(766) Vincent and the Doctor

On the face of it, Vincent and the Doctor shouldn’t be a very good story because a) it has the word Doctor in the title and b) it was written by Richard Curtis. Curtis is famous for creating comedy and slushy sentimental stuff. So it was a nice surprise to see that this episode is one of my favourites of the series. It is certainly one that shows what’s great about Doctor Who. That it can do stuff with Daleks and Cybermen but then it does lovely episodes dealing with such a tragic figure like Vincent Van Gogh who was born in March 1853 until he committed suicide in July 1890.

Tony Curran is brilliant as Vincent Van Gogh. One of the reasons why I like this story so much is that I believe that Curran is the painter. There is a wonderful sense of just going along with the Doctor and Amy and yet there is the vulnerability of his confidence. He seems like he is just one step from teetering over the edge. I like that Bill Nighy is in this episode as a bow-tie wearing Dr Black. His best scene is his last where he explains why he thinks that Van Gogh is one of the best artists in the world.  

Like in The Vampire of Venice. There is another nod to William Hartnell and in this episodes case, there is a picture of Patrick Troughton. It’s weird to think until 2008, there were hardly any references to past Doctors and now we have had two in just a few episodes.

There is a monster of the week in this episode and it’s the Krafayis. Clearly there was a desire to keep the costs down and so that is why for most of the episode its invisible. When we do see it I think that it looks quite good. Not one of the all time classics but its one of the better monsters. I think that the episode would have worked with the Krafayis so their inclusion is rather wasted but this is the only critiscm that I can level at the episode.

There is a nice scene between the Doctor, Amy and Vincent when they are lying on the grass looking at the skies and Vincent is talking about the colours and we see what his imagination is coming up with. It’s a lovely and yet heart breaking moment because we know what happens to Vincent. What is even sadder is when the Doctor takes Vincent back to modern earth and lets Vincent hear what Dr Black says about him.

This is my favourite episode of the series so far and based on my previous feelings about the next three episodes, I think that despite the use of Krafayis this is the strongest episode of the series and possibly one of the strongest Matt Smith stories.