Favourite Fictional Characters: On Valentine's Day

To celebrate Valentine's Day, I thought I'll treat you to some poetry. Prepare, readers, for some romantic verse, inspired by an unlikely bunch of poets...

The Eleventh Doctor: 

Fezzes are red

My TARDIS is blue

Bow ties are cool

Just like you

 Sherlock: 

Roses are red
Violets are blue
The statistical chances of you finding someone with whom you can tolerate a lifetime are incredibly low, meaning you should probably spend your time on something more constructive than a feeble attempt at attracting a short-term romantic partner.

 Homer Simpson: 

Roses are red
Like the floor stains at Moe's 
I will spend time with Marge
Tomorrow on Valentine's - d'oh!

Batman:


Roses are red
Violets are blue
Poison Ivy is green
The Joker's hair is too





The Tenth Doctor:

Rose's jacket was red
...
Oh, God, Rose!
*Buries head in hands, sobbing*






Have a happy Valentine's Day, folks.

Monthly Scribbles: The Adventure of the Three Sherlocks and Capaldi's Coat

Welcome to a new series of posts on my blog: Monthly Scribbles! If that positively prosaic title was not clear enough for you, starting from this month I will write a round-up of, in Charlie Brooker's words, things that have been happening. Things like news bits and pieces and mini-reviews of things I've consumed within the month. Things like this:

Sherlock Series Three

Right at the beginning of January - if you can remember that far back - the stupendous Sherlock returned to our screens for a new run of three movie-sized adventures. Hyped for the two years since it's last series more than any other television show, it was feared that the result would not have been worth the wait. In the end, Series Three seems to have divided people far more so than the previous two, with many not being won over by its emphasis on character and humour as opposed to mysteries. Myself, while it did not quite reach the heights of the second series, Series Three was a fantastic run of television, with the definite highlight being 'His Last Vow' which saw the show at its most exciting, daring best. You can read my reviews of the episodes here or have a look at my favourite moments of the series over on Whatculture.

There was much talk about Series Four (which, as well as Series Five, Moffat and Gatiss apparently have all planned out) being broadcast at Christmas time but co-creator Steven Moffat has since said that seems rather unlikely. Personally, I don't mind waiting a while as long as the show is as good as it can be. Plus, this will be back in a few months...


The Clothes of the Doctor!

Doctor Who fans everywhere went wild the other day when Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi's costume materialised in our dimension. Capaldi said on the costume: 'No frills, no scarf, no messing. Just 100% rebel Time Lord!'
There's a lot of fun to be had picking out the various inspirations from different Doctors. The lack of tie evokes Eccleston's laid-back style, the cardigan under the coat is similar to the Doctor's previous penchant for waistcoats (see Numbers Four, Six, Eighth and Eleven) while the coat itself has more than a whiff of the stylings of Pertwee, thanks to the red lining.

At this stage, though he does look dapper, I've yet to think of Capaldi as the Doctor but that'll surely change soon as filming of Series Eight is already under way. Not much has been revealed yet - plus I'm actively avoiding spoilers - but we do know that the first episode will return to the familiar Victorian setting of recent years as the new Doctor and Clara team-up once again with the Paternoster Gang. Take a look at some spoiler-free snaps below:

Doctor Who Series Eight is expected to air in either August or September. What to do until then? Well, there's always old stuff to read and watch...

The Simpsons (Season Three)

In the wake of great new TV, I thought I'd re-watch a classic. I'm less familiar with The Simpsons' first few series, preferring the middle years of the 90s, but I'm thoroughly enjoying this season. Despite being three years in, the show was still finding its feet, with several characters not having developed their own personalities yet - for instance the endearingly dumb Ralph is often portrayed as an ordinary child - however, many episodes are real gems. 'Flaming Moe's' provides the groundwork for Moe, an up-to-then unimportant side character, while 'Lisa's Pony' must surely be one of the series' funniest ever episodes. As well as humour, the series also has that strong heart present in the show in the 90s which was sadly slowly replaced with cartoonish antics. Even now, The Simpsons isn't a bad way to spend half an hour but its good to look at its past to remember how good it once was.

