Who MummySomething is killing the passengers and crew aboard the only version of the Orient Express that operates in space…

Jamie Mathieson’s first script for the programme provides some truly horrifying moments, some laugh aloud lines, the obvious pun relating to the show’s own history, and a chance for Peter Capaldi to shine. Teamed up with Frank Skinner (playing a character who reacts the way that we would sort of expect Frank Skinner himself to react were he thrown into that situation) he displays some of the sides to the Time Lord that we’ve seen before, but – appropriately enough, given the complaints voiced on the letters page of this week’s Radio Times – there are other elements also present which will no doubt fuel the argument about this incarnation even further.

Unsurprisingly, given the title, there’s an Agatha Christie vibe to the story – from the appearance of singer Foxes performing a rather anachronistic song for the “1920s” setting (although done in the right style) to the elimination of characters as the tale progresses. It’s not played for laughs though, and indeed the mummy itself is definitely one of the more frightening creations of the revamped show – the Holmes/Hinchcliffe era may have borrowed some of the tropes from the Universal movies, but this is an out and out attempt to emulate that terror which Paul Wilmshurst directs with some clever visual flourishes.

Verdict: Again justifying its later timeslot, this is an enjoyable near-standalone story, with some interesting developments for the Doctor. 8/10

Paul Simpson

 

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