View source for It's terminal for Doctor's mates

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| publication = The Times
| file = 2012-10-01 Times.jpg
| px = 250
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| date = 2012-10-01
| author = Andrew Billen 
| pages = 11
| language = English 
| type = 
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Doctor Who

Saturday, BBC One

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Death has no dominion on Doctor Who, and hasn't done since William Hartnell regenerated into Patrick Troughton. Yet the series' writers still insist on dangling death before us. On Saturday's mid-series finale, Amy and Rory were written out terminally, bereaving the doctor of his latest BF and his sexual-tormentor, River 	Song, of her parents. And did we feel a thing? I think not. If Amy Pond doesn't appear on some future Christmas episode I shall be much disappointed.

Karen Gillan, one of the best actresses to play the. unrewarding role of she who screams, shall be missed, however, and the brief resumé at the end of Amy's adventures — pirates! Van Gogh! — was nostalgic. We remembered anew the relief, after all those sweaty scenes between David Tennant and Billie Piper, of no longer living in fear of any Gallifreyan hanky-panky. Rory, her centurion husband, is, in contrast, no loss at all. Arthur Darvill's dull Rory too often reduced Matt Smith's generally splendid Doctor to the status of gooseberry, and a sexually inadequate one at that. This man has faced down Daleks: how could he be afraid of Alex Kingston's cleavage?

Unusually for a Steven Moffat script, The Angels Take Manhattan failed to maintain the tone it established at its beginning, which was Chandleresque. Indeed, New York's role in affairs was little better than perfunctory. So we were left with those Weeping Angel statues, terrifying enough on Moffat's Blink episode five years ago, but overfamiliar now. All I could see was actors acting frightened before a selection of garden ornaments, and a BBC accountant whooping at the savings in CGI. The script had its moments — Rory "goes out for a coffee but ends up in a book" — but was padded with solemnities from River, who warned Amy never to let the Doctor see her age (is he Hugh Hefner?) and then warned him not to travel alone. Don't worry, sweetie. We've already seen the new girl, and she's down in reception waiting to be buzzed up.

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