The Next Doctor

"I'm the Doctor! Simply the Doctor! The one, the only and the best."

Writer: Russell T Davies

Format: TV

Broadcast: 25th December 2008

Series: 2008 Christmas Special

Featuring: Tenth Doctor

Synopsis 

Christmas 1851. The Cybermen stalk Victorian London and the Tenth Doctor discovers a spate of mysterious deaths, and he's surprised to meet another Doctor! Are two Doctors enough to stop the rise of the CyberKing?

Verdict 

The Next Doctor is a magnificent episode and it certainly makes a superb Christmas special! This is how a Christmas special should be done as opposed to Last Christmas, a story I didn't enjoy all that much because it was too heavily linked to Christmas. I get that with it being broadcast on Christmas Day there's a theme that needs to be included but having Santa Claus actually appear as a character was strange. Here, the Christmas element was perfect. The story just took place on Christmas Eve. Simple and effective. We had the snow and Christmas dinners and that's all you need. It worked well in The Christmas Invasion and The Runaway Bride and it went down very well here too. With the Daleks having returned twice since the epic series two finale Army of Ghosts/Doomsday, it's only right that the Cybermen were now back for revenge! The continuity from Doomsday was good but the only quarrel I really have with this story is that the Cybermen were stealing technology from the Daleks. That made them look a bit weak in my opinion and in Doctor Who there was always that age-old question of who was better - the Daleks or the Cybermen? I think it's clear RTD wanted us to think it was the Daleks! However, I thought the Cybermen were back to their best here and I just loved the ruthlessness of them attending the funeral and causing quite a few more in the process! It was intriguing why the Cybermen were after children but just the fact they wanted them, for whatever purpose, made them scary enough! The Victorian setting of 1851 was fantastic and having Cybermen in that period was superb. We've had Daleks in the past so why not the Cybermen? As the title suggests, the Tenth Doctor appeared to not be the only incarnation making an appearance in this episode. It seemed we were meeting a future incarnation of the Doctor which would have been phenomenal. However that didn't turn out to be the case and a brilliant story was told in its place. The Tenth Doctor really did seem concerned that what he thought was his future self couldn't remember what he used to look like. David Morrisey had the perfect look for the Doctor and had he not appeared in this story he'd have made an incredible incarnation following David Tennant or Matt Smith. The scene where the pair were dragged up a building by the Cybershade and almost plummeted to their death if it wasn't for Rosita was absolutely brilliant. Their reactions were just marvellous. The Doctor working out that who he thought was his future self was actually Jackson Lake was quite emotional but some of the traits he had in thinking he was the Doctor were quite brilliant. A non-sonic sonic screwdriver and a hot air balloon for the TARDIS! The acronym for the TARDIS was quite hilarious I must say. Mercy Hartigan was a wonderful villainess and her association with the Cybermen was very intriguing. There was no sign of conversion but she was sided with them. I really liked the idea of a CyberKing, even if the person on the throne was a woman, and it seemed like the Doctor had encountered one before. He knew all about it and I do hope that a past meeting is depicted in some form! The Time War perhaps? Now that would be something I'd like to see. The references to Doomsday, Blink and Journey's End were excellently included and I also adored the scene with the fob watch. Jackson slowly remembering that the Cybermen killed his wife and captured his son was emotional turmoil. The Doctor saving him though during the evacuation was superb! I loved how the Doctor made the balloon TARDIS fly in order to take on the CyberKing and send it flying into the vortex to disintegrate. But would it really be destroyed? A return is certainly left open which I think is good. It was lovely that, just this once, the Doctor was thanked for saving the world. He almost seemed embarrassed! He even stayed for Christmas dinner after showing Jackson the nonsense of the TARDIS. A magnificent friendship that really shone through in this magical Christmas Special. 

Rating: 9/10