Smith and Jones (Doctor Who)
"Smith and Jones" is the first episode of the third series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 31 March 2007. It sees the debut of Freema Agyeman as medical student Martha Jones. Agyeman had previously appeared as Martha's cousin Adeola in the 2006 episode "Army of Ghosts". The episode also introduced Martha's family, her mother Francine (played by Adjoa Andoh), father Clive (Trevor Laird), sister Tish (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), and brother Leo (Reggie Yates).
179 – "Smith and Jones"
The episode sees alien police-for-hire called the Judoon transporting a London hospital to the Moon to hunt down a shapeshifting alien fugitive called "Florence Finnegan" (Anne Reid), who is posing as a human patient inside.
The episode was shot mainly in August 2006, with Singleton Hospital and the University of Glamorgan doubling as the fictional Royal Hope Hospital. According to the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board figures, it was seen by 8.7 million viewers and was the ninth most popular broadcast on British television in that week. It garnered an Appreciation Index of 88.[1]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
It was originally planned that the episode would air on 17 March 2007; however, the date was shifted back a week to 24 March, when it was realised that it would have gone up against the final of ITV1 series Dancing on Ice. The episode was then shifted back another week, to 31 March, because of England's European Championship qualifier against Israel on 24 March.[1] "Smith and Jones" and "The Shakespeare Code" were previewed to the press on 21 March. This created much hype in the press for the new series in the days leading up to broadcast.[1] Two specially created trailers for the third series were shown on the BBC in the two weeks before broadcast. These trailers featured clips from the series, predominantly with clips of "Smith and Jones".[10]
The first North American broadcast of the episode occurred on 18 June 2007, when the CBC aired it in Canada. "Smith and Jones" takes place after the 2006 Christmas special "The Runaway Bride", but the CBC aired them in reverse order. The episode made its US broadcast debut on 6 July 2007, on the Sci Fi Channel, directly following "The Runaway Bride".
Dave Bradley of SFX gave "Smith and Jones" five out of five stars, calling it an "explosive start" and praising Martha's character and the Judoon.[11] IGN's Travis Fickett rated the episode 8.2 out of 10, believing it started the series with a "fun alien invasion story as well as a terrific introduction" for Martha.[12] The Stage reviewer Scott Matthewman noted that the science in the episode "doesn't stand up to close scrutiny" and felt that Martha's family was the "weakest part" because they seemed to be "little more than a sitcom caricature", but he praised Agyeman and her character.[13] Dek Hogan of Digital Spy was more mixed, saying that "a little bit of the magic seems to have gone", citing Finnegan as perhaps not a "terrifying enough monster for the first episode" and that Martha's "complicated family baggage" contributed to making her not as good a character as Rose Tyler and Donna Noble had been.[14]
Bibliography