If Steven Moffat's clearing up your narrative loose ends, you know something's gone wrong. Such was the case with Russell T Davies. Though he should forever be held in high esteem for bringing Doctor Who back to our screens, the guy liked to throw out cliffhangers like confetti and it was only a matter of time before his pen was writing cheques his brain couldn't cash. Things came to a head in The Stolen Earth, when RTD baited the audience by throwing us the biggest off the lot he casually killed the Tenth Doctor. Well, it seemed that way, anyhow. It was hard-hitting at the time David Tennant was and still is universally beloved as the Doctor. We didn't yet know he was leaving the show, so when a Dalek popped up and shot him, it made for one hell of a blindsiding moment. Choosing a successor in the TARDIS often carried more pomp and circumstance than a Royal Wedding, only with more Zoe Ball in today's internet-saturated age, how could we not have heard anything? Hastily, journalists drew up their likely candidates, theorising that tomfoolery aside, Hugh Grant would be the frontrunner. But tomfoolery is par for the course in Doctor Who, so a sizeable contingent of Whovians remained sceptical, probably too hurt by the time RTD indulged his inner Superman and rewound the Earth in The Last Of The Timelords. But still, we thought that if he was going to execute a rug-pull and throw off the inevitable, it would involve some sort of mind-blowing gambit. Instead we got the Meta-Crisis, where RTD took the artistic licence of Timelord biology and rode it off into the sunset. Whatever we were expecting, I don't think it involved growing another Doctor out of that spare hand. Whovians will accept a lot of plot conveniences Doctor Who is ostensibly a kid's show about an old man in a box pimp-slapping history and sci-fi until it cries uncle but for a sizeable majority of fans this was particularly cheap. Turning one of that year's most talked-about TV moments into a contrived way to give Billie Piper a happy ending? For shame Russell, for shame.
Durham University graduate and qualified sports journalist. Very good at sitting down and watching things. Can multi-task this with playing computer games. Football Manager addict who has taken Shrewsbury Town to the summit of the Premier League.
You can follow me at @Ed_OwenUK, if you like ramblings about Newcastle United and A Place in the Sun. If you don't, I don't know what I can do for you.