The Sandman: Dream Country

For the last few months, I've been gradually working my way through Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics, the stories that made him famous. Focussing on the Sandman, Morpheus, the maker of dreams, it encompasses a vast range of myths and legends and literature and history all weaved together with Gaiman's consummate panache.
While I enjoyed the first two volumes - Preludes and Nocturnes and The Doll's House - they struck me as the work of a young writer still feeling his way around. However, with the four separate stories in this third volume, Gaiman seems on much surer footing. The rightly-lauded 'Midsummer Night's Dream', which sees Shakespeare give the first performance of his play to an audience of the real Titania and Oberon and their fairies, is a triumph of comic storytelling while 'A Dream of a Thousand Cats' is a surprising and quirky tale of the true story of felinekind. If it is not to bold a claim, I think it's the defining story about cats ever written. Purrrfect, you might say, if you were a 1960s Catwoman.

Review: Sherlock - His Last Vow

'Sherlock Holmes has made one enormous mistake which will destroy the lives of everyone he loves and everything he holds dear.'

After two lighter-hearted episodes, the game was back on for the series three finale, 'His Last Vow', which turned out to be one of the strongest instalments the series has seen - and it's up against some stiff competition!

Set up perfectly by the deepened characterisation of the first two episodes of this series, ‘His Last Vow’ accepts that we care for the all the characters and hurtles us into an adventures with more twists and turns then Sherlock’s mind palace (I imagine, I haven’t actually been). Sherlock's ability to take its audience by the scruff of the neck has always been impressive but here Moffat has complete mastery over us, countermanding every expectation we have about what's coming next with a stonking great twist that's seemingly come out of nowhere but which was actually, as is one of his favourite phrases, hidden in plain sight.

Amongst the high drama, there is also the customary laughs - particular highlights being, as always, the Holmes boys sparring at at their parents' house on Christmas Day ('Are you two smoking?' 'It was Mycroft!') and also Sherlock's surprise venture into the human world of relationships. However, remember rule one about this episode: nothing is as it appears...

While also serving up the thrills and the rib-ticklers, this episode also finds time for character notes on all three mains. Mary’s character is significantly explored in ways that no one had foreseen and there is some wonderful material for John, who gets to do everything from showing his tough side by surgically beating up a drug addict to dealing with a terrible truth, very close to home. As it is called Sherlock, there is also considerable work done on the detective himself. In the fabulous scene in Sherlock's mind palace – featuring a gloriously insane Moriarty, chained up in a rubber cell – we get the revelation of Redbeard (with echoes of Citizen Kane) going some way to uncover why Sherlock is the way he is (incidentally, the young Sherlock seen throughout the episode is played by Steven Moffat's own son, Joshua). 

Intriguingly, there seems to be a reinvigorated sense of patriotism to the character that hasn’t been seen before. The Sherlock of Series One and Two, who turned down a knighthood and went to Buckingham Palace naked is now England's Greatest Hero. Hero, being the operative word. Just as Conan Doyle also understood, Moffat and Gatiss knew that their Sherlock could not stand still and had to develop as a character. Despite what he says, the three series of the show so far are really about the journey of a high-functioning sociopath growing into a hero.

And this review could not finish without a word to Lars Mikkelsen, pitch perfect as the detestable Charles Augustus Magnussen. While Moriarty was, as he put it, ‘a good old-fashioned villain’, Magnussen really is a nemesis for the modern age. A newspaper magnate with a hold over the western world, he is an absolutely chilling concept and an even better villain, every inch the ‘dead-eyed shark’ and thoroughly deserving of the vitriolic disgust Sherlock shows him. It is such a shame we won't see him again - although, who knows in the Sherlock world... 

Totally thrilling and unabashedly unpredictable, 'His Last Vow' was triumphant television, providing everything you could ask for from the show. Including the shocking reappearance of someone we all wanted to see again...

Sherlock, we will miss you.

Five Favourite Sherlockian References: 

