Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Matt Smith, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Liam Cunningham, David Warner, Tobias Menzies, Josh O’Connor James Norton, Charlie Anson, Spencer Wilding, Nicholas Briggs.

Mark Gatiss must adore being part of the Doctor Who team. His occasional forays into the writing world of Britain’s longest running science fiction programme employs some of the best characters, some of the highest tension and most of all the dipping of his toe into his beloved horror genre, even if it pays homage with some of the best lines available.

Cold War, the latest episode to grace the screens, is a perfect reminder of how close the world came to Nuclear Armageddon during the dark days of the 1980’s. Mark Gatisstook the world to the brink but in some respects that can be seen as a Cmicrocosm, a quick flashpoint compared to the long drawn out affair that saw tensions between east and west rise slowly over time as the distrust in each ideology became more and more pronounced. Mark Gatiss’ superb script draws excellent parallels with that time in the way that only a teenager who lived during that era could.

Cold War also saw the return of a much loved adversary for the Doctor and yet again the differences between the second incarnation of the Doctor, Patrick Troughton, and Matt Smith become blurred and more fused as after the re-introduction of the Great Intelligence in the Christmas special, the audience is treated to the return of the Ice Warriors. Or more specifically an Ice warrior called Grand Marshall Skaldak. By combining his interest in horror and this superb resurrection, the script was well handled and acted with the right degree of terror and close confined fear. As the tension rose even The Doctor looked as if he knew that this really could be the end for humanity.

Mark Gatiss is never one to shy away from a well-placed line or even singular line and he must have been in writing nirvana as he made one of the Soviet sailors on board the stricken submarine disappear in the same way that a certain extra-terrestrial took a crew member on board the Nostromo all those years ago, with his superior asking, ‘Alien?’ this was a huge and wonderful nod to the classic film.

For once the guest stars shone brighter than the Doctor and his companion and in Liam Cunningham and David Warner there could be no better men to have on your side in the frantic race towards a peaceful accord.

For anyone who grew up in that era, the conflict that only ever seemed a day away is one that they will never forget and it seems odd, terrifyingly odd that despite a certain type of peace, the world is never truly far from returning to a state of cold war.

Ian D. Hall