These last couple of weeks have been a real treat, telly-wise. Nick has already taken us through the first episode of Sherlock 2.0 (here), so let’s now celebrate a few other gems: BBC One’s latest flagship nature programme, Earthflight, the excellent adaptation of Dickens’s Great Expectations, and the very funny Horrible Histories Prom.

On the wings of a dove (and snow goose, and pelican, and…)

There are some shows which have clearly been made with HD in mind and Earthflight is, I’d suggest, certainly one of them. This new series from Aunty Beeb — and narrated by the fabulous David Tennant —  follows a bird migration across a different continent in each episode, and with North America and Africa aired so far, I’m already pretty confident in saying there’s unlikely to be a better nature programme on this year.

As with all great nature programmes, the main joy of this series is that you get to see behaviour that you never knew existed. The focus is, of course, on birds, but following a migration means we’re given their unique view of other animals thanks to some hugely impressive photography and camera-work. There’s no “making of” feature at the end of the programme, but there’s clearly been a microlight used along the way, and some cameras actually strapped to the birds themselves too — and this all makes for some pretty astonishing footage.

In the first two episodes we’ve seen a baboon hunt down a flamingo, grabbing it out of mid-air as it tries to fly away; swallows swooping to a take a drink of water without breaking their flight and this, undoubtedly the moment of the series so far, in which we see rays jumping out of the water and flapping their “wings” as if trying to fly:

Expectations met?

Despite having taken a specific Charles Dickens module during my English degree, it appears I was the only person to sit down to watch the BBC’s new adaptation of Great Expectations without knowing exactly how the story was going to play out. (But you can ask me anything on the all-too ignored Dombey and Son…) This ignorance probably put me at an advantage, but it seems that, a minor “style over substance” backlash aside,  even those more in the know than me still found plenty to enjoy.

This production certainly did have a lot of style — Miss Havisham’s crumbling Satis House in particular was a triumph in design and atmosphere, and the opening scenes out in the Fens were beautifully shot — but there was more to it than looks.Yes, Pip may have been impossibly pretty, but Douglas Booth can act too, and the kid playing his younger incarnation, Oscar Kennedy was superb. Plus, Gillian Anderson was typically great as an ethereal Miss Havisham, and her death scene was impressively handled.

There are always going to be complaints when elements of a much-loved novel are left out, but I thought that this was a neat and well-paced, enjoyable adaptation with a top-notch cast. Sheer class, all in all.

“Duchesses, actresses, the great loves of my life…”

It has been on before, but the New Year showing of the Horrible Histories Prom gave me my first opportunity to watch it, and it was genuinely one of the most entertaining 90 minutes of TV I’ve seen in ages. The songs are catchy and informative, and the little sketches written and performed especially for this one-off event were wonderful. The whole thing was a proper joy from start to finish, in fact.

I could pick any number of highlights, then — Mathew Baynton‘s (Spy) Charles II rap is hilarious; the Viking soft-rock anthem Literally blessed with a brilliant central idea — but the stand-out performance for me came from the very talented Jim Howick as George IV, forced to wait and wait for his time to shine:

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Football and The Beatles – these are two things I like very much. As such, it’s is a highly self-indulgent WWBW this week, with the Munich air disaster drama United and Arena documentary Produced by George Martin both featuring. Sorry…

Let’s start with United, then, a Chris Chibnall-penned feature about the aeroplane crash of 1958 which killed eight members of the Manchester United team (nicknamed ‘Busby’s Babes’ after their manager Matt Busby) three staff, eight journalists travelling with the squad, two other passengers, plus the co-pilot and steward. A true disaster, and an event which has been described as the ‘Diana’ of its day, such was the outpouring of emotion that followed.

This drama was the quintessential mixed bag — some wonderful moments and performances butted right up against a few woeful lines and odd decisions.

In terms of the good aspects of United, its greatest asset was undoubtedly Jack O’Connell. As a 20 year old Bobby Charlton, he gave a subtle and unshowy but hugely affecting performance. Sir Bobby, of course, survived the crash, but had to deal with the trauma of seeing his friends perish, and this was all expertly portrayed by O’Connell. The direction, too, by James Strong was excellent — the late 50s era was evoked brilliantly without the references being heavy-handed — and David Tennant, who played team coach Jimmy Muphy, did his usual trick of casually throwing in a couple of moments which expressed sheer heartbreak.

