After the familiar fun and games of The Star Beast, the Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials go down the weird and wonderful direction in Wild Blue Yonder. Starting off as a traditional ‘TARDIS lands on a mysterious spaceship’ story, Russell T Davies’ script very quickly starts to transform into something strange and sinister.

While some fans were hoping for references and cameos galore, Wild Blue Yonder instead delivers on the kind of claustrophobic horror Davies’ era became known for with stories like Blink and Midnight, although admittedly with a much bigger budget. Despite its theoretically confined setting, this is arguably the most cinematic-looking Doctor Who episode to date, complete with a huge, intricately-designed spaceship with moving pieces. The (sometimes) wobbly sets of yesteryear are a distant memory, instead featuring a combination of spectacular CGI work and some stellar sets and production design from Phil Sims. It would be easy to let the confined setting get dull after a short time, but thanks to some well-paced direction from Tom Kingsley (of BBC’s Ghosts fame) and Russell T Davies’ trademark brilliant character writing, it’s a constantly moving and evolving narrative that never faulters.

Seeing double isn’t an unfamiliar feeling in Doctor Who, but the Not-Things are incredibly sinister. David Tennant and Catherine Tate are a tour de force in their dual roles, constantly keeping audiences on their toes as to whether they’re watching the real Doctor and Donna or their duplicates. It’s deeply unsettling at moments, especially with the creatures’ telepathic abilities, and the uncanny quality of the sharp teeth and elongated limbs is proper nightmare fuel. There are moments when the visual effects work involved end up looking a bit ‘off’, but for the most part, it’s really spooky. Just when you start to wonder if Doctor Who is running out of ideas, Russell T Davies throws this curveball of an episode at us, and we remember why Who has lasted sixty years.

And in what turned out to be the most poignant moment of the special, the late, great Bernard Cribbins appeared on screen at the end, reprising his role as Donna’s grandad Wilf. Cribbins’ association with Who goes back nearly sixty years (he played companion Tom Campbell in the feature film Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. in 1966), so it’s a joy to see him one last time in these anniversary specials. A wonderful screen presence greatly missed.

Overall, Wild Blue Yonder is a terrific, trippy and terrifying slice of Doctor Who magic. It’s a story that jumps from humour (that tongue-in-cheek prologue with It’s a Sin’s Nathaniel Curtis as Isaac Newton) to horror (those Not-Things are among the most sinister Who monsters ever) in a way that solidifies Russell T Davies’ status as one of the best writers on television. Is it a stone-cold classic? I think it’s too early to say, but I’m desperate to rewatch it and find out.

Doctor Who returns to BBC One next Saturday at 6.30pm

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