Like every other Doctor Who fan on the planet, I\’ve been eagerly awaiting the start of the new season, and most of all the first full appearance of the new Doctor, Peter Capaldi. Now at last, Doctor Who returns to UK television tomorrow, Saturday, 23rd August, at 7.50pm, in a 75-minute feature-length episode.
The first episode of twelve in the new Season 8 (or Season 34, if you prefer to include the classic series, as I do), is Deep Breath. Here\’s a list of the twelve episodes of the new season:
- Deep Breath
- Into the Dalek
- Robot of Sherwood
- Listen
- Time Heist
- The Caretaker
- Kill the Moon
- Mummy on the Orient Express
- Flatline
- In the Forest of the Night
- Dark Water
- Death in Heaven
The last two episodes are the two-part Season Finale. I\’ve deliberately avoided giving any spoilers. Indeed, I\’ve actively avoided encountering any spoilers myself, and I know absolutely nothing about the episodes other than their titles. I\’ve become royally fed up, every single year, having each new season ruined by spoilers all over the internet, on TV and in the magazines, so this year it\’s been me dodging any kind of spoilers as nimbly as I can. Fingers crossed I can make it to Saturday, and woe betide anyone who ruins things for me. 🙂
I\’ve always been a huge fan of Matt Smith and his portrayal of the Doctor. Starting off as a relative unknown, he took to the role like a duck to water, and he has been, without a doubt, a huge success as the 11th Doctor. He brought us a zany, eccentric, manic, and often truly alien version of the Doctor that reminded me most of Tom Baker (on speed), which can never be a bad thing as far as I\’m concerned, as TomDoc has always been my favourite Doctor of all.
By adopting some of the best elements of not only Tom Baker, but also other previous Doctors (there\’s a lot of Patrick Troughton in there as well), combined with his own natural hi-energy craziness, Smith created a new persona which really appealed to me in a \”he was born for the role\” kind of way. I absolutely loved him, which came as a big surprise to me as I was really apprehensive back when he first took over from David Tennant. Even in the less notable episodes, he lights up the screen and he makes even the worst stories watchable, even if only to enjoy Smith doing his thing.
So Peter Capaldi has a lot to live up to, although I\’m sure he\’ll be more than up to the job. He\’s an accomplished actor, and has been around for a long, long time. He\’s also a lifetime Doctor Who fan, and has been since he was a young child. Or at least he was an obsessive fan of the classic series (I\’ve no idea what he thinks of the new series), from the beginning with William Hartnell, right on through to the fourth Doctor, Tom Baker. So this bodes well for the show, in my opinion.
I\’m actually looking forward to this older, darker Doctor, and to seeing how he works with the current companion, Clara (Jenna Coleman). Roll on Saturday evening, 7.50pm!
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