The problems generally came with the script, which sometimes felt it needed a sledgehammer to get its point across; clunkily introducing the characters over the course of the first half hour. Plus, telling the story so completely through the eyes of Charlton and Murphy resulted in many figures becoming mere footnotes — inevitable, perhaps, but still slightly uncomfortable. Overall though I did have to choke back a couple of tears, and O’Connell’s performance alone made it more than worth watching, it’s just a shame it didn’t generally sound as good as it looked.

A day in his life

You’re in quite an elite little group if you can say you were the true Fifth Beatle but George Martin, along with Brian Epstein and Billy Preston, probably has one of the strongest claims. As producer and arranger for The Beatles, he has gained legend status in music circles, but this documentary — Arena: Produced by George Martin — was at pains to show that there’s more to Martin than those four fab lads from Liverpool.

He started out wanting to be ‘Rachmaniov II’, as he puts it, and stayed that way for some time, even when called down to work with Parlophone and producing the likes of The Goons, Bernard Cribbins and Peter Sellers – “I didn’t realise it then”, says Rolf Harris, “but Martin was the man they sent all the ‘weirdies’ to.” Within just a few years, though, he was head of the label; he may be softly-spoken (though, we discover, his RP accent was learned rather than inherited) but he was clearly an ambitious young man.

It has to be said that Martin’s own tone imbued this documentary (by which I mean it was a little on the sedate side) but it did give a genuinely rounded insight into his life, and it’s great seeing him chatting with icons of the time, including Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and Michael Palin. A fine portrait of a fine man.

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It’s sitcom time in Doctor Who this week, as the man in tweed moves into a flatshare with James Corden, plays a bit of football and embarrasses himself whilst trying to fit in with the humans. For those who watched Third Rock From The Sun or Mork & Mindy, this may seem eerily familiar.

Still, this is relatively uncharted territory for Time Lords. David Tennant went undercover as a teacher a few years back, but it wasn’t done with the same spirit of comedy. No open weeping or doomed romance this time, it’s mostly about humourous cultural mix-ups and comical unrequited love.

And, yes, there’s a fat bloke in it. James Corden has become a figure of national irritation lately, through an unfunny sketch show and sheer over-exposure, but I saw nothing wrong with his showing as the Doctor’s confused flatmate. I imagine most were worried he would gurn, over-act and possibly get his belly out, but I think he was quite restrained and sweet. So, for the second week running, I don’t get to tar and feather an obvious target. Damn.

In fact, not only does Corden keep his gut to himself, he’s out-done in the male nudity stakes by one Matthew Smith, who undertakes a PG-rated shower scene. This will have pleased at least some of the fangirl contingent, although others may have been quietly wishing David Tennant had stayed long enough to do this one.

In fact, this episode is a good showcase for Smith’s gangly, awkward Doctor. I don’t think it would have worked quite as well with the Tenth, he always seemed better at blending in. Amy Pond is somewhat sidelined, but does get good lines when she appears, not to mention a big cliffhanging moment at the end.

Much like last week, the alien threat feels a little side-lined, as writer Gareth Roberts is clearly more interested in the Doctor’s (admittedly entertaining) earthbound exploits. And if I’d been in a bad mood when watching, I’d probably have rolled my eyes at the very predictable “love conquers all” climax, but at least they didn’t break out the sob-rock this time.

Was it a little slight? Definitely, but as a light-comedy episode, I think it did everything it set out to do. I’ll certainly re-watch it long before I do that thing with the Silurians. And for those who demand massive, universe-threatening drama, the two-part finale is a-coming…

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So that’s it. No more Tennant.

Off he goes to America, burning up the TARDIS as he goes and leaving us Nu-Whovians with nothing more than the box-sets to keep us company. Perhaps we will warm to Eleven, the young Matt Smith, but for now, let us mourn the passing of Ten in sombre silence. Or a few-hundred-word blog post since silence doesn’t come across all that well on the internet.

When Russell T Davies gave Doctor Who an unexpected breath of life a few years back, Christopher Eccleston was an undeniably brilliant, grumpy, Doctor, and he deserves praise and kudos for making sure the show didn’t disappear as quickly as it had regenerated. But the fact is, old Chris never really bought into the whole Doctor Who ‘phenomenon’; clearly anxious to avoid stereotyping, he was always going to leave after one series.

