Rescued by the two finalists in a gruelling race, the Doctor and her new best friends find themselves trapped on a planet called Desolation with their only hope being the oddly familiar Ghost Monument…

I’d forgotten how much I enjoy Doctor Who show runners going ‘…PSYCHE!’. And make no mistake this episode is absolutely not what we we’ve all been conditioned to expect. Picking up on last week’s cliffhanger, the show hits the ground running and actually accelerates. Director Mark Tonderai, who’s back next week, sets the pace and tone from the get go as the episode shifts constantly from intimate character work to massive action and back again. There’s no cruft, no padding, just a flat out sprint that trusts us in a way the show often hasn’t in the past. They’re rescued, cool. They wake up in medical pods, cool. Implanted translators, cool. Yes it’s a plot we’ve seen before (and has some lovely salutes to Pitch Black in particular along the way), but it’s rarely been done with this much energy and wit. And good lord, every shot every single one looks gorgeous. The weaponised acetylene moment in particular.

And speaking of that scene, remember that whole ‘no serialisation’ thing? Oh Christopher Chibnall, you wily trickster you. Not only do we get a second reference to Tim Shaw’s people which neatly expands their threat and context but we also get a reference to ‘The Timeless Child’. That’s potentially troubling if it turns into ‘The Doctor is a mum’ because there are legions of more interesting things to do with female characters but it’s early days yet.

As for the other, are the Stenza going to be 13’s Daleks? Who can say. What does seem clear is that they’re going to be a semi-recurrrent presence in the world and one that the always excellent Susan Lynch gives real horror to as Angstrom. A refugee who has entered the race to buy the freedom of a family who may not be alive, she’s that unique flavour of Who character; a bit player who could more than support an episode on her own. Likewise Epzo, played by Shaun Dooley. Epzo is basically Mal Reynolds but an asshole and the show has great fun poking fun at him and the hard-bitten mavericks he’s trying so hard to emulate. He and Angstrom, and the excellent if underused Art Malik as original race winner IIllin are at the end of their story. It’s just that it happens to cross the Doctor and her friends’ story along the way. The universe is bigger than the show and for the first time in a while, it feels that way.

But spectacle never trumps character, with one exception. Yaz gets short shrift this week although seems to be front and centre next week, and not before time. We get some excellent progression of Ryan and Graham’s relationship though, including a lovely, snippy exchange (‘You talk about this stuff too much,’ ‘You don’t talk about it enough.’) that suggests a lot of their plot this season is going to be exploring the different ways men navigate emotional responses which is as healthy as it is long overdue.

Whittaker is brilliant throughout, again. She’s cheerful, enthusiastic, principled and 13 is starting to demonstrate a total dedication to fair play and a fierce and accepted obligation to do the right thing. But it’s the final two or three minutes here where she truly shines. Which is also where Chibnall pulls his best ‘PSYCHE!’.

We know The Ghost Monument is the TARDIS. We know why it’s the TARDIS and we know they’ll get it back because we’ve seen the show before.. What we’ve never seen before is the Doctor this emotionally honest and open. Her despair when the TARDIS isn’t there is the springboard into a reunion which is honestly, deeply touching. From the TARDIS letting her in despite not having a key, to the most poignant custard cream in human history it’s not a reunion of a man and his car, or a man and his conveniently silent girlfriend. It’s a meeting of equals, the Doctor profoundly relieved and grateful that her partner is back. All off which leads to the ‘You’ve redecorated… I really like it.’ moment, Chris Chibnall punching the air like Bender at the end of The Breakfast Club and me blowing snot bubbles.

That moment is a perfect summation of why this season not only had to happen but needed to happen far, far earlier than this. Everything we see here is vintage, classic Doctor Who. Character actors! A really nice location shoot! Jokes about pop culture! The Doctor gets the TARDIS back! This is the exact same show it’s always been.

Except this time the character actors aren’t all white, or male. This time the location shoot is somewhere other than America. This time the jokes about pop culture also speak (albeit a little heavy-handedly) to toxic masculinity. This time the Doctor sees the TARDIS for who she is not what she can do for him.

Verdict: Everything old is new again and based on the trailer for ‘Rosa’ we’re just getting started. Bring it on. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart