9. Gridlock
Written by Russell T. Davies Series 3 Episode 3 I've heard very mixed things about this episode, so much so that I'm not even sure if it's particularly popular. Yet to me, Gridlock is the highlight of the first half of Doctor Who's Third Series (which is coincidentally my favourite). Returning to New Earth for the first time since Rose was torn from him, The Doctor is shocked to find the lower streets of New New York have been abandoned. He discovers that all of the lower class New New Yorkers are trapped in an endless traffic-jam progressing mere feet every day. Why have they been abandoned by their upper-class counterparts? And why is a cat-nun chasing The Doctor with a big gun? This episode feels a lot like one of those ones that are born of a list of strange dreams or flights of fantasy that I'm sure Russell T. Davies regularly goes on. 'Cats With Guns, Head in Jar, Old Lesbian Couples, Feline aviators who make nose-picking jokes' are among the ridiculous check-list this time around and yet despite all of the absurdity it still portrays some pretty heavy themes beautifully. It explores the idea of faith and how it can save people from terrible situations as well as talking about drugs and how they can prove to be extremely dangerous because they provide artificial relief from life's problems. It all ties into how the Doctor is hiding the fact of his planet's destruction from Martha to make himself feel better, even for a short time. I find the closing scene where the Doctor reminisces about Gallifrey to the chorus of Abide With Me under a setting sun to be one of the defining moments of the Tenth Doctor. It's just beautiful.