Review:
Doctor Who: Vincent and the Doctor

510: Vincent and the Doctor

It’s been a bit of a bumpy series so far, but fortunately the good far outweighs the bad. This latest episode falls firmly in the ‘good’ camp.

Trying to help Amy cope with a loss she doesn’t even remember, the Doctor takes her to a Paris art museum to see the works of Vincent Van Gogh. The Doctor quickly becomes disturbed by a painting of a cathedral that appears to have a monster lurking in the window. Naturally, the Doctor and Amy travel back to visit Van Gogh himself to discover that the painter’s legendary insight on colour allows him to see things that others can’t…

A brave episode, this one, as it attempts to deal with a terrible yet sensitive issue – Van Gogh’s depression and actor Tony Curran’s depiction of the artist is simply mesmerising. At once touching, warm, distant, funny, excitable and emotional, it’s as raw and honest as depression itself. In fact, Curran far and away carries the episode almost single-handedly – the Doctor gets to do a bit of amusing clowning and Amy doesn’t really have a role in this, other than to be the object of Van Gogh’s affection. It’s entirely because of Curran’s conviction in the role that the episode works – without such a passionate and believable actor in the shoes of Van Gogh, the episode would easily slide into the mediocrity of ‘The Shakespeare Code’, or the like.

The script also benefits from the controlled and measured hand of writer Richard Curtis. Surprisingly the man who gave us Love Actually and Hugh Grant’s career has delivered an episode almost totally devoid of mawkish romance. While Van Gogh’s affections for Amy do feel a tad bolted on, there’s also an air of childlike innocence to the romance, that, coupled with the Doctor’s knowledge of her loss, add up to a bittersweet pleasure.

Behind all this, the Doctor gets to battle some impressive-looking CGI nasties and that’s where the second stroke of genius comes in – the monsters are invisible. It’s a cracking idea that manages to both reduce the episode’s budget and provide some intense chase thrills.