Doctor Who: Series 10 (Season 36)

The Doctor has a new mission: to guard a mysterious vault located under a university. He is aided in this quest by Nardole, River Song's friend and ally. The Doctor befriends university worker Bill Potts and decides to recruit her as his new companion, so he can "sneak off" and undertake adventures in time and space, to Nardole's displeasure. But when Earth is attacked by an invading alien force, the Doctor realises that the only salvation might be the very danger which lies within the vault...

The tenth series of Doctor Who since its return in 2005 marks the end of Peter Capaldi's run as the Twelfth Doctor and also the departure of Steven Moffat as showrunner, who'd helmed the show since its fifth series. For this last season, the grumpiness of the Twelfth Doctor was somewhat scaled back in favour of a (relatively) friendlier figure, and was given a mentor-student relationship with his new companion Bill after the more intense and familial relationship with Clara.

Things kick off with Christmas special (and the only episode to air in 2016) The Return of Doctor Mysterio, a splendid superhero pastiche in which the Doctor inadvertently gives young Grant Gordon amazing powers after he accidently ingests some alien technology. The Doctor encourages Grant to use his newfound powers for good, occasionally checking in on him over the years. The Doctor, Grant and journalist Lucy Fletcher then become embroiled in a conspiracy by the mysterious Harmony Shoal corporation to conquer the world. A total romp of an episode with winning performances by guest stars Justin Chatwin and Charity Wakefield, the episode's breezy pace and lighter tone (after the intensity of Series 8 and 9) comes as something of a relief.

The season itself kicks off with The Pilot, which sets up the season arc with the Doctor guarding a mysterious vault and meeting new companion Bill. Season-openers which also serve as companion introductions and arc-openers tend to be a bit messy, with the alien threat of the week disposed off rather summarily so the episode can focus on introductions. The Pilot is better than a lot of episodes in its vein, thanks to strong performances from Pearl Mackie as Bill and guest star Stephanie Hyam as Heather, and the episode also sets up another plot point that becomes important in the finale, so its more satisfying than most.

Smile is a bit Doctor Who-by-numbers, with robot servitors on a colony planet rebelling against their masters, but it has some good energy and a couple of fun twists. Thin Ice, set in 1814 London during last of the Great Frost Fairs, is likewise standard but watchable with some enjoyable guest stars and period detail.

Knock Knock is a Doctor Who haunted house story, with Bill and some friends moving into surprisingly cheap new house with a friendly landlord (an outstanding performance by the legendary David Suchet) just before Shenanigans ensure. The story is tense, the disposable side-characters well-characterised in a short space of time and Suchet's delightful performance elevates the whole thing about the norm.

Oxygen is the season's "base under siege" story, using the same fairly obvious sets as previous stories Under the Lake, Before the Flood and Sleep No More. There's some fun ideas here, like smart spacesuits going rogue and a company so cheapskate it charges its employees for the oxygen they use, but the episode's best and most unsettling idea is the Doctor going blind as a result of oxygen starvation and exposure to space. Otherwise it's fairly disposable.

The next three episodes constitute a three-part arc, consisting of Extremis, The Pyramid at the End of the World and The Lie of the Land, in which alien "monks" invade Earth but can only do so if they are invited willingly. Extremis sets up the situation and has the Doctor recruited by the Vatican to read an ancient text that has sent everyone else mad. There's some terrific imagery (a confused TARDIS-transported Pope emerging from Bill's bedroom, to the consternation of her girlfriend), some fun lines and a winning performance by Peter Capaldi as he pretends not to be blind. The Pyramid at the End of the World ups the ante as the Doctor has to join forces with the world's major governments and militaries to avert the alien invasion and try to stop a disaster before it happens. There's some great performances and tension in this episode, with the Doctor's own hubris eventually defeating him.

Unfortunately, as is often the case, the setup is let down by a poor finale. It feels that The Lie of the Land should have been a two-parter with much greater exploration of a life on the monk-ruled planet. Instead, it's a fairly knockabout adventure with a rushed finale. The high point is the regular restoration of Selena Gomez as Missy to the recurring cast and her outstanding performance.

