It's been ten months since the last televised episode of Doctor Who and a lot has happened since then. In fact, the controversial "The Timeless Children" aired on 1 March, a few weeks before things got really bad Covid-wise.
This episode was in fact filmed with Series 12 before lockdown, which means that the large crowd scenes filmed were done when we didn't have to worry about that sort of thing... However, aside from the editing, this also means that it reflects the quality and experience of that Series.
(Some spoilers ahead)
The Daleks have been heavily used throughout the show's history, arguably overused and it's getting somewhat difficult to find new stories to tell with them... so, credit to Chris Chibnall for something involving humans exploiting Dalek technology. In fact, it might have been even better without any actual Daleks. The actual Daleks were a bit on the dumb side, but frankly they generally are these days.
The story itself is a decent one, holding my attention for 70 minutes, although it isn't one that I'd likely return to again and again.
Jodie Whittaker does a great job as the Doctor, engaging in a subtle and nuanced performance with some nice quirks of humour, like using Harry Potter as a bedtime story to herself. She's got no plans to go after Series 13 - at present - and I am glad she is sticking around.
Yaz is underwritten here and with the departure of her two other companions, hopefully she will have more to do here. Mandeep Gill does her best with the limited material and acts as a great foil to Captain Jack.
Graham and Ryan get a good send-off, with the possibility of Big Finish audios being set up. Bradley Walsh was a brilliant addition to the TARDIS in particular and I wish Tosin Cole well in his future endeavours.
Captain Jack is always worth the price of admission and John Barrowman has the part down pat - it's very much him playing himself - with some great call backs to past adventures. In fact, the whole alien prison sequence was great and could have easily justified an episode in its own right.
Robertson... wasn't hugely keen on having him back in the first place and wouldn't be overly keen on having him back for a second time, but he was suitably slimy. Got to hang some good lampshades on things too.
The self-serving government minister... well in the light of some stuff that's been going on, that seems pretty plausible.
Conclusion
By no means a classic, but definitely an enjoyable festive episode. Shame we're only getting eight episodes this year because of the pandemic...
8/10
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