This week, I expected something to go wrong. Every single bit of this story looked good, the casting of Pauline Collins, the CG werewolf and the promise of the Victorian setting, something that Doctor Who always did so well, so the old cynic in me was expecting something to go wrong.

Suffice to say, this is one of the most perfect Doctor Who stories ever made. In the previous series, the editing of episodes 2 and 3 had the best pre-title sequences, so it’s no surprise that we have one of the best starts in Doctor Who history with the kung fu monks taking over the Torchwood Estate.

There are sublime performances from pretty much the entire cast. Pauline Collins is perfect as the Queen Victoria written in the script, while Derek Riddell is great as the heroic man of the estate who had the right emotional pitch to gain the sympathy of the audience. David Tennant and Billie Piper look suitably relaxed in their roles.

There are some sublime moments in the story which are worth special attention. The transformation from the host to the werewolf is one of the best ever done in story telling history. The pain recalls that suffered by David Naughton in An American Werewolf in London and it’s a brilliantly realised transformation.

Other worthwhile things mentioning is the werewolf itself. Apparently there’s a huge debate as to whether the werewolf should have been computer generated or a series of prosthetic effects. It’s ultimately the CG werewolf that won out, but it’s to the credit of The Mill that the first time that I saw the werewolf, I didn’t actually believe it’s was a computer generated, which is the ultimate sign of special effects working. It looks wonderful and mangy, it’s arguably the coolest Doctor Who monster.

It’s also down to the direction, editing and the quality of the werewolf that it’s in very few of the actual shots have the werewolf in them but it stalks the entire episode and gives it a very visible presence.

The suspense of the chase sequences are pretty brilliant considering that some of them involve a older actress. It’s the handheld camera work and the music that gives the suspense.

When the death scenes come, they’re fairly memorable. The shock when the Steward gets taken away by the werewolf would probably make most of the audience jump. The deaths of Captain Reynolds and Sir Robert give us the violence without showing any real violence.

The endings are brilliant. We have the death of the werewolf which comes as a good ending, and then the surprise that after both the Doctor and Rose have been banished following their knighthoods. We get the reaction from the Doctor and Rose when they think that the royal family are all werewolf’s along with Queen Victoria setting up one of the series long running plots.

Overall, I have absolutely nothing negative to say about this episode. I’m not sure that the rest of the series will ever cope with the high standards that this episodes has set.

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