Dr Who : the end of an era (and about time too!)

The annoying cactii aliens were strictly second-rate, the Master clones even more annoying. Even Tennant was getting on everyone's nerves.

But then, just as despair beckoned, it started to get better.

Again, it was a quiet chat between the Doctor and Wilf that saved the day. As the two debated death, stranded in the cactus-ship, hope bloomed.

And (let's forget the World War 2 spoof dogfight against the missiles, eh?) it blossomed during the standoff between the Doctor, the Master and evil Time Lord Timothy Dalton.

This was briefly Dr Who at its best.

And, then, the cruel twist in the tale as we discovered just whose four-times knock signalled the end was a stroke of genius.

Cut! That's a wrap!

If only.

The long farewell that followed was seat-shufflingly awful.

One by one the Doctor said his farewells.

To Martha and Mickey, now married and fighting Sontarans (biffing the bad guy with a hammer wasn't quite cutting edge ...)

To Sarah Jane, rescuing Luke Smith from the path of a speeding car (did he really have to? the brat's infuriating ...)

To Joan Redfearn's descendant, asking if the Doctor's human love ended up happy (nice touch, but you had to know the backstory ...)

To Capn Jack, in a shameless homage to Star Trek's Mos Eisley Cantina (but did we really have to have the obligatory right-on gay message?)

To Wilf, at Donna's wedding (nice touch to say he borrowed the £1 from Geoffrey Noble, Donna's dead father ...)

To Donna, with a glance that seemed to confirm that one day she'd become the mysterious old lady who foretold the Doctor's demise (Daniel Faraday's mum anyone?)

And, of course, to Rose, in the year 2005 just before Chris Eccleston took her away from it all. (Couldn't he just have told her to steer clear of dodgy Northerners and saved her a whole heap of heartbreak?)

I wouldn't have been surprised to seeing the clone daughter, American wife and even K9 to pop up, the way it was being dragged out.

So a series that could have gone out on a real high as Wilf knocked softly on that containment cell, drowned in sugary sentiment.

And the really, really bad news? Matt (Geronimo!) Smith was truly awful.

Maybe Tennant should stick around to give acting lessons.