Individually top two places for me will have to go to Paul Cornell’s pre First World War double episode pursuit of the Doctor. I could say that I’ve been easily swayed by Dean Lennox Kelly’s rougish youthful, handsome and slightly playful exuberant interpretation of England’s greatest literary figure but the blending of an alien threat with an effectively realised historic settling (and that marvellous Globe Theatre set!) puts, for me at least,
“The Shakespeare Code” into a strong third place. Watching Sir Derek Jacobi was a positive joy (ably assisted by the endearing blue skinned reptile Chantho) in
“Utopia” a script that, in its latter stages, offered much. Also worth praising is Steven Moffett’s
“Blink”, another work of suspenseful genius, rather atypical for a ‘Doctor-lite’ script. Big losers for me are undoubtedly
“Gridlock” which despite the best intentions failed to engage,
“The Last of the Time Lords” for the reasons I’ve previously mentioned, and
“The Lazarus Experiment” which seemed too much like a retread of a concept seen in other series like
“Earth : Final Conflict”. Combined follows a similar pattern except for the elevation of episodes 12 and 13 elevated above the Dalek double.
Individual(1st) Human Nature (ep.08)
(2nd) The Family of Blood (ep.09)
(3rd) The Shakespeare Code (ep.02)
(4th) Utopia (ep.11)
(5th) Blink (ep.10)
(6th) The Sound of Drums (ep.12)
(7th) Daleks In Manhattan (ep.04)
(8th) Evolution of the Daleks (ep.05)
(9th) Smith and Jones (ep.01)
(10th) 42 (ep.07)
(11th) The Lazarus Experiment (ep.06)
(12th) The Last of the Time Lords (ep.13)
(13th) Gridlock (ep.03)
Combined(1st) Human Nature/The Family of Blood (ep.08&09)
(2nd) The Shakespeare Code (ep.02)
(3rd) Utopia (ep.11)
(4th) Blink (ep.10)
(5th) The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords (ep.12&13)
(6th) Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks (ep.04&05)
(7th) Smith and Jones (ep.01)
(8th) 42 (ep.07)
(9th) The Lazarus Experiment (ep.06)
(10th) Gridlock (ep.03)
