{"id":37632,"date":"2023-10-07T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-07T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1899663"},"modified":"2023-10-07T09:48:29","modified_gmt":"2023-10-07T07:48:29","slug":"the-best-doctor-who-episodes-dont-feature-the-doctor-at-all","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/the-best-doctor-who-episodes-dont-feature-the-doctor-at-all\/","title":{"rendered":"The best Doctor Who episodes don\u2019t feature the Doctor at all"},"content":{"rendered":"

That\u2019s right, I\u2019m about to defend Love and Monsters. <\/p>

By Olivia Garrett\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Saturday, 07 October 2023 at 07:00 AM<\/p>

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Doctor Who came back on our screens for a second season in 2006 to much fanfare. With a fresh-faced new Doctor, terrifying classic villains, and series royalty returning, it seemed as if the show could do no wrong. However, it was with one specific episode that \u201cit all went mad\u201d.<\/p>\n

For some reason out of all the wild schemes, sci-fi melodrama, and nurse cat nuns of season two, people seem to pinpoint Love and Monsters<\/a> as just too crazy.<\/p>\n

Whether that\u2019s due to the Scooby Doo-style opening, the Northern villain with exc-zema (played by Peter Kay), or the, um, implications that come with Ursula (Shirley Henderson) ending up as a paving slab, I don\u2019t know. But for far too long this episode has been considered a blot on an otherwise faultless season.<\/p>\n

The thing is though, Love and Monsters is actually one of the most grounded episodes of them all. Through Elton Pope (Marc Warren), LINDA, and Jackie Tyler (Camille Coduri) we get a perfect blend of sci-fi madness and kitchen sink drama \u2013 one where he even literally ends up working under the sink.<\/p>\n

The episode is based around Elton Pope, a man whose \u201cperfectly normal life\u201d gets disrupted by repeated encounters with alien lifeforms. In the first five minutes we get a quick flashback sequence of the last two seasons told through Elton\u2019s perspective, which shows him and the rest of London being impacted by the arrival of Autons, Slitheen and The Sycorax.<\/p>

In this short sequence, we instantly get to the crux of what makes this episode so vital. First, it completely supports the continuity of the last two seasons and helps to build a world beyond the walls of the TARDIS that remains throughout Russell T Davies\u2019s era.<\/p>\n

Second, arguably for the first time in the show\u2019s history, we leave the bubble of the Doctor\u2019s world and get see the effect these events have on real human beings. Doing what so many disaster movies and Avengers films fail to do, this episode actually stops and shows that the Doctor and the aliens leave a path of hurt for those \u201cleft behind\u201d.<\/p>\n

This message is only made stronger by the performance of Coduri as Rose\u2019s too-often jilted Mum. Through her, we get to see Doctor Who<\/a> as more than just a fun sci-fi romp, but a true human-led drama, with family bonds at the centre. Also\u2026 she really rocks a mini skirt.<\/p>\n

Love and Monsters also has a very important legacy, as it launched a new breed of episode where we didn\u2019t need The Doctor at all. These episodes are now known as \u201cDoctor Lite,\u201d a term that was adopted after Steven Moffatt called Blink \u201cthe cheap, no CGI, Doctor-lite episode\u201d in an interview with Doctor Who Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Welcome to 60 Days of Doctor Who, RadioTimes.com\u2019s ultimate celebration of all things Who as the show gears up for its 60th anniversary. We\u2019ll be bringing you 60 days of exclusive Doctor Who content, from interviews and newsletter takeovers with the show\u2019s stars to the hottest takes from our team of Doctor Who superfans. Stay tuned!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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$\"David$ <\/div>

BBC Studios<\/figcaption><\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/section>

According to Moffat, these episodes and their sister \u201ccompanion-lite\u201d stories were \u201cpurely a scheduling issue\u201d that came as a result of such a long and expensive shoot. But whatever the reason, these episodes prove one simple thing: that Doctor Who always flourishes under its limitations.<\/p>\n

Blink, Turn Left<\/a>, The Girl Who Waited<\/a> and Flatline<\/a>. All of these Doctor-lite stories are highlights of the seasons they appear in. Though they vary in plot, location, and tone, they all have two things in common: one, they feature the Doctor stuck or just wandering somewhere else, and two, they\u2019re massively tense.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a reason why no Weeping Angel episode has ever matched the terror of Blink, and it\u2019s not just because we\u2019re forced to see the angels move in Flesh and Stone<\/a> \u2013 I mean seriously, why did they do that? But it\u2019s because we don\u2019t have the comfort blanket of The Doctor.<\/p>\n

That brief glow of safety we get when Sally and Laurence talk to The Doctor on the DVD turns to sheer terror when it ends. Even worse is when the protagonists finally get into the TARDIS, only for the walls to start disappearing around them.<\/p>\n

\"Blink