The Witchfinders is the second episode to be both written and directed by a woman in the history of Doctor Who . What’s even more shocking is that it’s the first episode with that combination since 1983 . Now, in a perfect world, their genders wouldn't matter. We'd only be concerned about their ability to make a good episode of Doctor Who . However, if this combination is so rare, clearly more than just talent is at play. Series 11 has quite explicitly made it its mission to diversify both in front of and behind the camera. Inevitably, this means the series has more pressure to 'prove itself’ and demonstrate that white men aren't the only ones who can make good television. So far, arguably the two best episodes ( Rosa and Demons of the Punjab ) have had scripts penned by writers who don’t fit the ‘white male’ label. Obviously, their lack of white male-ness isn't the only reason they wrote good episodes, but their backgrounds certainly enriched their stories wi...

Previous Doctor Who series haven’t shied away from politics (take the Zygon storyline from series nine featuring Capaldi’s incredible anti-war speech), but it's never been incorporated as explicitly as it has this series. Not every episode has bothered; neither The Woman Who Fell to Earth or The Tsuranga Conundrum touched on any noticeably political themes. However, it’s still been more prominent than before. Most interestingly, there appear to be two quite different ways the series has approached this. The first way has been to visit significant historical moments that tie into the politics of the episode. Both Rosa and Demons of the Punjab explore relevant and monumental moments in the past to powerful effect. This approach makes the most sense for a programme centred around time travel and it has certainly proven to be successful. The second way is through sci-fi allegory. This also seems to make sense for Doctor Who as one of the biggest sci-fi shows in the world. Howev...

One might assume that the futuristic, sci-fi Doctor Who episodes would have the largest scope, yet this series that hasn't been the case. Whilst I loved The Ghost Monument , that was more for its familiarity than anything else and The Tsuranga Conundrum was a real mixed bag. Instead, the humble historical episodes have proven to be the most ambitious. It's also potentially notable that so far the historical episodes have been the only ones not exclusively written by Chris Chibnall. Rosa was co-written with Malorie Blackman, who explored the beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement in a deeply powerful and moving way. Now, Demons of the Punjab sees writer Vinay Patel, also a Doctor Who newbie, take viewers to another significant but often overlooked moment in history: the partition of India. Initially, I was concerned about this episode. Patel starts by introducing a number of plot threads that could’ve easily got tangled up as things progressed. I was also unsure about...

We are now halfway through the series and showrunner Chris Chibnall has been involved in writing every episode so far. This is quite unusual. Even in their first series as showrunners, Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat weren't responsible for the entire first half (in both cases, Mark Gatiss wrote the episode the showrunners didn't). Of course, Rosa was co-written by Malorie Blackman, and I suspect Chibnall was the lesser involved of the two given the episode's themes. However, Chibnall has controlled the start of this series very carefully. This makes sense, considering how different Chibnall's vision for Doctor Who is from his predecessors. It's important that he establishes this new, character-driven focus so that viewers can get used to it and other writers can build on it. That said, it's also nice to have contributions from different writers and The Tsuranga Conundrum indicates that it's about time that happens. The Tsuranga Conundrum is proba...

How to follow on from an episode like Rosa was always going to be a tough question. You could try and match its ambition, but that would be tricky. Your episode risks looking weak if you can't match its predecessor's impact or - perhaps worse - risks undermining that impact. You could go the complete opposite route and do a Dinosaurs on a Spaceship / Robots of Sherwood style silly episode. However, this shift in tone would likely feel jarring and a good silly episode is not an easy feat. With little ambition beyond filling time with some fun, it has to be really fun to overlook its relative lack of substance. Or, you can do what Arachnids in the UK did and keep it simple with a good old-fashioned scary episode. Arachnids in the UK naturally picks spiders as its monster of choice. Of course, this being Doctor Who , these aren't just any old spiders. They're giant, human targeting spiders with a mysterious origin. There are some delightfully thrilling moments with t...

The thing everyone's going to talk about with Rosa is its politics. Doctor Who has always implied political messages, but it's never made them such an explicit and integral part of an episode. Fortunately, Rosa picks a political message we can all get behind (I hope). The Doctor and friends find themselves in 1955 Alabama, the day before Rosa Parks essentially kick-started the Civil Rights Movement. It's a difficult setting for such a diverse cast to be in and the episode doesn't shy away from that fact. Historical racism has been tackled before, particularly with Martha in the Human Nature/The Family of Blood story. However, it's never felt as horrific as it does here. Especially in contrast to the previous series, which attempted diverse representation without delving too deep into actual issues of prejudice, the horrors of racism are depicted with shocking efficacy.  Naturally, the issue of racism drives this episode's character development. Yas and ...

It would have been very easy for Bad Times at the El Royale to be mere popcorn entertainment. Certainly based on the trailers, it looked like an enjoyable but shallow film that treated its characters flippantly in favour of quips and guns. Its slick appearance and lavish cast were enough to entice me to the cinema, but I was still hoping the film itself would aim higher. Given writer/director Drew Goddard's historical tendency to make films more than they first appear, I was optimistic. Fortunately, that attitude wasn't misplaced.  Bad Times at the El Royale is intricately constructed. Visually, there's so much attention to detail, with set design comparable to Wes Anderson's incredible The Grand Budapest Hotel . Although, replacing the hotel with a motel gives it a sordid edge that distinguishes this film from Anderson's. Seamus McGarvey's cinematography indulgently soaks in this atmosphere, framing each shot with purpose and drenching it with intoxica...