As I write this, my reviews have fallen behind. I got stuck on Extremis half way through the last series as the so-called Monk Trilogy left me feeling down and lacking enthusiasm. I'll cover that when I eventually go back and revisit them but for now, it's time to welcome a new Doctor and her new friends... Series 11 sees what is possibly the biggest shake-up since the show returned: New show runner and executive producers bringing in their new Doctor and companions or course, but also new writers, directors, designers, a new composer, new effects company and even new classy cameras to give the show a 2:1 ratio and a more ultra-modern filmic look. On top of that it has moved to Sunday nights. Oh and did I mention that the Doctor is now a woman? I haven't been this excited and nervous about Doctor Who since its return in 2005. I settled down in front of the TV on Sunday 7th October 2018 with lasagne and a cold cider hoping, preying it would be good...
The pre-title sequence opens with a young man's video on YouTube talking about the greatest woman he ever met; smart, funny, caring, special... This is Ryan Sinclair, a nineteen year-old who, for reasons we will learn later, can't ride a bike. We see him trying to learn with his gran and her new partner Graham who he's not comfortable calling Granddad. Skipping some narrative from the episode, the sequence ends with Ryan encountering some glowing lines like rotated concentric squares slightly reminiscent of the squareness gun seen way back in The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances. He touches them and the disappear only to be replaced by a large metallic object, mysteriously shaped like a squat onion, bulbous at the bottom with a pointy stem at the top.
What should follow, is the new title sequence and reworked theme tune, but no. We cut to another scene where a young police woman is attending to a parking dispute that's got a little out of hand while she yearns for something more challenging. And so she gets put onto the case of Ryan's mysterious object in the woods. This is Yasmin Kahn who we learn went to school with Ryan and it seems the titles will have to wait...
The story moves on with gentle suspenseful action as sparking lights and a metallic tentacled creature attack a train which just happens to be where Graham and Ryan's gran are. Then suddenly, crashing through the roof of the train, the Doctor arrives almost ten minutes into this hour long début with just a hint of the theme tune. She immediately takes charge as on the Doctor can before realising she doesn't have her sonic. Worse still, she doesn't have anything, giving us the first of many golden lines "Grrr, empty pockets! I hate empty pockets." Jodie is an effervescent ball of energy breathing such joyous life to a dark and eerie scene and within two minutes we know everything is going to be alright. It's going to be a bumpy ride (in a good way) but the show feels right from the moment the Doctor realises she's not who she used to be. "Why are you calling me madam?" she asks Yasmin, "Because you're a woman!" "Am I? Does it suit me? Oh yeah, I remember! Half an hour ago I was a white haired Scotsman." and that is essentially all there is to address the sex change. Rightly so too. She used to be old and Scottish, now she's a young Northern lass, so why should she have changed from male to female as well? The whole sentence makes no sense to those she's telling but is perfectly natural to her. The scene progresses with swift pace as the Doctor ingratiates herself with her new acquaintances with some lovely scripting: "Are you a doctor Ryan?" "No", "Shame, I'm looking for a doctor..." "Come on Yaz. I'm calling you Yaz because we're friends now". "We all want answers, stick with me you might get some" and the adventure is well and truly on.
As regenerations go, this one is fairly standard fair as the Doctor quirks her way through manic, confused, inspired and quizzical, finding it hard to concentrate "I'm not yet who I am." and yet she is undeniably the Doctor! She explains the process in a personal way not heard before, how there's a terrifying moment when your about to die, and then you're born. She then proceeds to forge herself a new sonic screwdriver from found alien technology and a bundle of spoons, describing it as more than a screwdriver really, more Swiss army knife, only without the knife because only idiots carry knives.
The new visuals are beautiful without drawing attention to themselves and the music is the same, drawing atmosphere and mood without distracting. The story is perhaps a little derivative, but drawing on years of débuts and almost a dozen regenerations this was more than a little inevitable. The adventure in hand is almost irrelevant as a means to introduce everyone but it has more than a whiff of The Terminator, via Red Dwarf's "The Last Day" (which itself drew a little from Terminator)
The episode ends with a return to Ryan's YouTube video and we realise the amazing woman he was talking about was his gran who has given him the determination he will need going forward. This is something of an epilogue that goes on a little further to settle events with a very human flavour, learning a little more about the Doctor's new friends, just as it started. And then there's the small matter of the Doctor sorting out her new outfit... apparently gathered together in a charity shop...
And a cliffhanger to finish as an experiment to locate the TARDIS leaves them all floating in space...
Finally mention goes to the post-credits series preview that gives virtually no clues but it effectively a profile photo of all the guest stars, all with the new arrangement of the theme tune flowing by beautifully in the background.
Doctor Who is back, now with added Sheffield Steel!
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