S03E07: '42'

Jack Bauer in the Tardis? Not quite, but it’s fantastic to see Doctor Who not being afraid to experiment with its format in this real-time episode, complete with a 24 style clock ticking down. However, the execution of ‘42’ isn’t entirely successful, sometimes making us wonder whether the production team had filmed a rough draft of the script by mistake.

With a fair few characters involved and the focus predominantly on the imminent Sun-related threat, the episode needs a well-honed economy of storytelling to generate much pathos for the crew. Michelle Collins’ friendly, yet assertive McDonnell epitomises the underwritten characters on show, lacking the necessary engaging dialogue to solicit our emotions. In a clumsy manner, her fatal mistake in using the Sun particles as fuel is revealed, but there was a real chance to make her into a fascinating, complex character full of contradictions.

McDonnell is clearly compassionate and brave, as evidenced by her final moments, yet she showed no concern for the lives of other beings by poaching the fuel from the Sun without the relevant checks. But stomping around stony-faced rattling off lines such as “it’s picking us off… one by one” is not sufficient enough to develop McDonnell into an iconic character - a real wasted opportunity.

It was left to Graeme Harper’s superb direction to keep the audience hooked, with the very mobile, roving camerawork giving a fluidity to the action. His technique for shooting the possessed crew members borrowed a few visual tricks from his Cybermen episodes last year – most noticeably shooting upwards from low angles to give them a menacing effect. The early death scenes are also very effective, with poor Ashton’s demise harking back to the cruel Kane from the 1987 story ‘Dragonfire’, who killed people by wrapping his hands onto their cranium.

Murray Gold’s score also keeps the scenes rattling along, using familiar leitmotifs to emotive and rousing effect. He also knows the power of silence too, as exemplified by the sequence in which Martha departs the ship on the capsule towards a seemingly certain death. The Doctor’s silent cries of “I’ll save you” really help you to identify with Martha’s predicament.

David Tennant brilliantly conveys the humanity of the Time Lord here, but his superb acting comes to the fore when he is partially possessed later in the episode. The extremities of pain he endures are played perfectly, alongside his internal struggle to fight off the forces that may make him turn on Martha. Notice too, the hints of darkness that pervade the glance he gives Martha shortly before he hands her the Tardis key at the end. There’s certainly a few emotions brewing around those two hearts of his…