The Unquiet Dead is the first story in the revived series to be credited to someone other than Russell T Davies, being written by Mark Gatiss. Gatiss will continue to be a figure throughout the revived series, writing 8 stories, including one which has not yet aired by the time that this post is written. So looking at this story, it's interesting to consider what sort of stories Gatiss will provide for the series.
For a start, this story is reasonably safe. There's no big scene like the ending of The End of the World here, where the character of the Doctor is revealed to have changed and to be completely different from what we would expect him to be. Instead, we get a fairly light historical romp with ghosts and Charles Dickens. It's not a bad story, with some engaging characters and a darkly comic beginning where an undertaker discovers a zombie walking about, not with shock, but instead with a sort of resigned sadness that says that this is not the first time that zombies have been coming to life in this home. The only problem with the story is that it doesn't really do much that's new and interesting with the characters.
However, that last statement isn't entirely true. There's a moment halfway through this story where the Doctor realises the truth behind the ghosts. They're gaseous beings that have had their bodies taken from them due to the events of the Time War. This plays on the Doctor's guilt, and he's given a strong amount of drive to help them get some form of their bodies back, even if it is through possessing the dead. It's not a major moment for the series, but it does show that Gatiss is able to understand the character of the Ninth Doctor, and write him convincingly. So, in short, Gatiss, whilst not writing strong and earth-shattering stories, is able to write basic and fun romps where the characters are all strongly written, giving us an enjoyable little story.
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