Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder: Review

The second of the 60th anniversary Doctor Who specials leans heavily on the show's sense of mystery with moments evoking the earlier Tenth Doctor episode, Midnight.

After the end of the Star Beast which saw Donna hurling coffee on the TARDIS and it careering off to who-knows-where for them, the second special was something of a mystery for fans, with writer Russell T Davies revealing next to nothing about it.

Following a random opening, the action shifts to a spaceship of unknown origin and with the TARDIS disappearing due to the possibility of a threat onboard, leaving the Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna (Catherine Tate) stranded.

With no means of escape and no clue what's going on, the pair must discover a way out before it's too late.

Wild Blue Yonder works strongly as a character piece with Davies' writing and way of getting to the heart of people's fears coming headily out in a trippy affair that grows increasingly sinister as it continues.

But it's nothing without a tour de force performance from Tennant and Tate, who readily pull out all the stops as doppelgangers. Sure, Wild Blue Yonder may play at themes already seen in the likes of Us, Midnight and The Rebel Flesh, but thanks to some truly nightmare fuel from inventive CGI, the episode feels fresh in its execution, and unsettling in its on-screen imagery.

There are some truly heartstopping moments within, one involving Tate's Donna, but the episode hangs together because of the interplay and relationship between Tennant and Tate. In among the high production values, there's a sense of the show never really losing sight of what makes it tick - moments that stand together from characters you care about.

Granted, there will be some who bristle at the mention of the Timeless Child and the Flux, but once again Tennant gets to embody the true horror of the Time Lord - witnessing so much and being able to do so little about it sometimes. Rarely has he been better in the role, and the feeling that the Fourteenth Doctor has seen so much still burns brightly within Tennant's darker performance.

Ultimately, Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder is the show at its best - a creepy trapped inside a base story with a monster that lies within - and that's what makes it unmissable even in its 60th year.