Doctor Who: The Story & The Engine Review - 8 Ups & 2 Downs

The title of this week's episode, The Story & the Engine, may as well refer to Doctor Who itself. For over 60 years, Doctor Who has been like Omo's barber shop, welcoming in storytellers and powering its engine with their tales of adventures across space and time. Doctor Who's voracious appetite for story hasn't been confined to TV, either.

There is now an endless stream of novels, comic strips and audio dramas that tell the story of the Doctor while they're not on the telly. As the Barber rightly points out, the Doctor is a neverending story. In this metaphor where Doctor Who is the barber shop, it's easy to see Russell T Davies as the Doctor, lured back so that he can tell more stories and keep the engine running for a few more years.

However, if Doctor Who is to truly remain as a neverending story, it needs new storytellers. With that in mind, Inua Ellams' dazzling debut script is a compelling argument for looking further afield for new voices.

Although the characters in the barber shop worry that they've run out of stories, The Story & the Engine proves that Doctor Who still has many more to tell.