Doctor Who and the Satan Pit was one of a few surprise recommendations in this week's Baptist Times TV guide (along with Viva Blackpool, though this one did come with a 'might offend some readers' warning).  Maybe watching Dr Who whilst ironing is not the best way to appreciate the finer points of the special effects or nuances of the story but I thought it almost, but not quite, succeeded in touching on a some ideas about faith, evil, myth and fact and even life before time.

There seemed a few mismatches - a largely 'post religious' crew and a ship's captain commending his dead crewmate to God being particularly obvious.  Yet on the whole it seemed quite a sensitive approach to its subject, and I quite liked the realisation by the Doctor that you can kill or contain a life-from but not (so easily anyway) an idea.  Probably a bit of amateur memetics going on there too.

Of course in good Dr Who fashion there was a happy ending, with good defeating evil, at least until next week, and I'm not sure that many viewers would have picked up on the more spiritual aspects of the story line, but at least it made the ironing a little less tedious!

In the meantime, beware former Casualty actors with strange characters tatooed all over their faces!  (That and Baptists who post blogs on 06/06/06!)