Vampires Of Venice

So last week's cliffhanger was a tease. If Amy jumped the Doctor it was only so Moffat could bring his boot down heavily on that whole will-they-won't-they thing.  It also marked a decisive break with the RTD years. The new Doctor is cured of Rose. He's no longer a lonely angel trawling the galaxies for romance. That characterisation- first mooted in the dreadful Paul McGann movie-  is a lay-by that has been left behind.  We're back on the open road and the wind's in our hair. Smith's Doctor is closer to Troughton's, Baker's, Davidson's and McCoy's than it is to Tennant's.

I suspect most hardcore fans will be pleased about this. Me too. The Doctor needed to get over himself.  That emo stuff was starting to be tired. All the same I do think, for a while there, the hurtness and neediness gave the character- and the stories-  a depth they now lack.  Matt Smith is jolly good fun, but there's no mystery about him. Where once the Doctor was our dream lover, he's now our mildly autistic history professor.  

Vampires of Venice was bog-standard Who. Alien of the week- earth in danger- lots of running about- Doctor pulls plug on doomsday machine. What made it a little bit special was the art direction. Ah, death in Venice!