When I first met Mark Gatiss, many years ago, he was very chuffed that I knew his work. His Doctor Who novel Nightshade was the first of the New Adventures I read. I’d seen his the BBV P.R.O.B.E. videos he wrote, and I’d listened to the League of Gentleman’s radio show (which at the time hadn’t yet transferred to TV).

The cause of this name-dropping is the premiere tonight of Mark’s first Doctor Who TV story, The Unquiet Dead. The preview in the Radio Times is very positive, as is the brief mention it gets in this Charlie Brooker’s Screen Burn in the Guardian Guide:

Before I go, a quick mention of Doctor Who (Sat, 7pm, BBC1), despite the blanket coverage the series has received elsewhere. Thing is, I simply can’t stand by and let this week’s episode, The Unquiet Dead, pass by without comment, for the following reason: I think it may be the single best piece of family-oriented entertainment BBC has broadcast in its entire history. It’s clever, it’s funny, it’s exciting, it’s moving, it’s got shades of Nigel “Quatermass” Kneale about it, it looks fantastic, and in places it’s genuinely frightening. TV really doesn’t get better than this, ever.

My review will probably appear some time tomorrow.