Story 287: Resolution

In which archaeologists discover a long buried threat, deep beneath the city of Sheffield. It is New Year's Day 2019, and Lin and Mitch have found the skeleton of a man dating back to pre-Norman times in an excavation below the Victorian City Hall. There is a leather satchel amongst his belongings. Ultra-violet light causes the contents of the bag to come to life and a large tentacled creature emerges and conceals itself in the darkened chamber.

At the same moment, across the globe, a number of people stationed in remote areas are shocked to find that a hidden object they have been guarding has suddenly vanished.

The TARDIS materialises beside the excavation and the Doctor and her friends learn of what has happened. Lin and Mitch describe the creature they glimpsed, but it has now disappeared.

The archaeologists depart, Lin declining any celebrations with Mitch. He secretly carries a torch for her.

The reason for her wishing to be alone becomes apparent once she gets back home - as the creature has attached itself to her back and is controlling her mind.

It is a Dalek - one of the special reconnaissance Daleks which paved the way for invasions of other worlds. This one had come to Earth in the 9th Century. After a fierce battle, a combined force eventually defeated it. Its casing was destroyed whilst it was hacked into pieces - each part buried separately in a remote location across the planet. Custodians were established to watch over the pieces over the generations, to ensure the creature remained dead and buried. The Custodian carrying the piece in Yorkshire had been murdered on his way to its burial site, so no protection was ever set up.

Exposure to UV light has reactivated the piece, and it had the power to teleport its other parts to it - reconstituting itself. It now plans to create a new casing for itself and complete its mission - to bring a Dalek invasion force to Earth.

As yet, the Doctor is unaware of all this until she identifies some DNA found at the excavation - and Mitch then gets in touch to warn that Lin has disappeared after acting strangely. 

Graham, Ryan have taken the opportunity to go home, and both are unsettled by the appearance of Ryan's estranged father, Aaron. He had failed to show up for Grace's funeral. He is in Sheffield trying to make money from a new microwave oven.

On learning of the Dalek and Lin's disappearance, the Doctor comes for her friends, and Aaron finds himself caught up in events.

He and Mitch and taken in the TARDIS to a remote farm after tracing Lin's movements. Under the Dalek's influence, she has raided a top security government compound where alien technology was stored - including Dalek components.

The creature intends to build its new casing at this remote site using whatever materials it can find.

The Doctor challenges it, but it escapes. It has, however, released Lin now that it has created its new shell.

The army attempt to  stop the creature, but it has considerable weaponry and quickly deals with them.

It becomes clear that the Dalek is making for CCHQ - the government's spy centre which has advanced communications technology. It is going to broadcast its presence into deep space to attract the attention of its invasion forces.

The TARDIS arrives, and the Doctor has a plan to stop it. This involves using Aaron's microwave device to destroy the new casing.

This works, but the creature escapes and latches onto Ryan's father. Having taken to the TARDIS with him, it is sucked out into space on the edge of a supernova. Ryan saves his father, and the pair later agree to try to reconcile - whilst Mitch and Lin will celebrate the New Year together after all.

Resolution was written by Chris Chibnall, and was first broadcast on January 1st 2020.

As well as a move away from Saturday evening broadcasts, Chibnall had also decided to bring the now traditional Christmas Special to an end - arguing that ratings for these had been falling, and it was impossible to come up with festive trappings for inclusion that hadn't already been used before.

This was Chibnall's first story to feature a returning monster, and he goes for the Daleks. 

However, he  tries to do something different with them and comes up with a new type of Dalek - the Reconnaissance Scout - which offers a greater level of threat. Deprived of its casing, it resorts to using scrap metal to come up with an interesting new design - though one which can only ever be a one-off due to the context. (He will use the basic design again, but this will grow naturally out of this story as it will be a sequel of sorts).

Ryan and Yaz have been woefully under-developed through Series 11, with Graham rightly dominating as the stronger character, but here we get some development for Ryan as his absentee father is introduced. Unfortunately, his inclusion tends to get in the way of what might be an exciting Special - especially the sequence when the action just stops whilst they have a heart-to-heart conversation.

Had this been worked differently into the narrative, it would have come across better.

It's a story that is not without its problems. We have a gay character introduced just to be quickly killed off - a nasty example of the "bury your gays" trope. He volunteers his sexuality in a quite unrealistic manner, and seems to have been included purely as a diversity tick-box exercise.

We're supposed to believe that after the upturn in alien invasions of recent years, UNIT has been suspended for budgetary reasons. Chibnall doesn't want them being used as a quick fix for the Dalek problem, but a cleverer way of keeping them out of the episode would have been more satisfying.

Something that really stood out for me on first viewing was the idea of archaeologists working on New Year's Day. Sorry - but real archaeologists would be in the pub like everyone else.

Three guest artists feature. As Lin we have Charlotte Ritchie. An extra on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, she has appeared in Siblings, Call the Midwife, Grantchester and the hugely popular Ghosts.

Mitch is Nikesh Patel. He is currently appearing in the BBC sitcom Starstruck.

Playing Ryan's dad Aaron is Daniel Adegboyega. Film roles for him include appearances in the Bond movie Skyfall and Transformers: The Last Knight.

