Doctor Who: Cold Blood - series 31, episode nine

SPOILER ALERT: This weekly blog is for those who have been watching Doctor Who on BBC1. Don’t read ahead if you haven’t seen episode nine Dan Martin’s episode eight blog “I gotta be honest with you, son. We’re in the centre of the Earth and there are lizard men” Your enjoyment of Cold Blood would seem to hinge entirely on whether you’ve seen a Silurian story before. That was certainly the case in my house. With a reptilian gap in my own archive I was all “coo” and “squee”, while my older, more encyclopaedic buddy had seen it all before. It’s true that all the story’s main twists and reveals – humanity’s reputation as ‘the vermin race’; humanity doing terrible things to reinforce that reputation; the Silurians having just the same political divisions as we do – are all present and correct. You have to think of it through the eyes of a child. And I loved this tense, mad and thoughtful story. Especially the bit when they run (again, like giraffes) over the bridge at the end. It was mentioned last week that the updated Silurians are human-faced rubber monsters more at home in Star Trek. As if to prove the point, all those scenes of stuffy diplomacy were so Star Trek that they even acknowledged it with the neat little homage of a communicator screen: it could only have been more Trek if the city had been infested with Tribbles. Again, I fancy some of you won’t be happy with that, but I’d argue that Doctor Who can be Star Trek for a week just as much as it can be Sherlock Holmes, or Independence Day, or Agatha Christie romp. It’s that kind of show. “Somehow make it known, through prophecy of religion, this planet is to be shared!” But despite all the Star Trek references at its heart it seemed that Cold Blood was in fact more like Battlestar Galactica – only without the shagging and long words. The diplomacy scenes were admittedly a touch broadly drawn, but Amy and Nasreen (Meera Syal) negotiating for their race as “the best of humanity” was a delight. You can’t imagine Clegg and Cameron had as much fun around their table. Of course, when a deal was brokered, it was the weak, wilful humans back on the surface that screwed it up. Did anyone else know it was going to be Ambrose who killed the hostage and failed to be the best she could be? A mother’s rage is the most fearsome of all, and Alaya knew it. Cold Blood’s strength was giving you something big and moral to chew over, in a way that nothing else this series has yet. Also, planting the idea in kids’ heads that in a thousand years this planet will be shared has to be a good thing, right? “You’re so beautiful. I’m sorry” And then they have to go and do that! You were a good man, Rory Williams. And yet, in the face of this utterly devastating ending, he didn’t even get to be that. It’s so obvious looking back: Rory couldn’t really stay, but the way they’d played the story, he couldn’t leave either; killing him off was never going to be an option because a grieving companion for the rest of the series would be just too depressing. But while I never much cared much for Rory in the Tardis, this fate-worse-than-death – absorbed by the crack and his whole existence erased – is just too awful to contemplate. So awful, in fact, that when the Pandorica opens we must surely see him again. Presuambly the engagement ring will be his way back: all trace and memory of him might have been erased, but sitting in the time machine is a tangible piece of Rory Williams’ life story. Although if he does find a way back, he’ll have to seduce Amy Pond all over again. There’s another year’s worth of story in that… With love You might call the whole story a reference, but it was cool to see the Doctor mention the terrible events of previous clashes between H. sapiens and H. reptilia. Plus there’s a lovely little mention of Peter Davison’s stick of celery. Timey trivia With the Dorothies banished into the void, Doctor Who is now restored to its rightful 7pm timeslot. Good job, given that the earlier start and last weekend’s sunshine conspired to give the show its lowest new-era overnight, just 4.5million. Graham Norton is back after the lottery, however, with Eurovision. Stick around on the site for out liveblog, if that’s your kind of fun. Next week It’s another “celebrity historical” as Richard Curtis (yes, that Richard Curtis) pens an intriguing encounter with Vincent Van Gogh. And we’ll have a special treat for you here at guardian.co.uk. Oh yes we will. 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