Doctor Who: Series 2 Guide

Series 2 Guide

New Earth: Let's face it: if you had a TARDIS, you'd want to show off, wouldn't you? And that's precisely what the Tenth Doctor does in this story, when he takes Rose all the way to the year five billion and twenty-three. Now that's what we call some serious time travel. Unfortunately, their little visit to "New Earth" is rather ruined by the appearance of their old foe Lady Cassandra, a woman who's had so much plastic surgery she's just a sheet of taut skin (or, as Rose once described her, a "bitchy trampoline"). The Ninth Doctor defeated her the first time round, but can the Tenth follow suit? 

Tooth And Claw: It's easy to forget that David Tennant actually has a strong Scottish accent in real life. But he gets to use it to great effect in this episode, which sees the Doctor going undercover in 19th Century Scotland. Posing as "James McCrimmon" – which was actually the name of one of the Second Doctor's companions – the Time Lord comes to the aid of none other than Queen Victoria, played with aplomb by Pauline Collins (who previously starred in Doctor Who back in 1967). They're up against a rampaging werewolf and a host of other bad guys, and the events here lead to the foundation of the Torchwood Institute. It's a pretty important episode all in all, so make sure you take your usual place at the edge of your seat. 

School Reunion: Younger fans of the series will enjoy this story for what it is: a quintessential goodies versus baddies tale set at a sinister high school. But old school fans will lap up the nostalgia, because it also features some old friends from the classic series: former companion Sarah Jane Smith (who was originally paired with the Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker Doctors) and the iconic robot dog K9. Naturally they're only too happy to help the Tenth Doctor defeat the villains of the piece, but there could be some handbags at the ready when Sarah Jane and Rose meet. Ladies, behave! 

The Girl In The Fireplace: When Doctor Who first started out, back in the Stone Age (we mean that literally – the very first story was about cave men), it was intended to be an educational drama that would teach kids about history. Thankfully, that idea didn't last long – but some episodes still act as veritable bluffer's guides to different historical epochs. Take this episode for example. You'll come away knowing all about Madame de Pompadour – the lover of King Louis XV and "uncrowned Queen of France". But don't worry, in amongst all the learnin' there are clockwork robot killers, portals to the 51st Century, and – whisper it – even a bit of a romance for the Doctor. Shocking! 

Rise Of The Cybermen: No celebration of the Tenth Doctor would be complete without this – the story that first brought the Cybermen back to our screens. But, to clumsily paraphrase Star Trek, "It's the Cybermen, Doc – but not as we know them." Unlike the original Cybermen, which as we all know come from the planet Mondas, these newer models originate on Earth – albeit a parallel universe Earth where even the Doctor feels a little creeped out. These Cybermen are also a heck of a lot scarier than their old school counterparts, perhaps because they don't look as much like extras wrapped in tinfoil. Ah, the wonders of a big BBC budget. 

The Age Of Steel: The second part of the story which began with Rise of the Cybermen, this is undoubtedly one of the most exhilarating episodes in the show's history. Brimming with breathless pursuits and explosive set pieces, it also packs an emotional punch (look out for the tearjerking bit when some of the Cybermen begin to remember their former, human lives). It also features another masterclass in overacting from Roger Lloyd-Pack, who reprises his role as the maddened creator of the Cybermen. Snarling and hissing through every scene, he'll soon make you forget he ever played Trigger in Only Fools. (He also happened to play Barty Crouch Sr in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – alongside a certain Mr David Tennant as his son Barty Jr.) 

The Idiot's Lantern: It may be a super-advanced spacecraft capable of travelling in time and between dimensions, but the Tardis is seriously in need of a Sat-Nav. It's forever winding up in the wrong place, as we see yet again in The Idiot's Lantern. Intending to land in 50s New York (just in tine for an Elvis concert), the Doctor instead materialises in 50s London – where a malevolent energy creature called the Wire has taken control of the TV sets. A dark satire on the popular notion that too much TV rots the mind, the story is wonderfully warped at times – but then it is written by the League of Gentlemen's Mark Gatiss. There's also a whopping big TV in-joke which you won't notice, so we'll tell you now: Florizel Street, where much of the episode is set, was the original working title for Coronation Street. Yes - we do say. 

