DOCTOR WHO - THE WOMAN WHO FELL TO EARTH

“I’m the Doctor, sorting out fair play throughout the universe.”

Here’s the thing about Doctor Who…I love it. It’s been my favourite tv show since its debut back in 2005 and I could quite happily talk about it for hours and hours. I won’t, but it really wouldn’t be that difficult.

Here’s the other thing about Doctor Who…The past few years have been a real struggle to get through. While seasons 8 and 9 were both a bit of a slog, with noticeable dips in quality from what had come before, they both had a few redeeming moments. But they did shake my love for the show quite a lot. Then series 10 happened.

Ah, series 10.

If anything was ever going to make me hate Doctor Who, series 10 was it. With it being both Peter Capaldi’s last series as the Doctor and Steven Moffat’s last run as showrunner, I thought maybe they’d pull out the big guns and go down in a blaze of timelord glory. How wrong I was. But I’m not here to talk about the fiery train wreck that is series 10. I’m here to talk about the premiere of the new series, and how, for the first time in a very long time, I’ve fallen back in love with Doctor Who again.

I’ll be honest, like the majority of fans, I was a little unsure how to feel about things when it was announced that Jodie Whittaker would be playing the 13th Doctor. However, having seen her in Broadchurch, (opposite David Tennant of all people) I found more comfort in her casting than a large portion of the fanbase seemed to. And by the time the first look at her costume hit the internet, I was more than excited to see what the 13th Doctor had in store for us.

And by Jove, is she bloody brilliant as the Doctor.

And that’s the thing that took me by surprise: It usually takes me a fair while to begin to like a new Doctor, but Whittaker nails it from her first scene and never really stops nailing it or the rest of the episode. Yes, there are hints of past Doctors in there, perhaps David Tennant’s more than anyone else, but if you look at any incarnation of the Doctor you can see past versions just beneath the surface. But Whittaker brings a lot of her own stuff to the role and it works very well for the type of show this series looks to be creating. Much like the episode itself, she’s fun but also knows when to keep things serious, and she’s not overly whacky like other Doctors have been. In fact, out of all of the Doctor’s, she just may be one of the more believable.

Going back to being fun but still serious at times, I just want to say how well the tone of this episode works. New showrunner Chris Chibnall is the man who brought the Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood to TV, and that darker tone is clearly evident here. It’s a darker episode of Doctor Who than most are but it works very, very nicely throughout. The mood is a bit more sombre and the villain (who looks brilliant by the way) has some fairly grim motivations, but the cast and the script both come together to make this work. It is a serious episode but it’s also a fun one, and it doesn’t compromise either of those things to boost the other. And whereas most episodes of Doctor Who end on a happy note, The Woman Who Fell To Earth’s last few minutes really are rather emotional, but the episode uses this to the maximum effect.

But it wasn’t just a better tone and a better Doctor that made the episode work. The new companions were all great and the episode was right to give them the spotlight for a while before the new Doctor came crashing in. (Pun intended) The episode took time to build their characters and I’m liking the Classic Who approach of having a group of them together, it just makes everything a bit fresher from what New Who has given us up until now.

After all, teamwork makes the dream work.

The special effects were also a vast improvement on the other seasons of New Who and the cinematography was by far the best the show has ever seen. Each shot was beautiful and really helped the story come to life.

To wrap up, episodes like this are why Doctor Who is my favourite show. It was fun with just the right amount of seriousness to keep it grounded and it always felt like there were consequences to the characters’ actions – which there indeed were by the end of the episode. Whittaker’s Doctor was an instant hit and I can’t wait to see her, and her companions, again. The new theme playing over the end credits was a brilliant homage to the original one that debuted with the show back in 1963 and I look forward to what new composer Segun Akinola brings to the show.

It’s been a long time since I’ve liked a new episode of Doctor Who, but the opener for series 11 was well worth the wait, and with its brilliance it also brings in a breath of fresh air the show desperately needed. And to all those still unsure about or against a female Doctor, let me paraphrase one of the male ones to you: ‘She’s the Doctor, whether you like it or not.’