Dr Moo It's Christmas in Victorian London and The 10th Doctor shows up there currently companionless which will be important. On arriving he hears a woman screaming for The Doctor but when he gets there he meets what seems to be the product of a future regeneration (complete with a companion named Rosita -- Very subtle, Mr Davies!) but this new Doctor has no memory of anything from before he recently got attacked by Cybermen. This is an interesting idea that RTD wastes no time playing around with.The titular character is, of course, not an incarnation of The Doctor but is in fact a human named Jackson Lake who got attacked by a group of Cybermen and, through an astoundingly unlikely series of events came to believe he was a newly regenerated Doctor. David Morrisey plays the role and does a pretty good job of it too. It allows for a nice role-reversal as David Tennant's Tenth Doctor is relegated to companion to Lake's apparent Doctor and RTD uses this concept to its full potential, taking advantage of the current absence of a companion, and you'll really wish Morrisey could be The Doctor at some point in the future -- although that's pretty much impossible now.The weak point of the episode lands in the tricky balancing act of maintaining Lake's story at the same time as that of the villain, Mercy Hartigan, who is working with the Cybermen to awaken their king that they may conquer the universe. Hartigan is played by Dervla Kirwan who does her best with what she has to work with but sadly her character is wasted. What starts as a cruel and calculated menacing figure when she turns up at a funeral and deadpans that several invitees are to die doesn't take long to descend into pantomime territory as she ends up piloting a giant Cyberman that threatens to crush London.The giant Cyberman is the Cyberking and it is a poorly realised monster. It is effectively an oversized steampunk Cyberman and the production team seem very self-aware of the ridiculousness of it as we only get to see it properly a couple of times as The Doctor's main confrontation with it is actually with its pilot Miss Hartigan. Tennant and Kirwan both deliver a great performance here but the situation is a little daft and it falls to the two actors to make it work. Thankfully they do exactly that with ease and the end result is a very memorable confrontation as the villain is, upon her defeat, ultimately a victim of her own actions but her demise is still very unpleasant, especially for a Christmas Special.This is not quite an excellent episode but still very good and, most importantly for a Christmas Special, lots of fun. Davids Tennant and Morrisey are both excellent together and if you ignore the poor production of the Cyberking at the end you'll find an episode that is extremely creative and manages to pull off a bizarre set of ideas with a surprising level of success. 8/10

dramachat If you were a fan of Tennant before Doctor Who and one of Morrisey before The Walking Dead, then this episode is a dream. As an adversarial pair in Black Pool, these two actors chewed up the scenery and gave an audience something spectacular. In this episode they truly work off that chemistry as eventual allies, and the performance is one based on familiarity and trust. That permeates the episode. RTD gives enough cheek (Rosetta), sentiment (the son) and emotional foreshadowing (the next Doctor) to create a fully satisfying episode. To look back and see The Governor in such a sympathetic role speaks volumes to his talent.As to Tennant - well, if you're a fan, you know his work here, there, and recently on Broad Church speaks for itself. Wonderful episode.

gpeevers The "Next Doctor" while perhaps an adequate episode, is for me the least effective and the least memorable of the "Doctor Who" Christmas specials.The story has a familiar Christmas setting with shades of Dickens, from the Victorian setting to the orphans and the work houses, but it doesn't really seem to have the essence of the Christmas Spirit.The performances overall are OK, David Morrisey is good as the next doctor but David Tennant is a little too subdued in my opinion.The baddies for this episode just aren't inspired, we have seen plenty of Cyberrmen by now and the new Cyber creatures really do look just like guys in suits (harkening back to the classic series). Perhaps the biggest flaw lies in the lead antagonist Miss Hartigan. Her motivations while possibly working well to define the character do very little for the story.As with most of the specials that would make up the following season I really felt the lack of a companion affected the formula and chemistry of the show, there were some strong guest stars who sometimes filled the companion role to a lesser or greater degree but it wasn't enough.The "Next Doctor" seems to have all of the necessary ingredients to create a compelling episode but they just don't add up to what they could have.

invisibleskidmark this is a good episode and i enjoyed it but the dialogue was poor yet again by Russel t Davis and the direction was sloppy at times. this is essentially hard times but with a few twists; instead of a business man it's a cyberking and the setting is Victorian Britain, there's a labour force a lot like hard times and the new doctor is being hunted down by cybermen, a lot like gradgrind Jr. being hunted down by the business man. the performances are exceptional, considering the rushed and badly plotted script. David tenant plays his part to a tee and despite the previous comment it was consistent with his other performances and not over the top. morissey stood out and plays turmoil really well and his character resembles the turmoil of Louisa from hard times.if you like doctor who then this is a good story but if you don't and are just passionate about the art of film then avoid at all costs as this wasn't the serial's best. also in my opinion the best scripts of the series are written by Steven moffat even though some of his plots are flawed.