Doctor Who: The Woman Who Fell to Earth.

Oh  - I didn’t do a review of Twice Upon a Time…it wasn’t good.

This is an okay start.

It doesn’t exactly hit the high of The Eleventh Hour, but surprisingly very little of that has to do with Chris Chibnall.

So let’s get the controversy surrounding Jodie Whittiker out of the way early. I did have my apprehensions about this casting decision and the effects it would have on the show’s viewership. I mean it’s a pretty massive risk to cast someone from Yorkshire as the Doctor. Peter Capaldi’s Scottish accent was one thing, but making the Doctor native to a specific region of England was always going to upset some of the fanbase.

Whittiker does pretty well, despite the forces seemingly conspiring against her. Her immediate post-regenerative ramblings appear to be channelling the Tenth Doctor, which makes sense both in the context of the show’s canon and the fact that Whittiker herself is friends with David Tennant.

The supporting cast are all okay; but at this point are in solid generic-sound-board for the Doctor mode.

Moving on to the plot of the episode, it does okay at setting things up but suffers from Chibnall’s inability to pace sci-fi/action. His strengths play to drama (see series one of Broadchurch) however, too much talking between action just kills the pacing.

On a more specific note, Chibnall doesn’t seem to have heard of subverting expectations, as the characters that die in this episode might as well come with a count down clock. Loving Grandmother who’s been absent form most of the set photos and promotional material; yeah she’s not going to make it; a grandfather working hard on a construction site (no doubt a few days from retirement), dead.

On the point of the grandmother, are we ever going to see Ryan vlogging again, because I’m going to take a guess that this is going to be Bill’s imaginary mum all over again.

These things make the episode a bit annoying, but there’s something that comes close to killing it.

Someone was paid to score this episode.

Of all things I was worried about, the music was not something I thought would be irking me. I mean come on; the main action scene of the third act is scored to this border-line placid tune, that carries absolutely no tension what so ever.

The biggest sin in this regard is Whittiker’s ‘Doctor moment.’ The first time she says the words, “I’m the Doctor” there’s barely a pick up in the music. Remember the build up in The Christmas Invasion, as we zoomed into the TARDIS doors to reveal Ten; remember the increase in tempo before Eleven stepped through the hologram of all his past-selves?

When a character as epic as The Doctor announces themself for the first time, the music has got to be there to back them up.

The same goes for killing off Ryan’s nan. She’s falling to her death and the score just kind of chortles on like we’re watching someone arranging paperclips.

The props department has something to answer for with that sonic screwdriver too. Let’s just say that someone from Lovehoney’s development team appears to have got a job at the BBC recently.

Come on; we're all thinking it

Overall, on the story level the episode is okay; if quite predictable. But on a technical level it’s an incomplete puzzle. This is the point at which I should already have the Doctor’s new theme music stuck in my head; I’m still wondering what the theme music is. This might seem nit-picky, but this show is going through a significant shift (to a Doctor from Yorkshire) so this kind of phoned-in performance on the post-production is the last thing that’s needed.