• Billy Wiggins, the drug addict that Sherlock takes under his wing, is a conflagration of two characters from the canon. The most obvious is Wiggins, the lead boy of the so-called Baker Street Irregulars (otherwise updated as Sherlock's homeless network). However, his first name is presumably a nod to Billy, 221B's page boy who helps out Mrs Hudson. Originally created for William Gillette's hit stage play,  he was consequently written by Conan Doyle into the later Holmes stories.
• One of the first shocks we get in this episode is the revelation that Sherlock has a girlfriend! The fact that this is all an act to get into Magnussen's office is lifted straight from the canon, whereupon Holmes proposes to Milverton's maid for the same reason. Interestingly, the woman, Janine, moves to a Sussex cottage, which is home to a few beehives. In the story 'His Last Bow', Holmes retires to keep bees on the Sussex Downs. Maybe we haven't heard the last of her yet...
• While the twist of Mary's true identity is completely Moffat's own creation, the memory stick containing information about her real life, scrawled with her actual initials, is a sly reference to the canon. In Mary's introductory story, The Sign of the Four, she recruits to Sherlock to investigate the disappearance of the Agra treasure. 
• At one point, Mycroft casually hints at the fate of 'the other one', presumably referring to another Holmes brother. This is likely drawn from the Sherlockian notion that Sherlock and Mycroft have an elder, and even cleverer sibling, Sherrinford Holmes. Whether this tantalising remark is going to be drawn on remains to be seen.
• The 'east wind' that Mycroft used to taunt the young Sherlock with is a clever inclusion of the famous patriotic closing speech of the original 'His Last Bow', published during the First World War: 'There is an east wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew on England yet... A cleaner, better, stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared...' 

Review: Sherlock - The Sign of Three

'What's wrong? Why are they all doing that? John? Did I do it wrong?'

Sherlock continued its newly-found mystery-lite, character-heavy sensibility yesterday with ‘The Sign of Three’, that was a near all-out comedy outing for Sherlock and friends. Like 'The Lodger' did for Doctor Who, this episode takes a break from the normal puzzlebox murder mysteries to take a light-hearted approach to Sherlock Holmes' world. 

This can be summed up by the cold opening of the episode alone. Thanks to a lengthy scene, we find out that Lestrade and his team have been tracking down a gang of bank robbers for months. On the verge of catching them, Lestrade is called to Baker Street – to help Sherlock with his best man speech!

Full of frantic storytelling, ‘The Sign of Three’ at times felt more like a series of sketches than a congealed plot. However, you can forgive it that as this episode really was a party. Rather than the mystery of the gigantic hound or the problem of the demanding dominatrix, this was definitely the case of the worrisome wedding with the detectiving all but pushed into flashback sequences filtered through.

Though you might have expected an episode set on John and Mary’s wedding day to be dedicated to the love of the bride and groom, this adventure serves more as a testament to the friendship between Sherlock and John, being the first time John categorises the detective as his ‘best friend’ and even Sherlock waxes sentimental about ‘brave and courageous’ John. Something this series seems keen to show us is that, yes, even Sherlock has feelings!

Apart from the script from all three of the show’s writers, another element ensured this episode was strategically balanced between sweet and funny instead of mawkish; the cast, as always, were excellent. The acting genius of Benedict Cumberbatch can never be praised enough but here he has the hour and a half even more under his command than normal (particularly during his supersized yet poignant and funny best man speech). Martin Freeman and Amanda Abbington are also brilliant, with Abbington continuing to fit perfectly in to the Sherlock family. And how wonderful to get more from Una Stubbs as she details what the elusive Mr Hudson was really like… 

The only big flaw is that there wasn't enough of the tight drama that has typified the show up until now, however that does seem crass when the episode so clearly does what it sets out to do. A comic highlight being the stag do in which Sherlock and John have to solve a case while drunk! A great example of the sitcom tone that this episode goes for. If this was done during Series 2, you can imagine Moriarty being booed off the stage, hissing. It turns out Sherlock is as good at doing belly laughs as it at drama.

Speaking of drama, there is a worry that with all this humour derived from sticking Sherlock in human situations it could lessen his character. Thankfully, the final moment was a necessary reminder of who our hero really is. Sherlock Holmes is not a man who dances at a social occasion, he is the man who walks away from one. He may be on the side of the angels, but don’t think for one second that he is one …

I imagine many fans will have a problem with this episode, however, I think it thoroughly deserves its place in Sherlock’s own canon. In previous series, we've had a hard-and-fast mystery in 'The Blind Banker', a horror story in 'The Hounds of Baskerville' and 'The Reichenbach Fall' gave us a thriller. We needed a love story, full of humour and heart. And that is exactly what 'The Sign of Three' gave us. 

