PLOTLINE

Present Day London, Earth.

Rose tries to comes to terms with recent adventures with the Doctor.

Whilst the Doctor, Rose and her mum (Jackie) investigate Torchwood Tower, their enemies are planning to make the planet a battleground for a final reckoning.

Old friends thought lost and abandoned come to their aid but the ultimate sacrifice has too be made, and it is the Doctor who must make it.

EPISODE TWELVE REVIEW Pending

Graeme Harper: what a long, strange trip it must have been for him and his fans. The man who brought us episodes of CASUALTY, THE ROYAL, WYCLIFFE, HEARTBEAT, BOON, STAR COPS, EASTENDERS, THE BILL, JULIET BRAVO, BERGERAC, HOWARD'S WAY (pause while non-UK readers ponder this list, scratch their heads and mutter "Huh?") and a car load of other stuff, no discernable taste or pattern, just another chap with a well-paid media job, clocking in and clocking out, cranking out mass-market, low-brow telly with the disheartening reliability which is apparently viewed as a sign of achievement in this business called show, where no distinction is made between competence and innovation.

Oh yes, back in the day (mid-1980s), he also dabbled in Classic DOCTOR WHO via REVELATION OF THE DALEKS, THE CAVES OF ANDROZANI and WARRIORS' GATE . And then, pop, he bobs back into our lives to overseer Modern DOCTOR WHO - Who Redux - to steer RISE OF THE CYBERMEN and THE AGE OF STEEL onto our screens. And this. Solid gold. But do we have any reason to believe that this pinnacle in the shows history is due to Graeme or transpired in spite of him, bearing in mind that while his resume is indicative of a man who can hold down a job, nothing leapt out to suggest that he might score such a bulls-eye with this story; nothing marks him out as a distinctive force whenever he handles anything. THE CAVES OF ANDROZANI was a DOCTOR WHO standout but I thank Bob Holmes for that; and I credit RTD for this landmark tale and no one else.

In the previous episode, FEAR HER, when Rose said to the Doctor, "They keep on trying to split us up but they never, ever will", he replied, "Never say never" and I thought 'There's foreshadowing or I'm a Dalek .' And the pre-credits teaser for the episode itself was a gem: a forlorn Rose and her voice-over, "Planet Earth. This is where I was born. This is where I died".

The story starts well and keeps on building, reuniting Rose and her mum (Camille Coduri as indecently adorable as ever) in a nicely-played exchange culminating with Jackie planting an affectionate smacker on the Doctors mouth; and Rose's greeting "Loads of washing for you!" is going to resonate with the parents of students everywhere!  Later on, Jackie has the best line in the episode when she expresses her fears concerning just how time travel will change Rose: "[You] won't even be human".

The epic set up is bowled at us briskly but with a distinctly human tone: Jackie tells Rose to expect a visit from her late grandfather and we are as quizzical as Rose ("She's lost it.") and the Doctor but sure enough a spectral, human figure manifests itself in the Tyler kitchen; we then find out that this has been going on for the past few years (scene-setting is supported efficiently and to good comic effect with some telly channel hopping - note the weather report, "We're expecting some very strong ghosts") and segue to the Canary Wharf-based Torchwood (the UNIT of the 21 st Century), run by Yvonne Hartman (Tracy Anne -Oberman looking great and enjoying herself like crazy - "If it's alien, it's ours!" for the British Empire , ho-ho!), where the ghost manifestation appears to be controlled by some kind of machine which is operated by two very large hand-brakes.

As the Doctor tries to work out what's going on (and so eventually attracts the attention of Torchwood - and when he was triangulating the signal, I so flashed on the Nerva Beacon transmat but am not sure why!), two Torchwood techs wander off for a tryst, are pounced on by a Cyberman , converted to cyber-puppets and then return to their desks: one of the two is the gorgeous Freema Agyeman who is apparently going to be the next companion (Lord knows how, considering that she has a serious attack of death in this story). We are also introduced to another mystery: a large metallic sphere hovering in one of the Torchwood high-security labs that the Doctor later dubs a Void Ship: it moves between universes and defies the physical laws of our universe by, erm , not apparently existing and so this cannot be good news!

The Doctor, tracing the energy activity associated with the ghost shift, arrives at Torchwood and as usual finds himself (with Jackie posing as his companion, an opportunity for some good character comedy) surrounded by armed soldiers: who, on being made aware of who he in fact is by Hartman, burst into spontaneous applause! This is another laugh-out-out splendid moment because it makes perfect sense: the Doctor is in effect the father of Torchwood.

While the Doctor determines just how wrong the Torchwood research may be, Rose wanders around the institute, sneaks into the lab where the sphere resides, although the psychic paper does not work this time (because Torchwood staff are trained in psychic defence , another nice touch) and bumps into Mickey , another great twist ("Mickey Smith: Defending the Earth").

At this point, an all-ready snowballing plot now streaks into overdrive as the cyber-puppet techs make their move and open the dimension breach to allow the ghosts to pour into our universe - and they stand revealed as Cybermen , of course. Not a handful. Not a squad. But hundreds, thousands . This echoes the reinvention of the Daleks last series as a genuine force to be reckoned with. This time, we see the full scale of the invasion (the CGI Cybermen appearing outside the Taj Mahal is an iconic shot). As a senior police officer warns people to stay in their homes, we cut to a sequence where a family find their home invaded by Cybermen. Talk about making it real!

But RTD is not finished with setting up the final episode of the series: as the Doctor grimly defines the invasion - "It's a victory" - the sphere opens and out pour. Daleks !

Roll credits.

Perfection. How could anyone watching this episode NOT watch the season finale?

10/5 [yes: 10/5 - it's that good as a finale set-up!]