I don't like Steven Moffatt much, from what I've seen. He cheerfully mocks the McCoy era in a way that suggests he's written far better Doctor Who stories himself. He hasn't, but seven days ago he was half-way there. Could he finish off what he so valiantly started?

So close! "The Doctor Dances" is an odd beast, moronically (or smuggly, I can't decide which) titled, ingeniously resolved, oddly padded. The resolution of the plot begun in "The Empty Child" is wonderful - as Doctor Who fans we expect a large explosion, lots of pointless death and the creation of some kind of technological wangdoodle or potion to dispatch the menace. None of this happened in favour of a satisfying explanation and a heart-tugging restoration of the way things "should" be. Of course we should ALL have guessed from the child's haunting, repeated cry that Nancy was Jamie's "mummy", but you know what, I never did. That said, it's possible that someone's been watching a bit too much "Red Dwarf" - the nanobot storyline is straight out of that show's later storylines and this immediately made me realise who Captain Jack reminded me of all along. Isn't riding on a missile exactly the sort of thing Ace Rimmer would do?

Unfortunately this resolution came a fraction too soon. We could have done with a few more scares - last week's episode was one of the most frightening ever, but this weeks follow-up didn't come close. The early wind-down also robbed us of more Richard Wilson, who was great in the two minutes he got on screen. So why have you wrapped things up so quickly, Mr Moffatt? The answer seems to be so we can have some light-hearted fun involving characters dancing round the TARDIS. People actually turned over to "X-Men" at this point, and I wonder if Moff figured that including some actual dancing might make his weird and clever episode title acceptably relevant? Watching last weeks trailer (after the fuss made after "Aliens of London" I wonder if ANYONE avoided it?) I had assumed that the dancing would have some significance to resolving the plot. Perhaps the sinister gas masked child would take psychic possession of everyone and force them to waltz eerily round the hospital as if dancing? No such luck. It's a wonder that no past companions have suddenly asked the Doctor to do a bit of cha-cha-slide in the middle of a dangerous adventure - it would be as arbitrary and bizarre a request as it is here.

So there we have it. An episode whose resolution more than delivers on the promise of the story elements set up a week ago (having the nanobots introduced as a fun sub-plot as they heal Rose's hand was a masterstroke, as it made us feel the idea had been there all along) but whose fear factor sadly didn't. Moffatt will still be able to hold his head up and lay claim to penning an episode that everyone will still be talking about at the end of the season, but perhaps he'd like to reflect that at least "Battlefield" finished on-time and had an apt title. What was wrong with "The Empty Child (Part 2)" anyway?