Overall, a refreshing take on the Daleks, in Chibnall's best story up until this point. With the underwhelming series finale only a couple of weeks previously, this story is seen by most fans as the more satisfying series conclusion.

Things you might like to know:

• This isn't the first time a Dalek story has been broadcast on New Year's Day. DMP 8: Volcano and the opening instalment of Day of the Daleks made their debut on 1st January.
• This story marks the first use of a director from the Moffat era - Wayne Yip. As well as helming some Moffat episodes, he had also directed episodes of spin-off Class.
• As well as her acting roles, Charlotte Ritchie was also a member of a pop-classical group called All Angels.
• This Dalek was designed to be purely robotic - remote controlled with no human operator.
• A thing which doesn't make sense (1): the corpse of the man carrying the Dalek piece is found in 2019 in exactly the same position as when he was murdered - despite the fact that he was left lying beside a road. In the unlikely event that the corpse would have been left unmolested beside this route, there would have been animal predation, or passers-by would have looked for valuables and disturbed it. Someone would at least have wanted to look in the satchel. Apparently it wasn't disturbed at all by the Victorian sewer builders. And who killed him, and why, anyway?
• A thing which doesn't make sense (2): the notion that a creature hacked to bits 1100 years ago can come back to life thanks to a bit of UV light, and magically teleport its hidden bits across thousands of miles then put itself back together again, all without any form of technological assistance.
• And what made the Custodians think that the hacked up mutant might have posed an on-going threat in the first place?
• Lin wishes that it was the body of a king which they had excavated - mentioning Alfred the Great. This was inspired by the recent finding of the remains of King Richard III, found beneath a Leicester carpark. She ought to have known that Alfred was interred at Hyde Abbey in Winchester.
• To conceal the inclusion of the Dalek, Nick Briggs was uncredited in Radio Times, and the Dalek itself was codenamed "Kevin" in documentation.
• The real GCHQ jokingly posted that it was running as normal after this episode aired.

Story 286: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos

In which the TARDIS materialises aboard a spacecraft on the surface of the planet Ranskoor Av Kolos. It has come here in response to nine separate distress signals. Psychotropic waves emanating from this world can cause the unprotected to be driven insane, so they must take precautions with neural blockers attached to the temple. They come across a single crewmember, a man named Paltraki. He was the commander of the vessel, but has lost most of his memories due to the psychotropic waves.

A video message is broadcast from a woman named Andinio, insisting that Paltraki return something which belongs to "The Creator". They then hear a familiar voice - that of the Stenza Tzim-Sha.

The commander has a crystal container within which is some unknown object. The Doctor's sonic will not penetrate the casing, but it appears to be of great density.

Tzim-Sha is holding Paltraki's crew hostage, so they are forced to go to him.

Outside the ship, they see a number of crashed spaceships - the source of the emergency transmissions. Paltraki's memories are beginning to return after the Doctor gave him a neural blocker to combat the waves. He recalls a great battle in which he and his crew fought. They are the only survivors.

They travel across the barren landscape and soon come to a lake, floating above which is a huge rock edifice.

Whilst wondering how to gain access, the object within the crystal appears to respond to the proximity of the structure. They find themselves transported inside as they come closer.

The structure is guarded by Stenza SniperBots. They split up, one group to look for the missing crewmembers, and the other to locate Tzim-Sha and find out what he is doing here.

The Doctor meets Andinio and a young man named Delph - members of the Ux.

They have powerful telekinetic abilities, and were responsible for the creation of this structure from the surrounding rocks. 

They arrived on the planet in 2018 on a mystical quest, and witnessed the materialisation of Tzim-Sha. He had just been transported from Earth, badly injured by his own DNA bombs thanks to the Doctor. Andinio and Delph took his to be their deity-figure they sought, and have been employing their powers for the last 5000 years to assist him in his great scheme.

Graham and Ryan find Paltraki's crew imprisoned in stasis chambers.

The Doctor and Yaz locate the Stenza and learn of his plan. The object taken by Paltraki is also a stasis unit - but one containing the harnessed energies of an entire planet. It has been removed from space, compressed and encased using the power of the Ux.

Tzim-Sha has done the same with a number of other worlds, and is going to use their combined energy to create a super-weapon - one capable of destroying more planets. This will be focussed through Delph.

As an act of revenge for what happened to him there, the next victim world will be Earth.

Graham and Ryan free the imprisoned crew as the SniperBots start to break in. One of Paltraki's bombs destroys them.

The Doctor is able to get through to the Ux that their powers are being abused, and the Stenza is not their deity. She and Yaz sacrifice their neural blockers to give to them. 

The attack on Earth is halted.

Graham has vowed to kill Tzim-Sha in revenge for the death of Grace, but the Doctor has succeeded in convincing him that this would make him no better than the alien.

Instead of killing him, Graham instead imprisons him in one of his own stasis chambers.

Delph returns the captured planets to their correct points in space.

He and Andinio will leave the planet with Paltraki and his crew, to continue their quest elsewhere.

The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos was written by Chris Chibnall, and was first broadcast on Sunday 9th December 2018.

