"The Rebel Flesh"/"The Almost People"

"Fear Her", Matthew Graham’s previous Doctor Who story is a story that is seen by a significant number of fans as the worst episode broadcast since the programme’s revival. While I do not rate that story quite so harshly, I must admit that I was a bit worried about what his next offering would be like. Thankfully, while there are some problems with the story, "The Rebel Flesh"/"The Almost People" is far superior to its predecessor. The concept of The Flesh is a very strong one and it is used well to explore concepts of identity and, yes (spit) ‘what it means to be human’, without the boneheaded clichés that that sort of aim usually resorts to. At first the story seems to be a throwback to the base-under-siege stories that were so ubiquitous in the Troughton era, even down to the character types; in particular Miranda Cleaves, the authority figure who obstructs the Doctor. The motivations of the ‘gangers’ in particular, could also have been explored further. There are attempts to correct this, however, such as Cleaves’s ganger being used to comment on the motivations of the character, which is some compensation.

The cast, however, manage to make their characters seem far more lively than they are on paper. Marshall Lancaster is as endearing as he was in Life on Mars and Sarah Smart is both endearing and chilling as Jennifer. Jimmy is a character composed of pure cliché, but Mark Bonnar puts in a very soulful performance. Raquel Cassidy is a very subtle actress, but here she clearly has a ball, chewing the scenery without seeming ridiculous. Amy is very good in this, but she is overshadowed by her two leading men. Rory’s fight for human decency is valiantly portrayed by Arthur Darvill and Matt Smith astonishingly ascends to yet another new level- the scenes of the Doctor with his ganger are fun and give Matt plenty to work with, which he does with aplomb.

Overseeing all of this is Julian Simpson and, despite a few editing hiccups, he puts in great work. He is more than equal to conjuring the kind of imagery the story needs and he produces some of the most frightening images that the programme has had to date- the wall of eyes, the sudden cut to the half-formed gangers. There a strong influence from The Thing, with all of the shape-shifting doubles running around and the transformation of ganger-Jennifer into a terrifying monster succeeds in giving Thing-style shocks for a family audience- no small task, especially when one compares it to similar scenes in "The Lazarus Experiment", which are nothing like as scary.

"The Rebel Flesh"/"The Almost People" overcomes its problems to become a very enjoyable Doctor Who adventure. The Doctor saves the day, of course, but he had an ulterior motive all along. Amy, is not Amy and, as her ganger dissolves, she wakes up in a tiny white cubicle, with a very familiar eye-patched woman looking through a hatch at her. To her horror, she realises that she is about to give birth...

NEXT: "A Good Man Goes to War"