Doctor, doctor ...

Brilliant. The final episode of the current Doctor Who series had all the ingredients required to make this kind of thing work. The special effects, of course, mean that the sets don't wobble and the Daleks have been developed so that they have a more adult menace than I recall from the William Hartnell days, but it's the human bits that make the difference as far as I'm concerned. Usually on a Saturday evening I'm not up to keeping track of technobabble, but I can still keep up with good old human relationships, and that's what we have these days.

I've always maintained that the most successful fantasy occurs when the fantastic erupts into the mundane. Think of a great kids' book like Alan Garner's Elidor. The most frightening chapter is when the other world suddenly breaks through into ordinary 20th century Manchester and all the electrical equipment in the family's kitchen goes bananas while outside in the garden the terrified children can see the armies of another world - through the letter box. The best bits of Doctor Who come in the relationships with his companions - and their relationships in the ordinary world. It's the contrast, the juxtaposition, bringing the madness of the Tardis-world into focus.

I can't say all I would like as I don't want to spoil the finale for Edublogger, stranded Wholess in the States, but I can't help remembering the women in The Virginian when I were but a lass.