You can't take this seriously as a story because it doesn't take itself seriously as a story - I think every single Doctor Who actor* is aware that what they're doing is nonsense. (*I specify Doctor Who because I know nothing about Eastenders. The good news is there is truly no screen time at all devoted to Eastenders, so I don't think I missed out)

But, yknow what, at least it's fun nonsense. I'm reminded of the behind-the-scenes footage of Kate O'Mara on set here. After being told to tone down the camp she replies, laughing: "I thought this was a camp programme?" It's never been more evident than Dimensions in Time

"Leave the plot, it's the camp I want."

Dimensions is objectively awful on every level, but at the same time, is such stupid, nonsensical fun that it's hard to actually hate it because everyone in it knows that it's god awful and so nobody is actually trying. To think that Kate O'Mara was a well-known name but this was the kind of stuff she lived for....still, at least it makes more sense than your average RTD finale.

This is just stupid fun

I don't care what anyone says - this is a whole load of fun, and such a sweet love letter to the show

Well, I did it. I'd watched every episode of the show, but never spent the 24 minutes of my time to watch Dimensions in Time. The plot? Nonsense. The Rani is the villain and she has created some time-loop where the Doctor and Ace keep flipping between 1973, 1993, and 2013. Even more distressing: nothing appears to change in the East End over those forty years. Every few seconds the Doctor and the companion change. At one point both Peri and Nyssa are there together.

So often we have the footage of what all the classic series actors looked like on the show, then have no photos of them for twenty years or so until they pop back up again. So seeing a lot of them in this 'in-between' age was a little weird. Susan is back with Colin Baker for half a second. The Brigadier appears on a helicopter. Lalla Ward is here with short hair as Romana for less than a minute. It's just chaos. The only good thing about it is that we get all these different alumni back for split seconds. Supposedly EastEnders people are in this. There was a vote to determine which minor character would help the Doctor and I think I know when it happened, but I'm really not sure.

Look how far we've come people, look how far we've come.