Another winner for the Peter Capaldi regime. No, I can't quite believe it either.
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| "Call me sir!" (Image: BBC) |
'The Caretaker'
is a lot better than Roberts' last undercover-Doctor-story 'Closing Time'. In
that Roberts got a bit carried away with the comedy so that most of the
dramatic scenes with the Cybermen were crammed into the climactic sequence; the
'power of lurve' solution was also really annoying, as it'd been used in just
about every story that year. By contrast, 'The Caretaker' is an extremely well-constructed
and elegant piece of writing. The humour and drama are well balanced and don't
result in a mixed message, as happened in director Paul Murphy's last episode
'The Robot of Sherwood'. There, the fun Errol Flynn-ness of Robin Hood and his
merry men didn't connect with the serious theme of myths being more powerful
than history. Here, everything fits together seamlessly.
Like all the
stories in this series, 'The Caretaker' is hugely entertaining as well as
offering plenty to think about. The Doctor and Clara are now an A1 combination,
perhaps one of the best Doctor/companion combos ever. With great material to
play with, Jenna Coleman shows what an accomplished comedienne she is and Peter
Capaldi reveals a more avuncular but still abrasive side to the Doctor,
handling all Roberts' one-liners with great skill.
What's brilliant
about Doctor Who is that in the space of one scene, the tone can switch
from sprightly humour to thought-provoking seriousness. Danny Pink's past as a
soldier comes into sharp focus when he calls the Doctor an 'officer' and, from
his past military experience, he recognises how dangerous the Time Lord can be.
Predictably, they don't get on, but it's not that simple – perhaps from his
spat about rank with Danny, the Doctor gets the idea for defeating the Skovoz
Blitzer, convincing the war machine he's its commander so he can order it to
shut down. It's understated, but in defeating the robot with words, not
violence, he's making a point to Danny. That's how great Doctor Who is
this year. And how good is Samuel Anderson?
Continuing the
theme of words, it's great to see more literary references in the series and
they're both there for a reason. Pride and Prejudice's Mr Darcy lets his
pride get in the way of good judgement and the Doctor isn't above making
incorrect assumptions about people either, the intellectual time traveller dismissing
Danny as 'PE'. The Tempest, featuring Prospero, a wizard in charge of
his own world who has an attentive daughter called Miranda, are an obvious and
telling parallel with the Doctor and Clara. The series is also referencing
itself, with Adrian (Edward Harrison) bow tied and coiffured to resemble the
Eleventh Doctor. When Clara says 'He's just a friend and not my type', the look
the Doctor gives her - having previously glowed when he assumed Adrian was
Clara's boyfriend - is really funny.
Ah, and Missy is
back. My theory is that she's the Master (Missy = Mistress, the feminine of
Master). But coming back from the afterlife? That's bold territory for Doctor
Who to explore.
My only
criticism is that Roberts expects the audience to already know why the Skovoz
Blitzer is interested in Coal Hill School. The reference to 'artron energy' is
very throwaway, and if you were a newbie you'd be unaware of a backstory that
goes all the way back to the very first episode 'An Unearthly Child', as well as
the 1980s stories 'Attack of the Cybermen' and 'Remembrance of the Daleks'.
And there were
no Harold Pinter jokes. Then again, I guess you can't have everything. 99% will
have to do.
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