ANDREW'S
DOCTOR WHO REVIEWS 
This story kicked off the second half of this series and is
a rollicking action-adventure type of story very much set in the 21st
Century of internet and apps which gives it a modern feel. It feels a bit like
one of Russell T. Davies’ stories, using London landmarks and the fast pace
that you see a lot in the Eccleston and Tenant years. It’s a good launch for
the last stretch of the 11th Doctor.
The Doctor is, once again, being a hermit – this time in a
13th Century monastery. One day the phone on the TARDIS rings and he
answers it – it is a woman (Clara) who is asking for his help thinking this is
an IT phone line having been given the number by ‘the woman in the shop’. The
Doctor suddenly realises that it is Clara on the line and heads off to find
her.
When he arrives Clara’s mind is being uploaded to the wi-fi
because she has clicked a link on her computer, the Doctor stops this from
happening and they track the uploaders to the Shard in South London. The Doctor
encounters Miss Kizlet (Celia Imrie) who is controlling the whole upload
situation, although she is working for someone else. The Doctor demands that
the thousands of people uploaded are released, but when Miss Kizlet refuses the
Doctor uploads her instead. The only way she can then escape is to release
everyone uploaded.
The Doctor takes Clara back to her house and asks her to
travel with him, she says to come back again the next day. Miss Kizlet reports
to her employer – the Great Intelligence now occupying the body of Dr Simeon
(Richard E. Grant) – and tells of her failure. He orders all those involved to
be reset – i.e. to have their memories wiped and decides to pursue the Doctor
to have his revenge.
There’s a lot to like here. Celia Imrie – as you would
expect – is perfect casting as Miss Kizlet and you wonder firstly how it’s
taken so long to get her in the programme and simultaneously wish you could see
more. The fact that the whole thing turns out to be a plot of the Great
Intelligence is super, and you know there’s going to be a full scale reckoning
sometime soon.
The scene of the Doctor driving a bike up the side of the
Shard is silly and exhilarating at the same time and is very unusually
action-packed for Matt Smith’s Doctor. We finally get to meet a version of
Clara that doesn’t die and the mystery deepens.
My memory of this story was that it was a bit so-so but
rewatching now it’s much more enjoyable than I remembered, a pleasant surprise
and a good little tale.
NEXT UP: THE RINGS OF AKHATEN
© Text copyright - Raving Loony
Productions and
Andrew J. Müller,
Roy Barton
and Shaun Runham
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2022