Empress of Mars marks the departure (so far) of regular Doctor Who writer Mark Gatiss from the series, and it's a pretty great adventure, taking the Doctor and Bill to Mars in the 19th Century where an Ice Warrior has brought a detachment of British soldiers to the planet to help him rescue his slumbering Ice Queen. Seeing the Ice Warriors on their homeworld of Mars (for the first time on-screen) is fun and the incongruity of Victorian soldiers in space - possibly drawing on the imagery of the Space: 1889 roleplaying game - is great. If there is a weakness, it's that the Ice Queen is not a well-written adversary.

The Eaters of Light marks a bit of history by being written by Rona Munro, who also penned the very last story from the classic run of the series in 1989, Survival, making her remarkably the only writer to have penned both incarnations of the programme. It's a fairly solid story featuring the Doctor and Bill investigating the fate of the Ninth Legion of the Roman Army, and the interesting idea of the Doctor using the TARDIS translation system to overcome cultural differences between warring factions who can't even understand one another. The ending is a little underwhelming though.

World Enough and Time and The Doctor Falls forms a two-part story and is quite a powerful one. The Doctor has seemingly rehabilitated Missy and sends on her on an adventure to monitor her performance. This leads to a colony ship trapped in the gravity field of a black hole, where time is running differently on each deck. There's some terrific imagery and Pearl Mackie delivers her best performance as Bill Potts. There's also the superb idea of Missy's move towards being "good" being countered by meeting her past incarnation as the Master (a returning John Simm) who acts as the devil on her shoulder, drawing her back towards the dark side. Throw in the very early Cybermen and the setup for a war story between them and a beleaguered group of survivors, and it makes for a decent, busy story that justifies its length. One weakness of the story is that the manner of Bill's departure - apparently dying but being rescued through a time-wimey loophole and then goes off to have more adventures in time and space with a superpowered female friend - is virtually identical to how Clara departed the previous season, and feels redundant.

Peter Capaldi departs in Twice Upon a Time, where he is reunited with the First Doctor (David Bradley, replacing the late William Hartnell and Richard Hurndall) as they both struggle with their impending regenerations. There's some great ideas here - glass people, the return of Dalek Rusty, Mark Gatiss playing the Brigadier's father - but some over-indulgence and a questionable portrayal of the First Doctor as unrepentantly sexist (far more than was really the case). But overall it's a reasonable goodbye to Capaldi and, indeed, the entire Moffat era of the show.

The tenth series of Doctor Who (****) since its return is a very strong run of episodes, although lacking an all-time classic installment. Capaldi anchors the season with his superb performance, and Pearl Mackie makes for a very likable companion. It is a consistently very solid season, a quality that becomes more variable in the seasons that follow. The season is available to watch on BBC iPlayer in the UK and on HBO Max in the USA.

• 10X: The Return of Doctor Mysterio ****½
• 10.1: The Pilot ****
• 10.2: Smile ***½
• 10.3: Thin Ice ***½
• 10.4: Knock Knock ****
• 10.5: Oxygen ***
• 10.6: Extremis ****½
• 10.7: The Pyramid at the End of the World ****½
• 10.8: The Lie of the Land ***½
• 10.9: Empress of Mars ***½
• 10.10: The Eaters of Light ***½
• 10.11: World Enough and Time ****½
• 10.12: The Doctor Falls ****½
• 10.13: Twice Upon a Time ****

Major DOCTOR WHO revamp on the way

British tabloid newspaper The Mirror is hardly a bastion of reliability, but its entertainment sources are usually pretty good. This week The Mirror has been reporting on large changes coming to Doctor Who.

Doctor Who returns to our screens next month for a Christmas special, followed by a season of new episodes in the spring, possibly March or April. This season - the 10th since the show's return in 2005 and the 36th overall - will also be the last to be helmed by Steven Moffat, who has been in charge of the series since Russell T. Davies departed in 2010. Peter Capaldi returns as the Twelfth Doctor and Pearl Mackie will be introduced as the Doctor's latest companion, Bill.

According to The Mirror, the BBC is planning major changes after this season. Chris Chibnall, a former Doctor Who and Torchwood writer better-known these days for working on Broadchurch (the third and final season of which will air next year), will be taking over as showrunner from the 11th/37th season in 2018. According to the reports, he will be ditching the Bill character immediately (which seems a bit harsh, but follows in the Davies tradition of having only one companion/Doctor combo per season) and replacing her with a new character. More importantly, that season will also allegedly see Peter Capaldi being replaced by a new Doctor.