The Impossible Planet: The Tardis has landed in a wide variety of flabbergasting places over the centuries, but even the Doctor can't quite believe where he's landed in this story. That's because their location shouldn't exist – not according to the laws of physics anyway. The Doctor and Rose are on a planet that is somehow orbiting a black hole – an impossible phenomenon that the Time Lord has never seen before. A sinister and mysterious force is keeping the planet in this inexplicable configuration, and even the Doctor underestimates the nature of the evil at work. It's a sort of gothic horror in space with added entertaining trivia bits – like when the Doctor reveals that Tardises are grown, rather than built. (OK, so this contradicts a Tom Baker story which referred to Tardises being built, but we're sure there's a satisfyingly garbled explanation for this...) 

The Satan Pit: In terms of sheer, unadulterated evil, every baddy ever encountered by the Doctor pales in comparison to the one in this episode. Because this time our plucky, pin-striped Time Lord is up against the Devil himself. Well, that's how things certainly appear in The Satan Pit, which completes the story begun in The Impossible Planet. But is the monster at the heart of the planet really the Devil, or is there a more complex explanation? The Doctor and Rose must draw on all their reserves of courage to see off this terrible foe, and the result is one of the Tenth Doctor's darkest adventures. Old school fans will also enjoy a number of allusions to Third Doctor stories – listen out for references to Draconia (from The Frontier in Space) and Daemos (from The Daemons). 

Love And Monsters: In July 2005, Blue Peter ran a competition inviting kids to design their very own Doctor Who monsters. The judges included David Tennant and series bigwig Russell T Davies, and first prize was to have the winning design "brought to life" as an actual character in the series. Nine-year-old William Grantham won with his "Abzorbaloff", which is the marvellously grotesque star of Love and Monsters – a peculiar episode which hardly features The Doctor at all. It focuses instead on a group of hapless humans who are obsessed with the Time Lord and meet up regularly to exchange stories about him (think of them as a Doctor Who fan club, of sorts). The icing on the cake is the presence of Peter Kay, who delivers the best celebrity guest performance in the series so far. (But will Kylie steal his crown in this year's Christmas special?) 

 

Fear Her: The London Olympics may feel like an age away, but you can get a sneak preview courtesy of the Doctor. Showing off to Rose as usual, he takes her to 2012 to lap up the great spectacle, but naturally enough they get sidetracked – this time by an eerie child who can seemingly transform other kids into colourful, frightening drawings. Co-starring Edna Dore, who once played Frank Butcher's mum on EastEnders, this episode features some of cleverest special effects in the series so far. And we're not just talking about the drawings that come to life. There's also the London Olympic Stadium, which – not having been built yet – was created for the episode by digitally altering footage of the City of Manchester Stadium from the 2002 Commonwealth Games. Clever eh? 

Army Of Ghosts: Freema Agyeman is currently playing the Doctor's assistant Martha Jones. But did you know she originally featured in the series as a completely different character? Here she is in her pre-Martha days, in a titanic story that also introduces us to the Torchwood Institute, set up to keep tabs on alien activity on Earth. But how will they cope when an army of murderous Cybermen arrive to cause havoc? And is time almost up for the Tenth Doctor and Rose? 

Doomsday: It’s bad enough when you've got Cybermen marching all over the place, killing everything. But it's just that little bit worse when you've got a bunch of Daleks to deal with too, as the Tenth Doctor discovers in this concluding part to Army of Ghosts. This is one of the most action-packed stories in the history of the series, but it's also one of the most poignant – as it heralds the end of the relationship between the Doctor and Rose. Still, at least they get to say goodbye while saving the Earth.