The eleventh series of the revitalised Doctor Who aired in 2018 and marked the second major refresh of the show's creative team since the new show started airing in 2005. Jodie Whittaker became the first actress to canonically play the role of the Doctor, new companions were introduced, a new TARDIS set was built, a new filming style was adopted and Chris Chibnall took over as showrunner and head writer.
Chibnall's appointment caused consternation among Who fans. His work on Doctor Who itself had been highly variable in the past and his stint showrunning Torchwood was not particularly successful (resulting in Cyberwoman, one of the very worst episodes in the entire Doctor Who canon to date). However, some hope was raised due to the immense success of his critically-acclaimed mainstream drama, Broadchurch, also starring Whittaker.
The season opens with The Woman Who Fell to Earth, a busy episode which has to introduce both Whittaker's fast-talking Doctor and no less than three companions: Mandip Gill as Yasmin Khan, Tosin Cole as Ryan and Bradley Walsh as Graham O'Brien. It also sets up a recurring villain and a bunch of new format ideas, including a more epic filming style and new composer. For such a busy episode it does okay: the villain is a little bit silly and overwrought, but Sharon Clarke is excellent as Grace and the new companions all have a lot of promise. The Ghost Monument continues in this vein, with spectacular location shooting in South Africa and great guest actor support from Susan Lynch, Shaun Dooley and an underused Art Malik propping up a solid story about robots and a scavenger hunt, with the Doctor's missing TARDIS as the prize.
Rosa is the season's most notable episode, with the Doctor and her companions travelling to 1955 Alabama and meeting Rosa Parks. With two of the Doctor's companions being people of colour, it's a wrought episode balancing commentary on racism and social issues with an SF story of its own. There are splendid performances (particularly Vinette Robinson as Rosa) and a ticking sense of dread that doesn't come from aliens for once. However, the villain is quite spectacularly underwhelming and his motivations don't really stand up to scrutiny. The episode also struggles with balancing historical information with telling a strong narrative, rather than elegantly combining the two. It's good to see Who tackling a sensitive bit of history with the noblest of intentions, but the execution is flawed.
Arachnids in the UK is the season nadir, with the Doctor and team fighting alien spiders in Sheffield. What could have been a goofy, Russell T. Davies-esque lark turns into a painful slog in its second half. The Tsuranga Conundrum is better, with a stacked cast who have gone on to greater things (like Ted Lasso's Brett Goldstein), but the monstrous alien is inexplicably cute and the visuals don't really fit the horrible things it does, leading to an inconsistent episode.
Demons of the Punjab is the season highlight. Like Rosa it's taking a real historical event and mining it for story ideas and pathos. Unlike Rosa, the Partition of India is a much bigger event with lots of spaces to tell stories in it. The cast is absolutely outstanding, and the episode mixes the historical events with the SF elements much more successfully. One complaint is that the aliens are a bit too close to Testimony (from Twice Upon a Time) in their motivations.
Kerblam! feels like a 2007 Russell T. Davies script that's been dusted down and put into production, which is both good (it has a very winning RTD sense of charming whimsy) and bad (TV production in general and Who in particular have moved on from 2007). The analogies to Amazon are so on-the-nose it's painful and the eventual resolution is pat, but it is better-paced than most stories this season and the guest cast is solid.
The Witchfinders tries to be a gritty historical story about hunting down witches in early 17th Century Lancashire. However, it is let down by Alan Cumming's ridiculously hammy performance and the story not being anywhere near strong enough to support the length of the episode. After a promising start it runs out of steam and never regains it.
It Takes You Away starts off as a classic, creepy "haunted house" story centred on a rich performance by Ellie Wallwork as Hanne, before metamorphosing into a dimension-hopping lark and ending up as a surprisingly powerful reflection on grief and loss, with Bradley Walsh delivering his best performance as Graham. The shifts in tone and setting help overcome the pacing problems much of the season has struggled with, and the episode has a great atmosphere. I must admit the ending, where Hanne goes off with her father rather than him being arrested for child abandonment and neglect, is a bit odd though.
The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos is the season finale and easily the weakest finale since the show's return in 2005. The episode starts off a bit too reminiscent of The Ghost Monument and then brings back the underwhelming and very cheesy villain from The Woman Who Fell to Earth. Guest stars Phyllis Logan, Percelle Ascott and Mark Addy all do great work, but the episode ping-pongs between different ideas and never really settles down into a good rhythm. Still, some good vfx.
Christmas special Resolution sees the Thirteenth Doctor confronting the Daleks again, or in this case, just one Dalek. The episode channels Series 1's Dalek in how it depicts a single Dalek as a formidable foe and something to be feared (I guess their intelligence drops the more of them are in a room), with a great sense of escalating menace and good guest performances by Daniel Adegboyega and Charlotte Ritchie. I'm not in love with the idea of Daleks being able to survive outside their casings for so long, though, or their ability to use humans as puppets.
The eleventh series of Doctor Who (***) is a mixed bag, and possibly its weakest season since its return. The decision not to have an over-arcing story for the entire season is a good one, allowing each episode to focus on its main storyline, but this is hampered by several episodes having weak stories. Chibnall fails to strongly characterise the Thirteenth Doctor in a way that makes her stand out from her predecessors (beyond the obviously superficial) and the decision to have a regular cast of four, although a good one for filming practicalities (previous Doctors had complained about their absurd screen time resulting in serious exhaustion), also dilutes characterisation. Nobody is able to get good development because the episodes are too crammed. The actors are all great, but they're not the best-served by the scripts. There is also a recurring problem with pacing, with several episodes feeling repetitive, leaden and drawn-out over far too long a period.
Still, several solid episodes and the very impressive new filming style mean that the season is not a complete write-off. The season is available to watch on BBC iPlayer in the UK and on HBO Max in the USA.
11.1: The Woman Who Fell to Earth (***½)
11.2: The Ghost Monument (***½)
11.3: Rosa (***)
11.4: Arachnids in the UK (**)
11.5: The Tsuranga Conundrum (***)
11.6: Demons of the Punjab (****½)
11.7: Kerblam! (***)
11.8: The Witchfinders (**)
11.9: It Takes You Away (***½)
11.10: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos (**½)
11X: Resolution (***)
Adam you just made me realise that The Ghost Monument and The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos are not in fact the same episode. I wondered why I didn't remember Mark Addy being in The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos :)
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