2. The Doctors Wife
The Doctors Wife was a wonderfully inventive look on the relationship between The Doctor and The TARDIS and written by Doctor Who lover Neil Gaiman, it felt like the demonstration of everything that is brilliant about the show. Our human incarnation of the TARDIS is played by Surrane Jones, who fizzles with the complexity and knowledge one would have of traveling through space and time. Its an incredibly impressive performance and a progressive one at that as the TARDIS moves through fluxes of emotion, insanity, inquisitiveness and finally heroism. All the while Jones provides the conduit between the story and the viewer, subtlety swaying from one personality trait to another. Smith also seems to be enthused by working off another feisty female lead, working to the nuances of the relationship, fighting, probing and questioning everything about their time together. Having a human incarnation of The TARDIS may certainly have proved one step too far, but the quality of writing by Gaiman allows the years of history, the ups and downs of a relationship that has very rarely been explored in such depth to be appreciated. Many have commented that the episode feels like a love letter to the show. It certainly is and one that makes me appreciate the connection between The Doctor and The TARDIS on a far more evocative level. And also, never forgetting the game of cat and mouse that Amy and Rory find themselves in, a claustrophobic, twisting tale that is stupendously done. Add to that, the ominous voice of Michael Sheen as House and the episodes side plot provides a worthy addition to our main focus. Neil Gaiman has crafted one the perfect Doctor Who episodes that all fans surely love. It has everything there is to love about Doctor Who and more with Gaiman providing a perfect 45 minutes if ever there was one.