Three favourite Sherlockian references:

• John's middle name of Hamish, previously mentioned in 'A Scandal in Belgravia', is based on a long-held fan theory rather than Conan Doyle origin. The idea comes from the fact that, as mentioned in my previous post, Mary Morstan once called her husband James instead of John. Coupled with John's middle initial being given as H, Sherlockians put the two together and decided the H stood for Hamish (Scottish for James).
• During Sherlock's speech, we see a brief glimpse of a unchronicled case, The Poison Giant, featuring a dwarf with a blowpipe. This is directly inspired by the story from which this episode is loosely based, 'The Sign of the Four' in which Jonathan Small hires his 'small companion', native to the Andaman Islands, to deal with his enemies. You can read John's own write-up of the case here.
• Sherlock decrees his 'last vow' to John and Mary, to keep them safe. While such a vow is not found in the canon, there is a story titled 'His Last Bow', which sees Holmes retire from investigating. As this is the title of next week's episode could Sherlock really be about to hang up his deerstalker for good? We'll find out next Sunday...

P.S. Happy 160th birthday, Sherlock Holmes!

Review: Sherlock - The Empty Hearse

And the new year is here! In other news, Sherlock came back from the dead and returned to our screens! How did he survive? Perhaps an empty hearse was involved...

'Like a gaze from a crowd of strangers, suddenly one is aware of staring into the face of an old friend...'

And there we have it. Sherlock faked his death by placing Moriarty's body on the ground with a face mask based on his own and then bungee-jumped down into St Bart's Hospital before snogging Molly and going on his merry way. Fantastic! Who thought of that?

Anderson, as a matter of fact. Because that isn't really how he did it.

Sherlock blasted back onto television on New Year's Day with a fabulous piece of misdirection which captures so well the intelligence, playfulness and unpredictability that make it such a must-see show for millions across the world. The running gag of the fake explanations is a welcome cheeky dig at the internet furore Sherlock's 'death' caused two years ago (while also feeding another one in the Sherlock/Moriarty kiss). In the end, the version that Sherlock gives Anderson is merely sufficient, ticking off some of the more obvious clues given in 'The Reichenbach Fall.' However, surely this is but another clue that the real answer is yet to be revealed...

In any case, that's enough about how Sherlock returned, as John himself, says the more important thing is why. Called back by his brother Mycroft (Mark Gatiss is as reticently entertaining as ever), Sherlock needs to stop an underground terrorist network who are planning an attack on London. Making great use of the myriad mazes of the tube, this leads to as much intrigue, twists and inventive direction (from Sherlock newcomer Jeremy Lovering) as normal although, unusually for Sherlock, the mystery is not the focus of this adventure. As a sure sign the series is taking on its own life away from simply adapting Conan Doyle's stories, most of 'The Empty Hearse' is dedicated to its characters.

This is an episode that really revels in the fantastic cast it has to offer. While Gatiss' script is as witty and fast-paced as ever, each of Sherlock's friends is allowed their moment in the limelight. Lestrade's hugging of Sherlock upon his return, Molly showing off her Benedictine new boyfriend, even the previously repellent Anderson has been rehabilitated as a washed-up conspiracy theorist. This reviewer's favourite touches were Molly playing John for a day and the joyous joke of Mycroft being subjected to a night at Les Miserables with his and Sherlock's parents (who in a brilliant in-joke are played by Cumberbatch's real-life mum and dad, Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton)! In an episode written by one of them, it is perhaps expected that there is some great material on show here for the Holmes brothers. Echoing back to Mycroft's scolding of Sherlock's social inexperience in 'A Scandal in Belgravia', Sherlock gets the upper hand here by showing he is now the sibling with the social skills. 'I'm not lonely,' Mycroft says. 'How would you know?' Sherlock replies. The Great Detective has come a long way from his sociopathic status in 'A Study in Pink.'

However, the real content of 'The Empty Hearse' is the relationship between Sherlock and John and how it is not only strained by Sherlock's two-year long disappearance but also Watson's fiancée, Mary Morstan. Amanda Abbington is a excellent addition to the cast, as Martin Freeman's actual partner, she is utterly believable as the one person who might be more important to John than Sherlock. There is much fun to be had in Sherlock's reaction and relationship with Mary, while she seems to take a shine to him immediately, he has a begrudging respect for her, as if understanding he now has a rival for John's affections. Platonically speaking, of course. By the end, though, the detecting duo are back in business. Although both are changed men, the game is back on - although it seems someone else is laying down the rules...

Overall, 'The Empty Hearse' a triumphant return for Sherlock and his gang. With an increased sense of humour and dedication to its characters, the series now seems to have a bigger heart than before to run alongside the breathtaking mysteries. With an increased sense of duty to its characters as it develops its own life away from Doyle, Sherlock is back and has proven itself still at the top of television. That's the real revelation of this episode.


