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

It’s fair to say Fear Her is not the most beloved of Doctor Who episodes.

“I’m being facetious, aren’t I. There’s no call for it.”

The Doctor, Fear Her

And it’s true that there are bits of it that are awful. OK — almost all the Olympic stuff, which is trite and cheesy (although I do love Kel’s rant to Rose about her accessing, using and damaging council property), but despite its flaws, I still prefer Fear Her to this season’s parallel universe Cybermen story and (while Fear Her is arguably as-cheap-as-chips in comparison) The Creature from the Pit 2.

Perhaps it’s because it’s trying to do something different. Childhood loneliness and the lingering effects of the death of a parent, an abusive one at that, are not typical themes for Doctor Who, although, having said that, this story would not have seemed out of place in the last couple of seasons in the 80’s.

That the Isolus has latched onto Chloe Webber not from any overriding malevolence — it’s simply missing its family — is also a nice conceit.

Fear Her is by no means perfect, but the Doctor and Rose make for an excellent Morse and Lewis in the suburbs and it helps that the episode has Nina Sosanya playing Chloe’s mother, proving yet again Doctor Who was a continuing draw for wonderful actors and actresses.