I seem to recall that before Matt Smith got the gig Patterson Joseph was one of the bookies' favourite to become 11

He was the favourite for a long time. Stcoop never recovered from his disappointment at him not being cast......

It got an AI of 87, which is exceptional but I wouldn't say the best out there. I enjoyed it but I didn't think it was necessarily a classic but then that's my opinion

I like him because I really enjoyed 'The Doctor's Wife' - one of my favourite episodes of DW. I also love Sandman - my favourite comic book series ever.

True, he may not have a long history of working on DW, but I rate writers, actors, directors etc on their whole body of work.

People are not just basing their views on that one episode. He is a phenomenally talented fantasy novelist and there is no one else with that sort of background currently writing for the show.

The Doctor's wife was a very unique and inventive episode, and many fans thought it was a highlight of the sixth series.

Some of us are.

but even if they aren't, I can't see the issue. Surely Gamian's writing style and past work are all valid reasons for one to be enthused about him writing for the show again?

Essentially, to me, Gaiman is the kind of writer whose style of writing dovetails with the concept of the show really rather neatly.

I really can't tell if that is a brilliant put down or a spelling mistake?

I see what you did there *sniggers*

One of the reasons he was favourite was because his character in the Survivors remake had been shot at the end of the first season which was broadcast in 2008. It wasn't made clear if the character would survive which meant that a lot of people thought that Patterson would be available to be the Doctor.

I didn't like "Steve McDonald's Wife" at all. Personalising the TARDIS is a dumb idea and should be kept for such things as:
- dire fan-fiction
- a short story in an annual
- an LSD dream sequence

It completely ruined the character of the TARDIS as every story now bears the risk she will start conversing with the crew. It's like "Look Who's Talking, Who".

Leave her interactions with the Doctor to ringing of the cloister bell.

Your personal ignorance hardly invalidates his reputation. You probably only watch TV

You do seem to be considering "I can't stand it personally", "purely my opinion" and "not by a lot of people" to all mean the same thing.

Highly praised by the majority of critics, a high audience appreciation score, winner of a Ray Bradbury and a Hugo award.

The evidence does seem to indicate that "a lot of people" in fact consider it an excellent episode. Other than your opinion, and that of one or two other posters who do not really constitute "a lot", can you offer any other evidence to counter that view?

Is that in the same way that "We'll I thought it was rubbish" actually means "anyone who enjoyed it is an easily pleased moron whose views display no discernable merit who shouldn't be allowed to watch this anyway"?

Also, DS members were overwhelmingly positive about the episode.

Excellent 697 72.08%
Good 158 16.34%
Average 57 5.89%
Bad 22 2.28%
Poor 33 3.41%

Compare that to the scores for The Rings of Akhaten.

Excellent 107 13.38%
Good 178 22.25%
Average 242 30.25%
Bad 129 16.13%
Poor 144 18.00%

As an aside, the name Neil Gaiman always sounds, to me, like an ill-conceived comedy character on Alan Partridge's radio show.

"What are you having for lunch, Neil Gayman?"
"Ooooh, mince."

Re the Dr's Wife, I freely admit I am in the minority of posters who didn't like the episode along with the other 270 who voted it either poor or bad. Of the people who I know who watch the programme, I have not met anyone who enjoyed this episode. Now it may be that as an older viewer I just didn't "get it" but the main reason I didn't like it was Idris. I just don't like the idea of the tardis being that sentient that it can pick and choose where to send the Doctor. Also I thought the whole idea about the junkyard Tardis was just ridiculous. But I accept that a lot of people did enjoy this episode and good for them. I personaly just don't understand why it is so highly regarded.
I still maintain though that Garman should only be judged for his Dr Who work, solely based on what he has actually written for Who and not on his novels.

You seem to have misread the previous post, not sure if it's deliberate or not (but it seems likely).

The 273 poor and bad votes were for the Rings of Akhaten episode.

The Doctor's Wife had only 22 bads and 33 Poors (55 in total).

34.13% of the votes for Rings were for Poor or Bad, similar votes for The Doctor's Wife amounted to only 5.69%. That's the reason why it's so highly regarded right there.

That's the point, you and all the people you know may not have liked it and you may consider this "a lot". But when you look at the Critics reviews, the Awards, the AI and the poll it all adds up to the fact that the people who did like it far outnumber you and all the people you know.



PS - Regarding the fact that you dislike the idea that the TARDIS can choose where to send him. Obviously it's clear that The Doctor's ability to appear at exactly the right place and at exactly the right time to foil an aline plot is uncanny, he's like the Jessica Fletcher of the alien world. In your view therefore why does this happen? Is it unbelievable coincidence again and again and again? Or is a sentinent "Universe" somehow doing it? Or are the Lords of Time manipulating him, or Law and Chaos or so on?

No it wasn't deliberate, I misread for which I apologise.
As far as the Tardis arriving where the Doctor is needed, yes I do think it is a coincidence time after time. In fact in the early stories the Tardis had a built in safety factor that would prevent it from materialising into a dangerous situation (for further clarification see the novilisation of Dr Who and the Crusaders) indeed initialy the Doctor always seemed reluctant to get involved in others affairs. If the Tardis is solely responsible for deciding where the Doctor should go then why bother allowing him to pilot it in the first place. He might as well just say "Right old girl where are you taking me now where I am needed to sort out yet another problem" See what I mean ?. But enoughs enough that is a topic for a completely different thread.
P.S. I still don't like The Doctors Wife

Just to point out the AI was 86, which while excellent for non-Who is actually about average for New Who.

Nothing wrong with that score of course, but hardly an indication that it is thought of more highly than other episodes by the general viewing public.

See, this is why negative comments on these boards are brilliant (I'm being sincere, not sarcastic) as I could not understand why there are people who don't like the Dr's Wife ep, which I think is brilliant, but this explanation makes perfect sense to me, and now my experience is added to by that perspective. So thanks, Andy, for explaining why you don't like it. It's like someone else said on Hide, if the TARDIS can fly itself in and rescue him then why has it never done that in the history of the show? As I loved both the Dr's Wife and Hide, neither of those things bugged me (well actually that TARDIS flying itself bugged me a bit) but they were obviously game changers for others.