TV REVIEW: Doctor Who - The Crimson Horror

Lots of planets have a North, they told us several series ago, way back in the days when Christopher Eccleston carried the sonic screwdriver. And if lots of planets have a ‘North’, so too must this one. And it certainly does, as Matt Smith’s Doctor proved this week in ‘The Crimson Horror’, a Mark Gatiss penned episode that sent him up, as it were, to a Victorian factory in Yorkshire.

I’m not usually a fan of my home regions being referred to as “The North”, with implied capital letters and italics suggesting something other, and foreign to the cultural norm, but I found it surprisingly pleasingly to bear here, enjoyable, even.  Having heard about the rapid, and distinctly odd disappearance of most employees of Mrs Gillyflower’s (Diana Rigg) match factory, Sweetville, with several corpses discovered stained a bizarre and ominous crimson colour, The Doctor (Matt Smith) and my fellow northerner, Clara (Jenna Louise Coleman), naturally set out to investigate.  Soon lost to the darker side of the factory themselves, our heroes are joined by old friends Madam Vastra (Neve McIntosh’s) a green lizard woman for those unaware, her wife, Jenny (Catrin Stewart), and  Straxx (Dan Starkey), a battle hungry Sontaran. Mind you aren’t they all? Together they must work out what on earth* is going on at the factory- namely, why do people not come out alive and when they do come out at all they’ve turned red, and who, or rather what, is Mrs Gillyflower’s silent partner, Mr Sweet?

Well-paced and cleverly written, this episode contained much of what has been lacking from the show of late- some truly stand out moments. The ones which, when done well, are later preceded by ‘oh and that bit when…’ in pub conversations up and down the land. Gatiss certainly brought plenty of these to the table. Franken-Doctor (you’ll know what I mean if you’ve seen it), ‘attack of the supermodels’, Matt Smith’s Yorkshire accent and Jenny battling said supermodels in that costume were all particularly worthy of this accolade. Some will have loved the tom-tom joke, some will have hated it, but it certainly stood out too- and creating memorable moments, monsters, characters and even planets is something which has always been important to the world of Doctor Who. With plenty of these to hang your fez on, this was a very tidy and complete episode.

Whilst The Doctor and Clara continue to go from strength to strength as a partnership, it was good to see some old faces. Clever with just enough of a sense of fun, the sharp tongued Madam Vastra and slightly saucy Jenny are always a joy. So too is Strax who, funnily enough given he’s arguably the most alien looking out of the lot of them, gave the episode an oddly human edge, with his, to him, at least, common sense attitudes and sense of sheer confusion at some of the goings on providing a window for the audience. Which isn’t a bad achievement for a sci-fi show, if you ask me.

This was certainly one of the better episodes in recent months, if not the best. Which, naturally, makes it very hard to top. Becky will tell you how next week goes so keep your eyes peeled.

*every time!!

Jen

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