Doctor Who
ABC 1, Sunday, 4.50am and 7.30pm.
MUCH-loved sci-fi program Doctor Who returns to our screens this weekend with a new doctor.
Just over a year after he was announced as the replacement for the popular Matt Smith (the youngest Doctor ever), Scottish actor Peter Capaldi finally takes over the keys to the Tardis.
And guess what? It looks like those keys are in safe hands.
Directed by the acclaimed (and maybe new main man of British art-house cinema) Ben Wheatley (Sightseers, A Field in England) and written by Doctor Who executive producer Steven Moffatt, the first episode Deep Breath has something of a cinematic quality about it.
Not that it won’t be great on the small screen but it is visually breath-taking with Wheatley (who will also direct the second episode) bringing something a little special to the screen.
The opening scenes in Victorian London are fun and on a grand scale.
Wheatley is currently in Northern Ireland working on bringing JG Ballard’s sci-fi classic High Rise with Tom Hiddleston (Thor) to the big screen and after seeing Who I’m ridiculously excited about that project.
There is something traditionally Who and yet intrinsically different about this episode compared to recent Matt Smith sagas.
Jenna Coleman (companion Clara) told Australian media at last week’s special screening that Moffat had slowed the tempo down a little this year and brought in more scenes with extended dialogue.
That’s not to say that this episode doesn’t move along nicely – there is still only 98 minutes to introduce a new Doctor, save the world and shock the viewers a couple of times.
But there is much more character development and we finally see Clara come into her own after being relegated a little to “love interest” to Smith’s 11th Doctor’s tenure.
Capaldi (The Thick of It, Local Hero) brings us a 12th Doctor who is still struggling to find out who he is and where he fits in the universe.
And while there are dark moments and moments where you genuinely sit there and go “Oh My God did he just do that” the 56-year-old Scotsman also brings his own sense of very impressive comic timing because. despite all the action, drama and adventure, this is also laugh-out-loud funny.
Smith’s physical comedy is replaced by Capaldi’s dry wit and it works really well as he delivers the lines written by fellow Scot Moffatt.
Add a support cast which includes the popular Paternoster Gang, Madame Vastra (fellow Paisley-born actress Neve McIntosh), Jenny Flint (Catrin Stewart) and Strax (Dan Starkey) from the previous season and this ends up being a lot of fun with suspense galore.
And, of course, the nice thing about introducing a new Doctor is you don’t have to be a big fan who has watched forever – this is a chance to jump in and enjoy even if you’ve never watched the show before.
We all start again when the Doctor changes and as much as I loved Smith, if this is a taste of the Capaldi era then I say “bring it on!”
– TANIA PHILLIPS
