ANDREW'S
DOCTOR WHO REVIEWS 
At last! A Peter Capaldi story that really flies. Indeed, it
sits amongst the very top flight of Doctor Who stories both old and new. It’s
tremendously exciting, scary, funny, sad, opulent and magnificently acted from
each and every person on screen. We finally see what Peter Capaldi can really
do as the Doctor and it is magnificent.
Clara and the Doctor agree to “one last hurrah” – a final
trip in the TARDIS. They arrive on a spaceship in the form of a train modelled
on the Orient Express. On board they discover that one of the passengers, Mrs
Pitt (Janet Henfrey), died recently having seen a Mummy-like creature which
touched her and she died instantly. This is the legendary Foretold (Jamie Hill)
which appears to its intended victim 66 seconds before they die and cannot be
stopped.
Aided by Perkins (Frank Skinner) the Doctor begins to work
out what the Foretold might be and how to stop it – various passengers on the
train get killed as they start to work out what is happening. It then
transpires that the ship’s computer Gus (John Sessions) has deliberately lured
a group of scientists to the train to work out what the Foretold is and how to
capture it. The Doctor works out that the Foretold picks out people who have
some sort of illness or injury. Clara, meanwhile, has befriended Mrs Pitt’s
granddaughter Maisie (Daisy Beaumont) who she works out is likely to be the
next victim of the Foretold.
The Doctor lures Maisie to the bridge and appears to be
happy to let her be the next victim in order to study the Foretold but instead
he tricks her and takes on her trauma so the Foretold appears to him instead.
In his 66 seconds he works out that the Foretold is the remnant of an artificial
soldier who is still trying to carry out its duty. The Doctor persuades it that
the war is over and that it has fulfilled its duty. The Foretold stops, salutes
the Doctor and then disappears into dust.
This is a super Doctor Who story. The Foretold is genuinely
scary, seemingly relentless the 66 seconds idea is a masterstroke because as
soon as you see the Foretold you know it’s about to kill someone. The director
of the story, Paul Wilmshurst, decided to put the countdown on screen which is
a great concept. Then, right at the end, when the Foretold’s true nature is
revealed you feel sympathy for it.
Peter Capaldi is brilliant here, eccentric, funny, clever
and deliciously tough, he tricks Clara, happily disses all the other experts
gathered and shows scant regard for those who are about to die. Then he flips
it all on its head by deliberately making himself the target of the Foretold to
save Maisie and to solve the problem.
After a few stories where the relationship has been
strained, the Doctor and Clara are once more enjoying each other’s company –
and thank the Lord for that. Responding to this, Jenna Coleman gives a super
performance here and is curious, feisty, kindly and eventually comes to realise
that the Doctor is still the man she first met. Plus Jenna looks very good in
the 1920s look!
All of the guest actors do a splendid job, even comedian
Frank Skinner gives a very strong and understated performance. When the Doctor
offers to take him aboard the TARDIS you wish that he would have accepted, even
if it was just for a couple of stories.
This is one of those occasions where everything comes
together to create a piece of TV that you can watch and rewatch and enjoy more
and more. It took a while to come, but finally it feels like Peter Capaldi’s Doctor
has arrived.
NEXT UP: FLATLINE
© Text copyright - Raving Loony
Productions and
Andrew J. Müller,
Roy Barton
and Shaun Runham
© Photos and Artwork - Andrew J. Müller
© Web Design and Layout - Andrew J. Müller
2022
