Our take
A snowy Victorian romp built on a neat trick: a second hero who seems to be the next lead, launched weeks after the real one announced he was leaving. Big monster finale, bigger heart. David Morrissey plays the deluded Jackson Lake with real tenderness, and Dervla Kirwan's Miss Hartigan is a chilly villain, even if the CyberKing tips into pantomime.
What happens
On Christmas Eve 1851 the TARDIS deposits the Doctor in a snowy London where Cybermen stalk the streets and a spate of mysterious deaths needs investigating. He hears his own name called to deal with a Cybershade, one of the dog-like Cyber creatures, and is confronted by a heroic, frock-coated man who insists that he is the Doctor, complete with a companion, Rosita, a sonic screwdriver of a kind and a TARDIS of his own. At first the Doctor assumes this must be a future version of himself, and happily slips into the role of assistant. In truth the stranger seems to have acquired the Doctor's memories after an encounter with the Cybermen, and the Doctor helps him recover his real identity as Jackson Lake. The villain is the ruthless Miss Hartigan, a workhouse matron, who orders the killing of a graveyard full of mourners. The two Doctors combine forces to stop the rise of the CyberKing, a giant Cyberman that ends up stomping across Victorian London. The finale involves the other Doctor's TARDIS, which is really a hot-air balloon, and a quiet speech in which the Doctor brings Miss Hartigan face to face with what she has done.
Can the kids watch it?
Fine for most children from about eight; the metal villains and their dog-like hunters bring mild scares, and children are put in peril.
Cast and crew
Starring
- David Tennant as The Doctor
- David Morrissey as The Doctor
- Dervla Kirwan as Miss Hartigan
- Velile Tshabalala as Rosita
Writer
- Russell T Davies
Director
- Andy Goddard