David Tennant, on the other hand – importantly a fully paid-up Whovian himself since the age of five – took on the role completely willing to be the Doctor as much off-set as in front of the camera. He has been an ambassador for the show, its greatest defender and, above all, has remained a fan throughout. Despite leaving the programme in dramatic and heartbreaking style, David Tennant is still the Doctor, always will be, and seems rather happy about it.

And what a Doctor. After just one series he was voted the best Doctor of all time, and while that might be attributed to short memories, I have little doubt that he will remain a real favourite because he appeals to so many people for so many different reasons. Kids love Tennant’s Doctor because he is one of them; he’s a big, OTT, bundle of energy who is attracted to danger and has a real love of life. Adults love Tennant’s Doctor because, despite all of that, he is also very much a ‘lonely angel’ who is deeply sad and on the edge of being something rather hideous (of which we saw glimpses in The Runaway Bride and The Waters Of Mars). And, of course, there is the fact that this particular Doctor is rather attractive…

What about Ten’s greatest moments, then? Well, he got off to a bombastic start in The Christmas Invasion (his introductory speech in which he starts quoting The Lion King is just brilliant), he displayed his softer, more sincere side in The Girl In The Fireplace and his unique chemistry with Donna was never better than in the wonderful Fires Of Pompeii. But the moment that will define DT’s tenure for me, will be that look of utter desolation when the Doctor realises he has lost his beloved Rose in Doomsday…

As for the final two-parter, he certainly got quite a send-off. One hour of gun-toting battles with the Master(s) and the corrupted Time Lords, and fifteen minutes of quiet, heart-breaking goodbyes. Sure it was over the top, but seriously, did we expect the greatest Doctor to go quietly? He’s the most ‘human’ Doctor there has ever been – touched by real love and constant loss – and he faced death in a very human way: ‘I don’t want to go’.

Just like the the Noble Wilf, David Tennant, Tenth Doctor, we salute you. Allons-y!

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This weekend, Doctor Who’s animated TV series starts. You’ll be able to catch the show on the Red Button on on the BBC website from Saturday. The six-part show features two new companions and an awful lot of pretty blocky looking animation.

It’s possible to argue that the animation is purposefully stylised, but I can’t quite shake the feeling that I could just as easily be watching an Xtranormal cartoon without the comedy effect supplied by the stilted speech patterns. Still, with David Tennant doing the voice acting, there’s a chance that – so long as the story is good enough – I’ll be too sucked into the action to notice that the animation leaves something to be desired.

Check out the preview below – as well as an Xtranormal Doctor Who fanvid. What do you think? Looking forward to it? Or will you be giving it a miss?

Now compare to this Xtranormal cartoon of two Doctor Who fans

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Last night a fair proportion of the internet sat down to watch the start of David Tennant’s last hurrah as a Time Lord in Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars. The episode featured alien baddies “The Flood”, a race of water-based beings who play havoc with your electrics and create all kinds of damp-proofing problems.

Unsurprisingly, Lindsay Duncan was excellent as spoilsport boss, Captain Adelaide Brooke and David Tennant got to flex his acting muscles when the Doctor had a little power mad turn. Meanwhile, the slack-jawed bed-wetters out in the greenhouse had me regularly reaching for my chapstick, while — I’ve no doubt — the nation’s youth were busy reaching for the sofa cushions.

So, what did the rest of internet think of the watery episode? Good clean fun or a bit of a damp squib?

Den of Geek

For large chunks of this episode, the Doctor is a very still and haunted man (spitting out lines you never thought you’d ever hear the Doctor say), and Tennant for me absolutely nailed it… he utterly owns the role, and it’s really going to miss him.

Memo to Matt Smith: you’ve got one hell of a job on your hands.

TV Overmind

“The Waters of Mars” is one of the best episodes in Who for a long time, certainly not since the June 2008 episode “Midnight” have I enjoyed Doctor Who as much as this.

Off the Telly

Make no mistake, this is excellent, excellent Doctor Who, even if at times it just doesn’t feel like – well – Doctor Who. In the final sequences, our hero has never seemed more alien, or out of control. A mad dog Time Lord, fast going insane with the knowledge of his own imminent death.

Monsters and Critics

The tug of war in [the] emotional scenes allows for some great performing on Tennant’s part and this is especially true when The Doctor does something very uncharacteristic… The success of this episode is also due, in no small part, to the brilliant casting of Lindsay Duncan (Rome) as Captain Adelaide Brooke.

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