Five favourite Sherlockian references:

• The villain of the piece, Lord Moran, is drawn from two Conan Doyle sources. He is named after Colonel Sebastian Moran, Moriarty's right-hand man who attempts to murder Sherlock in 'The Empty House.' Moran is called the biggest of Sherlock's markers or 'rats.' Coupled with the fact that his terrorist plot takes place in Sumatra Road tube station, this is a reference to the most-famous untold case in the canon, 'The Giant Rat of Sumatra.' 
• It turns out that in the past two years, Sherlock has been travelling the world, breaking down Moriarty's criminal network. As Mycroft says, in Serbia Sherlock faced Baron Maupertius, a never-seen villain in Conan Doyle's stories who actually featured in Andrew Lang's Young Sherlock Holmes novel Death Cloud. 
• The coded text that the villain who stuck John in a bonfire sends Mary, including the lines 'Saint or Sinner? James of John?', is also a sly nod to the original stories. In 'The Man with the Twisted Lip', Mary calls her husband 'James' rather than John. Bless, Conan Doyle - continuity was never his strong point. 
• Hidden away in the story is actually a very short adaptation of the Doyle adventure 'A Case of Identity.' When a woman comes to Sherlock about the disappearance of her online boyfriend, he quickly deduces the boyfriend to in fact be her step-father - very much like the plot of the original.
• The missing train that disappears during a tube journey is based on non-canon mystery 'The Lost Special' by Arthur Conan Doyle which sees a private train go missing on its way to London. The story does not categorically feature Sherlock but instead an unnamed 'expert' on such matters solves the case...

As Sherlock returns, Doctor Who bids farewell to its 50th anniversary year. Read my reflection on Who's golden birthday here!

Doctor Who's Greatest Moments - Part Five: The 10s (So Far)

In 2010, The Doctor regenerated. Usually on such occasions, viewers are eased through the change in the knowledge that even with a new Doctor, they are watching the same show. However, this time, Doctor Who  itself regenerated. In as big a change as when the show returned to TV screens five years previously, it had an entirely fresh cast, headed by rising stars Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, and a all-new production team, led by newly-appointed head writer Steven Moffat. Anyone expecting this new incarnation of the show to continue on with Russell T Davies' Earth-rooted, often-angsty, 'proper drama' approach was in for a shock; Doctor Who was once again proud of its sci-fi status, with the stories becoming increasingly fantastical, and also its own history. The First Doctor's image can be seen a number of seven times in Series 5 alone, fact fans. In short, the Doctor Who of the 2010s (so far) has been 100% Doctor Who featuring some of the strongest characters and stories the show has ever seen. And, of course, some of its greatest moments...

10.Goodbye Idris - The Doctor's Wife

Regular readers of this blog will know of my love for Neil Gaiman's The Doctor's Wife so it was bound to feature in here somewhere. The most affecting scene of the episode comes at its close when Idris, the Doctor's TARDIS trapped in a human body (yes, you read that right), is dying. This scene could have easily been over-egged but Idris' last words paired with Matt Smith breaking down get this blogger every time. 'Hello Doctor, it was so very nice to meet you.' Oh, here I go again....

9. Which day would you choose? - A Christmas Carol

As if you needed more evidence that 2010s Who could do sad well no.9 goes to a touching scene from the triumphant 'A Christmas Carol'. Miserly Kazran Sardick has been keeping his dying love frozen in a box for decades, never releasing her knowing that they can spend but one more day together. This scene, and the episode as a whole, perfectly capture that Christmas sentimentality that you find in festive films such as It's a Wonderful Life, making this Who's finest Christmas special. Along with the scene above (although she was the TARDIS), this moment proves that Doctor Who even creates supporting one-off characters that break our hearts.

8. River's reveal - A Good Man Goes To War

However, this era of the show is far from just about sobbing, on the contrary, it has become known for its timey-wimey plotting - and it doesn't come any timeier-wimier than the story of River Song. Finally, after the unsuccessful Battle of Demons Run, Amy and Rory (not to mention us) find out who the mysterious Dr Song is; Melody Pond, their daughter. It's a fantastic reveal, being one of those 'spanner-in-the-works' moments that Doctor Who (and particularly this version of it) can do so well. The moment of River's reveal perfectly captures the sense of the roller coaster that watching Doctor Who is; you might not know where it'll take you but you know it's going to be one hell of a ride.

