Doctor Who Series 11 Episode 1 - The Woman Who Fell To Earth - Review

Starring: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill & Sharon D. Clarke

Written By: Chris Chibnall

Directed By: Jamie Childs

Already we've got plenty to talk about before we even get to the episode itself. It's been sixteen months since Jodie Whittaker was announced as the new Doctor, and ten months since Peter Capaldi and the previous production team departed the show. There's been a lot of waiting, hype and secrecy surrounding Series 11, and public interest in the show hasn't been this high for quite some time. It also feels like an age since 'Doctor Who' felt this fresh - there's an awful lot of "new" elements to Series 11, and that's exactly the right direction to take. There's a lot riding on 'The Woman Who Fell To Earth' and it has a lot to prove. No pressure then...

In Sheffield, the lives of Yasmin Khan, Ryan Sinclair, and Graham and Grace O'Brien, are about to be changed forever as a mysterious woman falls from the sky. Flung from her TARDIS, the Doctor finds herself crashed on Earth, unable to remember her own name. But there's little time for the Doctor to recover, as she soon discovers that she isn't the only alien present in the city. A dangerous alien stalks the night-time streets of Sheffield, and the Doctor will need the help of her new friends to put a stop to it.

For months, I've been looking forward to seeing Jodie Whittaker's first full episode as the Doctor, and getting to see her make the role her own. Her enthusiasm for the role, not to mention the sheer joy she exudes when promoting the series had my full confidence that she'd be an incredible Doctor (even though a loud minority would've told you otherwise). So was my confidence well-placed? Absolutely. The new Doctor literally crashes into everyone's lives, and is up on her feet straight away, taking control of the situation. I can't help but smile when the theme tune kicks in in the background, and the Doctor grabs the cable to shock that ball of tentacles. In just over an hour, Whittaker's portrayal of the Doctor never stops short of being brilliant. She's incredibly fun, energetic and likeable in the role, and of all the Doctor's incarnations, the 13th is probably the one you'd want most as a friend. Thirteen has a wide-eyed love of life, and an adorable innocence about her, while still being able to hold her own in a confrontation - it's not an easy job balancing those last two but the performance remains utterly believable. There are plenty of moments where I was thinking in my head "That's the Doctor" - when making her new sonic screwdriver, when confronting Tzim-Sha; or especially towards the end of the episode where she begins to click into place, finally remembering her name, and again when she steps out from behind the curtain in her new outfit (and what a lovely touch that she buys it from a charity shop).

With the new Doctor comes new companions, and this time we have a fair number of them. The first we're introduced to is Tosin Cole as Ryan. Besides the Doctor, this is Ryan's story more than anyone else's, and through opening and closing the episode with him addressing the camera (via YouTube), we're put directly in his shoes. Though it isn't his defining trait, it's made clear that Ryan has dyspraxia … a condition that I wasn't even aware of before this episode went out. Its great to think that the show can still teach me new things after watching it for years now, and I've already seen plenty of people who also have dyspraxia say how nice it is to see it represented. Chris Chibnall does a pretty good job handling it too - though important, its things such as Ryan's relationship with his gran and Graham, his relationship with his absent dad, his unrewarding job as a warehouse worker, training to become a mechanic etc. that define him. We also have Mandip Gill as Yaz, a character with some fair potential. Yaz feels the least developed of everyone we're introduced to here, mainly because Ryan, Graham and Grace are all a family unit, making her the outsider. However, to compensate she has probably the clearest trajectory and room for character growth. You can see Chibnall setting up these characters to develop over the course of the series, and he does a good job setting them up. 

One of the new companions appears to have gone down an absolute storm, and almost everyone seems to agree that that's Bradley Walsh as Graham. I remember when Walsh was announced as a new companion about a year ago, and everyone immediately dismissing him as a rubbish choice. Clearly no-one seemed to remember him in shows such as 'Law & Order: UK' (another show Chibnall has worked on), because if they did they would remember that he is a terrific actor. Seeing his work on 'Law & Order: UK' meant my money was on Graham to be the best of our new companions, and I can say with full smugness that it was money well-placed. Graham is just effortlessly likeable, always the least adventurous in the room but with a warm, cheeky and funny personality too. He's the most fun of the group, and it's the kind of character Bradley Walsh was just born to play. (Skip ahead to the next paragraph now to avoid spoilers!) When the episode demands it near the end, he can really pull on the heartstrings too, giving a deeply emotional performance once we lose Grace. Speaking of Grace, Sharon D. Clarke leaves a lasting impression in the role. Grace has companion material written all over her, and I would've gladly welcomed a series of her, Graham and the Doctor in the TARDIS. Adding a fourth companion would probably have been a step too far though, and sadly we literally have to say goodbye to Grace. Clarke's warm performance and Grace's sweet relationship with Graham make her death an absolute gut-punch, and she certainly won't be forgotten about any time soon. 

