Rate "The Unquiet Dead"

What did you make of the first non-RTD script of Nu-Who? Vote and have your say!

Well, obviously the best Gatiss script in Whodom, and one that provided a 70s schlock nostalgia-rush (which, for whatever reason, seemed important at the time) after two weeks of RTD radicalism. I enjoyed seeing old fashioned fun scares on Saturday nights, even though I'm glad the modern Doctor Who only does it occasionally.

Of course, the part of The Unquiet Dead that raises the most controversy is its perceived anti-immigration message; the gelth are immigrants that want to do no good to their chosen destination. But I think the message is rather less controversial. Don't allow immigration if the immigrants are genocidal maniacs. Which to me is fair enough.

4/5 BTW.

Simon Callow as Dickens was a big part of my enjoyment of this ep. The Gelth were excellent stand-ins for the supernatural and I liked their design. Chris and Billie seemed to be having a great time doing this episode. A good old fashoned spooky monster story. Oh, and well met Eve Myles. 4/5 from me.

a little bit unsatisfying- the resolution seemed a bit too pat. not bad though.

i'm a big charles dickens fan though so great to see him.

I've given this 3/5, as it's not up to the standard of the first 2 and they both got 4. As we were to discover twice more, somehow Gatiss stories aren't as good as they *should be*, although there's still plenty to like here.

3 from me for the same reasons as C=O really. Gatiss' best by a long shot however.

Yes, it is Gatiss's best, but that's truly damning with faint praise for me. Regardless of the anti-immigration theme - which I think is there, but unintentionally, as we've seen from other scripts and his own comments that Gatiss doesn't really think about the politics of his writing - it's not that giid a script, IMO. The problem (and 'School Reunion' suffers from the same issue) is that the supposed moral dilemma has been resolved before the titles - we've seen the Gelth kill someone for no reason and so it's only a matter of time before they reveal that they're bad, not a shocking revelation.

2/5 because it's not completely atrocious, and there are good performances in there, but it's gone down a lot in my estimation in hindsight, especially when we've seen what other writers can do with episodes set in the past.

Packaged as it was as "one trip into the future, one trip into the past," I enjoyed this from the standpoint of re-acquainting audiences with the Doctor and Companion getting a chance to interact with famous historical figures. Simon Callow as Dickens was a very nice treat.

But there's always this lingering feeling that with a Gatiss script, it should have undergone one more round of editing to finish it off. There's just something lacking compared to the two stories that opened series 1 for me.

I give this a 3.

The problem with The Unquiet Dead is that it needs to be a two parter.

Hence 3/5 from me. It's paced better than TIL, but I still have the feeling it wants to go on longer and spend a bit more time with the characters.

As an aside, I think the anti-immigration thing is a real stretch, I don't see it at all.

Dave Webb wrote:The problem with The Unquiet Dead is that it needs to be a two parter.

As do all of Gatiss's scripts for the series thus far.

I disagree - they should have all been half parters. 22 minutes.

Rich Flair wrote:I disagree - they should have all been half parters. 22 minutes.

22 minutes, but four of them?

No, just the one.

So no-one's keen on Gatiss as show-runner then?

Yes, just not this show.

^ ^ ^

What Rich said.

It won't happen, no matter how good Sherlock is.

We already know that there's someone waiting in the wings, a safe pair of hands, beloved of fandom in general, with the vision and the drive to carry the show forward into it's next fifty years.

Spoiler:

It must happen.

Dave Webb wrote:It won't happen, no matter how good Sherlock is.

We already know that there's someone waiting in the wings, a safe pair of hands, beloved of fandom in general, with the vision and the drive to carry the show forward into it's next fifty years.

Spoiler:

Very smoothe, Dave.