Doctor Who: Death and the Queen

The third and final episode in this set uses a historical setting - sort of. We're actually in some small, Ruritania-type kingdom in 18th century Europe, although it's sufficiently out of the way that there isn't much sense of history here, just a location made up for the purposes of the story. That story is, in part, a riff on The Runaway Bride, with Donna once again falling for the charms of someone unsuitable.

That aspect of it is done quite well, and is something that works better with Donna than it would with pretty much any other modern companion. And Goss writes Donna effectively, with both her flaws and her strengths on display, and some great dialogue. It's really this that is the episode's saving grace.

Because, other than that, it all feels a bit daft. The villain is never really believable, and most of the guest characters are rather cardboard. The exception is Hortense the maid, and even there the resolution of her subplot feels overdone, as if Goss is trying too hard to feel ‘modern'. There is clearly an attempt at comedy here, and it may be that that's the overall intent of the episode, but, some of the Doctor/Donna banter aside, most of it falls flat.

I was really expecting to like this one, which seems generally to have a good reputation, but the strong portrayal of Donna doesn't lift it above the uninteresting plot, and it is, to my surprise, the weakest of these three stories.