Corden-t fault it

James Corden really is everywhere at the moment isn't he? Which is a shame because I'm sure alot of people who get annoyed by his grating personality might have chosen to give this one a wide berth, and will have missed him at his best.

Corden may well annoy in "real life" but his performances, and writing, in Gavin and Stacey were actually very good and he showed his talents again in The Lodger in a decent little tale.

This week the Doctor had to pass as a human as flat mate to Corden's Craig. The two proved a fun foil for one another and once again allowed Smith to build on his strong show as a very other-wordly Doctor.

Similarly to last week (although I saw this first so is it next week??!) the underlying plot was pretty basic, and was much along the same lines as the Girl in the Fireplace - the machine operating to instructions which turn out to be harmful to humans.

Still the mystery of the flat upstairs was enough to hold the attention while Smith had his Black Orchid moment (if Davison can pause for cricket i'm sure ex Forest trainee Smith can show off his silky skills.....in fact on this evidence sign him up!!) and plenty of fun to boot.

Craig's love story was also carefully handled so not to edge into soap opera territory. With no Doctor-lite element to this series this felt like a relatively cheap-ish story with fleeting glimpses of Amy. If it was a budget episode though it did it well and, once again brought something fresh and different to the much-varied menu served up in Moffat's era so far.

In some respects the resolution and revelation were a bit underwhelming but nevertheless another week goes by with another entertaining 45 minutes in the bag. Now it's Moffat's turn to try to amaze and thrill with a big finale.

We're told that everything has been leading to this moment so the pressure is on somewhat. I'm sure i'm not the only one who felt RTD's "big event" stories were sometimes a let down (certainly the final part of the Donna season). The series has been great fun so far so here's hoping the next two stories cap it off in a fitting fashion....

7/10