Doctor Who: 10 Best Sideways Episodes

3. Amy's Choice by Simon Nye

It's five years since they left the TARDIS and Amy and Rory have settled into a cosy married life; Amy's expecting, they live in the idyllic Upper Leadworth, Rory's got a ponytail... and then the Doctor shows up and it turns out that their life might be a complete lie. Amy's Choice marks a long-overdue Doctor Who story about dreams which manages to find a new twist on the idea by turning the episode into a deadly puzzle for the TARDIS team to solve, set by the malevolent, mercurial Dream Lord. The Doctor, Amy and Rory keep flitting between two worlds €“ inside the TARDIS floating towards a cold star and in an Upper Leadworth being attacked by alien-inhabited old people. One is reality, one is a dream. But which one? A true sideways Doctor Who episode in every way, Amy's Choice falls into that small subset of Doctor Who stories that (largely) never actually happened. It's a potentially dangerous move that could make the episode feel cheap and pointless but Amy's Choice provides enough of the characters' story arc to still make it feel like a valuable part of the series. As well as choosing between dream and reality, this episode is really about Amy choosing between her two boys. Hence the title. With a unique premise amongst fifty years' worth of stories on the show, Amy's Choice really is a dream of a Doctor Who episode.
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