Doctor Who Series 12 Episode 1 - Spyfall Part 1 - Review

Starring: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill, Sacha Dhawan & Lenny Henry

Written By: Chris Chibnall

Directed By: Jamie Magnus Stone

365 days on from 'Resolution', 'Doctor Who' is back on the very first day of a new decade with 'Spyfall' and … good god, that's an awful title isn't it? Plenty of people, me included, are excited to see the Doctor back on TV once again although I am surprised at how many people have been treating the wait like another hiatus. I mean it's been exactly a year since the last story - a one year wait between series is pretty standard I felt. Still the excitement is the main thing, and it looks like that's what we're in store for as Series 12 opens with a globetrotting two-part spy epic... 

After a string of spy agents from around the world are killed, MI6 calls in the Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz, where the Doctor confirms their suspicions that the agents were murdered by something strictly not human. The team split up with Ryan and Yaz investigating their only lead, Daniel Barton, the creator and CEO of VOR: one of the largest media and search engine companies in the world. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Graham travel to the Australian outback to find former agent, O, whose knowledge of extra-terrestrial sightings may yield useful information. Together the team uncover a deadly alien threat, not just to Earth but the entire universe. 

The marketing for this story was really keen on pushing the fact that this is a James Bond style spy-thriller. If the promotional images of the regular four in tuxedos and bow-ties wasn't enough, the episode's called Spyfall. I know I've already said how rubbish a title that is, but seriously it's not a good pun and never justifies itself either. A nitpick I know, but … it's just no good. But getting back to the point, this is the kind of thing that the show likes do every now and then: it'll take either a well-known franchise or genre and emulate it for an episode. 'A Town Called Mercy' did it with the Western, 'Sleep No More' did it with the found-footage film, and now we have 'Spyfall'. 

'Doctor Who' doing its own take on something like James Bond is a neat idea, so it's a shame that it never really commits to it beyond a few really good isolated moments. Ryan and Yaz get to do a little actual spy work on their own, and the group break out the formal wear to infiltrate Barton's party. Segun Akinola's accompanying Bond-esque score is terrific and there's a nice homage at the party to films like 'Casino Royale' (the SNAP gag got a big laugh from me). However the rest of the time, 'Spyfall' feels less like a spy-thriller and more like a general 'Doctor Who' story. For example, a big chunk of the episode is set in O's house in the Australian outback, and despite the lovely setting it's pure 'Doctor Who' and has nothing to do with the spy genre. And as nice as it is to see Stephen Fry finally appear in the show (albeit more briefly than I was expecting), and while he is reliably great, the set-up at MI6 for the rest of the episode feels a bit flat. Even the tooling up with the spy gadgets scene feels limp. 

But let's talk about something I did like - the villains. We have two kinds of baddie to contend with, the first of which is Barton. Alongside Stephen Fry, Lenny Henry was the other big star name of this episode and he is really good as Barton. Although he's best known as a comedian in the UK (and for the Premier Inn adverts if we're being honest), with this and the third series of 'Broadchurch', I'm beginning more and more to see Henry as a pretty intense actor. Barton is deliberately written to be as obnoxious as possible, but that scene where he's being interviewed by Ryan and Yaz - the plain-speaking intensity with which his dialogue is delivered made me feel like the two were in genuine danger. Many of the 13th Doctor's best scenes so far have been her confrontational moments where she completely owns the scene. But compared to the likes of Krasko from 'Rosa', Barton holds his own pretty well when confronted by her at the party. 'Spyfall' also gives us an as-yet-unnamed alien threat, and they leave a solid impression too. Their bright light form and mostly silent personas, not to mention the fact that we know so little about them, has me intrigued as to their plans and what they're capable of. They almost break into the TARDIS and physical matter doesn't affect them, so what can? 

But while I understand this is a two-parter and I'm happy for some questions to be left ambiguous or undisclosed, I'm a tad worried by just how little closure we get by the time we hit the cliffhanger. There are a TON of questions in need of answering, and I have a feeling we might not get all the answers in Part 2. What are these questions you ask? Well: What is Barton's role in the aliens' plan and why does his DNA register as only 93% human? Who exactly are the aliens, what do they want and why are they only attacking spies? In the map the Doctor uncovers, what is the meaning behind the multiple Earths? When attacked by one of the aliens, where is that place that Yaz and later the Doctor are sent to? Incidentally, those scenes where Yaz is attacked and her distressed response afterwards are some of the best moments the character has had, so it's a shame that it seems to get dropped and never brought up after that. Is there a link between DNA being rewritten and the fact that that mysterious place looks vaguely like big spirals of DNA? I have faith that many of these questions will be cleared up, but for now it feels like we have a lot going on and Chris Chibnall's spreading the answers a bit too thin. It probably isn't helped by THAT reveal at the cliffhanger which only raises yet more questions. 

(Skip ahead to the conclusion now to avoid spoilers!) I've put it off for long enough, so let's talk about THAT reveal. The Master's back … and I did not remotely see that coming. I didn't even have a clue that Sacha Dhawan was in the episode so that in itself was a surprise, but the fact that he is the new Master is even more so. I did have that jaw-drop "No way!" moment on first viewing, and with each re-watch it's a reveal that still holds up. O had been a lovely character until that reveal, and it's testament to Dhawan that his entire demeanour changes as soon as he slips up with the façade. I was a little bit hesitant at first, mainly because I was content to leave the Master with Missy's demise. The character's ending in 'The Doctor Falls', finally deciding to stand with the Doctor but being killed before being able to tell them is, as said in the episode itself, the perfect ending. I can imagine they might boo-boo this in Part 2, but for now it's my head-canon that Dhawan is an incarnation before Missy. Missy is the final incarnation as far as I'm concerned. But enough of the continuity - what about the new Master himself? First impressions are pretty good. He has a playful, maniacal streak to him - he's excitable and that laugh he gives when the Doctor's piecing everything together is skin-crawling. He can come across like a child, but he's clearly quick to temper too and seems almost insulted when the Doctor thinks she can defuse that bomb so easily with the sonic. We've spent about five minutes with this new Master, but first impressions are strong and I'm looking forward to seeing what's to come in Part 2. The cliffhanger is a strong one as Graham, Ryan and Yaz are stuck on a crashing plane with no cockpit, and the Doctor stuck elsewhere unable to help. 

It was interesting seeing the general reaction to this first part of 'Spyfall'. Soon after airing, my Twitter feed was understandably flooded with people losing their minds over the cliffhanger and big reveal. People like this episode a lot, calling it an amazing start to Series 12 and the best thing that Chibnall has written since he took over. I find that last bit interesting because while I generally liked 'Spyfall', to me this is one of Chibnall's weaker scripts. I'm a big advocate for Chibnall and think he's a much better writer than people give him credit for, so the one time people are all over one of his episodes it's a shame that I find it just fine and nothing particularly remarkable. Oh well, this is only half a story and we still have Part 2 to look forward to so let's see where we go from here.

Find my review of Part 2 here.

Spyfall Part 1

6/10