Out of all of the Season Two episodes, Interstellar Song Contest was the one I was most apprehensive about. I'm not a fan of Eurovision, I find it too camp and tacky, and I hate that the voting is so political. The idea of a Eurovision-themed Doctor Who episode understandably didn't thrill me. However, as more information about the episode came out, the more curious I became in what the episode entailed, and the result is not only the best episode of Season Two, but the best episode of RTD2 overall.

This episode is ridiculously ambitious. Whilst the claims that the episode contains four songs are stretching it a little as most of them are small snippets with one full number at the end, and it's a shame we still don't have a musical episode of Doctor Who, I still can't believe how much we got in this episode. This is the most expensive Doctor Who has ever been, and the Disney money has never been more evident than it is here. The scope of the Harmony Arena is breathtaking; it's a massive and impressive combination of CGI with what is obviously in reality a much smaller set. Not to mention that the audience and alien competitors are comprised of tons of people in prosthetics. At times, it feels like watching an episode of a big-budget American streaming series on Disney Plus or Netflix.

As much as it captures the camp and cringey feel of Eurovision, the Eurovision theming only really plays a small part in the episode. The main plot is much more like Die Hard, concerning the Doctor fighting against an extra-terrestrial terrorist called Kid whose actions are driven by vengeance against the corporation funding the song contest. For an episode that was being billed as basically being 'the Eurovision one', it's surprisingly dark. Kid's main plan is to kill trillions of people through a delta wave, making him easily one of the biggest threats this Doctor has faced.

It's why I don't find the Fifteenth Doctor's outburst out of place. Kid's scheme is so horrific that I can buy that he would lose it and not only threaten to eject him into space and watch as he freezes to death, but proceed to torture him in the gallery. I love when we get to see this Doctor's darkest moments, as Ncuti Gatwa plays it so well, and it's a reminder of how powerful and dangerous the Doctor can be when he becomes your enemy. As Belinda notes, the Doctor can be both 'the most amazing man' and scary, and he needs his companions like Belinda to hold him back.

Speaking of companions, it's fantastic to see Susan Foreman come back, and played by Carole Ann Ford again. Seeing her come back in this episode was a real shock, and such an excellent moment. I really hope we see her again in a future episode, because there's so much storytelling potential in a proper reunion between the Doctor and Susan, given that he left her and never returned as he promised.

Best of all is the Mrs Flood reveal. Since she was first introduced in The Church On Ruby Road, I have thought she was the Rani, because so much of Anita Dobson's camp and theatrical performance reminds me of Kate O'Mara. To finally have these suspicions confirmed is fantastic, and unlike other fans, I think Anita Dobson has been perfect casting so far. I don't know much about Archie Panjabi as an actor, but she certainly looks the part of the Rani, and seemed promising in the limited screentime she has in the mid-credits scene. The Rani's return has been long overdue though and I'm glad they have finally got the rights issues sorted.

A special mention must be given to Rylan Clark-Neal, who is amazing in this episode. Given that he is mostly known as a TV presenter, I wondered how he would fare in an acting role. Rylan Clark-Neal is a natural thought, and his confusion and shock at seeing the audience be sucked into space really sells the horrific nature of Kid's masterplan. I'm surprised Graham Norton didn't have a larger role as I thought we would hear him providing commentary on the different planets' songs, but he is relegated to a hologram in a museum dedicated to the song contest, which is unexpected, but he does well with the material he is given.

Overall, I'd give Interstellar Song Contest a 10/10. Whilst the claim that it features four songs is a bit of a stretch, it's still an impressively ambitious episode, and unlike The Devil's Chord, it doesn't play it safe. Interstellar Song Contest is a dark episode with a villain who pushes Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor more than any other he has met so far, and is packed with some great surprises that it's sure to be an episode that will be fondly remembered by the fandom for years to come.