hey guys what's with all the martha bashing?
if it's not DT, RTD and story contents it's Martha!
what exactly has she done wrong this series?
so far i rate her above rose as a character, and dare i say it but freema is a better actress than billie.
we and the programme itself need to forget about rose now, she has had her day, it's over let go.
we have martha now lets at least give her time to settle in. basically she was at the forefront of these last two eps and i think she did very well. let's not forget that the show is called "doctor who" not "martha jones" so lets just enjoy martha for what she is, a decent actress and a good one to look at too!

I don't rate her above Billie, but I agree she is really good, and I hope the stories about her being axed are wrong.

Martha is basically Rose in a different body, and since I never liked Rose, I'm not particularly keen on Martha.

Axe her and get a different sort of assistant - one who's poles apart from Rose and Martha!

But you don't need to go to the trouble of axing her. Just write a story with a plot that can develop her character.

There is a difference between Martha and Rose.
Rose obviously loved the Doctor, and she and him acted mor elike they were together.

With Martha, she loves him too, but the Doctor doesn't see her in that way (Yet).

He looked like he would dump her easily last night...

The voice, the wittering, the inability to act, the awkward way she runs...Almost like she'd fit right in at the special olympics in some ways; the borderline psychotic way she endorses the stalker attitude she has towards the doctor...And that's to begin with

I don't rate Freema as a better actress than Billie, I think Billie was really great in the role to be honest. I do wish that the writers would develop her character a little more. It was always going to be hard to step into Billies shoes and I don't think it is helped by the fact that they have almost turned her into a lovesick teenager, I think they should toughen her up a bit

Please dear god, no! That would be a huge mistake imo. They need to move on from all the doctor/assistant romance stuff.

Ok, he fell for Rose but why the hell should he fall for the next one too? I vote for a male assistant next.

Get totally away from the romantic stuff. In the last Confidential RTD was going on about the unrequited love from Martha to the Doc and that it would have some sort of impact later on in the series.

Had a little argument at work about how Sarah Jane was in love with the Doctor in School Reunion. Had to point out that this was not apart of the original series.

I think she is alright in it. It is not her fault for the writing is it?

Yup. Despite how great the last two-parter was, I'd abandon the show if that happened. I can just about cope with Rose being a one-off, but Martha's pining (and I much prefer her to Rose) has me tutting and rolling my eyes. It was the only weakness in an otherwise perfect couple of episodes.

I'm not saying I want it to happen, (I hated it with Rose) but that is how it appears right now at least.

I thought that Martha could have real potential at the start of Smith and Jones, but one 'genetic transfer' later and she was transformed into a love-sick puppy, pining for the Doctor to notice her and fall in love with her. I agree this is largely down to the writing and not Freema's acting, but when I compare Freema's performance as Martha in the latest episode FoB with that of Jessica Hynes as Joan, it is clear she still has a lot to learn. I don't dislike Martha, but I was hoping her character would have a different relationship with the Doctor than Rose did, so I am hoping there won't be any romance between them. Why can't the Doctor and his assistant just be good friends, I don't like how the love story keeps getting 'shoe-horned' in.

Stop the Freema bashing, I like her!!

I'm not really taken with the character at all - but at the same time I feel sorry for Freema if she's reading the likes of this forum.

I like Martha much more than Rose and find the difference in how she and the doctor view each other interesting. The doctor seems to be genuinely irritated by her a lot of the time and seems happy to trade her in. He did not give her a moment's thought when asking Redfern to join him in the FoB.

Martha is written as a strong character and I wonder if her unrequited love for the Doctor is leading towards her character making decisions in the coming stories which will have disastrous results.

I don't think it was that much of a leap for the Doctor to ask Nurse Redfern on board the Tardis, after all he did invite Madame Du Pompadour on board in TGITF, and he might have asked Lynda with a 'Y' on board after BW if she had survived. I don't see why Martha should be a special case, the Doctor is an alien after all with 2 hearts, maybe one woman would'nt be enough for him anyway!

She's getting the axe. Fact.

Well. That ends that debate right there, now we know that.

I shouldn't have said anything. I'm sorry!

Freema can't act. I like her - she's sweet and in the old Who she would've been fine, but RTD likes operatic pain and anguish and she's rubbish. In the Family of Blood, she only managed a frown while David was howling and pleading. They should make her an action girl and keep her away from complex emotions - like Emma Peel in the Avengers.

I quite like the girl, but that observation really made me laugh.

Catherine Tate!! I thought she and the Doctor were brilliant together. Although i was dying for her to say at the end, 'Am i bovvered?'!!! i knew she wouldn't but it would have been soo cool!!

Talking of companions-i just discovered Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) was born just down the road from here!! Never knew that!!

Now there was a companion...

Catherine Tate was very good in it. I think some people would argue DW would become a comedy if she was in it, but I think as a viewer you've just got to forget other roles that actor or actress has done and look at them in a totally new light. I thought Catherine Tate was very good in ITV's The Bad Mother's Handbook - to begin with I kept looking for a joke every time she spoke, but by the end I had got used to the fact that she was playing a serious role, and ne different to Lauren Cooper!