It was the final instalment of Series 11 - the first for Chibnall and Jodie Whittaker - and great things were expected of it. The title alone hinted at some much needed action, which could have been described as "sparse" throughout the season so far.

The kindest thing you could say about the episode is that it is "anti-climactic". Many would simply say that it was a huge disappointment, and the New Year Special a few weeks later made for a much more satisfying season finale.

Chibnall had elected to dispense with any sort of story arc for us to invest in. The Stenza had been mentioned in the second episode after appearing in the opener, but this potential thread had evaporated.

Tzim-Sha had been a lukewarm villain to begin with, and having him as the finale's 'Big Bad' provoked little interest. No-one really cared what had happened to him.

We have a story promising a battle - and discover that the conflict has finished before the episode even gets underway.

The main plot has been stolen wholesale from The Pirate Planet - compressing planets and harnessing the energy / setting the Earth up as the next victim world.

The Ux are interesting characters, but we're asked to believe that they can simply be talked out of a 5000 year belief system in a matter of minutes.

We'd all seen how pathetic the SniperBots were on their first outing.

If it has any positives at all, it's the visuals. It looks great - but it's a triumph of style over content...

There's also a very good guest cast, but they're rather wasted. 

Playing Paltraki is Mark Addy. He first came to fame in the male-stripper comedy The Full Monty, but for many his most prominent role was as King Robert Baratheon in the first season of Game of Thrones.

Andinio is veteran Scots actor Phyllis Logan. She's best known for playing Mrs Hughes in Downton Abbey, after first coming to prominence as antiques dealer Lovejoy's aristocratic friend Lady Jane Frensham.

Delph is Percelle Ascott, who had appeared in RTD's Wizards v. Aliens - the CBBC replacement series for The Sarah Jane Adventures.

And returning as Tzim-Sha is Samuel Oatley. To hide the alien's return, he was not credited in the advance publicity.

Overall, it's undoubtedly the weakest series finale to date - a borrowed plot done better elsewhere and a villain we really didn't need to see again. 

Over the course of the series, the audience had fallen steadily by 4 million viewers, with this episode dropping below the 7 million mark. It also shared the lowest audience appreciation figure, falling below 80.

Things you might like to know:

• Phyllis Logan is married to Kevin McNally, guest artist from The Twin Dilemma and Flux.
• This was the first finale of the modern era not to include a classic villain - not even a cameo.
• Most of the Series 11 stories are referenced in some way throughout the episode, as is Boom Town, when the Doctor mentions the TARDIS regressing a Slitheen back to an egg.

Story 285: It Takes You Away

In which the Doctor and her companions find themselves in the Norwegian countryside, overlooking a remote fjord. They spot a cabin in the distance and, despite it being winter, there is no smoke rising from the chimney - suggesting it is deserted.

Approaching they find it boarded up with the door heavily locked, but Ryan spots movement at one of the windows. They gain access and search the building - seeing signs of recent activity such as food on a table.

They eventually come across a girl hiding in a wardrobe. Her name is Hanne. Despite her assured movements, the Doctor realises that she is blind.

An alarm sounds and Hanne explains that a monster comes out of the forest and hunts at this time every day. The Doctor is shocked that the girl has been left alone like this but she claims that her father Erik will be coming back for her. They then hear a fierce roaring coming from the woods.

However, on investigating it is found that the sounds have come from a set of speakers hung in the trees, linked to a recording.

Fearing that Erik may be dead, the Doctor explores the house further and discovers something strange about a mirror in an upstairs room. Graham had noticed that it did not reflect properly.

It transpires that behind the mirror is a portal to another dimension.

Ryan will stay with Hanne whilst the Doctor leads the others through it, hoping to locate Erik.

They find themselves in a dark cave system, lit by red glowing globes, then encounter a humanoid being who introduces himself as Ribbons. He offers to guide them to Erik if they give him the sonic screwdriver as payment.

Passing through the caverns they see a dead body and a number of large moths. Ribbons explains that these are flesh-eating insects. This place is the Anti-Zone - a buffer between dimensions and there are many hazards, chief of which are the moths.

He takes Graham hostage, demanding greater payment or he will devour him. Graham escapes and Ribbons trips as he chases him. He is overcome by a swarm of moths and killed.

Hanne tricks Ryan and escapes into the Anti-Zone, forcing him to follow.

The others emerge from the caves into a landscape  almost identical to the one they left, but it is warm and sunny. In a cabin they find Erik along with his wife Trine. 

However, Hanne had earlier revealed that her mother was dead. Outside, Graham is shocked to find Grace.

The Doctor has seen that this is a mirror version of the Norway they have left. She discovers that this is a pocket universe, inhabited by a single entity - the Solitract. 

When the universe was created, one particular force of chaos was deemed impossible to co-exist with the rest of the cosmos. This incompatibility saw it confined to its own personal universe.

The Solitract has simply grown lonely, and now lures people to it by presenting them with the thing they crave most. Erik is reunited with his dead wife, and is so overcome by this that he has abandoned his daughter - locking her in their cabin and faking monsters to keep her from wandering off. It is a misguided attempt to keep her safe whilst he visits Trine.

