User Reviews

During the original run of Doctor Who, the mere idea of any kind of romance between the Doctor and his companions was deemed ridiculous (although we know that he had a family at one point, what with Susan calling him "grandfather" and all). The new series, on the other hand, has a lot of fun with the main character's attitude (or lack thereof) towards the opposite sex: by the admission of writer Steven Moffat, his episode The Doctor Dances was, starting with the title, a blatant sexual metaphor, and it's only fitting that his third Who script deal with the unthinkable - the Doctor in love.

Having solved the Krillitane mess, the Time Lord, Rose and Mickey end up on a spaceship in the 51st century that, weirdly enough, contains bits of the 18th century, specifically the life of French noblewoman Madame de Pompadour (Sophia Myles). The Doctor communicates with her at various points in her life through a fireplace, and a bond forms between the two. Unfortunately, time is running out, and the Doctor needs to figure out how he can save her from the attack of clockwork "monsters".

Touching, poetic and magical, The Girl in the Fireplace continues the fairy tale motif present in Moffat's previous scripts, explicitly borrowing from C.S. Lewis to concoct a truly timeless and tragic love story between the dark future and the brightly lit, stunningly executed past. Whereas previous episodes were meant to establish Tennant as the new Doctor, this story sees him go beyond that and play a wide range of emotions alongside the equally superb Myles, who is the real heart of this beautiful tale. Not that the romantic feel gets in the way of some traditional Doctor Who silliness - no other show would probably get away with a brilliantly daft shot of a horse on a spaceship.

The Doctor, Mickey and Rose land on a Spaceship which has a link to Reinette, Madame de Pompadour, but why are there so many windows to her life, and what do the Clockwork robots want with her?

It is utterly beautiful to look at, the production values look worthy of a massive budget film, it is gorgeous, from the ship, to the views of Paris, the bedroom, Versailles, Sophia Myles, the robots, everything is perfection. It looks like it cost big bucks to put it together. It always leaves me with a little tear.

Murray Gold's music is wonderful, it fits in so well and enhances the script without overtaking or being intrusive. It's romantic.

The connection between Tennant and Myles is wonderful, what a brilliant beautiful actress she is, a casting masterclass.

David Tennant's Doctor gets better and better, he's taken the show to another level. He connected with Sarah Jane last week, Madame de Pompadour this time, was there a plot to get him away from Rose's clutches I wonder?

I just knew this was going to be a heart breaker, one of the best, 10/10, the show is going through a bit of a purple patch isn't it.

Everything came together to perfection in this episode - the best ever. The chemistry between Sophia Myles and David Tennant was electric and the Murray Gold's music caught its poignancy to perfection. The costumes were sumptuous and there was just enough menace to keep kids behind the sofa now and again, and certainly will stop them looking under their beds at night. And a great one to put before next week's Cybermen as a complete foil to it. It went a long way to explaining a lot of the Doctor's motivation as a character in a variety of other situations. If this episode doesn't win some kind of award, I will eat my sonic screwdriver.

However long the modern Dr Who lasts, I bet this episode will still rank as one of the best episodes.

A history lesson and love story all in one, this tale is beautifully played out.

Sophia Myles for me steals the show with a wonderful performance, as well as having lovely chemistry with David Tennant's Dr. There's also a very understated turn by Billie Piper as Rose, who realises that there will always be someone else for him to save.

With a heart-wrenching end, this is a very good episode overall.

Steven Moffat at his absolute best. The writing is sharp, concise, meticulously crafted with forensic concision, boasting fierce intelligence & emotional wit. He somehow manages to strike the perfect balance between featuring all the existing plot threads & tying them together neatly with not a single piece out of place or perceptible fault to be found.

Sophia Myles & David Tennant are incredible, Euros Lyn directs the story beautifully, Murray Gold gut punches the audience repeatedly with his deeply impactful, emotive music & these remarkable talents culminate to form an instantaneous classic which will forever be remembered as undoubtedly one of the greatest ever episodes of Doctor Who in its entire existing history.

The best Doctor Who episode I've seen. Although there are some major plot discrepancies and they could probably explain the clockwork droids a little more, this episode really hit it right home.

I could watch it over and over again and feel this weird tingly sensation after. And what gorgeous music. Kudos to the music guy...whoever you are.

This episode did not have too much visual effects and action so I thought it was going to be rather plain but I was astounded as to how the emotional part of the story really carries it through the end. Writer Steven Moffatt penned a wonderful script and the contrast between Mickey/Rose's more colloquial, modern speech and Reinette's flowy poetic period piece was beautiful.

We've always seen the Doctor as some sort of superhuman being but this episode really emphasizes on his humanity. It puts his feelings on the line and I like how the audience got a glimpse of him when Reinette read his mind. One question though: How come she had that ability? The ending always gets me choked up and teary...damn that sweet sweet music *sob*! But for all the space age action (well of course being a sci-fi series), it's such a fresh change to see Doctor Who in 18th century France.

