angelophile | Aliens of London

After the sublime delight that was Mark Gattiss' "The Unquiet Dead" it's back to Earth (literally) with a bang with the Russell T Davies penned two parter.

The premise is a good one ... The Doctor has agreed to take Rose back home and assures her that she will return a mere twelve hours after she left. Unfortunately after missing the mark again, Rose is returned not twelve hours after she left but twelve months.

The episode featured a lot of emotional drama, frank exchanges and even had the Doctor warning Rose not to defile the TARDIS with domestic issues. He "doesn't do domestic" apparently. Bringing us back to the world of Rose was a good idea, and you certainly felt the human impact on Rose when she has to face opting out of her own life in a way that clearly had massive consequences for others.

These "domestics" are interrupted by the spectacular crash-landing of a UFO in central London, apparent "first contact" with an alien lifeform and the suspicious disappearance of the Prime Minister just as the crisis hits. It's good to see Navin Chowdhry pop up as the Prime Minister's aide and Penelope Wilton as an MP who gets caught up in the action - both putting in credible performances. Nice too that UNIT gets a nod, even though it's a shame they aren't more central to the story. I even enjoyed the Beatrix Potter moment and Mickey's reappearance after the first episode.

But I'm sorry, this was the weakest episode of the run so far.

The cast is stellar ... the flatulant Slitheen are not. The effects top notch ... until we get men in rubber suits with LITERALLY zips on their foreheads. The first news presenter was so ridiculously over the top, he sounded like he was reading some dramatic ancient prophesy - he sensationalised the space ship in a cringeingly amateur tone of voice such that it was completely unbelievable.

Instead of a race of merciless invading aliens we are treated to alien invaders giggling hysterically like schoolboys after breaking wind to "comic effect". Seriously, did we REALLY need fart jokes? Not just one but a whole swathe of them that overwhelms the rest of the episode. It reduces any impact that an alien invasion might have had to an uncomfortable embarrassment. When you have farting monsters, it makes it kind of easier to understand why a serious film actor like Christopher Eccleston probably decided to walk away from the role - it is hardly going to be one of your glowing achievements on your acting C.V.

However, the first cliffhanger of the series and a promise of a more serious episode next week, hopefully things will improve. The Slitheen do look great, but the blend between CGI and ungainly rubber suits perhaps a little too clumsy. Still, it still wasn't a dreadful episode, just disappointingly obsessed with infantile humour.