The Unquiet Dead

I think the first two episodes were very good, but this is the early one I remember most fondly, this was an excellent episode. We get good value out of the unquiet dead, a bit of Gothic horror, corpses coming to life and bursting out of coffins, Simaon Callow's excellent interpretation of Dickens, the pluses continue. It is visually stunning, I love lots of the glorious filming locations, especially the streets of Swansea. The production values are extremely high, everything looks quality. Eccleston continues his brilliance. Billie Piper continues to impress as Rose, I didn't appreciate at the time how good Billie was and how much I liked Rose's character. Alan David is glorious as Sneed, and it's a good first Who related outing for Eve Myles. The Gelth are a great invention, Gwyneth gives us another reference to the bad Wolf.

The Unquiet Dead doesn't quite live up to to the first two episodes of the new Doctor Who series (especially the superb The End of the World), but it does feature ghosts, wit and the first example of a recurring gimmick throughout the series: the Doctor's interaction with historical figures.

The interaction is actually caused by accident: the Doctor wanted to take Rose to Naples for Christmas, but somehow the TARDIS has something to say about it and the two find themselves, much to the Doctor's dismay, in 1860 Cardiff. Trouble isn't very far away, either, since corpses have been mysteriously revived in the past few weeks, and the only people who can do something about it are the Doctor, a girl with psychic powers and a certain Charles Dickens (Simon Callow), who now makes a living performing magic tricks and hosting public readings of his body of work.

The main fascination of The Unquiet Dead is its postmodern approach to Dickens, something that was entirely to be expected from writer Mark Gatiss, given his experiences on The League of Gentlemen (the TV show, not the Sean Connery-starring nonsense): the great writer is depicted as a mixture of A Christmas Carol's Scrooge and Hard Times' Gradgrind, i.e. a man who has lost all faith in the magic he used to write about and now believes firmly in scientific facts. And all that goes without mentioning his wonderfully clever comment on the supernatural incidents in the story: "What the Shakespeare is going on here?". That line might also be a reference to the fact that Callow, always reliable for these parts, appeared in Shakespeare in Love and reportedly made a provocative statement about Hamlet in the original version of Four Weddings and a Funeral (Richard Curtis subsequently removed that scene, along with the back-stories of all the other characters as well).

On the flip-side, the episode has a darkness to it (given the zombie-style premise) that doesn't really sit well with the general tone of the show (Steven Moffat's two-part story later on in the season shows how to use that darkness in a good way), the (inevitable) gallows humor being more suitable for a Monty Python sketch or, given Gatiss' involvement, a League of Gentlemen story than Doctor Who. However, Eccleston's charisma manages to lighten up the mood when necessary, and Piper's natural warmth contributes hugely, too.

So no, it's not really good as the episodes written by Davies or Moffat, but what the heck, it's got Charles Dickens - that ought to be enough.

The third episode of the returning Doctor Who was a key one in many ways, not only was it the first historical recreation and the Doctors first interaction with a famous character, but it was the first one written by Mark Gatiss, is a universe debut for Eve Myles and provides the cornels of the idea behind "Torchwood".

After the far future last time, The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and Rose (Billie Piper) head to Earths past, not exactly where they were planning on heading too, but they land in Cardiff in 1869. The inhabitant fo the local funeral parlour are, alas not staying as inactive and their death would have suggested, which is much chagrin to the Undertaker Mr Sneed (Alan David) and his assistant Gwen (Eve Myles). The city is also preparing for the celebrated Charles Dickins (Simon Callow) to give a reading of his "A Christmas Carol".

One thing that's struck me, but I haven't mentioned before, is how much I like this version of the theme, with its string section supporting the classic Theremin tune. I don't hate the current version, or any of the ones that have come in between, but this is my favourite.

This is a really strong episode. There's very little CGI, with most of it used to enhance practical or make up effects - so it hasn't aged . . . questionably . . . like elements of the previous two have. The plot is a lot tighter and makes more sense than the last one. Though perhaps it could have done with a little more genuine peril in the middle to keep the story running. I like how much this Doctor loves a good pun (or a bad pun even) but it doesn't effect that pervading dangerousness about this character.

It is 1869, the Doctor and Barbarella Rose materialise in Cardiff on Christmas Eve where those passed are reanimating, leaving Charles Dickens hyperventilating, and a little bit flustered and confused. What are the gas light spectral forms that raise the dead from their coffin box dorms, enlivening cadavers into zombified forms. Friend or foe, we just do not know, until Gwyneth starts to radiate and glow, breaching the rift to set up the flow, a torch to a darker side woodn't you know.

I can't think of anyone who could have played Dicken's better. Just like the the future Matt Smith episode with Van Gogh, absolutely perfect casting. This episode was very intriguing indeed, I thought it was brilliant.