Doctor Who Series 4 Episode 6 - The Doctor's Daughter

By the time young, teenage Doctor Who fans had wiped away the stickiness from their television screens, thrown away those tissues and unlocked their bedroom doors, we had witnessed a momentous occasion in Doctor Who.

Georgia Moffett, the real life daughter of Peter Davison, plays ‘The Doctor’s Daughter’. Picking up right off from last week, The Doctor’s severed hand is the reason they land on the planet Messaline. We learn later that it had locked on to Jenny’s DNA, much later from when they arrived. Confusing? You bet!

You are in either two camps with this episode. You either love it or hate it! Personally I think its okay, I neither love it nor hate it (I’m awkward that way)! There where some great moments. The Hath where brilliantly done, Donna (again), Martha and Tennant, especially, have easily justified RTD’s casting abilities.

But it was Ms Moffet that really impressed. She is most notable for playing the tearaway daughter of Insp. Sam Nixon in The Bill and daughter of Ozias Harding (or Coronation Street’s serial murderer ‘Tricky Dicky’ - Richard Hillman, if you prefer) in ‘Where The Heart Is’. So I suppose playing The Doctor’s daughter was a stroll in the park!

But wasn’t she good? As the episode went on she grew more and more into the role. I don’t know what the future holds but I’m sure she’ll be back. Before anyone even attempts to ask, no she isn’t the mother of Susan! As she was ‘born’ as a result of the actions of Tenth Doctor, the first Doctor wouldn’t know anything about it.

The episode itself was done well. I suppose it could be confusing if you haven’t seen much of Doctor Who. All this ‘timey-wimey’ nonsense! The planet holds two factions of people. Humans (again!) and fish-humanoids called ‘The Hath’. Both these factions had been at war for generations, in search of the ‘source’, which would give them control of the planet.

Unknown to them of course, they had only been at war for a week. The heavy dead count and a readily available cloning machine, meant that everyone barely survived 12 hours. Credit must go to guest star Nigel Terry as Cobb, the leader of the humans, for a great star turn.

As Magnificent Martha catches up with D+D and Jenny, they smash the ‘source’, which turns out to be a device to make the climate on the surface of the planet, breathable. But as Cobb thinks he has the last word by shooting Jenny, its David Tennant who shows precisely why he is considered to be one of our best talents. His emotional speech was perfectly delivered, I suppose Stephen Greenhorn (the writer) deserves some praise too!

So as this series keeps up this consistent run, I’m excited! I’m sure the future of Jenny, who sort-of regenerated just after The Doctor left, has already been planned by RTD.

8/10

Next Week – Donna, a working class London girl, pretends she reads Agatha Christie novels and watches those boring murder mysteries on ITV!

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