Enter the nerdzone

Cynical Ben didn't like the first episode of the two-part finale to David Tennant's tenancy of Doctor Who, objecting to the two-part set-up, amongst other things I can't be bothered to go and check.

I do like the scope achieved by taking the time and (relative dimensions in) space to explore the nuances. Ben's a short story fan though, so I understand his point. However, I did enjoy these episodes. Yes, the first one was preparatory, but they both worked. I agree with Ben that Russell T. Davies has probably run out of steam, but he, and Tennant, deserved their indulgent, emotion-wringing farewell.

The last episode was backed with nods to the canon, flashbacks to previous episodes, and constant references to Hamlet, a play which has exerted considerable influence on this incarnation of the Doctor, faced as he has so often been by difficult choices - and in which Tennant has been performing to great acclaim recently.

I've enjoyed Davies's nerdy but passionate take on Who - but Stephen Moffat's got the dramatic skills needed to keep each episode gripping: he wrote my favourite one of all, Blink. The future's bright. Though so is the past, given that a time machine is involved.

Licence fee: vindicated.

Torchwould or Torchwouldn't?

This probably won't mean much to you if you're outside the UK or not a nerd, but did any of you follow the special Torchwood shows last week? Apart from the actual content, I loved the media blitz of having them on every night for a whole week, as well as the rather good special episodes on Radio 4.

I confess to hating the previous series' of Torchwood - badly acted, poorly scripted, designed to shock what few remaining old gits are out there. Most viewers are no doubt fine with Welsh people, gay people and gay Welsh people and the actual plots came a distinct second best. It all felt very insubstantial.

None of this was the case with these specials. Though at times it felt like a Doctor Who series without the Doctor (it's a spin-off from that show), and the themes of homosexuality and family were central to the plot, what we got was an unsettling, highly-politicised drama (one government minister proposes sourcing the children demanded from aliens from poor schools: 'what are the league tables for?' - unsettlingly, she ends up in charge at the end, and not all the endings are happy or neat). I know that 'governing classes divorced from normal life' isn't exactly news, but it was done very well. Peter Capaldi ran the gamut from evil (to everybody else) to victim (of the PM) very convincingly, and it was an especial pleasure to see him play a civil servant different to his previous version, the foul-mouthed Malcolm in The Thick of It and In The Loop. He certainly blew whoever plays Captain Jack off the screen by not devoting every facial muscle to whatever emotion was required at any particular moment.

Apart from the plots, which did have the occasional hole, the whole thing was a model of the kind of event TV which still has the power to hook us (I'm also staying up four nights a week to watch The Wire on BBC2). This is, of course, partly the product of constant cross-media promotion and the freedom the BBC has. ITV's advertisers wouldn't have been happy with a lot of the content, and that channel's revenues wouldn't stretch to the expense anyway.

Finally, it's always good to see that the BBC isn't completely metropolitan. It is trying to move departments to Manchester, though this is more for public consumption than creativity: lots of presenters will no doubt be commuting from London. Meanwhile, BBC Wales/Cymru saved Doctor Who in spectacular fashion despite the lack of an obvious Welsh link. Unless 'Doctor Who?' was the standard response to his original name. 'Hi. I'm Dr. Meredydd ap Gwalchgwyn and I'll get rid of those Daleks for you'. And let's not forget the other, rather brilliant, Who spinoff, The Sarah Jane Mysteries.

The licence fee is £142.50, covering all BBC TV, radio and internet, plus the broadcasting network. Even if you hate half the output, that's astonishingly good value - and no advertising. By comparison, I spend a lot more than that on my mobile phone contract.