Grace is another personification of the Solitract, determined to keep Graham here with it.

The Doctor is able to talk both Graham and Erik into going back home, this world merely an illusion. She agrees to remain behind with the Solitract if it lets everyone else go.

The entity manifests itself as a frog - a favourite animal of Grace's. However, the Doctor shows how this dimension is beginning to reject her. Nothing can ever be compatible with the Solitract.

Accepting this, the entity allows her to leave, resigned to its solitary existence, though it will use its dreams to create imaginary new friends.

Back in the normal universe Erik agrees to return to city life in Oslo with Hanne, as he must come to terms with Trine's death and look after his daughter.

As they return to the TARDIS Graham is pleased to hear Ryan refer to him as "granddad", as they have struggled to bond since Grace's death.

It Takes You Away was written by Ed Hime, and was first broadcast on Sunday 2nd December 2018.

Hime's background is primarily in radio drama, though he was also nominated for a BAFTA for work on teen drama Skins.

Not a great deal to say about this story. It's all about grief, and how people cope with it - or don't.

Erik is so obsessed with being reunited with his lost one that he actually becomes an abusive parent - something which the episode fails to deal with head on. Someone really ought to be reporting him to the Norwegian Social Services. Imagine the newspaper stories if someone had left their disabled child alone for days on end. Not content with neglect, he then adds psychological abuse to the situation.

The Solitract might be manipulating his own emotions, but what he does is clearly well planned and executed by him - rigging speakers up trees and using monster recordings. You can't blame the frog for all of this.

It's never properly addressed why he simply hasn't taken Hanne with him, or at least told her about what's going on.

The ending is far too trite, with the Doctor delivering one her patronising little speeches and sending everyone happily on their way. The Twelfth Doctor would have punched Erik in the face.

The guest cast is led by Eleanor Wallwork as Hanne. The series has cast deaf actors in the past, but she is the first blind person to be cast. Unfortunately, she's the only one to date. Perhaps RTD2 should spend less time deciding what's best for people with disabilities and more time giving them work.

Erik is Norse actor Christian Rubeck, who has appeared in Succession, and you may have also seen him in the biopic Amundsen, in which he played the explorer's brother.

Comic actor Kevin Eldon plays Ribbons. Recent straight roles for him have included the movie Napoleon and the TV series Sanditon. He has also played Corporal Jones - the Clive Dunn character - in the remakes of lost Dad's Army episodes.

Trine is Lisa Stokke, and we also have a return for Sharon D Clarke as Grace.

The only story arc point worth mentioning is Ryan calling Graham "Granddad", as he's been trying to bond with him since the opening episode.

Overall, it's a slight affair which clearly hasn't been well thought out, with significant matters left unaddressed. Once again, it's Graham who redeems the episode. His production of a cheese and pickle sandwich from his pocket - kept for emergencies - is almost laugh-out-loud funny.

For many, a CGI frog on a chair was the final straw and they gave up on Series 11.

It's certainly been a rather lacklustre series so far. At least the next instalment is the season finale. That's got to be something to look forward to, hasn't it...?

Things you might like to know:

• The story is supposed to be set in the Norwegian winter, and the script even makes a plot point of this. A shame no-one seems to have told the director, script editor or executive producers...
• At one point Yaz mentions reversing the polarity... - a nod to the Third Doctor's famous phrase.
• Kevin Eldon had a previous involvement with Doctor Who, when he played the Seventh Doctor's companion in web serial Death Comes To Time.
• Many aspects of the Solitract appear to have been borrowed from the Virgin New Adventures novel Christmas on a Rational Planet by Lawrence Miles - entity from the dawn of time incompatible with the rest of the universe and so banished into one of its own.
• The Anti-Zone was supposed to contain one other creature - a very tall being known as "Spindle Man" (below). Played by Paul Sturgess, his scenes were filmed but then cut for timing reasons.

Story 284 - The Witchfinders

In which the TARDIS brings the Doctor and her companions to Lancashire in the early years of the 17th Century. Graham recognises their surroundings as the Pendle Hill area, having once visited it with Grace. He is aware of its history regarding a notorious witchcraft trial of 1612.

The persecution of witches is very much an on-going concern for Becka Savage, lady of the manor of the village of Bilehurst Cragg. They witness an old woman known as Old Mother Twiston being ducked in a nearby lake, chained to a log, with her granddaughter Willa forced to look on.

The Doctor's psychic paper reveals her to be Witchfinder General, so Becka invites her and her friends back to the manor to discuss the issue.

It is clear that she is obsessed with stamping out witchcraft in the district. She even had her carriage horses shot when she thought them possessed by the Devil. Natural events like the weather are blamed on sorcery, and 35 women have so far been killed.

Yaz is sent back to the village to speak with Willa. 

A masked man, dressed in black, has been observing them since they arrived.

Becka cites the new King James Bible as justification for her actions - pointing out the line "suffer not a witch to live". The Doctor tries to steer her more towards the New Testament and "Love thy neighbour", but to no avail. When she states that the King would have something to say to Becka about her interpretation of his authorised Bible, the figure in black appears and unmasks - revealing himself to be King Kames. On hearing of the witchcraft activity in the region, and having a personal obsession with the issue of his own, he had travelled here incognito to observe what was going on for himself.