So what is it that all these characters have in common? Well it's that for the first time in what feels like ages, 'Doctor Who' isn't neglecting to actually give us companions with fully-fleshed out characters. Neither Amy or Clara had much in the way of actual character, and while the same can't be said of Bill, Chibnall puts an even greater focus on character. Ryan, the young man overcoming dyspraxia and studying for his NVQ, Yaz, the police officer looking to deal with more than just parking offences, Graham, the bus driver in remission from having cancer, and Grace, the chemotherapy nurse with her WhatsApp nurses' group chat - 'Doctor Who' hasn't felt this character-driven in years. It's not even exclusive to the companions either, little touches such as showing Karl listening to self-confidence audiobooks, learning that the security guard is a granddad before he meets his untimely fate, or even the drunk man throwing kebab salad at a dangerous alien he calls "'Alloween" (the real hero of the story here), go a long way. For winning a dwindling audience back and restoring good faith in the show again, it's clearly worked, and I imagine Series 11 will continue much in the same direction. 

It also seems to get said with every new series, but this time there's good reason to point out that 'Doctor Who' has never looked better. Before I'd have probably said that Series 9, while far from being the best overall series, was at least the best-looking series, and while the Capaldi era looked very good on the whole, Series 11 can stand head and shoulders with the production done on other current popular shows. 'Doctor Who' doesn't look as out of place now when next to shows like 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D', 'The Walking Dead', 'Westworld', the Arrow-verse or plenty of popular Netflix dramas. The new lenses and aspect ratio used give the show a cinematic flair, helped enormously by the great work of director Jamie Childs. Sheffield looks wonderful, especially when set against a fresh music score from new composer Segun Akinola. Not as bombastic as Murray Gold, while Akinola's score doesn't have much that immediately grabs you, and we're yet to see a new 'Vale Decem' or 'Shepherd's Boy', we are still only one episode in. The music does a fantastic job underpinning different scenes without getting in the way and becoming overpowering. 

'The Woman Who Fell To Earth' does everything that a premiere should, and rarely puts a foot wrong in what it sets out to achieve. However, it does have the same issue that a lot of new Doctor opening episodes do - sacrificing plot. I'm reluctant to have a go at the episode for this, because quite rightly its priority is introducing the new Doctor. 'The Eleventh Hour' has the same issue - although it's widely regarded as a great debut for the 11th Doctor, Prisoner Zero and the Atraxi aren't exactly the stars of the show are they? A similar kind of thing can be said about Tzim-Sha - he has a basic motivation and that makes him a decent opening villain. His design is probably the best thing about him - the deep voice, the black metallic armour with icy cold gas pouring off him, and of course the face of human teeth. Freezing people's faces, breaking off one of their teeth and then wearing it like a trophy, is a pretty nasty idea, and Samuel Oatley has brilliant screen presence in the role. The other "semi-villain" we have when the characters are on the train - the floating ball of wires - isn't nearly as impressive. It ends up being a little pointless in all honesty. I can sympathize with and understand why Chibnall went thin on plot for the opener, and I don't want to criticize too much, but hopefully next week he can marry plot and character together a little more.

So is this new era of 'Doctor Who' off to a flying start? Without doubt. Even though she had the support of the majority, it was still up to Jodie Whittaker to prove that she had what it takes to be the Doctor, and she most definitely does. She's just vibrant, bursting with life and energy, and a massive breath of fresh air. Joined on her way by a roster of promising new companions, the makings of a fantastic TARDIS team have been firmly established. Despite the continual lack of approval with him, even though I personally have enjoyed the majority of his work, Chris Chibnall is thus far looking promising as the new showrunner. He seems to understand what the show needed to win back the general audience, which is who the show needed to appeal to again, and he doesn't just cater to us hardcore fans. 'The Woman Who Fell To Earth' revisits the show's roots and, paradoxically, forces the show to stop obsessing over itself and become more forward-thinking again. 'Doctor Who' is character-driven once more, and we're heading in a promising direction again. 

The Woman Who Fell To Earth

8/10