Doctor Who: Series 2

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Site added: 29 December 2004 · Last updated: 12 July 2007

The second new Doctor Who series – sees the return of the Cybermen and the Daleks.

The second series collection kicks off with the 2005 Christmas special, which finds the Doctor struggling to overcome the effects of his regeneration, just as the Earth happens to be invaded. It’s a smashing episode, and much of the thirteen that follow manage to match it.

Highlights? There’s ‘School Reunion’, which cleverly works old favourites K-9 and Sarah-Jane back into the mix, while ‘The Girl In The Fireplace’ finds the Doctor in a slightly more romantic frame, ‘The Idiot’s Lantern’ is a super, snappy episode set just before Coronation Day, while the two part ‘Impossible Planet’ and ‘Satan Pit’ shows just how far you can stretch a BBC budget.

Yet the series will ultimately be remembered for different reasons. The triumphant return for the Cybermen for one, and the depature of Billie Piper’s Rose Tyler in the superb final two-parter, which also happens to see two of the Doctor’s deadliest foes – the Cybermen and the Daleks – waging war. And while it’s not unfair to say that this series of Doctor Who hasn’t been without one or two low moments too, the vast majority of it has been really quite brilliant. Fast, energetic, well-written and cracking entertainment.

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