Revolution of the Daleks written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Lee Haven Jones

Oh Brilliant: ‘I was in prison for being me…right at the point where I wasn’t sure what that meant’ The prison scenes, besides being full of fun cameos and being incredibly well shot, have a twofold character purpose. The time incarcerated gives Whittaker’s Doctor to come to terms with the huge revelations that were hurled at her in the previous episode. Perhaps she hasn’t even tried to escape – we see no evidence of that here – as she tackles with the huge issue of her identity. So, we can then skip into the next season with this 19 year ponder from the Doctor and it doesn’t feel as though she hasn’t given the idea a chance to sink in. Also, in character terms it means we get to see how the companions cope without the Doctor and revealing some do much better than others. It would take the work of someone with an ice-cold heart to not smile at the sequence where the Doctor and Jack break out of prison together. It feels like old times and Whittaker and Barrowman look great together (I looked over at my partner during this sequence and he was grinning from ear to ear). He face when he suggest that she doesn’t want to know how he smuggled the vortex manipulator into the prison is priceless. The look on the Doctor’s face when it is clear that Ryan wants to leave is telling. She can’t hold onto these people forever. They have their own lives to lead. Whilst locked away she keep thinking that if she isn’t who she thinks she is then who is she? Her nuclear option solution is suicide and I love that this Doctor is willing to think dangerously and outside the box. What we needed at this point (after an episode that told us that everything we know about the Doctor is basically a lie) is a demonstration that she is still the same person that she always was. The Doctor herself was unsure what that meant anymore but realises the second she hears the word Dalek exactly who she is. There's nothing more Doctorish than materialising the TARDIS in the skies above the Earth around a bunch of massacring Daleks and taunting them to kill her, whilst having a plan up her sleeve to be rid of them all. 

Captain Beefcake: Jack’s back and it is like he has never been away. Should there have been more ceremony and the story revolve entirely around him or is it better that he simply walks back into the series as if he owns the place? I prefer the latter because Jack has never been lacking in confidence and what this does so effectively is tie this iteration of the show seamlessly with the Russell T Davies era (almost as if the Moffat stuff had never happened). He can drop references to Rose and Gwen and his death, he can handle the Daleks, flirt with Graham, advise Yaz and joke with the Doctor. It’s a very enjoyable turn from a character that simply fits this version of the show like a glove. Barrowman might think he is God’s gift to Doctor Who in public but within the show he gives all the other actors their space to do their thing and understands he is there to provide energy, jokes and a little sexual tension.

The Fam: What’s surprising is that this episode is more about how Yaz wasn’t coping with the Doctor’s absence than it was about Ryan was. Given that this was his finale episode, it felt a little remiss to not show just how well he was adapting to life back on Earth rather than just having him tell us. However, the scenes of Yaz pouring over data in the other TARDIS vividly depicts her distressed state of mind at the thought of losing the Doctor, and Mandip Gill plays those scenes with an energetic frustration. We saw back in Can You Hear Me that her mental state can be very fragile and her sudden, sharp wrench away from the woman she clearly has plenty of feeling for, and the life of adventuring, activates her anxieties. It’s some of the most interesting scenes we have seen with the character so I hope this is going somewhere. She’s not ready to let go, she’s sleeping in the TARDIS. Is Yaz in love with the Doctor? It would certainly seem that way when her reaction to being separated from her for 10 months is to shove her violently away (that’s a great moment of tension) and then looking away in disbelief. The conversation between her and Jack feels very much like the one that Martha had with Jack in The Sound of Drums at times where we realised he loved the Doctor as much as she did. When Yaz is talking about having something and then having it taken away isn’t anything to do with the adventures, it’s about the Doctor. She explicitly says that. Interesting seeds laid for series 13.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘This country can be your shop window for global sales.’
‘Can we stop there and pretend there’s no bad news.’
‘Daleks are not the pets of the Doctor.’

The Good: You’ve got hand Chibnall some credit; he’s got nuts. To parody Star Wars in the opening five seconds in such a silly way in the wake of Star Wars announcing a wealth of new spin off material and Doctor Who being scaled back in 2020 means that Chibnall is very confident in his vision of the show now.

The Specials in the past have always been unique episodes in their own right but Revolution of the Daleks, pleasingly, is a direct continuation of Resolution and picks up the pieces of that story left behind and runs with it. I loved Resolution, and this gives it even more worth. The melted down Dalek (one of the things I was a bit unsure about from the previous episode) looked really menacing in the half dark of the lorry, and the idea of using the Dalek shell and creating a hybrid drone to protect the country is a phenomenal one that beggars the question why it hasn’t been considered before. The Dalek emerging from the smoke to the mocking crowd and then subduing them suggests a much darker, more insidious kind of episode. Perhaps if this was Torchwood we could have done without the Dalek mutants altogether and had a tale of a corrupt businessman using these weaponised shells to secure power. Even better are the scenes outside Downing Street where the new security drones are rolled out publicly to ensure the security of the nation. This stuff is pure trailer fuel. Of course, the public starts taking selfies with the things. They are so absurd looking after all. The suspense here is waiting for the moment when the mutants (already revealed) are united with their mass-produced shells and the carnage begins. Talk about a PR nightmare. The introduction of the Death Squad Daleks with an impressive glide through the vortex and then swooping inside the saucer and around a squadron having a conflab is the best direction of the episode. It’s very cinematic in its intentions. The bridge scenes look awesome too; Dalek versus Dalek conflict should always be this epic. I particularly liked the shots from above where the shooting looked like a 2D video game.

