Having gone through periods of obsession with both Orson Welles and 40s noir and detective media, this story has a lot in it that should work for me. Unfortunately, this leads me to being more critical of it, perhaps unfairly. I also have a bit of a soft spot for Mark Gatiss having grown up with League of Gentleman and him being a genre nut like me, shown by the excellent horror documentary he made for the BBC about 15 years ago, and his breakdown of genres on the now defunct Film Program radio show. However, this is where we get into what disappoints me the most about Invaders from Mars: that in trying to incorporate so many genres into one story it ends up being a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. We have gumshoe noir, 30s sci-fi, gangster flicks and espionage thriller, and while Gatiss knows his stuff he’s not as deft at bringing all these elements together.

It doesn’t help matters that most the story takes place in my least favourite of those afore mentioned genres, the gangster story (I’m much more a police procedural guy). I don’t find these types of people particularly engaging, which isn’t helped by Gatiss’ habit of making characters seem like caricatures or pastiches. This is fine for comedy but not as effective in drama, even light-hearted drama, and Who especially can live or die on the strength of its supporting characters.

The much mythologized ‘War of the World’ broadcast doesn’t play as much a part in the overall plot as I’d have liked as it is such a rich source for historical Doctor Who shenanigans, and feels, like everything else, yet another element thrown into a broth. As far as I’m aware this was the first Who story Gatiss wrote, so I understand the urge to throw all your ideas and things you love from the era into one story, and it does keep the pace up, but personally I prefer fewer ideas and elements and allowing them space to breathe.

This perhaps makes it sound like I think it’s a bad story, but I don’t. There’s fun to be had and its rarely boring. I would probably have given it a 6 if my interest in the playground it’s taking place in didn’t raise my expectations.