Doctor Who: The Star Beast Review - 9 Ups And 3 Downs

Before we get onto the wonderful Catherine Tate, we’d like to talk about the rest of the Noble family.

Rose is a wonderful addition to the supporting cast, and lends a sense of youthful wonder to the earlier scenes, and Sylvia has clearly grown as a person since we last saw her, without losing her bite. Most surprisingly, Shaun gets more development here than he ever did in The End of Time, including a fun scene opposite Fourteen as he drives him to the crash site.

This family dynamic is best summarised by the chaos of the scene where Donna brings Beep into the house and Sylvia does her utmost to play down the giant furry alien in her kitchen, hindered by the sudden arrival of the Doctor, all punctuated by Shaun’s arrival at the end of the scene.

We hope that the absence of Wilf is due to them saving him for the second, or more likely the third episode, and not because they didn’t get enough footage of Bernard Cribbins before his passing, because it feels like his character has earned a last hurrah. Fingers crossed!