The Creeping Fog is, I feel, a rather contrary title for a story which is a fun romp through a fogbound London. There's very little creeping in this story with the Doctor and Donna arriving in a London paralysed by a choking, poisonous smog and almost instantly pulled into a riproaring adventure. The Great Smog of London in 1952 is terrible, historical fact and there is a danger that this story trivialises it. But it stays just the right side of history, taking the wider atmosphere of the fog-bound London to tell quite an intimate story of the Doctor, Donna and five Londoners who end up together.

Tennant and Tate are on good form bouncing into the adventure and separately meeting two of the guest characters who then bring them together with more of the cast when they reunite at an isolated bus garage. The Doctor meets Ivy Clark (played by Lauren 'Dodo' Cornelius) who is a theatre usher and trying to find help for her audience who have seemingly died. Donna meets Terry (played by Theo Stevenson, best known for playing the notorious Horrid Henry in the Horrid Henry Movie) who saves her life when he pulls her out of the way of a lorry in the fog. He takes her to meet up with Richard, his boyfriend - who it also turns out has gained the affections of Ivy. Terry's sexuality is addressed in a historical context with him being surprised by Donna's support. The love triangle between him, Richard and Ivy is underplayed and, to be fair, Ivy's interest in Richard is clearly unrequited and really just provides a reason for the characters to come together. At the garage, they meet two stranded motorists, Malcolm and Alice.

Malcolm is a military man who fought in the Great War. Parallels between the choking, yellow fog and mustard gas are drawn and Malcolm meets his end partly because his lungs are already damaged from his war experience. Alice is a slightly stereotyped middle class woman who thinks everyone should accommodate her needs at their own expense. To her credit, she does begin to regret her actions and modify her attitude towards others but in a typical modern-era length episode she does still end up a little one-note. (Malcolm and Alice are played by Big Finish stalwart Stephen Critchlow and Big Finish royalty, Helen Goldwyn).

Like a lot of modern Who it is a story which feels like it's over before it's begun simply through dint of having to introduce the characters and dilemma as swiftly as possible to allow time to build up to a climax. The climax where it is discovered that the fog has been hijacked by aliens called the Fumifugum (a bit of a silly name, but I'll let it go) does come to a satisfying conclusion. It feels a bit odd to call a story about a choking, oppressive fog, light and breezy but that's the overriding impression I have from this story. It's one I think I'll enjoy listening too again but isn't one which sticks hugely in the mind beyond the guest characters who are broadly but entertainingly written and performed and an evocative setting.