Ah...the end.

David Tennant just gets better and better! A fantastic episode, definitely the best from this series so far. It was great to see the Doctor connect on an emotional level with someone else other than Rose. By the end I really believed in the relationship he had built with Madame de Pompadour, who was portrayed to perfection by Sophia Myles. Very cleverly written, and I love the way the Doctor is becoming more human (if that makes sense) every time we see him. As well as being visually dazzling, this episode plucked at the heartstrings on a deeper level than previous episodes have. I also thought that the enemies in this episode were some of the most frightening I've seen in the past series and this. I've never really been into sci-fi fantasy, but I am proud to admit Doctor Who has converted me! Keep it up BBC!

I've seen a lot of the Doctor over the last thirty-odd years, and this episode has the greatest emotional depth I've ever encountered. It doesn't hurt that it presents a complex story with skill, charm, and sensitivity. It also doesn't hurt that the twists of the story surprised me regularly through the entire hour, or that the performance by Sophie Miles was superb. It was also nice that Rose was in great form, and that Micky was finally showing solid promise as a character.

Still, the best parts for me were the personal interactions, and the new slant on some of the questions raised in Schoold Reunion. This has helped make the Doctor a more complete character, and also one who is more sympathetic. It's a powerful reply to the questions raised throughout the New (and the New, New) Doctor as to whether evil follows him, or whether he goes where it is inevitable in order to try to prevent its effects.

This is a great episode, and it is my favorite of all I have seen thus far.

I think this was the best episode of this season so far, and it was even better than The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances of the previous season (which, incidentally, are by the same writer: Steven Moffat, also responsible for the brilliant sitcom Coupling).

The plot of The Girl in the Fireplace is brilliant, complex and intricate, and surprisingly free from the gaping holes that complex plots usually have. It can be a bit confusing, but it'll all make sense in the end. The acting was good: David Tennant was a bit too hyper as usual, but tense when he needed to be, and Sophia Myles was absolutely brilliant as a very convincing Madame de Pompadour. Downsides? The end may be a bit too easy, but this is Doctor Who, after all. I think this will be my favourite episode for a long time. Or at least until next week.

French period piece (18th Century) automatons on a spaceship from the future open several time portals to a young French woman. After landing on the vessel, the Doctor, Rose and Mickey become embroiled in their plan. It does not take long for the Doctor to take a shine to the lass (she's quite endearing) and as such, he becomes a bit of a fan - but what do these marauding masqueraders want from our Madame? It's a fishy tale and they need to be wary of tuberculosis is all I'll say (do some research), but its heart and soul is in the right place (eventually, or at least it remains where it should be).

This episode is the reason for me to watch the dr. Who series again. Really, after the famous (and me being 6 years old) 70's Tom Baker dr. Who , I hardly took interest in watching the series again. Every time I was disappointed. But this episode/season stroke me. It think it was even much better than the 70's best episode. The music is great, the story is wonderful, David Tennant and the other characters make this the best dr Who so far :) So after re-looking all of the 2006 episodes I can only say that to me this series is the most catching series until now. I'm really looking forward 2 what's to come :)

The story lines are so great, the music is beautiful and finally, the characters are chosen perfectly.

Overall a very impressive episode, especially since there was more than just simple acting going on between David Tennant and Sophia Myles (currently seeing each other in real life - wrote this in early May 2006).

What bothered me was that the plot was a bit of a mess with a lot of different things to take in, maybe too many things. I found the bits on the space ship a bit confusing at first. It only really made sense in the final shots. Maybe I'm just a bit slow! Apart from that I thought the special effects were great, set pieces were great, stunts were great. I doubt it is the best of the season, but then I couldn't say until I've seen all of them.

This episode makes no sense in the continuity of season 2. it's okay on its first watch, but its problems become more glaringly obvious every time i revisit it. everyone is incredibly out of character and the episode does not fit into the doctor and rose's story arc at all. i could buy the doctor's fling with madame de pompadour post season 3, but its placement right after 'school reunion', in which the doctor promises rose he'll never leave her, is confusing seeing that he has no problem sidelining her here, only for everything to go back to normal in 'rise of the cybermen'. it's like this episode never happened. apparently moffat didn't even read the script for the previous episode, which makes a lot of sense given the lack of respect for the continuity, arc, and canon of season 2. honestly, the season as a whole makes more sense if you just skip this one.

After the third episode of the series 'School Reunion' where David Tennant started to get to grips with the part of the Doctor thanks to the reappearance of Sarah Jane and K9, he finally nailed it here. Although the quick changes of mood are still there, they are smoothed out by an increasingly roguish charm previously unseen in the portrayal of the Doctor. Dedicated, and narrow, Doctor Who fans may not like the increasing propensity of the Doctor to open his heart(s) to love, but his relationship with Rinette was beautifully played. Sophia Myles was utterly superb and made viewers believe that here was a mortal who was a match for the Doctor. The final scenes were as heart rending as the early scenes were playful. Now that he is into his stride, the rest of this series and the forthcoming third series will be classic Doctor Who.

