My return to 'Doctor Who'

Christmas this year can be deemed a success. Mum and I expertly handled the preparation of Christmas dinner, and the Goscomb clan were all pleased with their haul of gifts. Yet once Christmas dinner was consumed and the eyelids began to droop, then came the most stressful part of Christmas... what to watch on TV. This year, a massive risk was taken, as I prepared myself to watch the Christmas episode of Doctor Who.

So long, strange Scottish man

I cast my mind back to when I walked into the sitting room and found Mummy dearest settling down to watch the rebooted first series of Doctor Who. I was intrigued, and soon found myself immersed in the adventures of this time travelling alien and his pretty blonde sidekick. Christopher Eccleston was awesome, but David Tennant arrived on the scene and one of my strongest man crushes exploded into life. OMG then it was Matt Smith and I just couldn't since he was great, even though no one gave him a chance after David totally rocked the role.

There's so much fan fiction about this situation, it's terrifying

Yet I soon fell out of love with the show, as the writing brought about some very underwhelming stories and I had a very deep hatred for new companion Clara. My own theories suggest that she had Amy and Rory killed in order to claim the role of companion, which only made the hatred grow deeper. No disrespect for Peter Capaldi or anything; he just appeared at the wrong time.

I took a break from the show, and it was on Christmas Day 2017 that I decided to go back- although that was mostly to see Jodie Whittaker take Peter's place as an icon of British TV. With the role of a female Doctor more divisive a subject than whether The Last Jedi was good or not, I buckled down to watch Peter's last hurrah, and assess whether the writing had improved.

Long way from Broadchurch now Jodie

I came into this with an open mind, hoping to recapture that wonder I once felt. I knew this task would be difficult, as I had no idea what had transpired in the fast paced world of Doctor Who, yet I was willing to give it a go. After all, this show had kept me entertained on numerous Saturday nights over the years; for that I am eternally grateful.

As Peter and David Bradley (who plays The First Doctor, who was once portrayed by William Hartnell) find themselves frozen in time, my Whovian mind began to stir as I realised that this was set during the 1966 episode The Tenth Planet. This was Hartnell's last episode as the Doctor, the first with Patrick Troughton (2nd Doctor) and even the first appearance of the Cybermen. They've changed a bit over the years, but I like to think that the tin foioled versions will always be the superior ones.

Special effects are so overrated

Then a First World War captain (Mark Gatiss) appeared to just complicate the whole matter, plucked from his timeline by glass people from the distant future. Their mission; extract memories from the dying for people to live on in some magical way. 'Testimony', the ones doing the time plucking, aren't actually bad guys- makes a change I suppose, but at least they aren't bad because they've lost a loved one or are just having a small moral crisis. I think I'm on their side since they're historians, and some people would kill for the power to extract memories from any figure in history. All for the good of mankind of course, not for fame and glory...

Right, back to Doctor Who. As I politely nodded my head in silent agreement with the current plot, Peter's companion Bill (Pearl Mackie) turned up much to his surprise. Turns out she's dead... yeh, that's how out of touch I've been with the show. She's actually one of those glass people, but she's still the real Bill, but they aren't bad since they just want to preserve memories. Therefore, there's no evil goings on occurring which is certainly a lovely message for all the kids at Christmas.

She's no Amy Pond though

The return of Bill then spurs on what can be described as my personal highlights of the entire episode; the First Doctor's extremely dated views. In this politically correct mad world, any sort of degradation of gender or sexuality will earn you a one way ticket to the Gulag, so it was actually relieving to have a likeable character poking the beast of what you can/cannot say on TV. With comments such as 'all ladies are made of glass', I chuckled as the Twelfth (Thirteenth if you include John Hurt's War Doctor) Doctor recoiled in shock over the comments of his predecessor. In these brief moments, I tipped my hat to the departing Steven Moffat and his desire to provoke the PC-mad people out there.

David Bradley played this role brilliantly, and was certainly presented as man from a different time. Quips about the remodeling of the TARDIS and his bafflement over his modern incantations' pair of sonic sunglasses. Indeed, his shock at realising that Bill was attracted to members of her own sex certainly did add to the whole aura of this particular Doctor being from a completely different era of history. Would have been funnier if he had opened jhis eyes wide in shock and remarked 'Good lord, you're one of those lesbanims, aren't you?'

He's cool, but he still took part in the Red Wedding...

As the episode drew to a close, Captain Gatiss returned to the crater, opposite his German opponent, with the reveal that he was a Lethbridge-Stewart. Another nod to the older generation of Whovians out there, as it was Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart who had a significant hand in setting up UNIT (United Nations Intelligence Taskforce). UNIT would fight side by side with numerous generations of Doctors, and were certainly a worthy ally to our Timelord friend.

The Captain's life is saved, however, by the fortunate timing of the Christmas Truce in December 1914. For one day, the guns fell silent and both sides came together to celebrate the festive season and reclaim some of their humanity, which had been lost to a war that no one really wanted to fight (insert angry historian comments here about duty and all that). This inclusion of the truce is timely, with the years 2014-2018 being centenary years for the First World War, and all of us remembering the sacrifice given to past generations in ensuring our freedom and place in the world.

What I thought the writers did was brilliant; both Doctors hinted about there being another world war (much to the Captain's shock) and to witness the scene of violence being halted for the good of celebrating Christmas tugs at the heartstrings. Not only do we see the fighting end, but that reminder that there is a Second World War makes you realise that this peace won't last. For one moment in time, goodwill prevailed... now that's a good Christmas message.

Humanity redeemed for a brief moment 

Peter's companions are then paraded out for one last time, as Nardole (Matt Lucas) and Bill comfort the Doctor in his final moments. Clara's there as well, but who cares since she had her time in the sun and can now jolly well stay out of it. In one final speech to the watcher at home, the Twelfth/Thirteenth Doctor reminds us all that 'hate is always foolish, love is always wise' and thus explodes into a ball of regenerative energy. There she is, Jodie Whittaker, standing there in all her Broadchurch glory.

Despite her first words of 'Aw, brillaint!', it does not get off to a brilliant start. The TARDIS erupts into flame (much like the Internet when it turned out that the new Doctor would be a woman) and Jodie is flung to the ground. I can't help but feel that the First Doctor would look on and mutter something about woman drivers. But no matter, the last few regenerations have turned up plenty of sticky situations for the Doctor- I'm sure she'll be fine!

If she can survive Broadchurch, she can be a Time Lord

So thus ended my return to Doctor Who, and it wasn't as painful as I thought it would be. I shall certainly give the new series a go, with a new Doctor and new writer (Chris Chibnall) hopefully injecting some new life into the series. There will certainly be a large number of people out there complaining about a TV icon now being a woman and how this is just a ploy by the BBC to distract everyone from the ongoing issue of gender inequality, but forget those guys. Let's all give Jodie a chance; after all, didn't we all have our doubts about the reboot, or whether Matt Smith could follow the powerhouse performances of David Tennant? Only time, that 'big ball of wibbily wobbily timey wimey... stuff', will tell.

What a man

Ben G 😁 xo

P.S. I hope you enjoyed Christmas. As you can see from the picture below, I certainly did. Take care, my lovelies.

Merry Christmas, comrades