The Doctors Wife - Review

“Ive got mail!” And so begins episode 4 of the first half of season 6 (bit of a mouthful that). Before I get started, this episode is written by the fantastic Neil Gaiman, a writer and creator I admire greatly. I will therefore admit my review of his first Doctor Who episode “The Doctors Wife” may be a little bit biased but I will try to be neutral and not gush about how great Mr Gaimen is. In order not to spoil the story for people who haven’t seen it, I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum.
The episode begins with the Doctor receiving a Timelord distress call in the form of a hypercube. The Doctor follows the directions in the message which seems to have come from outside the universe. To get into this “bubble” universe, the Doctor has to jettison some of the Tardis rooms to generate more thrust, something he hasn’t done since his fifth incarnations first adventure (Castrovalva). Once the Tardis team arrives on a junkyard planet, things move on quite quickly. To cut a long story short, the Doctor meets Idris along with her uncle, auntie and nephew (who turns out to be an ood)  who appear to be the only inhabitants of this planet. Idris appears to be pretty unhinged and proceeds to kiss, bite and generally molest the Doctor.
We find out that many a Timelord has come to this planet but are all long gone; their hypercube distress beacons confusing the Doctor into believing there were actual living Timelords here. Soon the Dr realises it’s a trap set by the malevolent planet they are currently on, who goes by the name of House. House proceeds to trap Amy and Rory within the Tardis and then takes control of the ship, making Rory and Amy run around lots of corridors for its own amusment. We find out that House feeds on Artron energy, in other words, he eats Tardis’s. After luring so many Timelords and their Tardis’s to the junkyard planet, he wants to use the last Tardis to fly into our universe to find more rift energy to feed and gorge itself on. The Doctor must unite with the mad Idris and use the planets resources to help get back the Tardis and save his friends from the mysterious entity House.


Neil Gaimen really has crafted one of the finest and strongest episodes since Doctor Who came back in 2005. The twist in the tale is a delight to see unfold and we actually get to see a few familiar things that we know about the Doctor get flipped on its head. Such as did the Doctor “borrow” the Tardis or did the Tardis “borrow” the Doctor? Idris is portrayed by Surrane Jones as some sort of Bellatrix/ Jack Sparrow clone and strangely it really does work however much it shouldn’t. Idris is such an intriguing character and she comes off as someone who knows the Doctor better than he knows himself. She also brings a strong voice and personality to something that has been around since the very first episode in 1963. Its an intriguing look into “mind” of the other half of the Doctor and really does emphasise how she is the closest thing to him, ala a wife. Her last scene with Matt Smith is such a lovely, touching moment that is brilliantly underplayed and packs enough emotion to bring a tear to your eye. Smith is wonderful as per usual, bringing new facets to his Doctors personality. From him feeling a wave of uncertainty of what to do next once the Tardis vanishes and actually revelling in it. To the flashes of brilliance when making his escape from the junkyard planet and outwitting House before the entity even realises it! Amy and Rory (Gillian and Darvill respectively) are both as reliable and great as they always are. Their relationship comes across as loving, strong and believable as ever. It’s also sweet to se Amys idea of delight being her wedding day. The scenes within the corridors of the Tardis are filled with tones of a thriller and something of an indie slasher flick. Micheal Sheen is as engrossing as he always is in anything he stars in, even more so here where he is only able to use his voice to bring the character of House to life.
Its also nice to see Gaimen bring back some things that haven’t been utilised since the shows revival and in doing this, he really shows off his love of the show.  Things like the hypercube, Tardis corridors and jettisoning excess rooms to generate punch (bye bye swimming pool and coral Tardis control room!). If there was anything to complain about it would be the characters of uncle and auntie are very under developed and who just seem to exists merely to show what House is capable of with his slaves and patchwork people. Also the Tardis corridors seem very claustrophobic to what we have seen before but I imagine the reasons behind this is House trying to unnerve Rory and Amy.
Over all a truly fantastic episode that warrants many a re watching to see the layers of brilliance that Neil Gaimen has instilled within his story.  May he return many a time and become a Doctor Who mainstay!

Next week The Rebel Flesh!