‘Doctor Who’: Our verdict on Series 7

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> Buy the complete Series 7 boxset on Amazon.

Episode 1: ‘Asylum of the Daleks’
Saturday 1 September 2012

“…the production team’s intention to provide big, movie-style ideas for each story this year comes through loud and clear. After the dense plotting of the last two series, this standalone approach enhances the new beginning.”

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> Read our post-transmission review.

Episode 2: ‘Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
Saturday 8 September 2012

“‘It’s quite ridiculous,’ the Doctor says at one point during this supercharged, Jurassic Park-meets-Alien-meets-Carry On Cleo romp. ‘Also: brilliant.’ He’s right on both counts. But beyond the slapstick and single entendres, there’s still a story and a lot of seriousness.”

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> Read our post-transmission review.

Episode 3: ‘A Town Called Mercy
Saturday 15 September 2012

“‘A Town Called Mercy’ has enough touches of silliness and moments of mature reflection to save it from being a complete disappointment, but a lightweight and contradictory story in such an epic location can only be described as a monumental missed opportunity.”

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> Read our post-transmission review.

Episode 4: ‘The Power of Three
Saturday 22 September 2012

“It’s a wannabe epic, taking place over the course of a year and affecting the entire world, but (and this is definitely a latter-day Torchwood trait) neither the passing of time nor the global scale are convincing.”

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> read our post-transmission review.

Episode 5: ‘The Angels Take Manhattan
Saturday 29 September 2012

“It’s beautifully performed by Smith and Gillan, and hugely affecting, but the emotional power can’t disguise the baffling irrationality of the plot.”

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> Read our post-transmission review.

Christmas special: ‘The Snowmen’
Tuesday 25 December 2012

“There’s a distinct freshness to the programme, evident in its revamped visuals and its music, but it’s in the Doctor himself that the differences are most apparent.”

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> Read our post-transmission review.

Episode 6: ‘The Bells of Saint John’
Saturday 30 March 2013, 6.15pm

“…there is nothing in this episode perhaps quite so delicious as Jenna-Louise Coleman, effortlessly bringing something fresh to the familiar Moffat tropes. Flirty and audacious, she strikes a new note in an old tune.”

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> Read our post-transmission review.

Episode 7: ‘The Rings Of Akhaten’
Saturday 6 April 2013, 6.15pm

“‘Rings’ is hollow at its core but it has its charms. Chief of these is Murray Gold’s score, and his work on this episode is destined to take up a large amount of space on the next Doctor Who album.”

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> Read our post-tranmission review.

Episode 8: ‘Cold War’
Saturday 13 April 2013

“…this is Doctor Who like they used to make it – only with better visuals and a bigger budget. Mark Gatiss knows his stuff, and if anyone is best placed to write Doctor Who’s homage to the Cold War thriller, it’s him.”

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> Read our post-transmission review.

Episode 9: ‘Hide’
Saturday 20 April 2013

“‘Hide’ ends up being an entertaining example of the fun you can have within the elastic rules of Doctor Who: a demonstration of how the show can take you in one direction only then to yank you in another.”

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> Read our post-transmission review.

Episode 10: ‘Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS’
Saturday 27 April 2013

“Michael Pickwoad will rightly win the plaudits here for his inventive use of studio space and set decoration. However, it would be wrong to overlook the many directorial decisions of Mat King, which serve to ramp up the tension and claustrophobia.”

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Episode 11: ‘The Crimson Horror’
Saturday 4 May 2013

“…should anyone ever be wise enough to put a ‘Madame Vastra Mysteries’ spin-off into production, this is the template to use for it.”

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Episode 12: ‘Nightmare in Silver’
Saturday 11 May 2013

“‘Nightmare’ tries to pack so much in that everyone else feels like a piece to be moved. Part of a mechanical plot progression rather than characters we can connect with emotionally.”

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Episode 13: ‘The Name of the Doctor’
Saturday 18 May 2013

“There’s no getting away from it – the pre-credits sequence is a thing of wonder, delivering a 50th anniversary homage via the back door, and effectively setting the tone for an episode which is about hellos and goodbyes, but not necessarily in that order.”

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> Read our post-transmission review.

What did you think of Series 7? Which episode was your favourite? Let us know below…

> Buy the complete Series 7 boxset on Amazon.

Watch the Series 7 Part 1 trailer…