It’s October and it’s (to a lot of modern viewers myself included) the Doctor. David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor. Surely the Radio Times will have almost wall-to-wall five-star reviews of his time in the role? The truth may surprise, and let’s remember he did (by modern standards) appear in a lot of stories. They can’t all have been perfect…

The Tenth Doctor reviewed

The collective Radio Times reviews for the Tenth Doctor are: David Tennant 2015-2010.

There are some obvious 5* choices: Blink, Human Nature / Family of Blood, School Reunion and The Christmas Invasion. They even (and I can’t agree) give 5* to Love and Monsters. Really?! At least they included Turn Left, The Stolen Earth / Journey’s End.

The 1* entries are more obvious still: Fear Her. That’s it (but see Love and Monsters above for my view).

Other stories where I disagree are:

• The Next Doctor – I really like, yes the end is a bit mad and lets it down but in my mind 2* is mean
• Waters of Mars also gets a 5* score. Yes it’s good but for me never quite hit the target in the dead centre
• Gridlock gets 4* and again this is one I just didn’t find gripping.

You could argue the odd * for various others such as Midnight and Silence in the Library but overall it’s a good spread of scores. If it tells us anything it suggests strongly we admire David Tennant’s tenure as much for his performance as for the stories he had the chance to share with us on screen.