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

With The Unquiet Dead, Doctor Who establishes the pattern that all four of Russell T Davies’ full series at the helm would follow: of the first three episodes one would be set in the present, one in the future and one in the past. The order would vary slightly over the series but that three episode structure is as good an establishment of the show’s formula as ever there’s been (and one I’m hoping Davies might repeat when he returns to the show in 2023).

Of course, he’d also divvy out writing duties and the honour of first guest writer would go to redoubtable League of Gentlemen alumnus Mark Gatiss (who also happened to pen the first New Adventure I read — Nightshade, but that’s by-the-by).

“I think it’s gone a little bit wrong.”

Doctor, The Unquiet Dead

I’m not going to dwell on whether or not portraying the Gelth as unwanted asylum seekers was an intentional or accidental subtext. I’d suggest reading Elizabeth Sandifer’s post on the subject for that. It has some good stuff about authorial intent and, as with my post on The Talons of Weng-Chiang, I defer to Sandifer’s assessment, in this case that any xenophobia in the story was a mistake, not by design, even if the Doctor does use the unfortunate phrase ‘Send them back’ when he realises the danger the Gelth present.

What I will say is that The Unquiet Dead does have several things going for it: oodles of Victorian atmosphere, an unsurprisingly (given its author) witty script and, perhaps best of all, Simon Callow as Charles Dickens. Indeed, with no disrespect intended towards any of the first series’ supporting actors, the casting of Callow perhaps shows just how serious it was about the calibre of its guest stars. Doctor Who has always attracted high-quality talent and it’s good to know that tradition continued even after an absence of over a decade.