Doctor Who: Flux, Chapter One- The Halloween Apocalypse

 “What's the matter with Sheffield?"

"Too near Leeds...

Here we go then: a new season of Doctor Who, after what feels like an eternity and after some rather big revelations in The Timeless Child that the Doctor's past is more complicated than we thought. Those revelations were certainly a bombshell and I was rather impressed. However, those revelations need to work in the long term, not just add shock value to an "event" episode. I suspect we shall see during this interestingly structured six parter how this pans out.

I don't mean to suggest this episode is one of the greatest ever: let's have some perspective. But I enjoyed it. The opening, with the Doctor and Yaz in media res in a Bond villain deathtrap, was the perfect opening, and I'm pleased to see that Chris Chibnall seems to be improving the humour content of his scripts. And there's a suitably epic scale. We have this mysterious "Flux", a kind of storm that is destroying the universe for reasons unknown. We have a baddie, who reminds me of Eldrad, imprisoned since the dawn of time and now free... and this baddie seems to recall the Doctor from her Division days. Meanwhile, we have the concept of the red herring species, the dog-like Lupari, pair-bonded to humans to save them from the Flux. And one of their number, the nicely exasperated Karvanista, seems to have connections to the Division.

There's also a mysterious dig in  Liverpool... and modern day Scouser Dan, played rather well by John Bishop, a new companion who is shown to live in poverty, for such is Britain in 2021. He makes a good impression, likeable and resourceful while acting as the voice of the audience who, now that Yaz is a seasoned adventurer and TARDIS co-pilot, can fulfil the traditional companion role of saying "what's that, Doctor?".

There's also Claire, who has met the Doctor and Yaz although they haven't yet met her, something which really ought to happen more often on a time travel show. I suspect this has something to do with the Weeping Angel she sees, in a truly horrific and effective sequence. And we also have a nicely entertaining scene with two amusing Sontarans looking forward(!) to the Flux. There are a lot of elements and sub-plots in play, which I like, which is a real strength of doing the season as a single six part story.

It must be said, too, that Jodie Whittaker has never been better. She's nearing the end, but her Doctor is charismatic and cool. Let's just hope the script gives the Doctor a little more depth. Last season was an improvement on that store but there's still some way to go.

Still, this is a very promising start. Let's hope the quality stays at this level.

A Very English Scandal: Episode 2

"She's the love of my life."

"Don't be ridiculous!"

Another utterly compelling hour of telly, then, as things move towards their inexorable conclusion. Russell T. Davies, Stephen Frears and an utterly revelatory Hugh Grant are all spellbinding in this artfully crafted bit of telly, and we get to see along the way just how much human devastation is left behind by self-centred posh boy Jeremy Thorpe. And this from a series that has yet to even mention his probable cover-up of the vile Cyril Smith. And yet, as the opening scene reminds me, Thorpe was very much the sort of man of whose politics I tend to approve. I would have voted Liberal back then. Yet progressive politics do not necessarily stop one from being a complete and utter bastard.

Thorpe's desire to see Norman Scott is thrust in our face from the beginning, but we are allowed, at first, to wonder whether it all might perhaps be a joke; Grant plays this ambiguity well. Yet Ben Whishaw is equally excellent in what is, perhaps even more so than the first episode, a double character study heavily reliant on the abundant skills of both actors. Whishaw truly captures both Scott’s odd innocence and his quietly dignified insistence in a homophobic world (the wedding speech is deliberately both funny and undercutting that with horror at the sheer bigotry, very RTD) that his relationship with Thorpe was real and deserving of recognition, whatever the tragedies that befall him, from his abandonment by his wife (and the taking away of his child, the worst thing that can happen to anyone) to the tragic suicide of poor Gwen- why isn’t the fantastic Eve Myles on telly more often?

Much of the episode sees the possibility of scandal slowly simmering, with an attempt to raise the temperature by Emlyn Hooson here (Jason Watkins is bloody good) and a quiet word to the police by Reginald Maudling there. But there is real pathos as Thorpe genuinely mourns the sudden death of his first wife, and shares real affection with his second. Thorpe may be gay, and closeted, but the women in his life are more than just beards. People are complicated.

The whole business of the 1974 election is handled with admirable economy of storytelling, and then the final stretch running up to the attempted assassination is rightly played as the comedy of errors that it seemingly was, with a delightful appearance from Betty Spencer herself, looking perhaps just a little different. The whole thing is a gripping piece of telly, with script, direction and acting all first class. Er, but I have to say that’s an interesting choice of actor to play John Le Mesurier...