Daleks in Manhattan

January 1930 New York, a vacuum, where unemployment is rife during a winter of discontent, sucking people out of work like the cold draws the heat, but not all hands are idle as...

The Empire State is still incomplete, Dalekanium panels required to replete, a hybrid of vanities, a complicated insanity, a Cyclopes of tentacular meat.

With the Doctor and Martha desperately trying to work it all out while buried deep in the sewers, the kind of place you might find mutant spiders that would never let you go if I'm being Frank (he's a talented lad).

The Doctor and Martha land in New York, 1930, only to discover people are vanishing, and an old foe is lurking high in one of the towers, The Cult of Skaro.

The Plot is extremely thin, but the Director and the cast do their best to make the most of it.

Even the appearance of the Dalek in the lift is mehhh, they've lost some impact, even if they do look perfect right in the setting somehow. Dalek Sec is still the best designed Dalek of nu who, the black effect works well, so much better then the later red supreme Dalek.

We've heard the Doctor talk about the loss of his home planet due to the Time War, it's nice to hear it from the Dalek's side.

It has to be said this is one of the most gorgeous looking episodes of Doctor Who there has ever been, it boasts some insanely good production values, even the sewers look good.

Some great actors on show, but it suffers from being 'The Dalek Story,' The Daleks have been drastically over-used, with this 2 parter and Victory being the 2 biggest mishaps.

Miranda Raison's ditzy blonde show girl Tallulah is one of the high points, she's so much fun, even if her accent is appallingly bad. High point of the episode is Tallulah's on stage act, 'Heaven and Hell' it's just brilliant, as is her meeting Laszlo after he's been changed.

Dalek Sec's experiment with Diagoras is brilliantly done, and a very disturbing scene, very scary for the younger ones. The Human Dalek is well designed.

Overall it's OK, it's just missing something, and I'm afraid i'm not eloquent enough to put into words exactly what, it's just unsatisfying. 6/10

Since its revival, Doctor Who has had some incredibly strange story lines. The ones that you simply cannot figure out where they're going, and how, when presented with a certain situation, it's going to resolve itself. I think so far, season one's The Empty Child ranked as the biggest case in point. However, Daleks in Manhattan has completely blown that away in terms of its sheer unpredictability. Even after the trailer for next weeks second part, Evolution of the Daleks, I have absolutely no idea how it's going to turn out.

The beauty of this revived series is that it's got stupid comedy, all-out scary and deeply emotional rolled into one. Not always all three in the same episode, mind you. And some episodes are designed to be just one - last years Love and Monsters springs to mind in the comedy stakes - in this case, this episode, and I expect next weeks conclusion, follow the road of last years The Impossible Planet/Satan Pit double header in being intensely dark and deeply sinister.

Don't get me wrong. It's a beautiful episode, and everything slots together perfectly. The four remaining Daleks somehow seem perfectly in place in 1930's New York, Helen Raynor's script is absolutely brilliant, and the Daleks pigmen slaves are somehow genuinely disturbing.

This new season seems to have made a habit of really rolling out the guest stars, and after Andree "Hollyoaks" Bernard's and the delightful Christina "Hex" Cole's unexpected showings in The Shakespeare Code, and then Ardal "Father Ted" O'Hanlon and Lenora "Sugar Rush" Crichlow's appearances in Gridlock, this episode rolls out no less than three of the best TV actors in England. This time we get the fantastic Hugh "Holby City" Quarshie, Andrew "last seen being dumped by a lesbian in Sugar Rush" Garfield, and Miranda "Spooks" Raison, and all of them excel in their roles (although I do have one small gripe - how does a black man get any sort of respect in 30s New York, one of the most racist periods in history?).

All of this adds up to one thing - this series is shaping up to be the best yet.

I seem to fit in the middle of the majority, I don't think it's that bad but I do dislike the pig slave thing. This episode is a little to un-dalek but i will see where it goes

1930's Manhatten is great and stunning to look at. I think whilst this is a solid episode not all of it gells together. Like the Human Dalek element is a good idea but it's very underdeveloped that it doesn't fit with the episode. And the Pig slaves while a decent idea, it doesn't make much sense. Because, Daleks would kill anyone in there path. I do quite like the ideas though, and the setting is great. An idea that does work is the homeless people of New York, there's a slight joke about the tallest building being build and others in Manhatten feeling desperate and starving for Food and anything. This concept works well, and I feel they were integrated into the story nicely. As the struggles of Poverty is important and was in those times, and perhaps more so. But It'll be a problem for many generations either way. The Kult of Skaro are also back. And they do seem as scary as they were the last time. They try and make a different breed of Dalek, in the human way. And then the ending is very intense and well pieced together to make an exciting, if slightly flawed first part.