Doctor Who (2005) 2-04: The Girl in the Fireplace

Episode:

714

|

Serial:

171

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Director:

Euros Lyn

|

Air Date:

06-May-2006

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching the Hugo Award-winning The Girl in the Fireplace, by Steven Moffat, the guy who wrote the Hugo Award-winning The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances last season. This 'winning Hugo Awards' thing developed into a habit for him, so that must have given Doctor Who's credibility a bit of a boost.

The episode was directed by Euros Lyn, the guy who'd just done Tooth and Claw. The poor guy didn't have much luck this season, as by the end he'd directed three of the least loved stories, but at least he got this to make up for it.

I'll be going through the episode scene by scene, so there will be lots of SPOILERS. But only for this, not any future episodes.

Doctor Who (2005) 2-03: School Reunion

Episode:

713

|

Serial:

170

|

Writer:

Toby Whithouse

|

Director:

James Hawes

|

Air Date:

29-Apr-2006

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, it's the 20th anniversary of the Tenth Doctor story School Reunion!

It was written by illustrator-turned-actor-turned writer Toby Whithouse, who'd go on to write another seven episodes for the series. He also turned back into an actor and played a German soldier, though that's in a later story. When he's not writing Doctor Who the guy creates TV series, including the UK version of supernatural comedy-drama Being Human.

The director this time was James Hawes, who'd already proven his skill with episodes like The Empty Child and The Christmas Invasion. This was his last episode however, he was busy on other shows. I don't actually know why directors tend to work on a bunch of episodes for a series and then never come back, maybe he just got too expensive.

Anyway, I'll be going through every scene of the episode, so beware of SPOILERS. I may even spoil elements of classic Doctor Who episodes from ancient times, but nothing from later stories.

Doctor Who (2005) 2-02: Tooth and Claw (Quick Review)

Episode:

712

|

Serial:

169

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Euros Lyn

|

Air Date:

22-Apr-2006

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, it's the 22nd April 2026, making this the anniversary of Tooth and Claw, the second episode of Doctor Who's second series. The second second series, from 2006, not the one with William Hartnell from 1964 or the one with Ncuti Gatwa from 2025.

Though it's the third episode so far to be directed by Euros Lyn, one of the most prolific directors of the first Russell T Davies era. His episodes are all over the place in quality, but when he was paired up with writer Steven Moffat he produced some gold. Unfortunately this isn't a Moffat story, it's actually the sixth episode in a row to be written by RTD himself. It wasn't really meant to be, but he had to step in and get the job done when the original writer went rogue and wrote something they couldn't use.

I usually go through a whole episode scene by scene, but we're both busy people so I'm going with a shorter review format this time. With SPOILERS. Though I won't be spoiling anything that happens later in the series, so if you're watching the show for the first time you've got nothing to worry about from me.

Doctor Who (2005) 2-01: New Earth

Episode:

711

|

Serial:

168

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

James Hawes

|

Air Date:

15-Apr-2006

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm still writing about Doctor Who, even though I probably shouldn't.

I was supposed to be focusing on my poor neglected Super Adventures site this year! I was going to give it some proper attention and play lots of long, complicated Dungeons & Dragons RPGs.

But when I covered the Doctor Who revival's first series for its 20th anniversary I knew I'd be tempted to come back to it a year later for series 2. That's exactly the kind of thing I'd do. So here I am on the 15th April 2026, writing about a story that aired exactly two decades earlier: it's the first proper episode of the David Tennant era, New Earth!

(If you want to go back even further, you can find a list of my reviews for series 1 and The Christmas Invasion by clicking THIS LINK).

New Earth was written by showrunner Russell T Davies himself, in fact it was his fifth episode in a row and he's got one more coming after this before he takes a break. Director James Hawes is back as well, after directing the actual first story in the Tennant era, The Christmas Invasion. He also did the Empty Child / Doctor Dances two-parter last year, so he seems like safe hands.

This isn't my first time watching the episode, but it may be yours so be aware that this review is going to have all of the SPOILERS. Seriously, I'll be going through it scene by scene, with pictures. I won't be spoiling anything that comes after it though, so this will be safe for first time viewers.

Doctor Who (1963) 14-08: The Hand of Fear, Part Four

Episode:

435

|

Serial:

87

|

Writer:

Bob Baker and Dave Martin

|

Director:

Lennie Mayne

|

Air Date:

23-Oct-1976

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching the final part of the Fourth Doctor serial The Hand of Fear!

The serial is notable for a couple of reasons and sadly one of them is that it was director Lennie Mayne's last story, as he was killed the following year in a boating accident in the English Channel. Lennie had directed four serials for the series, The Curse of Peladon, The Three Doctors, The Monster of Peladon and this, so it seems like he had been the show's go-to for Peladon stories.

Writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin continued to write for the series, coming up with three more serials, all for the Fourth Doctor. In fact their biggest contribution to Doctor Who was still a year away, as they introduced a new companion to the TARDIS. I shouldn't really be talking about the future though.

There'll be SPOILERS here for this episode and anything leading up to it, but I'll be careful not to jump ahead in the timeline. This review should (hopefully) be safe for anyone watching through Classic Who for the first time, assuming that you're doing it in order.

Doctor Who (1963) 14-07: The Hand of Fear, Part Three

Episode:

434

|

Serial:

87

|

Writer:

Bob Baker and Dave Martin

|

Director:

Lennie Mayne

|

Air Date:

16-Oct-1976

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It's the first of April today, which means that this is 🎉 Sci-Fi Adventures' 10th Anniversary! 🥳 The site is up to season eleven, so it has now outlasted Stargate SG-1 and is close to overtaking the DC Comics Arrowverse. I'm still a little bit short of matching classic Doctor Who's 26 season run though.

Speaking of Doctor Who and anniversaries, this serial I'm watching turns 50 years old this year and I didn't even realise that until I'd already started writing about it. So that's a lucky coincidence.

I've reached The Hand of Fear, Part Three, which is the 434th episode of Doctor Who. To put that into perspective, the 434th episode of Star Trek was the season 3 Voyager episode The Q and the Grey. Trek needed three spin-offs and a cartoon to get this far. Unfortunately, with how TV production is slowing down, there won't be many more 434th episodes in our near future. If a new series of Doctor Who comes back with 8 episode seasons and a Christmas special each year, then by my calculations I should be reviewing its 434th episode in about... 50 years time.

Alright, I'm bored of numbers now so I'm going to get into the episode. This means that there will be SPOILERS beyond this point, but I won't ruin anything that comes after this story.

Doctor Who (1963) 14-06: The Hand of Fear, Part Two

Episode:

433

|

Serial:

87

|

Writer:

Bob Baker and Dave Martin

|

Director:

Lennie Mayne

|

Air Date:

09-Oct-1976

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching the second episode of The Hand of Fear, the second serial of the Fourth Doctor's third season.

It was written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin, who had already written four other Doctor Who serials together, including the 10th anniversary special The Three Doctors. Director Lennie Mayne was also a Doctor Who veteran, with three other serials under his belt... including The Three Doctors. So it's kind of like a reunion, except for the fact that they don't share any actors (except for Rex Robinson, who's back playing another scientist).

Okay I'm just going to go ahead and write SPOILERS for the whole episode. Though if you've seen this far you'll be fine, even if you're haven't seen any modern Doctor Who yet. As far as I'm concerned, right now it's Saturday 9th October 1976, 6:14 PM, and no one even knows what a David Tennant is. No one knows what a Darth Vader is either, how crazy is that?