As the year draws to a close let’s wrap up by going over the current Doctor played by Ncuti Gatwa, now I’m not really gonna give my verdict on how I feel about the Fifteenth Doctor cos traditionally I save that for the end of a Doctor’s second series, by which point their personas fully crstalise and they’ve had enough stories for me to reach a verdict. But so far I do love Ncuti’s energy and charisma, he is very into this role and you can tell. I’m not really a fan of Russel’s desicion to make his outfits very normal, I’m fine with a Doctor changing his look every episode, I’m just not a fan of the Doctor wearing…clothes! Like in one episode he just wears an orange t shirt! His main outfit looks great, we’d all rather he stuck with that. As for the episodes so far, I can’t sit here and say I’ve disliked his era so far when half the episodes in his first series I actually enjoyed. But the issues are more to do with the fact that Russel clearly hasn’t evolved as a writer in the decade plus he was away from Doctor Who, practically everything he’s done in his return so far we’ve already seen from his first run of the show and the format of Modern Who still feels the same as it did back in 2005; companions from the present day, a heavy focus on present day Earth, big-all universe ending finale based on a recurring mcguffin brought up randomly throughout the series, mass destruction of present day Earth that in no way will be talked about ever again, and then companion says goodbye cos Modern Who really seems to have a hard time keeping people around for more than one series. Not to mention almost all the episodes so far have been written by him, with only two written by a returning Steven Moffat and one episode written by a new writer, that’s not accaptable! Doctor Who has a massive fanbase with people who’ve now grown up along with Modern Who and have gotten jobs in television or writing, and one thing Doctor Who desperately needs more than ever is new blood. But until then and until that next series airs, let’s look over some of Ncuti’s highlights so far.
The Church on Ruby Road - I’m just saying this now, I’m not a fan of the Christmas Specials, they have almost no substance to them, they seem to coast on the fact that it’s Christmas so it’s likely to get a very good number in the viewing figures so why bother doing anything that creative. I honestly supported Chibnall ditching them for his era, I’d rather they were gone for good, or at least try in future to do something meaningful with them, or something maybe less jolly like a Chimes of Midinght or Death in Blackpool, there’s a couple great Short Trips books that have Christmas as the theme which would make for some great episodes. So the fact that this is one of the better Christmas Specials really does say a lot from my perspective, most of that does come down to Ncuti in his first proper story as the Doctor, the first time since Eccleston we’ve had a Doctor start their era some time after regenerating. He does have this very infectious energy to him and I like the timey wimey angle of showing how much value a single life can have.
The Devil’s Chord - Probably the most divisive episode of the era so far, but I felt this had some very striking visuals and it’s a fun idea having the Doctor battle this malevolent entity who can control music. Lots of people really hate the musical number at the end and yeah it is stupid, but I honestly didn’t mind, I mean Doctor Who is big and old enough that if they wanted to do a musical by all means. Trouble is it wasn’t really a musical at all, it was just one song at the end, if you’re gonna do Doctor Who as a musical, I say go all out with it! Do something like Doctor Who and the Pirates!
Boom - This is the best episode of the Fifteenth Doctor so far, in fact when it’s all said and done I’d be very surprised if it wasn’t still in his top 5. Steven Moffat’s first written works for the show since 2017 and his first without the added baggage of being a showrunner since 2008 and boy can you tell the difference. Ncuti turns in his strongest performance as the Doctor in a very intense portrayal that sometimes felt like this was an episode Moffat had in mind for Capaldi. It’s a very welcome return for Moffat after so many years.
73 Yards - We have two of the best back to back episodes of the show in years as Russel turns in his experimental and horror story of the season and why he’s not doing this more often just baffles me. He’s got a natural talent for horror and the supernatural, though this isn’t horror as in a scary monster but more in creating this uncomfortable and inescapable nightmare for our companion as she’s forced to live out her life being haunted by an entity from 73 yards away that drives off everyone she cares about. If echoes an episode of the Sarah Jane Adventures called The Curse of Clyde Langer but this one has a lot more uncomfortable moments such as Ruby being disowned by her adoptive mother and she can’t rely on anyone to help her. Millie Gibson is absolutely stunning in this episode and I hope she gets bigger acting roles beyond Doctor Who going forward
Dot and Bubble - After two banger episodes I fully expected this to be a revert to average episode and while it’s not as strong as it’s predecessor I was surprised at how much I got into this one, I loved the worldbuilding they did in this, there’s some great commentary about people who literally spend too much time in their own bubble that they struggle to function in the outside world. And it has a powerful ending, I knew at some point Russel would write something that tackled the Doctor’s change in skin colour and the potential issues that may arise from that, but I wasn’t expecting it to be in an episode in the future. Given how the ending was the first scene Ncuti filmed as the Doctor, it’s honestly my favoruite scene from him so far.
Rogue - Hey look! An episode not written by the showrunner/former showrunner! I know, rare aren’t they! Seriously, do you realise the last episode we had didn’t have Russel, Moffat or Chibnall’s names on the writing credits (co-written included) was Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror! Which was an episode from January 2020!!! New blood Modern Who! Get some already! Rogue is a fun period drame setting with some added aliens and a charismatic bounty hunter who forms a romance with the Doctor, poor Yaz,she spends three seasons getting unrequited love from the Doctor and meanwhile Rogue gets a kiss and a bouquet in under an hour! The highlight of the episode being the Doctor showing all his past faces (not the best idea for dealing with a guy hunting a race of shape shifters!) and one of those faces is the Shalka Doctor Richard E Grant. Again, Doctor Who is vast and old enough that I’m fine with them throwing a bone every so often to the expanded universe audience, it’s something the books and Big Finish do all the time anyway. I mean if they really wanted to mess with the audience they should’ve thrown in the Curse of Fatal Death Doctors, that would’ve really made some heads explode!
Joy to the World - Again I’m not a big fan of the Christmas specials and I was dreading this one going in, I’ve watched eight specials written by Steven Moffat! I had every reason to be cynnical going in, I remember hearing his name being announced as the writer and thinking “Moffat, we’ve all missed you and it’s great having you back in the show again, ffs don’t make me change my mind!”. So when I watched this it was mostly better than I expected, again I think having no extra baggage as showrunner played a role and there’s a lot I actually loved about this, the time hotel concept, the bootstrap paradox element, the Doctor taking the long way round by working in this ordinary hotel and the friendship he forms with Anita. In fact their friendship is so strong that the titular Joy gets kind of forgotten about. There is another great scene where the Doctor goads her into her emotional breaking point and she reveals that she lost her mum on Christmas back in 2020 when we were being kept from our loved ones, many of which passed away and we weren’t allowed to say goodbye, all while our government were partying and having a good laugh. It’s something a lot of people can sadly relate to. But then we get to the ending and man does this ending kill the story! After being mostly restrained throughout the story, Moffat in the last hurdle dials the whimsy and fairytale logic up to eleven to the point where I nearly threw up in my mouth! So it’s actually quite good up until the ending and again, I came away from this feeling that Russel seriously needs to get some new people writing for the show, cos I guarantee you this show doesn’t have long left if it’s just one man keeping all the writing and creativity to himself.
So those were my picks for the Fifteenth Doctor, by next year I’ll have properly made my mind up on how I feel about him, but there is a lot I enjoy about him so far. If anything he’s more likely to be filed by Russel’s rapidly growing stale creative direction for the show, this is not a good sign when the show is still doing the same stuff from 2005!