It says something for the standard of expectation created by the 2nd series that some weren’t looking forward to the opening episode. This comes despite an environment of jaw dropping special effects and the return of the best female villainess the series has ever seen.

Indeed, this attitude seems to have extended to the production team who considered re-shooting scenes so that Tooth and Claw would be the season opener. This is probably a reflection on the quality of the rest of the series rather than on New Earth.

The reason for this story is probably to show off the new Doctor, despite his entrance at the end of The Christmas Invasion. Therefore, we get to see him being heroic, with his Bond like sequence down the lift shaft and curing all the patients from the quarantine area of New Earth.

Billie Piper has something different to do given her transformation into Cassandra. Therefore, we don’t get to see that much of Rose for this episode. However Piper is as are strong as we’re used to from the lead actress of the series, whether she’s expressing her delight at New Earth or her villain turn as Cassandra.

The strongest performances though come from Sean Gallagher as Chip and Zoe Wannamaker. Wannamaker is there for one day, but Cassandra’s presence is felt throughout the script. Gallagher takes on one of the most difficult roles the series has ever presented as a half designed and functioning human who creates his own destiny and life with one of the most perfectly structured endings that the series has ever had. Gallagher and Wannamaker play the final scene with very honest emotion.

Like most classic Doctor Who stories, the influences have been nicked with the scenes in the quarantine area looking like something out of The Matrix, while the physicality and make up of the ‘flesh’ looks like Night of the Living Dead. Like all the classic parodying of stories, Doctor Who’s version has its own unique identity.

The design of the hospital is terribly creepy and smart, James Hawes’ direction is tight and likely to terrify the kids watch, while the CGI work on the exterior of the hospital and on Cassandra in her skin form is arguably better than the effects seen in The End of the World.

However, there are problems with the episode. I’m reluctant to criticise the cat nuns given the stunning prosthetics, but a lot of the performances got lost within the make up, and made it difficult to tell the cat nuns apart. Even now, having watched the episode countless times, I can’t tell whether it’s the Sister or the Matron who falls down the lift shaft.

My other problem lies in the plot holes within the script. The first been, if the Face of Boe’s message. Why ask for the Doctor, if you’re not going to tell the secret or why not send the message on the psychic paper. There’s a moment when the Doctor realises that he has to fight Clovis in Ward 26, but the Doctor’s only problem is the ‘flesh’. Also, how does Chip get from the cellar to intensive care.

Despite the flaws, the sequence with the Face of Boe is tantalising. It might be a recurring storyline in Series 3 because of the enigmatic way that scene is played.

In the last series, the previews were built into the episode as a last minute thing to boost the running time. They weren’t ambitious, but that can’t be applied to Tooth and Claw, the first preview of the season. Specially built in to lure us without giving too much away.

While everyone might not have been looking forward to New Earth, we can look forward to the rest of the season safe in the knowledge that if it’s better than this, then we are in for an absolute treat

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