The Name of the Doctor: Mini-Review

(Rated 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8.5?!, 9, 10 and 11/5)

OUTSTANDING, HEART-POUNDING high level drama from the pen of Stephen Moffat! This half-series had taken a bit of a dip for me up until this point. It was good, but not great and I struggled to connect with Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman) and felt The Doctor did too. Who IS she?! (Not in the voice of that Big Brother star but maybe in a similar disbelieving vein as to why she is so important!) And then we discover and suddenly her ratings in each of our hearts - and his two hearts - climb universe-high! If you will forgive the use of this word, this episode was orgasmic for fans of Classic Dr Who - as we see - SPOILER alert - Clara save all of them! And for this Nine-fan an extra rush for me as she crosses paths with him! And spoilers OMG!! Dearest loveliest Prof River Song (Alex Kingston) also returns to - well yes spoilers - but has a gorgeous interaction with Sweetie Doctor Matt Smith! Matt put in yet another great performance - he is excellent as the Professor/Public School-Boy Doctor creating toy-boy feelings in this Whovian ;). And then at the end we have the man whose name we still don't know! - played by John Hurt - but have to wait til November 23rd 2013 for our climax! 

Doctor Matt and The Ponds - a very mini review

Farewell Amy and Rory Pond... the Weeping Angels finally got yas...

(Rated 4/5... on a scale where I'd rate Doctor Chris and Rose at 6/5 and Doctor David and Donna as 7/5.)

This little snippetty review is really just to say something about the relationship developed between The Doctor (Matt Smith), Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill). For me, amidst all the excitement of monsters, aliens and Sci Fi, the interaction between the Doctor and his companions - how he influences them and vice versa, and each companions particular story - is the most interesting part. I have a big penchant - not nose or chin - for relationships!

I think writer Stephen Moffat has great storytelling skill - he is superb at that - and keeping you on your toes with excitement and Geronimo! ... here we go! But something lacks in emotion between characters and from them. The dialogue is genius and witty in the extreme... totally yowza! And the delivery of that dialogue from all three lacks nothing at all. Oh and have to mention Alex Kingston as River Song too and her contribution in chemistry with The Doctor - charged? yes - highly? no.

The acting is faultless. Every actor brings something different to The Good Doctor - the very best of themselves - and just as Chris Eccleston and David Tennant nailed that - so does Matt Smith. And wonderfully fantastically brilliantly they all look like they could be an alien and give us the majestic, strong yet traumatised doctor from the North, the all-round funny yet high EQ expressive doctor from North of the border and the professor, public school-boy doctor from somewhere a little bit posh ;)

BUT there is an emotional quality that Russell T. Davies and his Whovian team of actors - Billie Piper's Rose Tyler and Catherine Tate's Donna Noble in particular with their respective doctors - gave that, for me, never comes out in the Moffat-lead series. Russell's writing and their performances tore at my heart strings in ways these guys just can't somehow. I was addicted and couldn't get enough. Now I love it but can cope without.

So I do feel sad to see The Ponds go... but not as upset at the loss of Rose... or devastated at the loss of Donna.

The Eleventh Doctor and The Ponds – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2012

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Accused: Tina's Story - BBC - Tuesday 4th September 2012

(Rated 4.5/5 )

I'm shaking and still horrified by the power, and again harsh reality, of this week's Accused. And yes - any questions from last week's end up clarified. Then again - maybe I was the only one who needed that clarity?! Or is hindsight a great thing? I mean now I know it's glaringly obvious! But perhaps it could be obvious in one way with still doubt in another. Haha now I'm being obscure!

For this one Jimmy McGovern is joined in writing by Isabelle Grey, and they write for Anna Maxwell Martin as prison officer Tina Dakin.
We meet her as she accompanies Stephen, from last week's story, on his journey into prison. Tina is normal, real, plain Jane, precise at her job, caring and compassionate but that's all appropriately hidden from fellow officers and inmates. She would not have fit amongst the cast of screws in Prisoner Cell Block H!! Tina has a young family, and a loving husband. What on earth could she have done wrong to be the accused?! We are kept guessing until the very end, though if you watch carefully there is a hint at the beginning - or should I say, at several times during the episode. But the skill here is it's hard to work out, and you really want to know, and don't want her to be punished any more for it. Because she does get 'punished' for doing the right thing - and a very severe punishment it ends up being! And again, this is where we are shocked - this kind of thing almost certainly could happen in our prisons. It's a dog eat dog environment, in which all cover their backs if they can - officers and prisoners alike. Whilst I felt Sheridan Smith attempted to play her role ambiguously, it was clear what Anna was doing - holding a whole lot in - to her cost - until she could no longer do so. John Bishop reprises his role as Stephen's father - and oh my goodness - I just had tingles down my spine as I said that. He was monumentally good in this episode. In fact the interaction between him and Anna brings out the best in them both for me.
Sam Hazeldine plays a  very lovely hubby to Tina. And Ewen Bremner impresses as quite a contrasting character!

Again leaves us thinking about a lot of issues. Great Job!

Accused: Tina's Story – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2012

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Accused: Stephen's Story - BBC1 - Tuesday 28th August 2012

(Rated 3/5 )

Disappointing, strange... confusing...
This episode by Danny Brocklehurst and Jimmy McGovern didn't quite hit the mark for me. Stephen (Robert Sheehan) is losing his mother to a terminal illness. A nurse, Charlotte (Sheridan Smith) is brought in by Stephen's father Peter (John Bishop) to help relieve his wife's suffering - Stephen thinks she has relieved it too far and killed his mother to have his father for herself. And then...?!

I won't say what, as again that might give the game away, but this time sadly it's kind of boring and un-engaging and sort of obvious in plot, whilst leaving the real motivations and solution to the viewer to decide for themselves. I didn't really care. I felt it was difficult for the actors to get involved in their portrayals because each of them had to leave it unclear as to whether they were 'good' or bad'. Stephen was supposed to be sensitive with possible anxiety hints at other mental health conditions, but seemed more fascinated by Charlotte's tits than anything else, and I didn't feel connected to the other characters either. Sheridan is usually very good but flat in this. And motives behind the crimes, if they were crimes? Hm, well they didn't make any sense.

I would love to be told otherwise if others experienced this differently? Please let me know :)

Accused: Stephen's Story – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2012

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