The Curse of Fenric

I really enjoyed The Curse of Fenric. While the first part was my favourite and I feel it declined from there, it didn't decline far and remained exciting and action-packed. The mystery elements nearer the start were really nice and the characters felt very strong. I particuarly liked the development of the Doctor and Ace. The effects and prosthetics look pretty good as well.

At literally no point in this story did I understand what was going on.

Fantastic story, one of the best the show has ever done and one of my favourites. Atmospheric and creepy, a great World War 2 setting, fantastic music, themes of war and faith and basically laid the ground work for the whole of the new series in many ways with the arc that it gives Ace.

Yep, I enjoyed this one's Tales Of The TARDIS episode so much that I just had to go and watch the original episodic version so soon.

The Curse of Fenric is an utterly mind-blowing Doctor Who serial. It's the perfect showcase of the Seventh Doctor and Ace and how toxic their relationship could be, with the Doctor cruelly breaking Ace's faith in him to beat Fenric.

Fenric is easily one of the best one-off Doctor WHo antagonists, with an intriguing shared history with the Doctor. The Haemovores are excellent too, and are easily among the most impressive monster designs from the classic series. You could have the Haemovores return in the new series, and you'd barely have to alter their look to make them work for a modern audience.

As we enter the final days of the classic series we are presented with yet another overly complex story. It's convoluted plot almost doesn't matter though as it is ultimately a brilliant piece of television, despite being difficult to keep up with.

The 7th Doctor and Ace stay in the past in The Curse of Fenric, which is where they thrive. This time The Second World War, another perfectly Doctor Who-ish period in history. I love the central mystery - what tripped up both the Vikings and the Russians on the shores of this small village?

Whereas most stories they are given can barely live up to McCoy and Aldred’s simmering potential, here our leads are giving plenty to work with. Thrilling interactions with the priest, translating ruins, with the decoding expert, showing off their logic skills, with the decoding “girls”, local teenagers and “the old bag”. Once you throw the army officer and Russians in you’d think it would be overstuffed but it’s amazing how well paced everything is. Each character is given a substantial, natural feeling introduction that delivers them as fully formed people in the story. There is a real sense of place to this village. A much better use of budgets than alien worlds.

The sense of journey is the key that makes this story sing. You get a sense of how this moment in time fits into Ace's life as a whole, helped by call-backs to that haunted house from the last story - she feels like a real person, which is a step forward for the show. At the same time you get a sense of the importance Ace has in The Doctor's life whilst it is revealed how he has challenged and beaten Fenric before - many, many years in his past. This story makes the narrative of the wider show richer and more interesting follow and for that - it is one of McCoy's best.