ANDREW'S
DOCTOR WHO REVIEWS 
I can’t think of many other actors who could have pulled
this off. Peter Capaldi is virtually alone through the whole 54 minutes of this
story, no one else speaks. It’s a tour de force of acting skill, with an
increasing sense of frustration, darkness and desperation building up to a very
unexpected climax.
The Doctor finds himself teleported into a glass chamber
within a castle tower which stands in the middle of the sea. He is pursued by a
cloaked figure who moves very slowly and relentlessly pursues the Doctor. The
Doctor finds weird clues as to what is going on; clothes – his clothes – drying
by a fire, a skull connected to the transportation chamber which keeps dropping
into the sea, the word ‘bird’ written in dust. Everything seems to push him to
Room 12.
Once inside Room 12 the Doctor discovers a wall of Azbantium
– a substance stronger than diamond. He decides the TARDIS must be behind the
wall and that the ‘bird’ refers to a fable about a bird which chips down a
mountain bit by bit which represents a second of eternity. The Doctor then
realises that he has been here for at least 7000 years and that the skull is
his own and that he is going through the same routine over and over and over
again. Whilst he is in despair the hooded figure reaches him and mortally
wounds him.
He drags himself to the teleport chamber, writes ‘bird’ in
the dust and then burns his body as a catalyst knowing that a new version of
himself will then appear in the teleportation chamber to start the cycle again.
After many many more cycles the Doctor breaks through the
Azbantium wall and discovers he is outside the Capitol on Gallifrey, and that
the castle was inside his confession dial. He warns a young boy who is passing
that he knows what the Time Lords have done and he is on his way.
There is a typical Steven Moffat complicated story here with
timey wimey elements that end up making sense but make you slightly dizzy
whilst you’re working it out. It is directed very well, making the most of the
claustrophobic setting of the weird castle tower. The repetitions throughout
help to build up a sense of foreboding and as the Doctor gets angrier and
angrier and breaks through the wall you know something is coming.
The fact that he emerges on Gallifrey is a real surprise, a
twist that leads us straight into the next story.
In the end, this story lives or dies on the very brave
decision to – essentially – have only one actor – Peter Capaldi – in the entire
story. Yes, there is a mysterious hooded figure who follows him around, but the
only speaking role is Capaldi and it’s a measure of the faith of the production
team that he is given a story completely to himself. If anyone doubted his
acting ability by this point (and I can’t imagine why they might do that), here
he is magnificent. We all know he can do angry and he gets angrier here than
we’ve ever seen, but the despair and creeping sense of madness that he portrays
as he begins to realise the situation is brilliant indeed.
Like Face the Raven before it, Heaven Sent is not exactly
fun to watch; there are a few little bits of humour that sneak in, but
essentially we are in dark and moody territory once more. Whatever, though, you
can’t help but be impressed by this story and by Capaldi in particular.
NEXT UP: HELL BENT
© Text copyright - Raving Loony
Productions and
Andrew J. Müller,
Roy Barton
and Shaun Runham
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2022
