N.B. there might (or might not) be spoilers in this article!

There’s no denying the brilliance of Blink.

With a terrifying new monster, fun “wibbly wobbly timey wimey” storytelling and a fabulous performance by guest — and soon-to-be-huge — star Carey Mulligan as Sally Sparrow, it’s easy to forget that this was actually the Doctor-lite story for Series 3.

“Don’t blink. Don’t even blink. Blink and you’re dead!”

The Doctor, Blink

And it is brilliant. I have no qualms with its consistent high-rankings in Doctor Who Magazine polls of fans’ favourites. It doesn’t even fall foul of the old familliarity-breeds-contempt feeling, as there’s always something to marvel at.

For me, this time, it was the sadness of the missed opportunity for Sally and Billy that struck home the most. I’ll even forgive his ‘I have ’til the rain stops’ line laying it on a bit thick, just because it’s so wonderful that ‘it’s the same rain’ as when Sally and Billy met.

You do start to see some of the cracks when you watch it multiple times, especially knowing what comes in later adventures. For one, why don’t the angels make more of an effort at getting Sally on her first visit to the spookiest house outside of a Dario Argento movie? And why (or rather how) is Martha unaffected by being zapped back in time?

But to dwell on any faults would be churlish. There’s so much that is good here — the Doctor as a DVD extra and the conversation he holds across time with Sally, the whole concept of the angels killing you by making you ‘live to death’, the happi/sad- ness of the lives lost and gained as a result — that you’ll be willing to forgive Blink its flaws.

It’s scary, it’s funny; in short, Blink is — for the second story in a row — everything you want Doctor Who to be.