42

Future showrunner Chris Chibnall made his Doctor Who debut with this episode, which loosely adapts a "24" style real time gimmick, for an actiony adventure that's a decent if not particularly inspired episode.

Now an official companion, Martha (Freema Agyeman) joins The Doctor (David Tennant) in responding to a distress call from spaceship. Leaving the room that the Tardis lands in, the crew deadlock the door as the temperature skyrockets, making the Tardis unavailable for escape. This is particularly unfortunate as the spaceship's engines are down and it's caught in the gravitational pull of a nearby sun. With the temperature increasing, the crew have only 42 minutes to make it through dozens of sealed doors and restart the engineers - but something is picking them off, one by one.

Watching all of the episodes in quick succession again, you can see the similarities between this episode and the "Satan's Pit" double bill from last season. The threat is almost identical, but with the black hole replaced by a sun and the crew of British character actors picked off by an internal and emotionally manipulative threat. This time it's the companion that accepts their death and says their goodbyes rather than the Doctor, but it's the same idea.

That crew includes Anthony Flanagan, Vinette Robinson (who would return 11 years later for a much more high profile role as Rosa Parks) and Michelle Collins, who you don't tend to see as much of now as we did a few years back - but who appeared in nearly 500 episodes of both "Eastenders" and "Coronation Street".

So yes, a bit derivative but it was OK, I thought. It did enough to maintain my attention and I didn't notice any painfully obvious flaws in logic or science that would have annoyed me. The B-Story, with Mr Saxon takes a step up as Elisa Du Toit joins the cast as his currently unnamed underling. Overall reasonably solid.

42 comes with the headline that it's a radical story in that it's produced as an episode set in real time but carefully watching the story it becomes obvious that it's not actually set in real time at all . In many ways 42 is one of the most traditional stories the show has produced

The plot revolves around a bunch of humans in the far future who are under attack from an unknown force and of possession . This type of adventure is very similar to what we - fans of the classic show - are used to and something we'd seen as far back as the Troughton era in the mid 1960s , a time when the parents of NU-Who fans weren't probably born . There's also a plot device of the humans using a new type of fuel which instantly reminds classic fans of the 1975 tale Planet Of Evil . A radical episode ? Don't think so !

There is one or two elements where the episode differs from the classic series . One is the heavy use of character interaction of a husband and wife , another is a somewhat nasty method of the villain dispatching its victims . When I say " nasty " I tend to mean in that in a cynical way . Compare this to The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit which isn't all that different but that was a very memorable story where as 42 isn't , though it is a relatively entertaining runaround

It's also an episode which is supposedly intriguing as to who is Mr Saxon ? this seasons running theme . Unfortunately after the Bad Wolf running theme from season one and the Torchwood theme from season two I'm starting to get fed up with running theme seasons since they usually end up as a damp squib . This season's finale had better be something special !

First of all I'll start by saying I really like this episode, it's pretty much back to basics, it's pacey, it's grim, it has a sense of urgency about it. It feels like a mix of the movie Sunshine, and a toned down version of the Satan Pit.

Claire Rushbrook is switched for Michelle Collins, and there are other similarities between this and The Satan Pit.

No plodding into the story here, no build up, within 2 minutes it's crash bang and we are straight in. A ship is falling into the Sun and has only 42 minutes left, but something is on board taking out members of the crew one by one, but can the Doctor and Martha help?

Tennant's brilliance continues, and Freema continues to impress, but again her family are so irritating, i am definitely missing Jackie!!

I really enjoyed Michelle Collins in this, and her final scene is really well done, she did a great job.

On its own merits it's a cracker of a story, with excellent effects, a rather good cast, and an energy that has been lacking in some of the previous stories, particularly the Dalek car crash story. 'Burn with me' is a pretty good phrase. It just feels a wee bit unoriginal, it seems to have drawn heavily on many different sources, those already mentioned, possibly even Planet of Evil, the fuel theme idea is, shall we say paid 'homage to.' It is a very bleak story.

Who is this chap Saxon???

Overall, 7/10

The Doctor and Martha materialise on the winner of the poorest designed and most inadequate and unsuitable spacecraft of all time competition (SS Madame de Pompadour was a close runner up) where...

It's falling straight into a sun, the deadlocked doors can't be undone, to get to the engines, answer 27 questions, you can guess but attempts you get one.

There is also a rather irked people possession that's doing its best to scupper things but there are some appropriate Level 42 songs from the 1980s that could have played as an episode soundtrack too, 'I Want Eyes', 'Take a Look', 'A Kinder Eye' and 'The Sun Goes Down' but they aren't.

I don't completely understand the large number of negative reviews for this episode. I actually thought it was really great. I liked the concept of real time. Yes, there were echoes of Impossible Planet, but I didn't mind. Additionally, I really love Martha. Wish the Doctor was better to her. 🙁