Who Review: Love and Monsters

Something of a curio this week for Doctor Who: an episode which is heavy on the comic side and in which the Doctor and Rose barely appear. On initial viewing I found it amusing and it definitely kept my interest, but did I really enjoy it? Not sure. I enjoyed Peter Kay's performance as the Abzorbaloff and I thought Mark Warren as nice guy Elton did a good job of playing, well, a nice guy, which, for an actor who is used to playing edgy, psychopathic characters, was actually quite a stretch. Considered seriously as an episode of Doctor Who, however, I thought it was very hit and miss. But taken on its own merits, I don't think it did any harm to have a bit of fun (the viewing figures actually went back up with this episode). Although I found it entertaining in its own way, I wouldn't want to see another episode in this mould. I look at it like an intermission, a pause for light relief before we get into the really dark stuff that will lead us into Billie Piper's recently announced (and much-speculated) exit. Yes, she's on her way out. The BBC are still refusing to say if she'll actually be killed off in episode 13 (Doomsday), but she is definitely leaving the series. I think Piper was absolutely right for the part of Rose, whose job was not only to introduce a new generation to the Doctor through her eyes, but to also change the dynamic of the Doctor and his assistant forever. She did a fantastic job, but now it's absolutely right for her to go. As I said earlier in this blog, I felt like her character had run its course.
Exciting questions now spring to mind: how will the Doctor cope with her departure? And who will be the new companion, making their first adventure in the Christmas special? Only time will tell...

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