TV episode review
UK airdate 8 May 2010 (BBC One)

The Doctor (Matt Smith) takes Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) on a romantic trip to 16th Century Venice, only to fall foul of Rosanna Calvierri (Helen McCrory) and her school for ‘special’ girls…

Classic Doctor Who has ‘done’ vampires at least twice before (State of Decay, The Curse of Fenric), if you don’t count the Count in The Chase in the 1960s. Even the new series has got in on the blood-sucking act previously, with the Plasmavore in 2007 season opener Smith and Jones (which bears an uncanny resemblance — in its basics of an alien escapee being hunted by a space police force — to this year’s The Eleventh Hour). Now, the vamps are back in The Vampires of Venice.

Following a scene-setting moment of jeopardy in Venice 1580, the episode picks up thematically from the controversial close of the previous instalment, Flesh and Stone. The Doctor makes an unforgettable entrance (bound to upset some in its apparent illogic) to Rory’s stag do, a rare humorous lead in to the show’s titles…

These opening scenes are great: witty and full of wonderful character moments for the Doctor, thanks to Toby Whithouse’s clever script. Thankfully, as the drama unfolds, the humour is maintained but not at the expense of the threat and genuine jeopardy the Doctor, Amy and Rory find themselves in upon arrival in Venice. You’d expect nothing less from the writer/creator of Being Human and Doctor Who’s School Reunion episode.

Matt Smith continues to impress as the new Doctor, developing his initial mix of Patrick Troughton and Peter Davison into something uniquely his own. By the last few episodes of the season comparisons to past Doctors will be unnecessary as Smith looks likely to have cemented his own unique take on the role by then.


The Vampires of Venice is very traditional in its initial set-up, separating the Doctor and companions several times so they can individually put together aspects of the story as well as face individual moments of danger and jeopardy. The new face here is Arthur Darvill as Amy’s fiancé Rory, who we’ve not seen since The Eleventh Hour. He functions well as the new “tin dog”, enjoying significant character moments with both the Doctor and Amy, and offering a fresh perspective on their activities in time and space. The decision to bring him aboard the TARDIS at the end is a welcome one.

Most impressive about this episode is the location work, bringing a convincing Venice to life through filming in Croatia. It looks great, like a much more expensive production, and combined with Whithouse’s script makes for a terrific episode.

Criticisms are fairly minor. The villains and their motivation perhaps rely too overtly on the series developing arc for this to be a true stand-alone adventure (much as Flesh and Stone wasn’t either). The climax and solution to the problem is perhaps a little disappointing and too obviously recalls previous Russell T Davies produced episodes (The Idiot’s Lantern, Evolution of the Daleks) in which the Doctor has to scale a tall tower to dismantle a deadly alien device to save mankind.

The vampires of the title are effective, managing — in that uniquely Doctor Who way — to both pander to the clichés inherent in them, yet put a new spin on them at the same time (and a different one than the previous vampires seen in various Doctor Who episodes). Helen McCrory works well as their leader/mother, the regal Rosanna Calvierri, and shares a pivotal couple of impressive scenes with Smith, while Alex Price portrays “mummy’s boy” Francesco with some gusto although the part is maybe a little underwritten.

At 47 minutes The Vampires of Venice is one of the longer episodes in the season so far (with most — except the opener — coming in at under 42 minutes), but those extra minutes are welcome as this is a witty, well-paced, good-looking, well-played instalment of the series that stands out from the episodes around it. Brian J. Robb

VERDICT: 8/10
Laugh-out-loud funny, creepy, atmospheric and thoroughly entertaining, Vampires of Venice is one of the best episodes of the season so far.