Doctor Who: Human Nature/Family Of Blood

For those of us who thought that The Shakespeare Code was as good as it could get it in this epic third season of new Doctor Who, the two parter Human Nature/The Family of Blood made the fast-paced and hilarious Elizabethan horror romp look like a sedate English Literature lesson ... as taught by John Smith.

Written by Paul Cornell, based on his popular Seventh Doctor novel Human Nature, these episodes see The Doctor forced to take human form to escape a vampiric race of aliens who extend their short lives by draining the life force of others ... and, of course, their ultimate goal is to sup from a Time Lord and live forever!

The Doctor forgets his past and becomes "John Smith", a mild English teacher at a boys school in 1913 England. Martha, the guardian of the Doctor's true nature, disguises herself as his maid - frequently checking in at the TARDIS to review the extensive notes The Doctor has left her on how to cope with various situations. Unfortunately, the one situation he didn't foresee was falling in love ... which he promptly does with the school's matron, Joan Redfern (played by Jessica Hynes, better known as Jessica Stevenson).

The Family of Blood eventually turn up and carnage ensues: school kids with maxim guns, animated scarecrows, creepy posh bullies and anarchy at the village dance ... but Smith can't understand what's going on: he's human and all this Time Lord nonsense is just silly dreams he's been writing down in his journal.

It's up to Martha and a young pupil, Tim Latimer (Thomas Sangster) to convince Smith that he really is The Doctor. Not an easy task when the English teacher is quite happy with his life and in love.

Kudos to Cornell's script, with it's First World War imagery and incredible character development, but David Tennant and Freema Agyeman act this one out of the park, with Tennant's switching from Smith to The Doctor being an incredible masterclass in the craft of acting. Tennant's Doctor takes on a particularly dark edge that is almost certainly a precursor of his brewing confrontation with Harold Saxon (who still may, or may not, be The Master) in the season finale.

Freema, again, proves herself one of the Doctor's strongest companions - I just couldn't imagine Rose holding it together as long as Martha has to - and has hopefully laid to rest the outrageous lies of The Sun that she has been axed from the show.

The double act of Agyeman and Tennant make this the strongest British show on television and I find it hard to believe that someone who loves his toys as much as Russell T Davies would break up this partnership so soon.