I remember reading an excellent article in DWM about Malcolm Hulke, it is clear that his real life experiences impacted the writing of this story. It's drenched in superstition, hidden motives and spies, fantastic stuff.

From the moment our heroes materialise on Gatwick runway in the path of an oncoming plane, this story sets itself out as a lot of fun. Having spent my first 18 years in Crawley, the fact that this episode was that it was all filmed and set so close to home was marvellous for me.

Jamie being given a love interest was the first hints of romance we have had since Susan in Dalek Invasion of Earth. Samantha Briggs, the Liverpudlian girl is a great character in and of herself, she gives a wider scope to the story and sells the idea that teenagers from across the country are going missing - plus it's nice to have two characters with ordinary accents talking in classic who!

Lots of great ideas here, from the falsified passports to disfigured aliens - it feels like Doctor Who has really succeeded with re-inventing itself with this Doctor, yet somehow staying very much the same show.

The most lasting consequence of this story is the departure of Ben and Polly, who have been a fantastic team. Ben was a complete departure from Ian and Steven who were made in similar heroic, stoic moulds. A cockney with a cheeky attitude worked perfectly alongside Jamie, who is less forthright and confident. Polly is really hip, the moment she was first onscreen it was difficult to remember Dodo was even in that story. Its a crying shame that she wasn't present throughout the whole of her final story. Having said all this, whilst they were brilliant companions, everything I love about them was there to be seen in The War Machines, after that there were more there to support the fantastic new Doctor. It would have been nice to see these two develop further in their own right. Perhaps I would rate them higher if their entire time wasn't so cruelly missing.

Another great story - can't wait to see what happens next!