Hello and Happy New Year
Welcome to the first Doctor Who review that I have done in a long time.
Doctor Who is finally back for its twelfth series, and we are reunited with the same cast of Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, and Madip Gill in the roles of the TARDIS team of the Doctor and her three companions.
The series returned rather triumphantly last night on BBC One, ranging an average audience of 4.88 million, which even though it's the lowest audience figures of any of Whittaker's Doctor Who episodes so far, it was the most viewed show on New Year's Day on BBC One, beating Eastenders and prime time drama Dracula.
I should warn you now, if haven't yet watched the episode and don't wish for it to be spoiled, please read this review after you have watched "Spyfall Part One"
The title 'Spyfall' is an interesting play on words based from the famous Bond film starring Daniel Craig.
Very excited and delighted to see Doctor Who back on the telly again after a year's hiatus, the story featured the Doctor and friends about to set off on a new adventure in space and time only to be interrupted by mysterious men in black suits wanting to escort them to MI6 on the orders of 'C' played magnificently by Stephen Fry.
It is then that the TARDIS crew are briefed on mysterious happenings around the world to MI6 agents and rather intrigued by chain of events involving a man called Daniel Barton played by Lenny Henry, the Doctor decides to take the case, it is then MI6 is attacked and C is shot dead.
When the episode started it was nice to get a short recap into each of the TARDIS crew's backgrounds as it has been a year since we've last seen them, some viewers who have only watched episodes from Series 11 only once or twice aren't going to remember much about these characters, so I thought a quick reintroduction was beneficial at the start of a new series.
The story as a story I felt was very well structured, the pace of the episode was good, there was a good enough amount of action and stuff happening to peak my interests and stop me from getting board. It is important to know with any TV show that at some point during the programme someone will be tuning into Doctor Who for the first time and there's only seconds to convince that viewer to keep watching. If I was a first time viewer I would have stuck with 'Spyfall' I thought it was the most compelling and exciting series opener we've had for a long time, probably since 2011 'The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon' two parter.
With this story also being a two parter, there was time for the story to develop and not be rushed, the build up to moments of high tension was well done throughout and the humour even though the jokes were a bit hit and miss for me, added a soft undertone to the action bits we saw and moments of intensity.
There were lots of elements of mystery regarding the aliens in this episode, I still don't know what they are or why they're on earth. I don't know whether that was the intention of Chris Chibnall to leave the viewer confused but throughout the whole episode I did struggle to maintain and find an understanding behind the aliens and how they fit into the plot.
Action sequences like the motorbike chase was very gripping and exciting, it did in a way feel like a spy movie even though this is not the first time that Doctor Who has gone out to do espionage type storytelling. "Enemy of the World" is the only attempt in Season 5 not to do base under siege if anything to go everywhere around the world and do a strange sort of spy thriller.
There are some comparisons in Spyfall that remind of Enemy of the World with great fondness even though there are lots of differences between those two stories.
It would have been nice to have seen all the TARDIS team make use of the gadgets they were given by C in their briefing, there's a moment where Graham turns to Ryan and says "If you're not careful, I'll zap you with my laser shoe" what if he actually put those said laser shoes to some use?
Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, and Mandip Gill are all great in this, each an every one of the TARDIS team has something to do in this episode, no one I felt was left out or made redundant like in Series 11. This in itself is a huge improvement.
Three companions in the TARDIS can be problematic in the sense that there is three of them, they tend to unintentionally get in the way of each other and writer's run out of things for them to do. We've seen it done before in Doctor Who with characters like Adric and Nyssa being shoved to one side. It is a shame when this happens as it doesn't allow characters with an opportunity to grow or prove their worth to the viewer.
I felt this way with Jazz (Mandip Gill's character) but found Jazz to done more in this episode than in any other I have seen her in.
Other people in this who impressed me were Lenny Henry as 'Daniel Barton' a character whom we still don't know much about and are left still guessing and answering questions. Henry pulls off the part brilliantly and is a nice edition to the Doctor Who mix. Bradley Walsh of course is wonderful, the man is a diamond in the rough and a born entertainer. Stephen Fry even though his time in the episode is brief it's great to see another national treasure guest star in Doctor Who and help raise the profile of the show.
However, the star who impressed me the most in this episode was Sacha Dhawan as 'O' who some Doctor Who fans will remember played Waris Hussein in 'An Adventure in Space and Time' the director of the first ever Doctor Who story 'An Unearthly Child'. Dhawan shows off his talents quite marvellously and steals the show every time he's on screen.
The twist at the end where it is revealed he turns out his character 'O' turns out to be the Doctor's arch enemy The Master I didn't see coming and was a nice shock and surprise and created an incredible impact on the cliffhanger to the episode.
The cliffhanger left me wanting more and keen to see how this story will reach its conclusion in Sunday nights episode.
I also liked the little dedication to the Doctor Who legend that is and was Terrance Dicks at the end of the end credits before the next time trailer. It's nice to know that his work and contribution to Doctor Who is still acknowledged and appreciated to this day.
Doctor Who has returned rather triumphantly with one of the most exciting, gripping, and intense openings I have seen in a long time.
Spyfall Part One receives a good 4/5.
