Me too - I can't bear his character, but I love Elton's character. For me, with a different villain, this could have been a great episode.

I agree. But I also have to say that I think people do judge it too much based on the fairly brief apperence of the "monster". Yes it was a cringy few minutes, but thats all it was - a few short minutes of a 45 minute episode.

I also think the fact it was the first Doctor Lite worked against it as well.

I blame the monster as well, but it's hardly Peter Kay's fault. I'm not a fan, but to be fair, he was just as good as a villain (until he turned green) as many others we had over the years.

And yup, I think the episode worked as a first "experiment" of the new series. I loved it after first viewing, it's just not one I rewatch often now.

I feel personally that this episode is judged too harshly. OK, I'm not a major fan of Peter Kay and I really hated the Absorbaloff (I was really disappointed that the Absorbaloff was one of the exhibits at the DW exhibition here and wished we could have had something different!) but it was a kids design. How excited would any of us have been as a kid to have had that chance (though I have heard that the young designer was not entirely chuffed with the realisation of his design).

Apart from the Absorbaloff, though, I can't say there is anything else wrong with the episode to my eyes. I love Elton, enjoy Jackie, even enjoy L.I.N.D.A.