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

Love and Monsters contains so many elements that could be described as divisive, it might as well be called “Love or Hate?”! There’s a monster designed for a Blue Peter competition, comedian Peter Kay in a major support role, a lot of ELO — and that’s before you even get to the plot — and more specifically, that ending.

“Magnificent! Oh, I could kiss you. Except I can’t, of course. The eczema.”

Victor, Love and Monsters

Up until its resolution (once I’d gotten past the back-and-forth comedy running in the Woolwich warehouse) I’d really enjoyed this first of the Doctor-lite Tenth Doctor episodes. Structurally, the episode was interesting, being narrated, perhaps unreliably, by Marc Warren’s Elton. It also ended up being a lovely story for Jackie Tyler — one where we get to see what it’s like for her waiting for Rose to return from her travels with the Doctor.

The ending, though — the preservation of Ursula in concrete slab-form and the implication that she and Elton still have some sort of sexual relationship — that joke feels like a misstep — or at the very least, a shift in tone too far for me.

But I’m partial to a bit of ELO, I’ve always found Peter Kay funny and I even like the Abzorbaloff, who does indeed look exactly like he’s been designed by a child. As a monster he’s played for laughs, but the way in which he absorbs and kills the unfortunate members of LINDA is genuinely horrible. Unfortunately, the Doctor’s bringing Ursula back from that only adds to the horror.