Following the generally very good 60th anniversary specials and the more than solid if unspectacular 2023 Christmas special, The Church On Ruby Road, Doctor Who finally returned for a full series in spring 2024 and, with it (thanks in part to now being part funded by Disney), something of a soft reset, a little like happened back in 2005 but with a somewhat more planned lead in and, obviously, considerably less of a temporal gap.
It seemed only appropriate that it would be the man who handled that reset two decades ago that got the job of dealing with this one and, right away, the feel that Russell T. Davies brings to all his TV work is present and correct and, embodied in Ncuti Gatwa as a slightly new take on The Doctor, the screen brims with energy.
Of course this Russell T. Davies isn’t just the wunderkind behind the likes of Queer As Folk and some choice children’s and cult TV drama now, since his first stint ‘running the show’ for Doctor Who, his career has proceeded in leaps and bounds to include not just his critically acclaimed run on this show but the likes of A Very English Scandal and, what is possibly the best piece of TV drama I’ve ever seen, It’s A Sin – so expectations were high.
Opening with a twist on the classic ‘monster on a space station’ trope of the series, Space Babies at first felt like a misstep but, as it went on did a great job of helping establish both our new leads, Gatwa’s energetic and emotional Doctor and companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) – who is a new Rose Tyler updated for 2024 – along with the theme of family that becomes increasingly important as things move on – and even the CGI augmented, talking babies weren’t as ‘uncanny valley’ as they first appeared (mostly).
Second episode, The Devil’s Chord, saw The Doctor and Ruby head to 1963 and face off against Maestro (Jinkx Monsoon), an apparent offspring of the previously seen Toymaker who feeds on music, while also meeting possibly the least convincing John Lennon and Paul McCartney ever committed to the screen (but maybe that was the point).
Previous showrunner, Steven Moffat, returned to write Boom, which is possibly the best stand alone episode here, and finds the action almost entirely restricted to a bomb crater on a future battlefield with The Doctor stuck in place by a landmine while issues of war, the military-industrial complex and faith are all explored in what still feels like an accessible piece of exciting, family friendly, sci-fi.
From here on in the series builds towards its climax, which it transpired had already been hinted at, and this begins in earnest with 73 Yards, a very cleverly done story focussing more on Ruby.
With The Doctor vanishing after breaking some kind of magic circle and Ruby visiting the least friendly country pub since An American Werewolf In London, this one does a good job of toying with notions of folk magic in the sci-fi context while giving a cameo to UNIT, setting things up for later.
The social media criticising Dot And Bubble has some nice ideas but is a bit heavy handed in its messaging though does a good job at playing with some expectations while having a great, almost live action cartoon like, look and a surprisingly scary monster (at least while it’s lurking on the fringes) that I can imagine may induce nightmares in some youngsters in just the way Doctor Who should.
Rogue is another somewhat standalone episode but, while a fun romp, isn’t a patch on Boom and has the feeling of recycling a couple of old storylines a little too much – particularly The Family Of Blood – and, in its titular bounty hunter (played with knowing aplomb by Jonathan Groff) is a bit too much like John Barrowman’s Captain Jack Harkness for the 2020s – though he could easily become an enjoyable recurring character if they wanted to take him that way and head in a different direction to the former Torchwood leader.
Then we get to the concluding double episode The Legend Of Ruby Sunday/Empire Of Death which sees everything hinted at in the preceding episodes come back into play including the return of UNIT in force, featuring Bonnie Langford’s Mel and Yasmin Finley’s Rose, and the theme of family coming to the fore for both The Doctor and Ruby.
Along with this we get something that always made Davies’ big episodes work so well as he ties aspects of classic Doctor Who into the new story and style, and this is no exception, as he throws back to 1974 Tom Baker era story Pyramids Of Mars and it’s villain, ‘God Of Death’, Sutekh – only now rendered in fairly impressive CGI ancient Egyptian style beast form.
With the exception of Boom, and maybe 73 Yards, I’m not sure this return is as triumphant as it might be (though crucially there’s nothing bad here either) but, in Gatwa, it has the first Doctor since at least Matt Smith’s incarnation who seems to be able to truly own the role and run with it, bringing an impressive new level of emotion, energy and vulnerability to the part while maintaining the essential air of mystery that makes The Doctor what he is at his best, meaning I’m very excited to see where things go next.
That said the final moments are somewhat bittersweet, and have a feel of being an unintentional reflection of the end of the Davies’ first series back in 2005, as we bid farewell to Ruby Sunday before we’ve really had the chance to get to know her – though the very final moment, with the mysterious Mrs Flood (Anita Dobson), suggest Davies has plenty more up his sleeve for at least the inevitable Christmas special and season two beyond that.
Tommy Girard 
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