Wanted: new man to replace the previous, uh, Tennant. GSOH, travellers welcome. Good sense of timing essential. Room may be bigger on the inside.

Series 5, so far, has seemed a lot quieter and more cosy than the rest of nu-Who that has preceded it. While there’s been Something Very Important hinted at on the sidelines, this has been an altogether more intimate affair, with smaller stories, a generally less frenetic air. This has manifested itself in any number of ways, from significantly less Radio Times covers than we’ve been used to in recent years, to the fact that this, the last stand-alone episode before we hit the finale, is essentially a two-hander set in a flat.

This is Doctor Who: The Sitcom, complete with our very own Odd Couple. Despite what you might have been expecting, Gavin & Stacey star James Corden is a good deal more than stunt casting, giving the episode genuine heart, and providing a great deal of chemistry between himself and Matt Smith, so much so that this is at least the third of this series’ guest characters (after Helen McCrory from ‘The Vampires Of Venice’ and last week’s appearance of Bill Nighy in ‘Vincent And The Doctor’) that you might not mind seeing again, despite the fact that such a possibility is unlikely. Corden’s Craig knows as much, offering The Doctor his own house keys, knowing that he’ll never come this way again.

In title, at least, this shares a little with an early Hitchcock film, and not just because we get to see the main character in the shower. There’s something spooky on the top floor, and a series of characters go up the stairs, never to come down again. In many ways, this is unlike previous ‘Doctor-lite’-style episodes (‘Blink’ and ‘Love And Monsters’) in that the Doctor is actually on full duty, but the sub-plot – a burgeoning romance between the supporting characters – becomes important, even vital to the outcome.

There’s a very sharp script, with a real love for the series. You have to wonder if there’s something important being seeded with these recurring images of previous incarnations of The Doctor (yes, that happens again this episode): is it just Steven Moffat’s love for the classic series or might there be something more important going on? Perhaps we’re reading too much into things: after all, there’s almost certainly nothing in the fact that the villain’s space-craft resembles the iconic one from Tom Baker’s ‘City Of Death’.

This might not be the year’s best episode of Doctor Who, but it won’t be long before it states its occupancy as one of your favourites, with a never-before-seen meeting of minds between Whoivans and football fans (although, true geeks should check out the Doc’s number on his shirt) and a very sweet, delicate centre. A moment of quiet before The Big Bang.

Airs at 6.40pm on Saturday 12th June 2010 on BBC One.