Live Review: S10.E6 - Extremis

Never one to shy away from time bending and mind bending stories, Steven Moffat delivers just that in his second episode for the series. It opens with a voice over about a planet of executioners happy to carry out such sentences for others. A caption tells us this is a long time ago and we see that the Doctor is on the receiving end of the exposition and is told it will be an honour to kill a Time Lord, or at least be host to it as the actual sentence must be carried out by one of the convicted's own people. A door opens and out steps Missy... We cut away from this to see the present day Doctor sat outside the vault talking to Missy within, then back to the execution as she calmly pleads with him to let her live. Back to the present and the Doctor receives an e-mail on his sonic sunglasses with the title of the episode as its subject "Extremis". The titles roll with no real clue as to what on Earth is going on!

Live Review: S10.E5 - Oxygen

"Space,the final frontier" the Doctor says in a cheeky opening voice-over. He goes on to explain that it is final because it wants to kill us. This will be Bill's first space adventure in a classic 'isolated base under siege' scenario. Where immediately introduced to the setting as two bodies tumble through the blackness of space in spacesuits but not helmets. We see a space station where two figures are working outside, the female is telling the male ahead of her that she wants them to have a baby but her communication system is faulty and she realises she'll have to tell him later but they are both low on oxygen and it becomes clear that tey are desperately trying to get back inside calmly when the two tumbling bodies land behind them and attack like zombies. The woman is killed and joins them in their relentless trudge towards her partner... This is going to be a dark episode, let the titles roll.

Live Review: S10.E4 - Knock Knock

Knock knock. Who's there? Doctor, Doctor Who, and it's a scary one! Never before has an episode started so on the nose with its title - literally a knock-knock on Bill's door. She's leaving home to move into shared accommodation with some fellow students, whom she barely knows. In fact, apart from one, she's meeting them for the first time as they go hunting for a place to live. A short montage shows the various pitfalls (slightly exaggerated) that such a search presents, until out of the blue a softly spoken old gent offers to help. He has a very large house to rent very cheaply. So cheap in fact that Bill is a little cautious, but it's draughty and creaky so it kind of makes sense. There's wooden panelling throughout, a tower that is out of bounds for safety reasons and they later discover that there is no central heating and the electrics are woefully out of date. In reality, there are so many failings that the property would fall way below legal requirements, but we won't let that get in the way of a good story. Besides, rogue landlords do get away with some shocking standards sometimes! Only on this occasion it leads to the one of the students screaming, never to be seen again...

Live Review: S10.E3 - Thin Ice

As expected, this episode picks up exactly where the last left off. Bill and the Doctor are stood outside the TARDIS on a frozen Thames and there's an elephant. Oddly, there are also now other people about, but we'll gloss over that just as we would in the classic years. Back then the absence of people in a teaser ending would have been to avoid having to pay those actors for appearing in an extra episode, but now I think it's more about not giving too much away. Bill thinks they are on a parallel world but the Doctor points out that they are in fact at the last great Frost Fair in 1814 (February 4th, to be precise) Bill is worried about standing out so the Doctor directs her to the wardrobe. There is pause for sullen acknowledgement that slavery was still prevalent at this time so Bill has an extra concern there... and she's not done with the consequential questions...