World War Three (Doctor Who)

"World War Three" is the fifth episode of the first series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who which was first broadcast on BBC One on 23 April 2005.

In the episode, set in London, the alien time traveller the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and his companion Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) team up with Rose's boyfriend Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke), her mother Jackie (Camille Coduri), and Member of Parliament Harriet Jones (Penelope Wilton) to foil the plan of the alien Slitheen family from selling the Earth for commercial purposes.

The Doctor realises that the Slitheen actually plan to fire the weapons against other countries in order to start World War III.

She is later seen in "The Christmas Invasion", "The Sound of Drums", "The Poison Sky",[1] "Turn Left",[2] "The Stolen Earth", "The End of Time", "The Giggle" and the Sarah Jane Adventures story Revenge of the Slitheen.

Arnold T Blumburg of Now Playing gave the episode a grade of C+, finding it slightly better than "Aliens of London" because it minimized the "juvenile" humour associated with the Slitheen and had good performances by the actors portraying them, though some of the effects were lacking.

He criticised the direction and "thin" resolution of the UNIT missile operated from a home computer, but he praised the storyline with Rose's family, highlighting the performances of Clarke and Coduri.

[6] In 2013, Patrick Mulkern of Radio Times felt that Wilton's performance as Harriet Jones was the best part of the "flashy but silly, disappointing story".

He found the problem to be more in the execution than conception; there was a possibility of satire in the fart jokes of the Slitheen, but the direction and performances let it down.

[8] In Who is the Doctor, a guide to the revived series, Graeme Burk noted that the story was "loved and hated by fans in equal measure" but it was an unexpected "delight" for him.

"World War Three" he described as "slight" on plot with improbable Internet-ready missiles, but the ending was still "wonderful" and Eccleston's performance of the more serious material sold the episode.