Dr Who: Evolution of The Daleks

Dalek two-parters in the new Dr Who (Bad Wolf/The Parting of The Ways and Army of Ghosts/Doomsday) have, to date, promised much, but have always fizzled out anticlimactically - because of the necessity of squeezing in other major plot lines (the end of the ninth Doctor and Rose leaving, respectively). No such danger with this third series, which continues to go from strength-to-strength.

A non-stop story, with death, threat, humour ("Gammon radiation?") and heroics, as well as scientific gobbledygook, pig-mutants, Dalek-mutants and proto-robomen - this 45-minute burst of Who genius had it all and was, if possible, even better than last week's!

Any fears I may have had about this being the last we see of the classic Daleks was soon put to rest, with Helen Raynor's strong script; leading to some nice touches, such as a pair of the Dalek's exchanging "what the heck?" looks as Dalek Sec explains his wild racial blending schemes to the Doctor.

Two-parters in new Who have similar running times to old Dr Who four-part stories, allowing for more character development, and these two episodes, with their cast of supporting characters who could all be potential travelling companions if Martha ever gets bored, could easily have been old school Who, but with a bigger effects budget.

Evolution of The Daleks leaves the door open for next year's Dalek story (I think we can guarantee there will be one!), but let's hope the team follow this year's example and place it mid-season, rather than at the end, so the whole story can focus on the Doctor duelling wits with Daleks and not need some cheesy Deus Ex Machina to tie up all the loose ends in the allocated time slot.