It's three out of three for team Capaldi, as Mark Gatiss delivers his best script for the series.
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| Maid Clara and Sir Robin of Hood. (Image: Mirrorpix) |
The moment I saw Tom Riley's roguish wink at the Doctor and the audience just before the opening titles, I knew 'Robot of Sherwood' was going to be brilliant.
Mark Gatiss is REALLY
back on form; the man is back who wrote the brilliant 'The Unquiet Dead' and Crooked
House, rather than the disappointing 'Victory of the Daleks' and 'Night
Terrors'. 'Robot of Sherwood' is terrific, not wasting a single second of its
running time to entertain and offer a thought provoking fable on how myths can
be more powerful than real historical figures. My only real gripe is the
climactic golden arrow fired into the robots' spacecraft, which does stretch
credibility rather. Even then, you can forgive it as it fitted with the overall
spirit of innocent and optimistic heroics.
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| Errol Flynn: the sword of Sherwood Forest. (Image: Kobal Collection) |
Tom Riley
certainly knows his Errol Flynn: hands firmly planted on hips, arching his back
and laughing heartily, his Robin Hood is cast from the same mould as the man
who flourished a sword and swung from chandeliers through The Adventures of
Robin Hood (1938) – the two actors even look similar. The style of Flynn's
cinematic adventure also informs the look of 'Robot', as this Sherwood is a
place of verdant technicolour and cheering peasants. Impressively, Gatiss'
script also has an emotional maturity and gentle self-awareness, as the ever
improving Clara realises that Robin is unhappy because he laughs too much, and
the point is made throughout that the Doctor is just as mythical a character as
the hooded man.
Capaldi's Doctor
continues to be a joy to watch. It's a delight to see him duel with a spoon,
talk himself out of a dungeon and improvise weapons to defeat robots, as well
as being human enough to use an arrow with a crafty guidance system to beat
Robin in the archery contest. Ben Miller's Sheriff of Nottingham is faultless,
too: witty, but taking the part seriously and accidentally providing an
exemplary audition for the new Master. I'd also single out for praise some of
the stylish dialogue that sparkled from start to finish, but there was so much
that, happily, I just can't.
So where was
Missy this week? Just as we start looking forward to her popping up, the
writers surprise us and she doesn't appear at all. Instead, we have the
emerging theme of another spacecraft crewed by robots looking for the 'promised
land'... fascinating. Clearly, we've come a long way from how obvious
references to the Bad Wolf and Torchwood were crowbarred into the scripts.
Another interesting, understated element is the Doctor's mathematical
scribblings on the TARDIS blackboard. I wonder if he's trying to work out where
Gallifrey is?
On a more
serious note, it beggars belief that some 'fans' complained when the BBC,
acting as a sensitive and responsible public broadcaster, deleted one small
scene that would have been in poor taste considering the recent, appalling
beheadings of western journalists by the Islamic State. These are the same
unhappy people who'll moan that 'Robot of Sherwood' is a rip-off of 'The Time
Warrior', think that another spaceship full of robots betrays a lack of ideas
and completely miss how playful and sophisticated Gattis' best script for the
programme is. These people shouldn't be watching Doctor Who in the first
place.
Anyway. My heart
soared watching 'Robot of Sherwood'. Without a doubt, Doctor Who is the
best thing on British television again. Capaldi's third story is funny,
dramatic, intelligent, incredibly well made by director Paul Murphy – more from
him, please – and overflowing with clever literary and cultural references,
from Karl Marx to Robert Holmes. In short, it's back to what I signed on for
all those years ago. Put 1978's 'The Ribos Operation' on after 'Robot of
Sherwood', as I did, and you can't see the aesthetic join.
There's now a
consistent, high standard the series is yet to drop below, making it three out
of three for team Capaldi so far and, in terms of 21st century Doctor Who,
the best run of stories since 'Partners in Crime', 'The Fires of Pompeii' and
'Planet of the Ood.' Going even further back, I'd say it's the best hat trick
since 'Destiny of the Daleks', 'City of Death' and 'The Creature from the Pit'.
'History is a
burden.... Stories make us fly.' So, so true.
I nearly shed a
happy tear.
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