Stylish, intelligent and literate, Capaldi's eighth story is one of his best so far.
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| Start the clock. (Image: BBC) |
Rip-off or
homage? That depends what Doctor Who stories we're talking about. For
the ones everybody likes that borrow excessively from other fictional sources,
such as 'Planet of Evil', 'The Brain of Morbius', 'The Talons of Weng-Chiang'
and 'The Unicorn and the Wasp' – it's homage; for the ones people don't
like – 'The Invisible Enemy', 'The Androids of Tara', 'Fear Her', 'The Lazarus
Experiment' – it's rip-off.
I've got no
objection to Doctor Who – or anything else – doing this if it results in
something new, interesting and entertaining. There's no denying that the
starting point for 'Mummy on the Orient Express' is the old Peter Cushing,
Christopher Lee and Telly Savalas-starring chiller Horror Express (1972).
That featured an extra-terrestrial creature, buried in prehistory, coming back
to life during a train journey and slowly wiping out the crew and passengers.
Boy, did new
writer Jamie Mathieson and director Paul Wilmshurst come up with the new,
interesting and entertaining goods. Despite the thumpingly literal title, this
was a story full of wonderful dialogue, well-defined characters, surprising
twists in the plot – the decompression of the kitchen carriage to force the
Doctor to stop talking to Clara was especially effective – and gripping
jeopardy. In short, this story was the complete opposite of last week's.
At its best, Doctor
Who has always made its fictional worlds believably real. Classic series
writer Robert Holmes used to do it with the detail and colour in the lines for
his characters, and Mathieson has clearly learned from the master. A whole
future Earth civilization was sketched in via conversations with Maisie, Perkins,
Captain Quell and Professor Moorhouse. And it was memorable dialogue, too – a
real joy to listen to. Apart from 'Midnight' (2009), I can't remember a modern Doctor
Who story that's had so much for its actors to say.
What I also
loved about this story was that the Doctor could only get the information to
beat the mummy, 'the Foretold', through people dying as the creature attacked
them. That steadily ratcheted up the tension – the killing sequences where the
seconds counted to zero were a stylish, heart-in-mouth touch – and exposed the
Doctor's callous side as Perkins (Frank Skinner, playing himself very well)
pointed out. It was also great to see the Time Lord working out the
nature of the Foretold from the clues he gathered. Last year, the Doctor would
have just glanced at the sonic screwdriver, neatly undercutting the suspense,
any need for ingenuity on the writer's part and shortening the episode by two
minutes.
The terrific
cast were all on side with the idea of 'the 1920s in space'. The production was
like a 1960s or 1970s story, as character actors rather than big names (apart
from Skinner, and John Sessions as the unctuous computer Gus) were cast, with
versatile performers such as David Bamber, Christopher Villiers and Daisy
Beaumont rising to the occasion so well, that you cared what happened to each
and every one of them. No small feat in just under forty-five minutes.
People will moan
about Clara's about-face to travelling with the Doctor but I think her change
of heart is realistic: we've all been in relationships with the wrong person
and wanted to end it, then talked ourselves into giving it another go. The
scenes on the beach and in the TARDIS at
the end between the two old friends were subtly and sensitively directed,
emphasising just how good Capaldi and Coleman are together.
How this all
pans out will depend on whether or not the Doctor's 'cover story' about
rescuing everyone from the Orient Express is true or not – Clara and
Perkins were both unconscious so he could
just have saved them... after what
happened to the Half-Face Man, nothing's certain. Clara's comment about the
Doctor being addicted to time travel is especially illuminating, as I'm
starting to think it isn't the Time Lord who's got a problem. Tantalisingly, there
were other unanswered questions: the Foretold was another 'soldier' (tying in
with one of this year's running themes) and just who got all those experts
together to study it? My money's on a certain Mary Poppins lookalike.
Next to 'Deep
Breath', 'Mummy on the Orient Express' is my favourite Capaldi story so far.
It's positive proof that the standard of script writing on this series – though
it might wobble from time to time – is still a quantum leap on in quality from
last year. Mathieson is a real find and I'm really looking forward to
'Flatline' next week, which looks like a particularly psychedelic adventure in
the style of Sapphire and Steel (1979-82).
And finally,
having the pop singer Foxes on board the Orient Express crooning her way
through Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now' would, in my day, have been like having
Kate Bush (ask your mum) pop up in 1979's 'City of Death' singing 'Can't Buy Me
Love'.
It's good to see
that Doctor Who can still get down with The Kids.
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