The psychic paper fails to work properly this time, and the Doctor becomes only the Witchfinder General's assistant, and so Graham has to take on the more senior role.

Becka and the King agree that they will rid the village of the Devil - even if it means killing every single inhabitant.

Yaz comes across Willa in the woods, performing some kind of ceremony to honour her grandmother.

She is shocked to see a root-like tendril emerge from the mud and attempt to seize the girl. Yaz rescues her, hacking off part of the root which appears to be composed of mud.

She returns to the manor and joins the Doctor, Graham and Ryan. In order to keep him out of the way whilst she looks around, the Doctor has the men engage with the King. The mud on the tendril appears to be perfectly harmless.

As he is a Witchfinder General, the King has his servant Alfonso give Graham a large black hat as a mark of his status. However, it with Ryan that the monarch is most interested.

Yaz takes the Doctor to meet Willa. She reveals that Becka is actually a cousin, so was related to the dead Mother Twiston.

The Doctor wishes to know more about what attacked Willa and they go into the woods, close to where the old woman has been buried. The mud in the Doctor's sample suddenly becomes active, and they are horrified to see the old woman crawl from her grave, covered in mud. More dead women appear in a similar state. The King arrives with Alfonso and declares Willa to be a witch - despite the creatures seeming to attack her as much as anyone else. They kill Alfonso.

The Doctor orders her companions to follow the creatures.

After seeing her brandish her sonic screwdriver and due to all the strange things that have happened since she arrived, Becka accuses the Doctor of being a witch. The gullible King accepts this and she finds herself arrested.

The creatures are followed to Becka's home, where they take an axe from one of the rooms. Hearing an alarm from the village, they head back and find the Doctor about to be ducked in the lake.

She is able to escape unharmed, however. The creatures turn up with the axe. Willa reveals that "Bilehurst" means "sacred tree hill". It transpires that Becka took the axe to a tree which grew atop the hill because it spoiled her view. However, this tree acted as a plug, sealing in an alien species called the Morax who had been imprisoned for war crimes here in ancient times. Their bodies have decomposed but they continue to exist in the mud and are using dead bodies buried in the ground as hosts. Becka herself will become host to their Queen, but it is the King they really want, as a body for their still imprisoned monarch.

Fire can be used to keep the creatures at bay, whilst the Doctor reactivates the prison - sucking the Morax out of their host bodies and back into the ground. The Queen refuses to comply, and King James destroys her with a blazing torch, made from the wood of the tree.

Ryan is offered a court position by the King, replacing Alfonso, but he declines. Willa will follow in her grandmother's footsteps as a healer, whilst the King decides to erase all memory of what happened here from the records.

James is left dumbstruck as he sees the TARDIS dematerialise, whilst Willa merely smiles...

The Witchfinders was written by Joy Wilkinson and first broadcast on Sunday 25th November 2018.

It's the second celebrity-historical of the season, featuring as it does King James VI and I.

(For those unfamiliar with the Stuarts, Scotland had already seen five Kings named James before this one - the son of Mary Queen of Scots - came along. On Queen Elizabeth's death in 1603 he was invited to become ruler of both kingdoms - making him the sixth King James of Scotland, but only the first of England).

This is the first story in which the Doctor's new gender plays a crucial part, as the main historical inspiration is the witchcraft persecutions of the 16th and 17th Centuries. These were predominantly aimed at women (though around one third of those accused of witchcraft in Scandinavia were men).

Those who were unmarried - spinsters or widows who had declined to remarry - and those who practised midwifery and medicine were particular targets.

Those who healed could easily be accused of harming.

The Pendle Hill witch trial was a particularly notorious incident in these events. It all began when a traveller claimed that he had been cursed by a member of a local family. He had became lame immediately after having an argument with her. Another woman of the family had been suspected of being a witch for many years, but this incident led to the whole family coming under official scrutiny. Eventually, twelve people - some from a neighbouring family - were arrested and accused of ten deaths attributed to their sorcery.

What made this incident so notorious was that the most damning evidence came from a member of the family - a young girl. Only one of the accused was acquitted. The rest either died in prison at Lancaster or were hung. (Witches in England were invariably hung, despite what certain horror movies usually claim. Burning was a little more common in Scotland and on the continent).

King James is synonymous with Witchcraft following an incident when he was sailing back from Denmark with his new Queen. The ship was almost wrecked in a fierce storm, and it was alleged that a coven of Berwickshire witches had summoned it to attack him. He became obsessed with witchcraft and was responsible for a book - Daemonologie (1597) - which set out the dangers of witches and what should be done to counter the problem.

Culturally, the inspirations are very much the Horror genre - in particular what is known as "Folk-Horror". In particular we have to look to 1971's The Blood on Satan's Claw, aka The Devil's Skin (which featured Wendy Padbury and Anthony Ainley), and Witchfinder General, aka The Conqueror Worm (1968). The Wicker Man is often cited as the third of a Folk-Horror Trilogy. (You'll also see our very own The Daemons referenced when it comes to discussions of Folk-Horror).