Masterpiece. That is the one word that sums up The girl in the fireplace. Everyone says Blink is Steven Moffat's best story. While I adore Blink, this episode is even better. In fact, it might be the best doctor who story ever. OK, we all know that Caves of Androzani is the best doctor who story ever, but Girl in the fireplace is an extremely close second. Almost everything about this story is brilliant. It is perfectly paced and enjoyable, complex but all ends up making sense to most viewers, has terrifying villains in the clockwork androids, has a touching and realistic love story, Rose is actually bearable in the episode and it is very cleverly written. The ending of the episode where everything that has happened all ends up making sense is just brilliant. Also, this possibly David Tennant's best performance as the doctor, delivering comedic and serious lines with perfection, and he's only been the doctor for about 5 episodes. I just cannot review this episode without giving it a 10/10.

This episode was the best in the current series by far. It had everything in it - a great cast, brilliant gags and was incredibly historically accurate. This was about the only episode in the current series that actually sent shivers down my spine with monsters under the bed and all that and Arthur the horse - marvellous! Also, in my opinion, it had to contain the ultimate Micky gag - The Doctor's "I let you keep Micky!" Had me in stitches!

One of the creepiest things about the clockwork robots had to be the grinning carnival masks - great choice by the costume people there.

Congratulations to all the cast and crew here, and especially to the writer - Stephan Moffat.

10 out of 10.

Simply put, this is one of my all-time favorite Doctor Who episodes! (The one with Vincent Van Gogh is right up there as well!!👍) I'm trying to think of my 5 favorites...

These were the days that cemented the 21st century Doctor Who as a cult classic and it is episodes like this that did it. This is one of the all time great episodes and it was not even a season premiere, or finale, or Christmas special. Steven Moffat shows why he is the real genius, not Davies.

The last episode was about Rose seeing a companion who was left behind and parsing the emotions that go with that. This episode is about Rose looking at the wonder in another woman's face who appreciates what Rose is living. Rose gets to think about that. And what a companion MdP could have been. MdP was a genius in her own right and her intuition is brilliant. Had she become a long term companion, she would have surpassed them all.

The genius of Moffat is in giving us a love story within the sci-fi mystery and adding nostalgia to it. Through the Madame we get a peek into the heart of the Time Lord. Despite the confusion and sadness and even anger that must be in that mind, she falls in love with someone greater than the King of France.

This is a story, which for Moffat, is relatively simple yet still filled with the Doctor's brilliant deductions. This is the Tenth Doctor at his best, and he is probably the only one of the new Doctors who could have made this connection with this woman.

I shed tears over the "My Sarah Jane" comment in the prior episode, entitled "School Reunion", but never cared about Madame Du Pompadour (despite the brilliance of Sophia Myles). Without giving away spoilers, I felt the connection between her and the Doctor lacked chemistry, which was a combination of a rushed script and Tennant's weaker performance (see below). Fortunately, as I wrote, the always brilliant Sophia Myles saved that (she also saved "Thunderbirds"). The episode left more questions than answers. This was, at best, an average show.

My faults with it were many. I love Tennant as the Doctor - even more so than Eccleston and several of the past Doctors from the Classic Series. But I felt this was Tennant's weakest performance by far. He seemed awkward and out of place in so many scenes. I would accept this if it were his first episode, not his fourth. After what I felt was one of his strongest performances in "School Reunion", this was a letdown. Additionally, I felt Rose and Mickey were underused and equally awkward, as if they were just standing around waiting for their next line as opposed to being involved (with the one exception of Rose's interaction with the Madame). Once again, if it were not for Sophia Myles and the brilliant costume and set designs (and the BBC excels at period pieces), this episode would have been one of the weakest of the New Series. But I rate on all aspects, not just a few. Hence, I give it the 6/10, which is good, but they have done better.

I've got to confess I thought this episode was complete and utter rubbish . The plot is absolutely threadbare and is stretched out for 45 minutes and that's one of the nicer things that I can say about the episode . What's the worst thing I can say ? How about Noel Clarke only gives the second worst performance in the episode because the worst performance comes from David Tennant ! Yeah that's right the actor playing the title character in the show gives the worst performance and after seeing this I started to think that recasting Colin Baker or Sylvester McCoy would have been a massive improvement. Honestly Tennant is an absolute embarrassment especially the scene where he appears drunk . There's a school of thought that this " bad acting " is deliberate on the part of the Doctor but that's total hyperbole and it's painfully obvious that Tennant a self confessed fan of the show is enjoying himself too much , not helped by the fact that Sophie Myles was at the time his partner in real life .

God, this episode was beautifully done, and it was heartbreaking. Well done Murray Gold! I wish you continued to serve as the music composer of the show. =^[