According to the report, the BBC wants a complete revamp and reboot of the show, apparently unimpressed by declining merchandise sales and lengthy periods where no new episodes air. They want a return to 12-13 episodes per year, airing in the same slot, believing this predictability helped give the show its cachet and popularity during the David Tennant years (as well as, y'know, David Tennant).

Given the future of the show was in question a couple of years ago, it's heartening to hear (even if not confirmed) that the BBC is committing to the show's future. It does feel a little disingenuous of the BBC to be blaming the show's intermittent scheduling as a problem when it's the BBC's own budget crisis that caused and mandated it in the first place though.

If the story is true, it'll be interesting to hear if Capaldi has chosen to go - which is quite possible - or if he's been encouraged to leave by the BBC so they can cast a younger actor. If the latter is the case, it will be annoying as Capaldi's performance has been absolutely splendid.

We should learn the truth next year.

Peter Capaldi announced as the Twelfth Doctor

In a (disappointingly cheap and cringe-inducing) live broadcast last night on BBC1, it was announced that Peter Capaldi will be playing the role of the Twelfth Doctor on Doctor Who, taking over from Matt Smith. Smith will bow out in this year's Christmas special (likely at the end), which will also mark Capaldi's first appearance in the role.

Capaldi was born in 1958 in Glasgow, Scotland, making him the second-oldest actor to play the role, as he is only a few months younger than William Hartnell was when he was cast as the First Doctor in 1963. He is also the third Scottish actor to play the role, after Sylvester McCoy and David Tennant. Capaldi began acting in the early 1980s, winning an early notable role in the film Local Hero (also starring Burt Lancaster). He alternated film work, such as appearing in Dangerous Liaisons (with Michelle Pfeiffer and John Malkovich) and Lair of the White Worm (with Hugh Grant), with working on TV in shows such as Minder and Rab C. Nesbitt. In 1994 Capaldi wrote and directed a 20-minute film, Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life, which won the Academy Award for Best Short Film.

In 1996 Capaldi became known to genre fans when he was cast as the Angel Islington in Neil Gaiman's BBC mini-series Neverwhere. The same year he appeared in The Crow Road, an adaptation of Iain Banks's novel of the same name. Capaldi, a fan of Banks, has since recorded the audio book versions of a number of his novels.

In 2005 Capaldi was cast in his signature role, that of government spin doctor Malcolm Tucker, in the satirical series The Thick of It. Tucker, whose response to any crisis is a stream of foul-mouthed invective and cynicism, was allegedly loosely based on Tony Blair's spin doctor-in-chief, Alastair Campbell. Capaldi won a BAFTA Award for Best Comedy Performance and two British Comedy Awards for his performance. In 2009 he starred in the movie spin-off In the Loop, in which the team visit Washington DC in the middle of a major military crisis in the Middle East (the movie also features the late James Gandolfini as an American general). In 2007-08 Capaldi played the recurring role of Mark Jenkins on Skins, a father whose overbearing attempts to get his son to do well at college backfire badly.

In 2008 Capaldi played the role of Caecilius in The Fires of Pompeii, an episode of Doctor Who (by coincidence, the episode also featured Karen Gillan in a minor role before she was cast as companion Amy Pond two years later). The following year he gained significant critical acclaim for his performance as the haunted civil servant John Frobisher in the Torchwood mini-series, Children of Earth.

The casting of Capaldi is an interesting move. He's one of the highest-profile actors to be cast in the role (arguably only Paul McGann and Jon Pertwee were as well-known when they were cast) and going older was unexpected, with the feeling after Ecclestone, Tennant and Smith being that the BBC wanted younger, more attractive and energetic actors for the role than previously. Out of the names being touted, Capaldi was definitely the most interesting, however, and he will definitely bring a different tone to the series than in the last few years.

Also, with the revelation that a hitherto 'secret incarnation' of the Doctor previously existed (to be played by John Hurt in the 50th anniversary special in November), this makes Capaldi the Twelfth 'Doctor' but the thirteenth incarnation of this particular Time Lord. Long-term Doctor Who fans will know that Time Lords are supposedly only able to regenerate twelve times (and thus have thirteen incarnations) before dying for good. It remains to be seen if this plot point will be explored in the new series or simply ignored.

We will see the 50th anniversary special of Doctor Who on 23 November this year, followed by the Christmas special (featuring the regeneration) on Christmas Day. The next full season of Doctor Who is expected to air in late 2014.