's near constant berating of Miller throughout the series was a little over the top, it's forced Miller to toughen up and probably made her into a better detective. If Hardy does leave/die, DS Miller is now much better suited for the job than she was in episode 1. In the suspect's chair this week was the ever suspicious looking Susan Wrig...

Mark Gatiss' chilly thriller falls just short of greatness After last week's divisive The Rings Of Akhaten , Cold War  finds Doctor Who  on much more familiar ground. Familiar, but wonderfully entertaining. It's 1983 and a Soviet submarine crew uncover what they believe to be a mammoth. Except it's very much not a mammoth, it's a Martian Ice Warrior. Living underneath the ice for nearly 5000 years, the Ice Warrior is lost and confused. The Doctor and Clara arrive just in time to see the Russian crew provoke the Ice Warrior, turning the proud soldier into a very dangerous foe.  Last year, Doctor Who  delivered an episode called Dinosaurs On A Spaceship , and Cold War  could easily be re-titled Alien On A Submarine  as not only does the episode take place within the confines of the underwater vessel, but it bears a significant resemblance to Ridley Scott's 70's masterpiece ( Alien) . It's behind you... and slightly to your right

The people of Broadchurch try to return to normality following another death After last week's magnificent episode that dealt with the harassment and death of Jack Marshall, it was expected that this episode would struggle to live up to what went before. Even with that consideration, this episode of Broadchurch  really tested my patience. With each passing episode that reveals next to nothing about the case, the likelihood of Broadchurch  providing a satisfying conclusion diminishes. The main problem is that it's trying to juggle too many suspects. With all that juggling going on, none of the suspects really feel like they could legitimately be considered as suspects. Given that not a lot of people have been definitively ruled out, there's still the possibility that Chris Chibnall could pluck a murderer out of thin air and pull the rug from under all of the series' work so far. Look no further than Joe Miller, Olivia Colman's nice and cheery husband. He'...