Doctor Who returns to its roots this Season, focusing on the character of Bill Potts (Pearl Mackie) and a series of side adventures with some new friends. Stephen Moffat's brilliance shines in one of the best seasons since Doctor Who returned.
The series begins with a wonderfully paced episode that takes us on a mission to find the Doctor's most dangerous enemy in the history of the show. The whole story is filled with wonderful little ideas and a couple of classic Moffat timey-wimey concepts such as a ship where the time goes slower at one end than the other.
This is a great start to the season and we're given the chance to see what a good choice Pearl Mackie was as a companion. The character is well written and a welcome departure from the overblown histrionics that we've seen with previous companions such as Clara Oswald.
After the rather weak 'Thin Ice' episode that largely involves waiting around for the apocalypse to arrive this is a far better story. Taking us to nineteenth century London and to a mysterious frozen river this is an exciting story with plenty of tension that's not dependent on waiting around for a creature to attack you.
It ends with a wonderfully tragic story that's actually one of the most uplifting tragedies in this series and is the result of the most genuinely loving character arc this show has done to a companion. The Doctor is a Grandfather figure to Bill and it's a nice change of dynamic after the overly dominant role that companions have played in the past.