I’m a sucker for a returning villain but not as much as I’m a sucker for a camp one and Robertson is turning out to be the ultimate villain of the Whittaker era. Some effort was made to tone him down in the early scenes of this episode to give the scenes where he acquires the Dalek and factory builds thousands more some gravitas but he returns to form throughout the episode and weasels his way through to the finale. It’s highly unusual for any character to rub shoulders with the Daleks like this and survive, which makes me think that Chibnall has a long game with this character. I wouldn’t have gotten rid of Harriet Walter as the new Prime Minister so quickly because the early scenes between her and Noth are quite wonderful and their relationship could have been something the show could have returned to. His reaction to the Dalek mutant is the one time where the audience can completely get on his side; he’s disgusted and thinks Leo is insane for cultivating it. Of course, his fear is that something will threaten his security Empire rather than for the protection of the human race but Noth’s performance here is still very good. He’s joyous when he struts onto the bridge and tries to make a deal with the Daleks. I was certain he was going to die at this point so imagine my surprise when he makes it out of this story alive and uses the whole exercise as a bump up the political platform.

The prison sequences ensure some fun cameos can ensue and my favourite came in the form of the gag about the Silence. That was a genuinely witty use of an old foe. Although the Angel appearance ahead of next season was useful too. And the Pting! I will never not love an appearance by these terrifying nightmares.

The Bad: Does this mean that Robertson has his people set up in roadside cafes up and down the country just in case alien artefacts are being transported? This episode is far less interested in the idea of possession by a Dalek mutant than Resolution was and so those scenes are only a fraction as effective. The direction lacks the same trippiness and it is the point where this episode starts treading a familiar path as far as the drones are concerned, turning this into you typical Dalek shootout. Chibnall has difficulty inserting his character scenes into action episodes seamlessly. The pacing is chopped up by these extended character moments. The scenes of the Daleks coming to life and killing people were directed in lots of tight shots that don’t reveal the scale of the horror. It feels like the director was having to shoot these scenes in cramped sets and couldn’t pull back because they edges would be visible. It’s an astonishingly poor last showing for Graham, who has been one of the biggest highlights of the last two seasons.

Standout Scene(s): The extended dialogue between the Doctor and Ryan in the TARDIS. It felt very like a scene between the Doctor and Victoria in Fury from the Deep where he knows that she is going to leave him and neither one them can quite say it. Now the Doctor is a woman and the companion is a man but the emotions are the same. Ryan is ready to move on and the Doctor doesn’t know how to feel about that but to thank him for being such a good friend. The performances are restrained and say so much more than the (admittedly excellent) dialogue. It is their best scene together by a country mile.

The whole sequence of the Daleks surrounding and pouring into the TARDIS in Earth’s sky. There was a time when we could only dream of action like this. Plus, Whittaker has never been more the Doctor. She’s so wonderfully caustic when revealing her plan to the captured and soon to be killed Daleks.

The hug got me at the end. Godammit.

Result: Revolution of the Daleks is everything I would expect from a New Year’s Special. There’s so much going on here and some things are handled with real dexterity and other things don’t quite come together but the overall piece is full of fun, energy, excitement and emotion. It’s a thrilling ride with some awesome set pieces and a chance to see this set of regulars have one last exciting adventure against the Daleks. It starts out as a political thriller using the Dalek blueprint in an intriguing way and those were some of the best scenes because the latter half becomes an 80s tale with Dalek civil war coming to Earth, albeit with an enormous budget to make the devastating look spectacular. Fortunately, Jodie Whittaker is waltzing through this story; confident, intelligent, commanding. The Doctor gets so many opportunities to strut her stuff in the latter half of this episode; confronting the villain of the piece, standing up to the Daleks, formulating a frankly insane and terrifying plan (she loves playing it dangerously – remember the Cyberium?) and then conniving a plan where she gets to spit bile at the racially geared Daleks and trick them in the process. Add in moments of introspection, and a devastated reaction to losing friends at the climax. She’s loving this part and she’s utterly compelling. Jack is back and as much fun as ever, not taking over as I feared he would but instead becoming a warm addition to this family. Chris Noth continues to play one of my favourite New Series villains; slimy, camp an occasionally bonkers. And the character moments for Ryan (in the TARDIS) and Yaz (with Jack) are some of the best scripted moments for this TARDIS team since they first joined the show. The pacing and direction are occasionally off kilter, but the overall effect is that of an overstuffed delight with lots of memorable scenes. Huge kudos for the moment the Daleks all fly into the TARDIS. The last ten minutes are my favourite with two companions choosing to leave the Doctor rather than being forced out through some dreadful science fiction hoops to be forced out of the TARDIS. This story might not have feature Graham and Ryan as you might have thought but their last scene together is just about perfect. Revolution of the Daleks isn’t though, but it kept me highly entertained throughout: 8/10