TV episode review
UK airdate 10 May 2008 (BBC1)

The TARDIS takes the travellers to a planet where new soldiers are bred by machine – and the Doctor becomes a donor...

This isn't the strongest story the new show has created. Immediately explaining how the Doctor's daughter was created eliminates a lot of potential suspense, leading to a bog-standard "two sides fighting over things they've misinterpreted over the years" plotline that we've seen done a lot better before (The Face of Evil).

That's not to decry the acting of the regulars or guest star Georgia Moffett. Tennant shows the side of the Doctor that pushed the button in the Time War, although there can't have been many people who really believed that he would shoot his daughter's killer. The scenes between father and daughter never descend into either bathos or cliché, and there are some good exchanges between the Doctor and his companions. Martha however is written as "generic companion two" and only Murray Gold's distinctive theme for her marks her out.

The set up for the spin-off couldn't be more obvious, and we've almost certainly not heard the last of the "Time Lord creation" machine. But how many bets that all the pathos will be forgotten in next week's Agatha Christie romp?

Some good moments in an otherwise very average episode. Patrick Holm

VERDICT: 6/10