World War Three

"You want aliens? You've got them. They're inside Downing Street."

Writer: Russell T Davies

Format: TV

Broadcast: 23rd April 2005

Series: 1.05

Featuring: Ninth Doctor, Rose

Synopsis

Downing Street announces mankind's first Interplanetary War. But the real danger is much closer to home. The Doctor, Rose and Harriet Jones race against time to unmask the villainous Slitheen, but only Rose's boyfriend and mum hold the key to salvation. Can the missiles be stopped?

Verdict

World War Three was an excellent conclusion to the story already started in Aliens of London. After a steady build in the first episode things really step up a notch here and we get a great deal of action which is always good! I think action works best in a two parter because once you establish the plot of the story in the first episode, you can have a lot of time spent on pace and action packed scenes which just add to the excitement of the overall story. There isn't always enough time in a single episode and considering this was the first attempt at doing a double episode in the newly revived series, it isn't half a great example. It works excellently as now that the Slitheen have been revealed we don't have the mystery of who they might be and we can see them in action instead which is fantastic. The scene of them waiting for the call regarding the nuclear codes was hilarious, especially with the added humour of the interruption. The plan of the Slitheen was pretty simple but very cruel. They were willing to see the entire population of Earth killed and the planet destroyed if it meant they could make a profit. That was pretty heartless but around the silly humour of the farting, it made them ruthless and instantly gave them credit as monsters. Intentions often do that. Once they were revealed the whole mood of the story changed. I love the setting of 10 Downing Street in a Doctor Who story and it's just brilliant that Russell T Davies got to launch a missile at it! I bet he really enjoyed writing that into the script. The resolution of the immediate cliffhanger occurring before the opening titles hit is probably the wrong move but at least we still had the danger concerning Rose and Jackie with their respective battles against individual Slitheen. Harriet Jones was wonderful and it's no surprise that she made more than one return in the series' future. The Doctor immediately took a liking to her and along with Rose the trio worked excellently as a team. The moment that the Slitheen returned to pray on Jackie and Mickey was probably my favourite scene of the entire story (first episode included). The Doctor working out where the Slitheen were from was brilliant and after all of the planets were whittled down to just one, Mickey's comment about writing them a letter had me in absolute hysterics. It caught me off guard and I was laughing so much that I nearly had to pause the DVD. It's often a joke in Doctor Who does that to me but I absolutely adored it here. Christopher Eccleston was at his very best as the Ninth Doctor and I think that definitely helped with that quality of the story, and this episode in particular. The title is brilliant enough and that should get anybody interested in the story and the way the Slitheen attempted to get the planet to go to war was very good. The Doctor talking Mickey through putting a stop to that by inviting a missile into the very building he was in was fantastic. The Slitheen were obliterated (almost, as we'd seen later in the series) and Downing Street destroyed, but the planet was safe. A great ending to an excellent story. Rose was back off travelling in time and space in the TARDIS and Jackie wasn't best pleased but she was pretty helpless. The bad wolf paint being scrubbed off was a nice touch too. Overall, a brilliant story!

Rating: 9/10