The notion of an ancient evil being unleashed by someone tampering with the landscape - Becka cutting down the tree - is reminiscent of the works of M.R. James. 

Hammer Horror is certainly a visual inspiration. The Morax emerging from their graves is reminiscent of scenes from Plague of the Zombies (1966).

1981's The Evil Dead may also be seen as an inspiration - with its deadly tree roots, witchcraft and possessed corpses.

The impressive guest cast is led by Siobhan Finneran as Becka Savage. Despite appearing in a number of soap operas, she's probably best known as the long-suffering Janice Garvey in ITV comedy drama Benidorm.

More internationally known is Alan Cumming, who portrays King James. The Scottish actor was on the radar for a role in the series for some time but was never available, working as he does in film, TV and on stage on both sides of the Atlantic.

Willa is played by Tilly Steele, and Old Mother Twiston by Tricia Kelly.

Overall, one of the better entries of the season. A more conventional Doctor Who pseudo-historical which is darker than other instalments - nicely times for Hallowe'en. It would be nice to see King James make a return - the Gunpowder Plot hasn't been done on TV yet...

Things you might like to know:

• Graham says that he and Grace did the Pendle Hill Witch Trail. This is a 45 mile route from Lancaster running east to Barrowford, which lies in the shadow of the Hill.
• "Daemonologie" was a working title for the story.
• One of the filming locations was the 17th Century living museum at Little Woodham in Hampshire.
• Some of the location filming took place during the infamous "Beast from the East" weather event of Spring 2018.
• Transmitting so close to Hallowe'en, the story opens with a discussion about apple-bobbing, which the Doctor is keen to do.
• A mix-up at Amazon Prime saw this episode uploaded for subscribers to view three days before its intended BBC One debut.
• It's only the second story ever to have been both written and directed by a woman - the first being Enlightenment.
• The Doctor uses her respiratory bypass system to survive the ducking - first mentioned in Pyramids of Mars. Meeting Harry Houdini also helped - first mentioned in Planet of the Spiders.
• Aliens making use of dead bodies to act as hosts has been seen before - in The Unquiet Dead.

Story 283: Kerblam!

In which the Doctor receives a home delivery...

A robotic figure materialises in the TARDIS - one of the famed Kerb!am Men. This company is the biggest home shopping business in the galaxy. Their warehouse and distribution centre covers an entire moon of the planet Kandoka. Whilst successful commercially, the firm is suffering staffing issues. The company is almost fully automated, with the robot Kerb!am Men teleporting across space to make deliveries. Other robots - known as TeamMates - crew the facility. Only a small number of humans are employed - which has caused problems with the people of Kandoka, who are suffering high unemployment.

The Doctor's package contains a new fez, which she had forgotten she had ordered. Within the packaging, she discovers a note calling for help.

They decide to go to the moon and investigate. On arrival, they meet head of HR Judy Maddox and manage to get taken on as staff - allowing them to look around under cover.

Staff are given electronic ankle tags, which monitor their movements and prevent them entering areas they are not permitted to go into, based on their role.

The Doctor swaps anklets with Graham in order to get into the packing area, as that is the best place to start looking for their mysterious message sender. Graham is dismayed to find that he is now assigned to being a janitor and handed a mop and bucket by a TeamMate.

Ryan is also in the packing area, and meets a young woman named Kira. He is surprised at her reaction to receiving a gift - but she explains that she has never been given anything before.

Yaz is in the warehouse and meets co-worker Dan, who explains that he hardly ever gets to see his family on Kandoka. The pair swap a task, and Dan is killed a short time later by a TeamMate in a secluded part of the building.

The Doctor meets the warehouse executive, Jarva Slade, and takes an instant disliking to him as she observes him bullying Kira.

Graham meanwhile meets co-worker Charlie, a young man who is secretly in love with Kira - not realising that she shares his feelings.

Odd power losses keep occurring, and an emergency break is called. Everyone gathers in a garden area where the TARDIS crew can compare notes. Yaz tells the Doctor about Dan's sudden disappearance, and this is not the only one according to Charlie, so she decides to confront Slade. They will go to his office to lodge a formal complaint about Dan and the others.

In his office, the Doctor admonishes Judy about the lack of concern for the workers.

They decide to wait until Slade leaves then break back in to search his files. They find it odd that he still uses a pen and paper. His files reveal that he has been keeping notes about the vanishing staff. Judy discovers them, thanks to their anklets, and they tell her of their suspicions about her boss.

The Doctor comes to realise that the automated systems of the company are working against the human employees - which is why Slade uses old-fashioned tools. They assume he is responsible. In the company's  foyer is one of the original Kerb!am delivery robots, and the Doctor realises that it will not be connected to the current systems. She steals it and reactivates it.

They discover that Kira has been called down to the lower levels, which are no longer in use. She has been lured there with a Kerb!am delivery. They rush to the area and spot her in a sealed room, just as she opens her parcel. Charlie shouts a warning but she cannot hear. As she bursts the bubble-wrap, she is disintegrated. Ryan realises that Charlie knew exactly what was going to happen.

