Steven Moffat knows how to write fairy tales, romance, sci-fi and comedy. He is such an all rounder. So when Russell's fully developed, living, breathing characters walk into Moffat's scripts they are an uncontainable force to be reckoned with. The star of this particular episode though is Madame de Pompadour who is written and acted with such passion and flare that she's guaranteed to have audiences crying at her untimely fate.

Moffat's regular exercise of making an ordinary relatable item scary in this episode turns to ticking clocks and monsters hiding under the bed. The imaginative results of clockwork droids are delightful and a huge step forward for Tennant's time as The Doctor.

The fairy tale-esque spin on time travel that passing through fireplaces and secret passageways on a spaceship into regency France is spectacular and allows for the rare visual combination of both spaceships and palaces, robots and frocks!

With his second script in a row Moffat has already cemented himself as one of the series all time best writers and given Rose and The Doctor their first much needed classic in what had up until that point been an uneven series.