"You look Time Lord."

Torchwood: The 19th Century is when everything changes

The sex columnist Dan Savage has recently been fronting a campaign to reassure isolated and often depressed queer kids that "it gets better."

I'm very sad to say that there's no getting better in Torchwood: Miracle Day.

Not for the people living in that world, not for the viewers in this one and certainly not for any attempt to offer us even a semblance of respectful story-telling.

As the saying goes, Fool me once, shame on you; fool me nine times, shame on me.

More fool, I.

Clearly determined to never give the suckers an even break, the penultimate entry in the Torchwood: Miracle Day demolition derby thumbs its nose at even the most modest expectations of its viewers.

Snark, sighs and spoilers galore but, I hope, not too much of a synopsis, all at Torchwood: 62 Days Later.

Edited to fix broken (and vital) link. Many thanks to ShinyDinosaur.

Bring on the night (terrors)!

Before I say anything else, I'd like to make it known that, for a wonder, this reviewer liked Mark Gatiss' latest Doctor Who adventure, Night Terrors.

Derivative? Sure.

Cheesy? A little.

Funny? Quite a lot, at times.

And scary? Oh yes, indeed.

Whatever carps one might have about Night Terrors' similarities of plot to episodes like Fear Her, or its monsters' resemblance to those in The Beast Below, The Girl In the Fireplace or the gas-mask kids from The Empty Child, there can be — at least, there should be — no denying that Night Terrors is a well-crafted story, amusing and frightening by turn, that moves briskly along from beginning to end.

After The Doctor's Wife, Night Terrors is easily this reviewer's favourite episode of the 2011.

Not too many spoilers and fewer a lot less than a thousand words for once at Old story for old eyes (and new).