It transpires that Slade is not the villain they thought he was. He has been monitoring the situation but is not responsible. He couldn't tell anyone of his fears as he distrusted the automated systems, and wasn't sure if Judy was involved.

The person behind the sabotage and the disappearances is actually Charlie. Kira's death had been a tragic accident. He has been testing weaponised packaging - explosive bubble-wrap which activates when popped. He intends that millions of potentially lethal packages will be despatched across the galaxy. His motivation is the company's disregard for human workers' rights. Kerb!am, by concentrating on automation and robots, is responsible for mass unemployment and misery on Kandoka, and Charlie wishes to punish the company by destroying their reputation.

A whole army of Kerb!am Men has been assembled, ready to be sent out to customers.

Charlie is a genius, pretending to be otherwise to secure a menial role where he would not be noticed. The company systems have recognised his tampering and taken action to stop him. It was the company computer which sent the message to the TARDIS.

The Doctor programmes the prototype delivery robot to send a message to the robots to deliver their packages here. She urges Charlie to get out of the way but he refuses. Their packages explode - destroying them and killing the young man.

Judy and Slade agree to improve working conditions for the  staff, and to recruit more people over machines.

Kerblam! was written by Pete McTighe, and was first broadcast on Sunday 18th November 2018.

This was McTighe's first work on the series, and he has since gone on to produce the trailers for The Collection Blu-ray box sets, many of which have become sequels to classic stories of the respective seasons.

The title may roll off the tongue, but the story, unfortunately, leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Despite the sudden saintly behaviour of the boss and his Head of HR at the end, the story appears to be siding with the big corporation against the workers.

Imagine if the Doctor joined forces with the Musks, Bransons and Bezoses of this world to defend them against their staff, struggling to establish a nascent trade union.

Yes, Charlie is a terrorist, who has killed a number of workers as part of his scheme, but like all extremists he believes whole-heartedly in his cause and thinks that what he is doing is the right thing. Ends justify means. But he is not out for power, or wealth, or anything for himself. He's fighting a system on behalf of ordinary working people, who want to work, but there's a massive corporation limiting its workforce to just 10%, concentrating on cheap automation.

The people who are fortunate to work for Kerb!am are treated like slaves - not even getting time enough off to see their children.

It's a story we see today - sweatshops, slave labour gangs and employees forced to work in unsafe conditions - underpaid and overworked. 

Having a nice smiley people-person in head office doesn't make things any better.

That people-person, Judy, is played by Julie Hesmondhalgh. Employed of late by RTD in his Cucumber / Banana series, she had also starred in the third season of Chibnall's Broadchurch. It was as transexual Hayley in Coronation Street that she first came to fame. She has also just featured in Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which has had a huge political impact in the UK in recent weeks.

Playing Jarva is Callum Dixon.

There's a cameo appearance for "comedian" Lee Mack as the unfortunate Dan. He has his own sitcom and fronts a prime time Saturday night quiz show, but I'm afraid I fail to find him either funny or entertaining - so I'm glad he  gets little screentime.

Charlie is played by Leo Flanagan, best known for Waterloo Road, whilst Kira is Claudia Jessie - a regular on period drama Bridgerton.

Overall, it could have been a good old-fashioned style of story - a satire on globalisation and the way corporations abuse the people who bring them their wealth, but its sympathies lie in the wrong direction for me. Fans of the Voc Robots and their Heavenly Host cousins will be happy, whilst others might see the TeamMates as pale imitators.

Things you might like to know:

• First TV story to have an exclamation mark in its title, though they've appeared in spin-off media titles.
• Two past Doctors are referenced. The fez is synonymous with the Eleventh, and the Doctor uses Venusian Aikido - the martial art form favoured by the Third.
• "Robophobia" is also mentioned, and as mentioned above, the robots do strike one as similar to the killer Vocs of Robots of Death.
• There are scenes in the packing area where the TARDIS crew have to descend to the lower levels, avoiding the automated systems. This is heavily influenced by the Geonosis foundry sequence in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
• Chris Chibnall attended his farewell party in a Kerb!am Man costume.
• The Kerb!am Man at the Worlds of Wonder Exhibition in Edinburgh in 2023:

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.

Story 281: The Tsuranga Conundrum

In which the Doctor and her companions find themselves on a junk asteroid - Seffilun 27 - in search of spare parts for the TARDIS. It is the 67th Century. They stumble upon a sonic mine which detonates...

They all regain consciousness on the Tsuranga - a hospital spaceship - four days later. The Doctor is naturally concerned about the TARDIS as junk asteroids are regularly scavenged.

In charge of the ship is medic Astos, who is assisted by Mabli. 

They meet several fellow patients, including celebrated military commander Eve Cicero, who is being accompanied by her estranged brother Durkas and her android consort Ronan. Also present is a man named Yoss, who is pregnant. He is a Gifftan, and both genders can give birth.

The Doctor is determined to get back to Seffilun 27 but Astos explains that they are on an automatic course for the main hospital on Resus One. Any deviation from their flight plan and the destination will assume that there has been a hostile takeover or an uncontainable virus outbreak, and the Tsuranga will be destroyed.

