4.11 - Turn Left

This is the 4th amazing 10/10 episode in a row in the superb series 4 (and the run would continue with the great 2-part finale). Like the previous fabulous episode Midnight this is written by Showrunner Russell T. Davies and is another of his best.

The premise is that a parasitic creature causes Donna to change the course of her past by a different choice over which way to turn at a junction. As a result she never meets the Doctor and does not cause him to survive the battle with the Racnoss. This means the Doctor dies without regenerating and is not around to rescue the Earth from all the threats which it faced after that. Rose travels from her alternative universe to urge a disbelieving Donna that she can save the world by travelling back in time and changing her decision back.

The premise is clever, dark and exciting and is carried out with style. Catherine Tate puts in another terrific performance as Donna who really takes centre stage. The whole cast, including of course David tennant are excellent and the chance to see the world without the Doctor is awesome. In fact, Steven Moffatt should have watched this every time he presided over a story that was pushing the idea the Doctor is in some way a morally redundant antihero because this demonstrates the essence of what the Doctor stands for.

10/10

The idea of an alternate history, of what would happen if we got to see where our characters are in a world that went wrong, is an old one. Turn Left is not the first Doctor Who story to explore this, but it is one of the best.

The basic premise is simple, Donna is lured in by a fortune teller and when being given a palm reading, a large insect crawls on her back and changes her entire life, simply by making her turn right when once she went left. (I think it's a political statement.)

This is an amazing episodes, the Doctor is dead within the first ten minutes as in this brand new timeline he died in the torchwood base underneath the Thames as Donna wasn't there to stop him.

And then all hell breaks loose.

The Royal Hope hospital, only one survivor and it's one of Martha's fellow medical students while Sarah Jane and her companions from the Sarah Jane Adventures are all killed off.

Christmas, the replica of the titanic slammed into the earth and destroys London and floods all of Southern England with radiation. The entire country falls into disarray with an emergency government set into place.

The Sontarans and ATMOS are stopped but at the cost of the rest of Torchwood and the adipose are born in America, killing over sixty million. Concentration camps are set up and people who were once citizens are denied the right to vote and England becomes for the English.

Turn Left is one the darkest Doctor Who stories, not just in the RTD era but in all of Doctor Who history, it doesn't have a great deal of time to explore the issues that it hints at but they are touched on, and they are felt and in these troubled times Turn Left hits harder than ever.

Through out all of this, Catherine Tate shines. If anyone had any hesitation to her abilities as an Actress then this should be the story that changes their mind. It is not just chemistry with David she brings to the table, she had to stand almost completely on her own to sell this world to us and she completely succeeds.

Berned Cribbens and Jacqueline King are both exceptional as well, Wilf trying to be strong for his daughter and his granddaughter while Sylvia slowly slips deeper and deeper into depression at the terrible world that she has found herself in.

Billie Piper gives a serviceable performance as Rose, she was never a companion I liked much and at times it seemed as though Piper forget how to play her but then she is not written as Rose in this story, she's written more as a doctor substitute.

Speaking of which, part of why this episode shines so bright for me might be because Ten is not in it. Through no fault of David Tennant, Ten is my least favourite doctor by no small margin and while Series Four is the time her irritates me the least, I still like that he is not in this story much at all.

The final thing that keeps the story from getting full marks is the opening, it's almost as racist as Talons. It's better that it at least has actually Asian actors but the fact there is a Chinese planet which looks like a market place...yeah, it takes away a point.

But aside from the small stumble, I do believe that Turn Left should be remembered as one of the high points of the Tenth Doctor's Era.

The what if’s of who are always great to put to the test. Usually big finish likes doing so best of all but here in forefront telly 2008 doctor who we have Turn left.

What if the doctor died before meeting his companion. What if he failed to stop all the things that came after that time.

This is all down to a small change in Donnas life. Influenced by a menacing mystic who charms her into a sitting.

Donna takes a interview she originally in real time neglected. Instead or turning away to the right... she turns left


And changes the world!

Excellent stuff and clearly one of the best if not the best performances of Tate on the show!

Personally, I think this is one of the best episodes not just of series 4 but of the whole of the new era. I think this was a very clever plot with some decent performances from the actors. It's also a very clever portrayal of how the world would be in crisis and that one tiny, tiny decision can effect thousands and thousands of people. Overall, a brilliant performance and an episode that I would definitely recommend for anyone however if you new to Dr Who yu might have to go back and watch the first episode of Series 4.