The Unquiet Dead

I’m going to start this review – see I just did(!) – by stating that this is probably the most imaginative episode apart from the Steven Moffat two-parter, or series one and this is solely down to Mark Gaitiss thinking outside the box.

Rather than a basic aliens invading concept, Gaitiss creates a story about the people involved, and one which furthers the exploration of the Doctor’s character – really pushing home that this man is an alien and humans do not get any special treatment over others.

Roses reaction to the idea of using dead bodies for the Gelth to take on a form is a brilliant piece of contrast between her and The Doctor. Where for a human it seems wrong as it almost cheapens death and how we view it, to The Doctor its just a way for the Gelth to survive – so rather than let them die he should help them take life.

One of the best - 'Going back in time' moments for the show. 
Unfortunately Gaitiss ignores this idea or wonder for 'Victory' in series 5 and leaves Amy blowing in the wind.
This is also famously one of the worst photos to lead a review in with.

Gaitiss does the whole, humans sharing the Earth politics much better than Chibnall does later in the series 5 Silurian 2-parter. Here it is given to The Doctor to basically say that the remaining Gelth should be allowed to take the bodies and join society, whereas Chibnall creates convoluted politics where basically two-humans of zero significance or political power make promises over ‘dead land’ for Silurians to take over, you know rather than just letting them join society – or you know stay underground but have links to the surface (!).

The twist is of course that the Gelth are in far greater number than they told The Doctor and so pour through the rift and need to take whatever bodies are available including poor Mr Sneed.
This infamously became the subject of criticism from Lawrence Miles who believed that this was a metaphor for Eastern European immigrants. Looking at the episode with that in mind, while I disagree that this was the sentiment, its maybe an easy mistake to make. Although I think of it as that Gaitiss wanted this as the plot, so that's what was done and its unfair to really say this should have been changed just because a few people might take it the wrong way. Especially since its a very original and strong plot point.

The point of this story is for one thing to take place – The Doctor getting it wrong. His trust in the Gelth leads them into some tricky territory, including the death of Gwyneth – who acted as a point of tension between Rose and The Doctor for much of the episode. Its fair to say (I think) that this episodes relationship of Rose and The Doctor is reminiscent of Ace and the Seventh Doctor. It was a tense one, they would argue over how to do things but in the end they were there for one another no matter what really.
This works great for Rose and Nine and is a main part of their relationship, one which will later be commented on in Journey’s End as Ten explains what he used to be:

‘Born in battle, full of blood and anger and revenge. Remind you of someone? That's me when we first met and you made me better.’

Rose while having tried to stop The Doctor from doing what he did and putting Gwyneth in danger knows he never meant what happened to happen, and she knows that both he is sorry and he needs her – she only really guesses how damaged The Doctor is at this moment, and it won’t be until ‘Dalek’ till they really come to horns over his actions and she forces him to really look at himself and how dangerous and out-of-control he is getting.

In searching for an image of The Doctor and Rose arguing I found this.
I'm not sure how effectively it conveys my point though...

Again The Doctor’s brash actions here are much more to do with the Time War than anything else. He caused the death of so many, and the small chance to save the Gelth from it, is for him a reprieve and a way to deal with his guilt. Unfortunately the Gelth have just been using this to their advantage and betray his trust.

Eve Myles kicks off her Doctor Who career with this appearance and plays the part brilliantly. There is an innocence to her character that I don’t think anyone else could play in quite the same way, she is completely believable in her role as this maid in the 19^th century who has these strong religious beliefs. For the more modern world today we look at her almost as Rose does in that The Doctor is using her by letting her believe in these ‘Angels’ yet at the same time these creatures gave her the gifts that she now has and without the more modern literature she has no real understanding or grasp on any science fiction elements we understand today. This leads her to want to please the angels and do there bidding, and at the end of the day – return to her family in heaven.

Her living after death is synonymous with this, and her final sacrifice is beautiful as she has to throw her trust in The Doctor and ‘cast out’ the spirits/angels/Gelth. This is really the start of an idea that will survive most of RTD’s tenure until ‘Journey’s End’ about people sacrificing themselves in The Doctor’s name, and is an on-going element about The Doctor’s character overall and how really he isn’t all that clever and its the characters he meet around him who really save the day and usually surpass his expectations of them.

The Doctor realises she can't be saved, and yet her sacrifice means he can get out and survive.
'I'm sorry...thank you.'
His final words being a mix of regret, but also almost pride in her being brave than him.

Another good point about the episode I have is that this is really the most scary of series 1 – unless of course you find the Dalek's terrifying, which is all preference I suppose. While the dead arn’t the scariest creatures as some of there movement is a bit, well, ‘stiff’. The Gelth however are scary throughout and really freaky every time they appear, even when we expect them to be the good guys.

While I love them, I do think the sudden change to a ‘devil’ is too much to contrast the ‘angel’ Gelth we’d been promised before. I get why its done, just for me it takes the realism out of the equation and it becomes Saturday night TV. Which I suppose is not bad thing, but still its a bit unnecessary for me.

This is the first 'historical persons' episode and to be honest - I just don't see the point. Sure theres a few jokes to be had, but other than that Charles Dickens could have been the local homeless for all he did, there just wasn't a huge amount of characterisation.

Though to be fair its not really until 'Vincent and The Doctor' where we get any in-depth character searches, although Gareth Roberts brilliant 'Unicorn and the Wasp' should get a thumbs up for at least doing something interesting with Agatha Christie.

Instead we just get a famous name to put in the synopsis, and a bit like 'Victory of the Daleks', Gaitiss fails to bring his famous historical characters to life in any real meaningful way.

The best thing about this story is Gaitiss pushes for a powerful conclusion, that really makes sense. Its the first time we have a plot that holds together completely and doesn't spill over into coincidence or just plain plot-holes, and this gets rounded off by the idea of forcing the gas out of the bodies by mixing it with the rest of the air.

This is one of those stories you know has been based completely around this idea, and its achieved wonderfully by Charles having the idea rather than The Doctor.

Then of course Gwyneth lighting the match and blowing them all up. Its wonderfully put together and really lies in science rather than fantasy which we often get in Who.

It should also be noted this is the first mention of 'Bad Wolf' and it works very effectively, using Gwyneth's abilities and connection to the Rift for it to be spoken. I think Bad Wolf goes on a bit underused in much of the rest of the series with it only really appearing on walls or the TARDIS - having it spoken and in such a frightened way works very well indeed and leaves a shiver in the spine.

The episode has some more impressive CGI and overall comes across very big budget.

Overall I'll award this episode a strict 9/10.

It could have gone up a .5 or even to 10, but the episode isn't perfect, and while having a great plot, the failure to really use Dickens in a brilliant and meaningful way hurts it slightly. As does the slight simplicity of the plot.

One thing this and many of the other episodes of Series 1 shows is that while RTD is shaping the series very well, its the writers who have been brought in that really give it the stand out moments. Sadly its not until around series 3 that his non-finale episodes really stand out as 'excellent'.