Rate "Robot of Sherwood"

For some reason the title of episode 3 seems to have changed and Robots have become Robot. Most bizarre.

Anyway, moving on, what did you think about Mark Gatiss' Robin Hood romp? Open for business at 20.20 BST, 6th September.

Surprising that no one has commented on this, yet. I found this episode far better than I thought (or should I say feared) it would be. Who knew Mark Gatiss could write comedy? The Doctor/Robin Hood dynamic was great fun to watch, and Ben Miller chewing up the scenery was just icing on the cake. I'm giving it a four, but I reserve the right to raise that on repeat viewings.

Patrick wrote: Who knew Mark Gatiss could write comedy?

Anyone who was aware of The League of Gentlemen, or The Pitch of Fear, of The Web of Caves. Granted, these might not have made it over the Atlantic.

Hang on: - The Web of Caves.

- pitch of fear.

The EP: Silly, fun, the mutual antagonism between Robin Hood and The Doctor got old really quickly. Gold arrows fired at a space ship make it go? Well...OK...if you insist.

Upsides: the more I see of Capaldi the more I want to see. Now divorced from romance and being "The Impossible Girl", Clara has become a person and a half way decent companion. Ben Miller did a good job, and I enjoyed seeing him establish the Sheriff as evil and ruthless.

Downsides: The only convincing, interesting Robin Hood was written by Richard Carpenter and played by Michael Praed. We don't have that version of Robin Hood. That's not the fault of Mark Gatiss, that's just my Robin Hood issue. But seriously, any version of the outlaw is going to pale in comparison to something featuring the likes of Judi Trott, Clive Mantle, Ray Winstone and Nicholas Grace...

...good ep, nice light hearted tension break, looks like things get a bit serious next week.

You know, I have seen those clips before. I just hadn't made the connection that Gatiss wrote them.

It looks like the BBC have put the whole of Series 1 of League of Gentlemen on You Tube. A must watch IMO.

Moving on, or rather back, to Robot of Sherwood - I absolutely loved it. LoLtastic, especially the Nottingham/Derby/Lincoln/Worksop gag. 5/5 from me.

My weekly Sunday Doctor Who podcasts both made the same observation: Ben Miller had a definite Anthony Ainley vibe going on. All he had to do was chuckle a bit, and he'd have been the spitting image of the Master.

I'll tell you one thing I appreciate about the last two weeks episodes. If "Into The Dalek" was asking the question "Is the Doctor a Good Man?" I would argue that "Robot Of Sherwood" was asking another question, "Is the Doctor A Hero?"

Thought it was good fun, and made the Gatiss writing comedy joke myself - the point is that he's clearly a good comedy writer, and perhaps if he'd emphasised that in his previous Who scripts, he'd have a better reputation. Script was full of holes (and not helped by the removal of the beheading scene) but it was good fun Who for a Saturday night.

Let's hope it's intact in the DVD/Blu Ray releases.