TV episode review
UK airdate 21 June 2008 (BBC1)

Some people think the world revolves around them – but Donna discovers that it really does…

A very different Doctor-lite episode this season, telling a Sliding Doors version of Donna’s life. When she decides not to go for her interview at H.C. Clements – thus leading her into the events of The Runaway Bride – the lack of Donna’s moderating influence on the Doctor leads to his death, a nuclear accident in London and ultimately some very real horrors taking place on British soil...

Once you get past the initial conceit though, there are some major plotholes. What happened to the Master? When did UNIT get time travel technology? Why would the alternate world UNIT take orders from Rose Tyler – if that’s really who it was, and not some clone of her (which would explain Billie Piper’s new accent!). How could other people see something on Donna’s back both in the original timeline and in the new one…?

Maybe some answers will be forthcoming in the “all characters” finale that the throw forward promises, but more than any previous episode of the revived series, this one was purely for the fans. There were some incredible moments, most notably the beautifully underplayed silent dialogue between Wilf and the deportees, but overall this was style without enough substance. Patrick Holm

VERDICT: 6/10