by Sam Maleski

Obverse Books, out now

Obverse Books’ ongoing series of monographs focusing on a Doctor Who serial or story hits 2018’s Series 11 story Arachnids in the UK.

One of the advantages of writing about a fairly recent story is that you’re not competing with years of perceived wisdom and existing study, with a downside being that it can’t be judged within the context of a Doctor’s entire tenure. One of the issues that writer Sam Maleski picks up on is the villain Robertson’s apparently getting away with things at the end. Maybe this will be addressed in a future show, but for now we can only judge what’s out there.

The author is frank with his analysis of showrunner Chris Chibnall’s 2018 episode, teasing out themes while not avoiding the issues and unresolved plot points. He describes the show as ‘Re-establishing the familiar with a twist’, contextualising it among other giant insect sci-fi and horror stories both in wider fiction and within the Doctor Who universe.

It is an issue that gay character Frankie is poorly handled, killed off shortly after her sexuality is spelled out, and there’s another big question mark about the Doctor’s choice to let the spiders starve to death at the conclusion – tackling evil while keeping her own hands clean. There’s also some insight on Robertson’s character vs Donald Trump, the Yorkshire Gothic setting of the story and the use of political music.

Verdict: Never being a huge fan of this episode due to its narrative shortcomings, Sam Maleski has more to say about it than you might first think. Concise, well-considered and balanced – you can’t say that about all Doctor Who writing. 7/10

Nick Joy

Click here to order from Obverse Books