Astos then admits that they are close to an asteroid field, which is in close proximity to a disputed region of space. An alarm sounds, indicating a hull breach.

The Doctor and Astos go to investigate as scanners indicate a life-form has come on board.

Graham discovers Durkas trying to hack into his sister's medical records. He explains that his sister has an easily treatable illness, and has recently started acting  differently towards him - pushing him away. He wants to know why.

Ronan, meanwhile, is pressuring Mabli into giving Eve extra medications. As a relative newcomer she agrees.

The Doctor discovers that the life pod on one side of the ship has disappeared due to damage. Astos reports that the one on the other side is still there. The Doctor warns him not to enter it but is too late. It launches with him on board. It has also been damaged and it explodes. Mabli is left in charge of the ship.

The culprit proves to be a tiny creature which seems to devour anything it touches. It rapidly moves through the ship's infrastructure, wrecking the systems.

Checking the database, they discover that it is an omnivorous Pting - one of the deadliest creatures in the galaxy due to its destructive behaviour. They have the added issue of being toxic to the touch.

The Pting triggers a preliminary alarm, which will be detected on Resus One. Three such alarms will see the ship automatically destroyed. Eve explains how she has experience of dealing with the creatures. Their priority is to stop it destroying their engines, then to get it off the ship before they get to their destination.

Graham and Ryan find themselves called upon to assist Mabli as Yoss goes into labour.

Eve reveals that she has a terminal health condition, and has been acting coldly towards her brother only to spare his feelings.

It is decided to take a short-cut through the asteroid field, with Eve piloting the ship using a holographic interface. Ronan and Yaz succeed in isolating the Pting as the Doctor removes the explosive device which would have destroyed the ship. The Pting eats it as it is jettisoned into space. The blast does not kill it, however - simply feeding it.

The strain of piloting the ship leads to Eve's death. Yoss gives birth and the ship arrives safely at Resus One, from where the Doctor and her companions can get passage back to the junk asteroid.

The Tsuranga Conundrum was written by Chris Chibnall, and was first broadcast on Sunday 4th November 2018.

I'll declare this right from the outset - I regard this as one of the worst Doctor Who stories of all time. I saw it on transmission, and again (grudgingly) when I bought the box-set, but since then I simply cannot bring myself to rewatch it. It finally convinced me - after some mounting concerns - that the Chibnall era wasn't going to be any sort of highlight for me.

The reasons are several, and in places are symptomatic of the problems which ran through much of Series 11.

The Doctor is at her most patronising, spouting glib platitudes left, right and centre. She awards her companions points when they say or do something she approves of - like giving a treat to a dog. As usual for this series, the companions are given very little to do. Despite being trapped on a damaged spaceship that could be destroyed any moment, Graham and Ryan stop in the middle of a corridor to have a chat - the sort of thing we see in any badly scripted direct-to-video dramas. The guest characters are walking cliches, assuming they have anything to do at all. What was the point of Ronan being an android? I assumed it would be relevant to the plot, but really wasn't. More could have been made of his ability to touch the toxic Pting. The only decent performance / character is Astos, who gets killed off after 15 minutes.

The Pting looks childish. The story really needed a more monstrous creature as a threat. It is all overly lit, which always lessens the drama. The sets look like JJ Abrams directed this.

The plot makes little sense. We have a hospital ship which has only two staff, one of whom is inexperienced, and no flight crew or security - despite operating in a potential war zone - and if anything goes wrong it gets blown up by remote control. There's far-fetched, and then there's far-fetched.

My biggest beef is the ending. A problem I've highlighted before is Chibnall's "tell, don't show" approach. Despite having a couple of nice spaceship shots, the thrilling denouement of this story is a woman waving her hands about in a white room. We could have seen the ship dodging through the asteroid field. We could have seen images of what Eve was seeing on her headset. We get neither.

The only good things - and there are a couple - are the aforementioned VFX shots (what little we get of them), and the fact that the Doctor actually does something this week...

Gripe over.

The totally wasted guest cast comprises Brett Goldstein as Astos; Lois Chimimba as Mabli; Suzanne Packer as Eve; David Shields as Ronan; Ben Bailey-Smith as Durkas; and Jack Shalloo as Yoss.

Packer is best known for a long-running role in medical soap Casualty - so probably felt quite at home here. Goldstein is a comedian as well as actor, now very well known for Ted Lasso. David Shields will be seen in WWII USAF drama Masters of the Air,  which also features Ncuti Gatwa. Bailey-Smith also does comedy, as well as being a rapper. He performs under the alias Doc Brown.

Overall... I'll quote Radio Times, who called it "A dismal misfire". It's desperately trying to be Alien meets Casualty, but the emotional drama is all too superficial.

Things you really, really don't want to know:

• Chris Chibnall claimed in 2023 that he was planning a sequel to this story, working title "Ptings". Thank goodness the axe fell on his tenure when it did...
• One nice moment amongst the misery is the glimpse of classic era beings like Silurians, Zygons and Davros on the alien lifeform database. More recent creatures included an Ood and a Weeping Angel.