I didn't care for this episode much at all. So much so that it is only now, two weeks later, that I can even really be bothered to write a review from it.
Reading other reviews for the episode, I'm glad I'm not alone in my relative dislike for it; and even then, I'm surprised that it got as high a score rating as it did.

Most seasons of the series feature a mostly Doctor-light episode; This year they've got around it buy filming one with the Doctor, and one with assistant Donna. As a result, Donna is barely in this episode at all.

The story is very thin and dragged out. One of the biggest problems is that it has such an uphill job trying to fill the running time. It needed something else to beef it up.

One of my least favourite episodes of modern 'Doctor Who'.

This review contains spoilers.

After a couple of not necessarily BAD (although I didn't like 'Midnight'), but not quite on form episodes, the series bounces back with this excellent story, possibly the best of the season thus far.

All those old faces popping up - Rose, Martha, Sarah Jane, and Captain Jack at Torchwood, assembled to take on that deadliest of enemies, the Daleks.

It was great to see Penelope Wilton return as ex-Prime Minister Harriet Jones, and her scene where she is tracked down by the Daleks and exterminated (all we see is her computer feed go dead) is excellent.

But the biggest note of the show is the return of Davros. Whereas most other vintage 'Who' enemies have been reworked for the new series, this is the same, unchanged Davros as seen in the vintage series. And he's very earily. Plus a good scarey moment, as he pulls back his uniform to reveal his body, picked bare to the bone as he used it to create his new Dalek army.

Then there is the rather unexpected cliffhanger - is the Doctor really going to regenerate? Is another actor going to step into the role?
I can't wait for the conclusion.

Well, where to begin... After last week's great episode, here is the conclusion that tries to explain... well, not EVERYTHING, but to wrap things up.

There is a lot going on in this episode, and a lot of talky explanations. I think it is one of those stories that needs viewing a second time (at least) to fully get the gist of things.

I think modern 'Who' works very well with two-part episodes, as it gives room for a lot more scope, and allows from that staple of vintage-era 'Who', the cliffhanger. I did find myself thinking at several points of this story, that maybe it would have even benefited from being a three-parter, as I did feel in places that things were rather rushed and jumbled; A third part might have allowed for a clearer conclusion. But that probably wouldn't fit in with modern 'Who's template.

There were several quite scary moments in this episode, although as a whole I didn't find it as memorably scary as part one.

Donna's sub-plot is interesting, and Catherine Tate is more than capable of carrying it, although the sudden time jumps won't be anything new to anyone who's seen the third season 'Futurama' episode 'Time Keeps on Slipping'.

I think, like many two-part episodes (both in sci-fi and television in general), it has a lot to live up to in explaining and wrapping up everything. It does the job, but there's an awful lot to take in.

I really enjoyed this episode. It had a really eerie feel and some genuinely scary moments - coming from writer Steven Moffat, who has written some of modern 'Who's most classic episodes ('The Empty Child', 'The Girl in the Fireplace', 'Blink' et al), you'd expect nothing less.

The trailer that the BBC had been running all week did give some minor spoilers to the story, but I still really enjoyed it.

It has a really scary feel reminiscent of classic 'Doctor Who' of the 1960s and 70s (and even the odd 1980s story), which is great. It is what the series does best, and is much more watchable than a couple of the children-friendly, cuddly 'comedies' that modern 'Who' has offered up.

The only real drawback is, as with many Series 4 episodes, the story took a while to really get started. But unlike several others, which just felt padded, the story here was building up momentum. There are a lot of unanswered questions and the promise of more terror to come in part 2.

Writer Moffat once again demonstrates that it is the unknown that is true terror - just what does lurk in 'the shadows'? In my opinion, Moffat is modern 'Who's strongest writer by far, and his stories have all turned out to be highlights of each season so far.

The 'ghosting' of the dead Miss Evangelista (remaining as a milk-white skeleton), with her voice 'looping' on after her death, is one of modern 'Who's best, and creepiest, sequences in my opinion.
And the skeleton in the space suits are one of the most instantly scary images.

I can't wait to find out who the young girl is (my betting is she's somehow connected to Professor River Song). I just hope part 2 can live up to the standard of part 1.

Although this episode won't be to everyone's tastes, I found this a likeable and enjoyable enough episode.

The episode boasts a large cast of guests at the party, all with their own secrets to hide. Even all these years after 'The Good Life', Felicity Kendall still looks good for her age.

Fenella Woolgar is excellent in the role of Agatha Christie, really breathing life into the character and making her believable.
The story also offers an explanation of the real life Christie's disappearance for a few days in the 1920s.

The location work at the large manor house succeeds better than some of the locations this season, and the story soon becomes an archetypal murder mystery, even with an alien twist in the tale.

The giant alien wasp special effects are about standard for the series, although there were a couple of shots where I wasn't quite convinced. Also of note is the scene of the Doctor being poisoned, and the mad dash in the kitchen to find ingredients to cure him.
…Which leads to a kiss (of sorts) with Donna. Well, I suppose there has to be one kiss per companion in modern 'Who'!.

As with several stories this season, this episode, allowing for the special effects available at the time, could easily have come for just about any era of 'Doctor Who' (which, in my opinion, is a good thing).

Although some have said that this series hasn't measured up to the previous ones in modern 'Who's life, I still really like it, because of episodes like this. With Catherine Tate playing a worthy companion, and the annoying 'family on Earth link' scenes of earlier series cut back, the series seems very balanced and on form at the moment, in my opinion.

I wouldn't quite rank this episode as a classic of modern 'Who', but personally I liked this one. It has a good balance of drama and comedy, and a much more interesting story than it at first appears.