Reception
The show has received increased critical attention following both its release on DVD and Davies' announcement of his new programme aimed at the same target audience, The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Television Heaven's review concluded by saying, "By turns amusing, aware, suspenseful, exciting and imaginative, 'Dark Season' stands as an almost criminally overlooked example of children's genre television of the highest quality, and also as an early indication of a future major creative talent in the form of Russell T Davies taking his first steps on the long and winding creative road to a glittering future."
Head writer of series 1 of The Sarah Jane Adventures, Gareth Roberts, found career inspiration in Dark Season. He has said that Dark Season "was exactly what I wanted to do at the time—write a cracking kids' sci-fi show."
Not all modern reviews have been quite so glowing, however. When the opinions of average viewers were solicited by the BBC for their Cult website, a respondent named "Dan" summed up the panel by saying, "All in all a bit of a mixed bag". Viewers cited general enthusiasm for the acting of the regular child actors, and praised the presence of generally strong ideas, but were disappointed by some of the adult actors. Jacqueline Pearce was a particularly divisive influence for the group, with one describing her as someone he "can watch open an envelope", another taking "guilty pleasure" at her "high camp", and the third failing to "see the point of Jacqueline Pearce".
Likewise, DVD Times called it "an enjoyable story", but also criticized the split of the plot into two halves as "clumsy". It further bemoaned a "tendency towards handwaving and gobbledygook to resolve the plot(s)".
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