Doctor Who: The Doctor's Wife

There’s a world of difference between a script written because of a contract, and one written because of inspiration.

Whatever you think of The Doctor’s Wife, there’s no mistaking that author Neil Gaiman is taking his lead from other episodes he’s already seen, and presumably enjoyed.

The TARDIS’ soul is stolen and deposited in another’s body, while a being known as ‘the house’ hijacks its carcass. The Doctor discovers what became of some Time Lords who survived the Time War. There’s a big chase down the ship’s corridors, which is only the second time we’ve seen beyond the console room since the show’s revival. (the other being a glimpse of the wardrobe room in The Christmas Invasion)

Building a new TARDIS from the remains of others, the cast finish up in a showdown back on the TARDIS set from two seasons ago. (at which how many of us muttered some variant of “Darn, it’s not the Davison one!!”)

Not to mention further exploration of the Doctor’s original theft of the TARDIS from Gallifrey before the original series began anyway. (though I thought the first Doctor remarked once that he’d built it?)

But here’s the thing - while building upon long-established Doctor Who lore, you just don’t need any of that to watch this.

Despite being the fourth darkly-lit episode in a row, the breezy dialogue ensures that the tone remains mostly quite bright. The exception would be Amy and Rory’s hard-to-justify chase in the second half, which drags as it goes nowhere, both geographically and philosophically.

And finally an enigmatic prediction about the future which just for once actually has a reason for its enigmaticality, namely that the TARDIS doesn’t speak English very well.

"The only water in the forest is the river."

Jackson Lake, Christina de Souza, Adelaide Brooke and Amy Pond might (Trinity)well(s) disagree...