7. Clara was born to save the Doctor - The Name of the Doctor

As mentioned above, 2010s Who is very aware of its past, with references to all eras of the show appearing all over the shop. This reached its pinnacle in the opening few minutes of the Series 7 finale when the Doctor's companion, Clara, was seen bumping into every Doctor. Including, most excitingly, the First Doctor on Gallifrey at the very moment he ran away to see the stars. The contemporary series is the only incarnation of the show that would ever do something as audacious as literally delving into its own history in such a way and also putting on screen such a significant part of the Doctor's origins. Moments like this encourage us to remember that Doctor Who isn't just a television series that we like watching on Saturday teatimes, it's a continuing legend that's been running for half a century.

6. The Pandorica speech - The Pandorica Opens

The Eleventh Doctor is good at speeches. And, at Stonehenge, in front of a legion of Romans, he delivered a belter. Every villain or monster he has ever faced has gathered in the skies for the Pandorica, an ancient mythical prison buried beneath the Henge. To stop all out war breaking out, the Doctor reminds them who is guarding it. 'Remember every black day I ever stopped you,' he says. 'And then - AND THEN - do the smart thing - let somebody else try first.' It's a bravura scene showcasing the fear the Doctor distills in his enemies, something not too well-explored at this point but has since become a running plot point (it was why he wiped his name from the universe, after all). Making the assembled horrors of the universe run away; the Eleventh Doctor is definitely good at speeches.

5. Lake Silencio - The Impossible Astronaut

Once upon a time, Doctor Who season openers would feature babies made of fat or fun, frothy stories about body-swapping. Not anymore. Ten minutes into Series 6, millions of viewers were gobsmacked when, at a picnic in Utah, an impossible astronaut rose from the lake and killed the Doctor, stone dead. With out any breathing room, this shock plunges you into the heady mix of intrigue, questions and twists that is Series 6 with terrific assuredness and a true cinematic feel thanks to the overseas filming. Doctor Who nowadays doesn't just expect you to be in the room when its on, it wants you to be glued to the screen.

4. Touched by an Angel - The Angels Take Manhattan

The longest-running companions of the post-2005 series, Amy and Rory, bowed out from the show when, after an exhausting adventure with the Weeping Angels, they met a solitary angel in a graveyard who sent them back in time. Amy's heartbreak at losing her husband, meaning she is willing to leave behind all of time and space, and her best friend to be reunited with him, answers the big question of their relationship since their introduction; Amy really does love Rory as much as he loves her. Particularly due to the performances of Matt Smith and Karen Gillan (for my money, the greatest Doctor-companion pairing we've ever seen) this is one of the saddest companion exits.

3. 'A pile of good things and bad things' - Vincent and the Doctor

As already seen, as well as the big attention-grabbing moments, the series can still do quiet reflections better than anybody. After revealing to Vincent Van Gogh that he will be adored, Amy returns to her time hoping to find that they saved Van Gogh from killing himself. At finding out otherwise, Amy breaks down but the Doctor reminds her that they did do some good. 'Every life is a pile of good things and bad things,' he tells her. 'The good things don't often soften the bad things, but vice versa the bad things don't always spoil the bad things or make them unimportant.' Written by the versatile Richard Curtis, this episode deals with a troubled lonely man rather than alien invasions and in this moment talks philosophically about life in a way that would not alienate children.They say Doctor Who is a kid's show yet I guarantee very few post-watershed shows would feature a moment quite as mature as this one.

2. 'Raggedy Man, Goodnight' - The Time of the Doctor

Granted a new regeneration cycle by the Time Lords, the Eleventh (or should that be Thirteenth?) Doctor is dying. But before he goes, he has time to reflect on the nature of change. 'We're all different people all through our lives,' says the Doctor. 'And that's OK... so long as you remember all the people you used to be...' Now this one was always going to be tear-jerking but Steven Moffat really pulls out all the stops to make sure we're blubbing all the way through our mince pies. The Doctor's brave speech of acceptance PLUS the dream of Amelia telling him goodnight PLUS the bow tie dropping to the floor are all sad individually but put together and topped off with Matt Smith crying (surely no sadder sight exists) produce possibly the most heart-rendering regeneration that would make even a Cyberman weep. Yet in a flash, a silver-haired man is making you laugh by talking about kidneys. That's Doctor Who.

