The Doctor and her friends visit Lord Byron and his friends on a particularly auspicious night…

Maxine Alderton’s debut for Series 12 – unusually for this season, not co-credited with Chris Chibnall – was one of the best episodes we’ve had from this era, with Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor showing the fire of the Time Lord at their best. We’ve had a couple of good moments for both actress and character this season – usually when she’s separated from her ‘fam’ – but the speech in the cellar, as she emphasised to them once and for all that she’s not like them, not on an even plain with them, or even necessarily sharing the same concerns, is one of the best of her time.

The whole episode was perhaps the spookiest we’ve had in the 21st century show. Emma Sullivan’s direction and the acting from all involved kept the audience unsettled for far longer than you might expect, and there was some neat misdirection regarding the identity of the lone Cyberman (never have they felt quite so Borg-like). I also hope that we don’t get an explanation for the figures that Graham saw – some things are better left unexplained.

I suspect we’ll look back at this as similar in function to Utopia in Series 3 – a story in its own right, but which is linked very closely to the two-part series finale. It’s certainly ramped up the stakes for the finale – and we’ve still got the Master and the alternate Doctor to be added to the mix.

Verdict: One of the strongest episodes of this era. 9/10

Paul Simpson