Suffering from much the same issues as Jackie Tyler when he first appeared, Roses innocent and none-too-bright boyfriend also got it in the neck from the writers and therefore the audiences: after all, (the reasoning goes) if Rose had had a boyfriend worthy of her, shed never have left with the Doctor in the first place. Thats obviously faulty logic, and a little disappointing why should her hopes for a more interesting life revolve around who she was seeing? This is the 21st century. Its okay for young women to want a little more than that these days, you know? But Davies wasnt above pandering a little, and just as he gave us a shortcut to dislike Roses mother, he gave us the comedy cowardice of Mickey Smith to roll our eyes at, too. Future BAFTA award winner Noel Clarke was forced to portray some of the most sniveling cringing any promising young actor, screenwriter and director has ever had to deliver. He literally wraps himself around Rose at one point in fear, utterly failing to impress her, the Doctor or television audiences, who couldnt really see what Rose saw in the boy in the first place and couldnt wait for her to leave him. It wasnt until later episodes recast him as a man adrift who finds his purpose (after breaking up with Rose) as the leader of a Cyberman resistance movement in a parallel world that Mickey finally got a chance to shine and to step out of Roses shadow. The coda to his story, the fact that he ended up with former companion Martha, someone else who needed to become her own person and step away from the complicated Doctor-Rose dynamic, was really rather perfect.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
