Guest contributors Scott Paterson & Shay Hatchard defend the much-maligned episodes.



Love & Monsters

Almost universally loathed within the Doctor Who fandom (as shown by the very recent poll results here), Love & Monsters is an episode that I believe needs a second (or third, or fourth etc) look.

Maybe it’s the ever endearing Marc Warren in the lead role of Elton Pope, maybe it’s the fact that Love & Monsters was the first proper Doctor-lite story after 2005, but it’s an episode that I can watch over and over again without getting fed up of. I’m not claiming that it’s my favourite ever episode (that extremely prized accolade goes to the fantastic The Girl in the Fireplace), it probably doesn’t even appear in my top 10, however Love & Monsters is unfairly maligned in our fandom and here’s why.

For a start, I present to you Marc Warren as the episode’s effective lead Elton Pope, not to be confused with Mr John; our singing piano playing friend. Now Warren is a consistent favourite actor of mine, if you haven’t watched Hustle then I suggest you start now, right this second! Warren’s an actor who, in every role I’ve seen him in (Sky’s fantastic series Mad Dogs is another in which he shines, alongside the pre-Missy Master, John Simm) draws the audience in, his endearing character certainly keeps me entertained, and in a television series that is vital. His character Elton is essentially an everyman, a John Smith (no, not THAT John Smith), if you will. This enables the audience to easily relate to the character, we all know an Elton, even if we are that Elton. Without the brilliant David Tennant to carry the episode as he always did so effortlessly, Love & Monsters had to have a strong leading man, and I believe that Warren is that and he plays that role exceptionally well.

Obviously, many of the criticisms of the episode relate to Victor Kennedy, the Abzorbaloff, played by Peter Kay. Kay is a comedian and a very good one at that. He’s not a serious actor, but the episode is not a serious one, so why should that matter? I know there are some fans that believe that Doctor Who should be serious each week. I completely understand that and I don’t entirely disagree. However Doctor Who is unique as a programme that is able to cross genre lines so brilliantly, one week we could have fantasy, the next week horror and the following week comedy, is that a bad thing? No, it’s a great thing and something that should be celebrated, the diversity of Doctor Who. The Abzorbaloff is an interesting villain, certainly an intriguing concept for an antagonist. Admittedly he isn’t a classic, and I very much doubt that Steven Moffat will be bringing him back for The Revenge of the Abzorbaloff in series 9, but that really isn’t the point in the episode.

At its core, Love & Monsters is an episode about human relationships, a topic that Russell T. Davies can write better than many. Elton and Ursula, Elton and The Doctor, Elton and Jackie, Jackie and Rose, Rose and The Doctor, Mr Skinner and Bridget from LINDA; Love & Monsters deals with human (and Time Lord) relationships in such a way that brings the episode a great angle, an angle allowing us to relate to the characters in the strange universe of Doctor Who, it is a nice respite from the usual galavanting and swashbuckling adventures in time and space.

Love & Monsters is a fantastic title for the episode, love is explored in great depths. Elton’s love for Ursula shines through, and gives us another great human (or… pavement slab) angle. As does Jackie’s love for Rose and vice versa. With Elton’s attempts to find out information about Rose and the Doctor from her, Jackie’s overwhelming protection of her daughter shines through and somewhat foreshadows the tragic events of the final episode of the series, Doomsday. Whilst Rose’s anger at Elton over his treatment of her mother shows, that despite her fantastic adventures in the TARDIS, she knows what is really important in life.

In his exceptional 2009 book, A Writer’s Tale, Russell T. Davies mentions that the initial draft for the Series 4 finale, The Stolen Earth and Journey’s End, included Elton. And rumour has it that he was at one point considered to be the full companion in Series 4. It’s a shame that neither of these happened. I would have loved to have seen Elton with the Doctor again, however I fear this ship has sailed. He is a character (and certainly an actor) that has been somewhat undervalued in the Doctor Who universe, and was certainly someone that had so much more to offer to the show. If only he had appeared in an episode that was better regarded.

With a fantastic soundtrack (Mr Blue Sky by ELO anyone?!), Love & Monsters is an episode that I really feel deserves a better name than it has. There are certainly far worse episodes of Doctor Who out there, In the Forest of the Night springs to mind straight away!

In one last ditch attempt to pull on your heartstrings and convince you to love Love & Monsters like I do, here’s a quote from Elton Pope, a quote that I believe to be one of Doctor Who’s very best:

“When you’re a kid, they tell you it’s all… grow up. Get a job. Get married. Get a house. Have a kid, and that’s it. But the truth is, the world is so much stranger than that. It’s so much darker. And so much madder. And so much better.”

Fear Her

Let me start with this claim: Fear Her is by no means one of my favourite episodes. I believe however, that it is a good one, and I hope by the end of this article you will hopefully be able to take some good out of it. It is a shame that an episode with flaws is preceded by another much maligned story, Love & Monsters. So two ‘poor’ episodes in a row must of given fans a slight hump. This is one reason why I think Fear Her is seriously overlooked.

The main premise of this story is the Doctor taking Rose to 2012 and the start of the London Olympic Games, before finding out little boys and girls are going missing. This, in itself, is not very unusual or exciting, but then we are given Chloe – a girl who, when she draws an image, can contain the person or object inside her drawings and take them from the real world. Personally, I think the idea of having people locked inside drawings is a great one, and it’s quite an ingenious and almost scary idea if you think about it.

There is another problem people find with this story – budget. A story by Stephen Fry, one of Britain’s best-known writers, was originally meant to be shot in Fear Her’s space, but time and budget commitments rule it out. So a brand new writer has to make do with ONE street to set his entire story in. I always feel for the people with the limited location space, as sometimes it’s seen as a weakness as they have to contain the story. Really, it’s nobody’s dream as a open blueprint for an episode. Fear Her makes the best use of the situation, and gives us a proper character centred story, with no real monster or villain moments, and with the only CGI moment being the attack of the giant scribble (yes, that is daft… but oh well, it’s Doctor Who).

The story is actually a strong one. About a girl who is troubled and lonely due to her past with her father, and an alien that can relate to her and bond. For many who have domestic issues or family problems, or know someone who has, I think the idea is really relatable, for anybody to learn that is okay to open up and be brave, no matter how dark the situation. Chloe being haunted by her abusive father is a reflection of how many children across the country do feel after being opened to domestic violence, and it is something that won’t ever leave them. It actually is a really mature and grown up issue to comprehend reading inbetween the lines of this filler.

Fear Her may not be memorable to many, and may be listed at the bottom of a lot of episode rankings, but it is one that I still really like and can watch more then once, more then twice, and maybe three or four times and appreciate the story we are given.