The Sword of the Chevalier review [Guy Adams]

"I am going to take you to... Slough." - The Doctor

Promising Rose a visit somewhere spectacular, the Doctor arrives in England in 1791 where he soon finds himself losing a duel against an exiled ex-spy whose gender's been the subject of many a bet. The time-travellers soon find that the Chevalier d'Eon isn't the only person with two faces... 
The Good:

• The amusing scene with the Doctor and Rose in the TARDIS deciding where to go next should have been the first that we've seen of the two of them since Rose's final departure in series 4 rather than having them barely interact as they did in Infamy of the Zaross. Re-establishing the TARDIS duo, having fun and a bit of banter between the two of them would have been the ideal way to start this box-set. As it is, it's instead a good start to this story.
• The story of Chevalier D'Eon is an interesting one and not one that's common knowledge, so the decision to set a story featuring them (pronoun-dodging) is a good one. Nickolas Grace gives an excellent performance, though not really selling the ambiguity regarding the character's sex. That's a big ask, though.
• The villain, with two voices behind one mask, is one of the creepiest characters yet.

The Bad:

• The villain could have been developed more. It's a creepy idea but some discussion about why they're doing what they're doing would have been good.

The Ugly: Rose's top on the cover is hideous.

A Good Quotation: "Let me get my bearings. Quarter to... Pride and Prejudice?" / "Yeah, yeah, half-past Blackadder series three." - Rose and the Doctor

When did this happen?: Given Rose's shirt, we can assume that this story probably takes place between New Earth and Tooth and Claw or around Infamy of the Zaross. There's no real way to tell. Given that Rose says that there's no such thing as the Devil, this presumably takes place before The Impossible Planet.

This Reminds Me...:

• Rose volunteers the Doctor to fight Chevalier d'Eon given his swordsmanship in The Christmas Invasion.

Verdict: D'Eon is a good character, narcissistic and full of him/herself and performed very well by Nickolas Grace. Tennant is good as usual and we'll just have to accept that Rose is posh now. The story's good and the villain creepy, so while this story wasn't a favourite of mine it was definitely a solid one. C

The Tenth Doctor Adventures (Volume 2)

Infamy of the Zaross  |  The Sword of the Chevalier  |  Cold Vengeance