I genuinely didn’t think Jesus when The Doctor did his floaty thing and said “I forgive you”. Lifting your arms seems to me to be the thing to do if you want to use your new-found floaty powers and I read the “I forgive you” bit as being carefully calculated to really annoy the Master. Plus the Doctor fully intended to lock the Master up in the TARDIS for the rest of his life, he wasn’t about to let him go (which leads to a possible “death as escape plan” view of events). Although the imagery is similar, I can’t logically view it a strong allegory for anything Christian. The Doctor doesn’t save the world, Martha and what’s left of the population do.

As for Catherine Tate, I wasn’t that annoyed with her in the Runaway Bride and was pleased with the hints of a change of character through that episode. Still, Donna’s attitude is completely different this time around, so I suspect more people will warm to her as the series progresses. My guess is that Martha was designed as transitional companion to get from the love story (of sorts) to the platonic and slightly antagonistic relationship we’re getting this time. Also, I think they’re trying to build the concept of change into the programme while it’s still insanely popular, so that its success doesn’t become associated too closely with any one combination of actors.

Oh, and Brian Blessed has already been in Doctor Who. He was in the part of “The Trial of a Timelord” (episodes 5-8) that’s usually called “Mindwarp”. The whole thing is going to be available on DVD soonish, but I can’t strongly recommend it (it’s a bit of a mess). Blessed is reliably over-the-top though.