Story 282: Demons of the Punjab

In which Yaz asks for the Doctor's help. Her grandmother, Umbreen celebrates her birthday by giving gifts to her grand-daughters. To Sonya she gives a photograph of herself and their late grandfather, and to Yaz she gives a watch. It doesn't work, but Umbreen tells her never to repair it.

Intrigued by its inscription Yaz wants to know more about her family history from the time of Umbreen's wedding - which coincided with the Partition of India in August 1947.

The Doctor agrees to travel back to that period, and they connect the watch to the TARDIS telepathic circuits to take them directly to Umbreen's home.

This is in a small village, in the Punjab region.

After spotting some mysterious black figures they come to a road where they meet a young man named Prem. He agrees to take them to Umbreen's home, which lies right on the new border between India and Pakistan. They claim to be family friends of the young woman - whilst he is her groom-to-be.

They see the figures again and the Doctor is able to identify them as Thijarians. These beings are infamous assassins. They are stalking a elderly Hindu holy man named Bhakti. he is found dead in the woods. 

Prem reveals that he has seen a Thijarian before. This was during the last war, when he saw a similar figure standing over the body of his dead brother.

The aliens force them to flee, and follow them to Umbreen's  farm where the Doctor is able to keep them at bay.

Yaz is still confused about the forthcoming wedding of Prem to Umbreen, as Prem was not her grandfather.

Opposed to the marriage is Prem's brother Manish, who is a devout Muslim.

With Bhakti dead, the wedding can't go ahead with no-one to officiate - but the Doctor reveals that she is qualified to do so.

After a visit to the Thijarian spacecraft, the Doctor discovers that they have now renounced their old killing ways. What they do now is bear witness to the dying. They have come here at this time as Prem is to die today.

Partition has just been implemented - a political upheaval which will see countless deaths, many unmourned.

Following the wedding, Prem attempts to reconcile with his brother. He drops his watch which breaks - allowing Yaz to begin to see the relevance of its meaning for Umbreen.

It transpires that it was Manish who killed Bhakti. He and a group of armed men appear, attempting to force Prem to decide between his new bride and his faith.

When he refuses to renounce Umbreen, one of the men shoots him dead. Umbreen and her mother will leave this country - contemplating a move to England. 

A random choice points them towards Sheffield.

Demons of the Punjab was written by Vinay Patel, and was first broadcast on Sunday 11th November 2018.

It is the second story of the series to have a 20th Century historical setting, after Rosa, and like Rosa it has similarities - including the dame limitations. 

The earlier story dealt with racial intolerance, and this one deals with religious intolerance - that between Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims at the time of Partition, when the United Kingdom withdrew its direct control from India. This was part of a widespread dismantling of Empire following the Second World War. 

Events play out as they have to play out, and once again the Doctor has nothing to do but observe. It's a very good drama but - like Rosa - very poor Doctor Who. The historical stories of the Hartnell era still managed to integrate the Doctor and companions fully into the adventure, but with this episode they may as well never have featured. Patel has written a solid romance, set against a time of political and social upheaval - a doomed love affair along the lines of Romeo and Juliet, with religion taking the place of family loyalties. It should have been a stand-alone prime-time drama. As a Doctor Who story, however, it leaves a lot to be desired.

It doesn't help that the episode is initiated by a silly idea. Yaz finds out that her gran was betrothed to a man who was not her grandfather. This is hardly a mystery worth investigating. People change their minds all the time. Relationships fall apart, or accidents befall people before events can take place.

A genuine mystery is how Umbreen can't recall that a woman identical to her grand-daughter, even in dress, attended her wedding.

This story at least gives Yaz something to do. She is the least effective companion of this TARDIS line-up. However, instead of dominating the episode and playing a pivotal role she is pretty much relegated to observing like everyone else.

The treatment of the Doctor gets even worse here. She's been presented as patronising up to now, awarding companions points like a pat on the head, but now she's advanced to giving them gold stars.

The Thijarians are a nice design - but totally wasted as they hardly feature and prove to be a red herring anyway.

The guest cast comprises Leena Dhingra as the older Umbreen, with Amita Suman as her younger self.

Prem is Shane Zaza, and Manish is Hamza Jeetooa. 

Zaza is predominantly a stage actor, but prior to this had featured in BBC dramas Happy Valley and Waterloo Road. Coincidentally, he and Jeetooa have both appeared in zombie-themed comedy movies.

Genre appearances by Suman include recurring roles in The Outpost and Shadows and Bones.

Overall - a nice enough romantic drama, but not a great fit for Doctor Who. As with Rosa, the best thing we can say about it is that it would have got people looking up the subject matter and learning more about those events. An apt broadcast for 11th November though, this being Remembrance Sunday and remembrance being a theme.

Things you might like to know:

• This is the first episode of the series not to have a writing credit by Chris Chibnall. He has either written or co-written everything up to this point - which might just be one of the problems with this season.
• Another similarity to Rosa is the lack of the usual theme music at the end. Instead we get an arrangement done in an Indian musical style.
• The basic premise behind the Thijarians is identical to that of Testimony, seen in Twice Upon A Time. In both cases the Doctor thinks they are a threat but it turns out that they are merely observers who appear when someone dies.
• The Thijarians are portrayed by female actors, with other actresses providing the voices.
• They are named Kisar and Almak.
• The filming took place in Granada, Spain.
• Future Master Sacha Dhawan was offered a role in this episode but had to turn it down due to a clash with other work commitments. I'm guessing Prem.