I’ve been a tad critical of the latest series of Doctor Who but it finally hit its stride as the season’s first two parter got underway and those iconic pepperpot baddies returned.

There were just four Daleks in this romp and somehow that’s far more chilling than the CGI legions of them that have appeared in previous encounters. These are the Cult of Skaro, creatures that aren’t just unthinking logical killing machines but designed to think the unthinkable, hence we get a story of genetic modification that not only strikes a chord with events in the real world but in the history of the monsters themselves.

The need to evolve was the basis of Dalek creation in the first place and it’s good that after a couple of years of being just the ultimate foe, their scientific roots are being addressed.

After the Robomen and Ogrons I remember from my youth, it was great to see the tradition of making up for lack of Dalek numbers with henchmen readdressed with those wonderful pig creatures while Holby’s Hugh Quarshie fitted in well, him being a bit of a Sci-Fi legend (The Tomorrow People, Star Wars). It was a neat idea to include Hooverville and I’m sure loads of people would have Googled it afterwards to delve into the true history.

A fair amount of time here was wisely spent teeing things up for the second part but it made a refreshing change to see the Daleks not totally dominant and to some extent on the back foot (now that one of them actually has feet) and it certainly left me looking forward to the next instalment. Other episodes in this run have left me with a feeling of so what by the end.

Here at Hogan Towers, we’d identified Tallulah as the most likely candidate for the Star Trek red jersey so we were actually disappointed that she made it to the end of the first part in one piece. Indeed none of us would have been that bothered if Martha had been egg whisked out of existence. I feel badly in need of a Marthacentric episode to make me give a damn about her.I think it was after Father’s Day that I was really bothered about Rose.

At the end of the episode though we got a proper Doctor Who cliffhanger with a proper monster reveal. Thanks to Radio Times for making that particular spoiler impossible to avoid in every newsagent in the country,

That’s what I call a monster though, a tad more scary than Anne Reid and a straw.

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