[I’m so behind in my reviews that when I wrote this, Joe Biden was still running for President of the US, Rishi Sunak was the Prime Minister of the UK, and Robert Downey Jr. wasn’t expected to star in a Marvel film. How things change.]

These days, Doctor Who isn’t being made for me or anyone over 35. Once you realise you’re not in that demographic, you can relax and take each episode on its merits. In that light, I thought this season was very good. Not as a set of 8 connected episodes but instead as individual stories that were, at worst, silly and, at best, profound. (Disregarding the finale, which was neither of these things.)

In my view, 73 Yards is a masterpiece. I said it then. I’ll say it again. I think it’s one of the best single episodes of the show. The fact that the main character barely features — for reasons that couldn’t be avoided due to scheduling conflicts with Ncuti’s commitments to Sex Education —  speaks to how the Doctor tends to weigh down every story they’re in. Remove the Doctor, and you’re free to push the show’s boundaries. And that’s what RTD does here, with a story that’s beautiful, creepy, and complex. (It’s also why Midnight works so well).

I also loved Boom. I really enjoyed Dot and Bubble. Devil’s Chord is surreal and wonderful (but a terrible choice for the second episode). I was OK with Rogue, but it’s not for me. Space Babies is ridiculous, and I loved it for that, but I understand why others didn’t. One thing many of these episodes do is take risks. Risks that Disney might not have appreciated — the show has yet to have a third season confirmed — but risks I found refreshing.

If the season has a problem, it’s not so much the finale (which makes no sense but has some lovely moments) but how it’s been structured. If you’ve only got eight episodes, you need the show’s star to appear in all of them — otherwise, push the season out to ten episodes. But for reasons that I’m sure have to do with time and money, that’s not what happens. And, as such, I felt we barely knew Ncuti’s Doctor and what he was capable of. It’s not helped that in only his second episode (not including the X-Mas Special), he’s facing up against a God, which is too large a threat for a Doctor we barely know.* (You’ll note that much like the Eccleston Doctor, Ncuti isn’t the one who beats the baddie; it’s left to others, with the finale being an exception. But with Eccles, it works because we get to spend time with him, and we come to understand he still has PTSD following the Time War).

That’s not to say Ncuti is a bad Doctor. He’s actually magnificent in the finale, and his last scene in Dot and Bubble is also remarkable. He also nails his scenes in Boom. But I wanted more. Much more. Instead, RTD replaced it with a series of “Bad Wolf” like mysteries that — much like he does with the folk horror in 73 Yards — he happily and, I think, deliberately undermines. 

Millie Gibson is in every episode, and she is truly incredible. And that’s why the last 10 minutes of the finale work for me. Millie/Ruby has earned that moment.

But you know who loved it all (and was bawling her eyes out come the last episode)? My wonderful daughter Sophie. Because this is her show, and my privilege is to be along for the ride. That’s enough for me.**

*I’m sure you could make it work. But if you make the Doctor too smart, too powerful, too cocky, there’s nowhere to take his character across the season.

**To be clear, you don’t need kids to enjoy any TV show, let alone Doctor Who. But it does sometimes help to recognise who a show is being pitched at.