1. The Doctors Save Gallifrey - The Day of the Doctor

Many moments from the past four years could have made number one. The reunion of Rory with an older Amy in 'The Girl Who Waited'? The hilarity of the mismatched Doctor and Craig from 'The Lodger'? The Doctor's tale of the TARDIS at Amelia's bedside in 'The Big Bang'? However, the top spot had to go to this scene from the spectacular 50th anniversary special from last month; what could be better than all the Doctor's working together to save the most important day in all of their lives?

To save himself from destroying Gallifrey, all twelve of the Doctor's incarnations (no, all thirteen!) team up to save his home world from the might of the Daleks and shunt it into another universe. With all of his guilt relieved, the Doctor has a new goal. He is not running away from Gallifrey, as before, but running towards it. A celebration of fifty years of Doctor Who, intervening into its own past, taking the show in a brand new direction as well as carrying an emotional weight, this scene literally has it all.

Just like the moments in 60s Doctor Who inspired Steven Moffat and Russel T Davies to grow up and write for the show, maybe this moment and the preceding nine will enthuse a whole new generation of fans. Doctor Who is the reason for its own longevity simply because, although it constantly changes, as this series of posts show, in whatever incarnation it is in, Doctor Who is always supreme television delivering moments of drama, pathos and, most importantly, fun. And as long as its keeps on doing that, there's no reason it should stop.

Review: Doctor Who - The Time of the Doctor

It's Boxing Day (at least for us here in the UK) so all of you at home are most probably still full from the previous day's celebrations; full on food, drink - but also writhing emotion as this Christmas Day, the Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, took his final bow in a climactic battle that saw all his enemies attack. You know what, I'll let Clara explain...

'Now it's time for one last bow, like all your other selves. Eleven's hour is over now, the clock is striking Twelve's.'

Like a Christmas dinner piled high, there were ingredients aplenty to this very special episode, with a trio of main areas to cover. Firstly, it had to act as frothy, Christmassy entertainment to satisfy the festive folks at home, secondly, it had to tie up all the ongoing plot lines of Matt Smith's tenure - and there were many - while also, and this is the thirdly, delivering enough emotion to serve as a fitting farewell for Doctor Eleven. His final hour was certainly packed, so did it make the most of ‘The Time of the Doctor’?

As for balancing Christmas with continuity, while there is some fun early on with Clara’s timey-wimey turkey and Handles the friendly Cyberhead, festivities largely fall by the wayside when, ironically, the Doctor treks to Trenzalore, taking up residence in a town called Christmas to stop the amassed evil of the universe from restarting the Time War. There’s cracks in time, every alien from Silents to Weeping Angels, the first question and so much more that would leave a casual viewer scratching their heads so much they resemble a shaved Matt Smith.

In actual fact, it’s a little too crammed with ideas to make for a perfect Doctor Who episode. Some of the time it sagged under the weight of all the plot threads, certain ideas such as Matt Smith's Doctor being the last and the inclusion of the Time Lords were not given enough room to make suitable impact. Likewise, the ageing of the Doctor sadly meant less of Matt Smith's physicality which has been such a large reason his incarnation is so beloved. However, most of the episode’s faults could easily have been fixed with a tad more running time – although maybe that’s just me being indulgent after the movie-length ‘The Day of the Doctor’? 

The high point of this episode truly is the final scene, Matt Smith's last as the Doctor. If the rest of the episode has a problem with heart then the reason could be that it's all been squeezed into the last ten minutes. The Doctor approaches his change with optimism to counter the heartbreak and there’s some touching talk of the necessity of change. Staying on the right side of sentimental, the Eleventh Doctor’s regeneration joins the long list of sad farewell scenes in modern Doctor Who, lifted beyond the norm by Matt Smith’s effortlessly endearing, emotive performance that he has delivered every episode for the past four years as the Doctor. Yes, Matt Smith, we will always remember when the Doctor was you.

Despite its problems (and who can blame a bit of overfeeding on Christmas Day), ‘The Time of the Doctor’ was a truly eventful episode that gave us answers to long-asked questions and, most importantly, a tearful goodbye to the latest, greatest Time Lord. The ground is now clear for Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor to start a brand new golden age of Doctor Who. The eleventh hour has ended and it has now turned Twelve. A new day has begun. But what a day yesterday was? With a terrific lead actor and an abundance of intelligence and imagination (ably summarised in this episode), it really was Christmas.