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

Boom Town is perhaps easy to ignore given the weight of the stories around it, but it’s an effective way for Doctor Who and the viewer to take a breather before the big season finale.

Six months after the events of Aliens of London / World War Three we catch up with Margaret Blaine, more accurately know as Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen, who has somehow ended up as Mayor of Cardiff with plans to build a nuclear power station on the space-time rift in the centre of the city and use a pandimensional surfboard to escape Earth.

“Take me home and you take me to my death.”

Margaret / Blon, Boom Town

It’s an interesting plan, to say the least, but serves as a useful ploy to bring Margaret and the Doctor together to sit down and discuss the ethics of whether he has the right to take her back to Raxacoricofallapatorius.

Boom Town also marks the first time the Doctor becomes aware of the Bad Wolf link that appears to be following him and Rose, although it might have a remained a nice little easter egg for Welsh viewers had he not brought it to our attention that Blaidd Drwg translated as Bad Wolf.

It may never win any fans’ polls for greatest story, but Boom Town proves that Doctor Who stories can be contemplative and (relatively) quiet — not all episodes have to be rapid-fire action and breathless exposition.