For the most part, World War Three is a solid second part of a very good two part story. Like the first part, it balances moments of tension with moments of comedy, while also throwing in a load of great character work. Genuinely, the dialogue and characters are so strong in this that they feel properly real and tangible. They act in believable and consistent ways, inline with what I'd expect from similar real people.

However, I do feel that there are a few moments where this episode drops the ball. First is the very quick and somewhat cheaty-feeling cliffhanger resolution. Second is that the main solution to the threat, Mickey "hacking" into the UK's missile system, felt entirely unbelievable and cheap. Third is that the villains became, at times, a little too much, becoming less funny and less believable as actual threats. This was not helped by the at times slightly shoddy VFX work which, while I'm sure was excellent at the time, has not always held up so well in my opinion.

I still really like this episode and enjoy watching it, despite the flaws listed here. As with a lot of this series, it's good, and it makes me sad that RTD doesn't seem to be interested/capable (which work is most appropriate here is a matter of debate) of repeating this series' style and feel in his second era.