Series 9 saw Peter Capaldi truly inhabit the role of the Doctor – toning down the anger, ramping up the grumpy comedy – and he thrived on some of the show’s greatest storylines in years.
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“Chris Eccleston had a line in the first episode of new Who: “I can see everything that has ever been and everything that ever will be and it drives me mad”.
Peter Capaldi’s second Doctor Who Christmas special, “The Husbands of River Song”, will air today on BBC1.
I have been looking forward to the Christmas episode of Doctor Who this year as it marked the return of River Song.
The pair run into each other when the Doctor is mistaken for a surgeon – big difference! – and called upon to help River remove the head of her new husband, King Hydroflax (Greg Davies). It was something to watch while waiting for the chemistry between River and The Doctor to return. “The one we did previous year was quite scary”.
But while River’s last appearance on the show was a bit grim, her re-emergence is going to be a fun one. “I love Doctor Who but it can be quite an insular world and I do want to do other things”, he recently told The Telegraph.
Perhaps we’re supposed to forgive these things, and perhaps we should – there’s some joy and development here if we can – the ending finally closing the loop on River is a very welcome development, as after such a grim and dark series of Doctor Who, we should probably just enjoy the light. River Song was born as Melody Pond and regenerated as her current reincarnation after her death. Ten spoke of his future self then – “Why?”
It’s been a tough year for the Doctor, following the recent departure of his companion Clara (Jenna Coleman).
The episode romps along but perhaps becomes a far more interesting beast when the Doctor and River confess their identities to one another. The Doctor plays with River’s inability to recognise him with amused exasperation as the story bowls along, with an emphasis on delivering a series of laugh-out-loud moments. He may be sad, driven to tears even, but he accepts that this is how it shall be.
In a nutshell, though, River is a very important character for the Doctor and her return does beg a special episode.
What is most surprising about those ropey years is that they are all not, as you might assume, lost in the show’s pre-reboot history, when people like Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy hammed it up in the TARDIS.
Carol singers will be criticized! On one hand they have to be an entertaining andfun romp for the kiddies, (it’s later, possibly more depressing slot taken by the likes of Eastenders).
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Although he can travel through time and space, the last place Doctor Who might be expected to materialise is in a hotel room in central Auckland.
