Bad Wolf

The Doctor, Rose and Jack are wrenched from the TARDIS to the deadly Game Centre previously a.k.a. Satellite 5 where they find themselves contestants in some dubious game shows and in a fight to stay alive. After some silliness and shenanigans they all manage to survive, before rising up the vessel and at floor 500 the Doctor and Jack arrive - where they discover the reason for their attendance, the summoner of contestants, the plans of murderous mutations in their evil machinations, all the worst a deadly enemy can connive.

Firstly, my heart sank when I saw the recap of the Long Game, I thought please not a follow up to that, within 2-3 minutes I knew I was watching a classic. Bad Wolf is wonderfully imaginative, appealing on so many levels. I cannot find any faults with it, it's so quirky, slick and different from all that's gone before. It has a truly epic feel to it, ten years on and it's still arguably the best cliffhanger to feature in Nu Who, huge arguments for. It's insanely good.

The Doctor is in Big Brother, Rose is on the Weakest link and Captain Jack was being undressed by Trinny and Susannah, how random. What on Earth is going on at Satellite 5, and why do the games all have a very dark side? The Doctor's actions in the Long Game was the start of a hundred years of misery, Lynda makes the Doctor realise that was when it all went wrong. Rose is killed by the Anne-Droid, the daleks are unmasked, surprising as we were lead to believe they were gone.

In this extraordinary episode, The Doctor has to try and solve a huge mystery as he, Rose and Jack are all suddenly separated from each other after they are seemingly abducted from the TARDIS. To make things even more bizarre, The Doctor is suddenly a house mate in Big Brother, Rose is a contestant on The Weakest Link, and Jack is in what not to wear. Stranger still, all the hosts seem to be murderous robots.

However, when the Doctor finally finds out just where he is, he realises that the consequences of something he did at the very same place some time ago is having serious ramifications now, and the people of Earth are easy prey to one of the Doctor's deadliest enemies...one that the Doctor is determined to fight against to save Rose. Brace yourself for one of the most extraordinary cliff-hanger endings of a Doctor Who episode ever...

Bad Wolf, the 12th episode of the Doctor Who Revival's first season, is a brilliant episode of Television. The story is engaging, the performances great, and the script sharp. It doesn't hurt that it also features one of the mist iconic cliffhangers in Doctor Who history.

The episode opens with some light-hearted parodies of current TV Shows in 2005. Watching this in 2021, it's slightly dated, but there are enough Reality/Quiz/Fashion shows nowadays that it still works. Captain Jack trying on all the outfits was particularly hilarious, and the Weakest Link scene was actually chilling.

Christopher Eccleston is once again incredible as the Doctor, and definitely extremely underrated, and Billie Piper is good as well, although she gets less to do in this than in the finale. John Barrowman is brilliant as always, and Lyanda with a Y is a charming and likeable side-character, how would have been a great companion.

The episode also features a dark second half, with the frightening image of the 'Controller' sending chills down viewers spines, as well as the revelation of what the Earth has become. The second half also builds up to the cliffhanger expertly, and the speech at the end is amazing.

The Murray Gold score is also great, and the effects are great, looking still passable by today's standards. Russell T. Davies's writing is fast and fluid, even if it does take a while to get going. Overall, Bad Wolf is a great episode that is worth a watch/Rewatch - a great prelude to the finale...

Overall rating: 9.3/10 Best Momment: The last 5 minutes are incredible. Worst Momment: The Doctor's 'Big Brother House' Reality Show is a little dated.

The game show was an interesting take, I'm not personally invested but the episode isn't per say bad, as the cliffhanger is notoriously good, and the stories development and progression isn't bad either, it's nothing superb in My eyes and more aspects need improvements.

The game show stuff is fun, but it doesn't really invest me, apart from the one Rose is in, as that's genuinely a tension building and action packed roller coaster that doesn't let up on the scares and the drama building. Even Rose was scared witless. And that can scare the audience as we've grown to this character, so the weight feels stronger.

And Lynda and The Doctor are at it, the best performance from Eccleston as all his sides come out, scared, angriest, hapless and then happy and Hillarious all in this episode. He was great on screen and him and Lynda are great together.

And the ending showing the Dalek space pod was also an intense and thrilling moment that put the Doctor on the edge, and hooked the Audience in.