Victorian era stories are often the best. The Evil of the Daleks, missing all but one episode though it may be, is nonetheless one of the best Dalek stories of all time, partly because most of the story is set in the Victorian countryside. Then, you have The Talons of Weng-Chiang which, leaving the unfortunate Yellow Peril elements aside, is my personal favourite of the entire Tom Baker era. And then, there's the brilliantly-written, if somewhat hard to follow, Ghost Light. In what other story could you find mad explorers, aliens evolving from one form to another, a priest turning into a chimpanzee, a Neanderthal manservant, and a policeman turned into primordial soup, and thus dubbed 'the Cream of Scotland Yard'?
The only real exception to the great Victorian stories is The Next Doctor. Not bad, but below average as far as I am concerned.
I was out last night so I missed the first episode, but I'll probably catch up tonight.
