For me, the single most impressive dramatic programme of 2008 was this episode of the fourth season of 'Doctor Who', written by Russell T.Davies. It showed if nothing else he had not lost his touch despite appearances to the contrary the week before with the appalling 'Midnight'. As was the case with Season 2's 'Love & Monsters' and Season 3's 'Blink', the Doctor himself is barely on screen. A fortune teller ( Chipo Chung ) reminds Donna about the day she made the most important decision in her life - by turning left in her car, she was able to take on a new job, meet and fall in love, and was set to marry when she was unexpectedly snatched from the altar and wound up on the Tardis. But what if she had turned right? What if she had never met the Doctor and was not able to save him from the Empress of the Racnoss? Donna is shown an alternative time-line. Witnessing an ambulance taking away the Doctor's corpse, she meets a mysterious young woman - whom we know to be Rose Tyler ( Billie Piper ) - and who seems to know an awful lot about the future. Everyone Donna meets asks: "What's that on your back?".
This must have been hellishly difficult to write ( even if Davies did pen the originals! ) because of all the continuity references involved. Because the Doctor is dead, for instance, he is not able to stop the 'Titanic' spaceship from crashing into Buckingham Palace, and flooding the south-east of England with radiation. A World War Two parallel crops up as Donna and her family ( including the magnificent Bernard Cribbins as 'Wilf' ) are evacuated to Leeds, and move in with Rocco Colasanto ( Joseph Long ) who makes them live in his kitchen. No help comes from America as its citizens have been killed by the Adipose ( of all things ), and Rocco is eventually sent to a special work camp. Rose tells her that 'The Darkness' is coming, and that every universe is threatened. Donna has it within her to change history. U.N.I.T. have managed to harness some of the Tardis' power, so back goes Donna to force her past self to change direction...
Though hyped at the time as the long awaited return of Billie Piper's 'Rose', this is Catherine Tate's finest hour as 'Donna'. She is simply brilliant. By contrast, Piper seemed strangely wooden ( she did not even look fazed when told the man she loved was dead ), as though playing a hooker on Channel 4 had ( forgive the cheap sexual metaphor ) drained her of energy. Cribbins and Jacqueline King both profited from their extended screen time. Like the previous season's 'Utopia', the main purpose of 'Turn Left' was to set up the series' finale. It did that alright ( the Doctor seeing 'Bad Wolf' written everywhere - including the Tardis - was a stunner ), but worked very well as a stand-alone piece of drama. Shame about the plastic, time-eating beetle though!
This must have been hellishly difficult to write ( even if Davies did pen the originals! ) because of all the continuity references involved. Because the Doctor is dead, for instance, he is not able to stop the 'Titanic' spaceship from crashing into Buckingham Palace, and flooding the south-east of England with radiation. A World War Two parallel crops up as Donna and her family ( including the magnificent Bernard Cribbins as 'Wilf' ) are evacuated to Leeds, and move in with Rocco Colasanto ( Joseph Long ) who makes them live in his kitchen. No help comes from America as its citizens have been killed by the Adipose ( of all things ), and Rocco is eventually sent to a special work camp. Rose tells her that 'The Darkness' is coming, and that every universe is threatened. Donna has it within her to change history. U.N.I.T. have managed to harness some of the Tardis' power, so back goes Donna to force her past self to change direction...
Though hyped at the time as the long awaited return of Billie Piper's 'Rose', this is Catherine Tate's finest hour as 'Donna'. She is simply brilliant. By contrast, Piper seemed strangely wooden ( she did not even look fazed when told the man she loved was dead ), as though playing a hooker on Channel 4 had ( forgive the cheap sexual metaphor ) drained her of energy. Cribbins and Jacqueline King both profited from their extended screen time. Like the previous season's 'Utopia', the main purpose of 'Turn Left' was to set up the series' finale. It did that alright ( the Doctor seeing 'Bad Wolf' written everywhere - including the Tardis - was a stunner ), but worked very well as a stand-alone piece of drama. Shame about the plastic, time-eating beetle though!