"I left a weak man in charge..."
I saw this episode on its original broadcast but, as this was several months before Torchwood debuted, I had no idea who Chris Chibnall was- not the case the following season, where I distinctly recall discussing his episode of Life on Mars in the pub-so it's a surprise to see his name on the credits. This is interesting, because this episode is superb, certainly the finest so far. Chibnall may be a divisive figure in Doctor Who fandom, but he's certainly good at writing serious drama on the evidence of this, whatever you may thing of his family-oriented science fantasy.
There's a simple concept here- a death in the cells, for which everyone on the team bears some degree of responsibility. This simple premise leads to a wonderfully layered and complex script in which every character gets some development but John Simm really gets o shine as the white-hat wearing Sam. The end- where, after much agonising, Sam hands the tape to the superintendent who simply destroys it and covers up the whole thing- is a powerful reminder of how things were in 1973.
It's nice, too, how the initial rush towards a cover-up by Gene is later shown to have been something more nuanced. And at least Ray faces some kind of consequence for his actions. Inevitably, we have to finish the episode with a reset button- Ray's demotion notwithstanding- but the fact this works without looking like a massive cop out shows us just how good this script is.
More Chibnall please. On the evidence of this he's better than the showrunners.
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