Whitaker, the first female Doctor, is simply majestic from the outset. I thought Capaldi was talking some real shite but had a playful score and Clara’s reaction was beautiful and promised great things, and he fulfilled his potential in some ways and missed the mark by a mile in others. I thought Matt Smith had great energy but looked bloody weird, and he wound up being my least favourite. I thought Tennant was a total goon, and he wound up being my favourite. Oh Brilliant: I’m trying to think how I felt during those little vignettes when each new Doctor was revealed before the credits rolled. Moffat needs to know how lucky he is having actors this talented speaking his retconning dialogue. Not so much for the dialogue, but the stunning performances. I adored the scene between him and Bill where they discuss why he left Gallifrey and the difference he can make in the universe. It’s something that has been questioned by critics but I think it is a perfectly valid response to a terrifying first in a lifetime regeneration that is about to occur. The first Doctor is afraid to regenerate, the sort of confession he wouldn’t usually admit to anybody. I’m surprised he was happy to walk on into that busy, noisy, melodramatic future. He gets a disturbing peek into his personal future and cannot begin to imagine how he could get such a ridiculous reputation in the universe. I like how the story points out how sharp the first Doctor is, just with his eyes and not with gadgets. The twelfth Doctor giving the first Doctor the idea of a sonic screwdriver and just a few years before he creates one is cute. He looks quite haunted when the promise of a conversation with Susan fails to materialise. And declares the inside of Capaldi’s TARDIS hideous, although to be fair that original model is the dream design. He used to be a little subtler than that. The Doctor is very confused when his future self declares that the Earth is protected. For me, he was the major reason for sitting through the hour.
#Stream twice upon a time doctor who full#
Balderdash! Bradley isn’t playing William Hartnell playing the first Doctor this time, he is playing an interpretation of the character and I would say he has all the emphasis of the original incarnation – stern, twinkly, assured and full of bluff.
I’ve heard it all he talks like a drunk robot, he clutches his lapels too much, he has no relevance to the story, he lacks that twinkle in the eye. Hmm: I want to give David Bradley a shake of the hand for attempting to take on such a brave part, one that was bound to be lambasted by Doctor Who fans no matter what direction he chose to take it. The Doctor simply does not know what to do when there is no-one to fight. The one note of originality for him was his reaction to this not being an evil plan. This is the actor that Russell T Davies had shoot his wife and children in the climax of an alien invasion and now he is reduced to this kind of cheap frivolity. The moment when the twelfth Doctor puts sunglasses on the first in the TARDIS and says ‘I love it’ I realised it was time for Capaldi to go. The Doctor Falls was a much more impressive finale for the character and the actor, I genuinely feel sorry that he has to twiddle his thumbs for an hour to wait for the Time Lady to arrive.
#Stream twice upon a time doctor who series#
It’s no mean feat because some of the hoops that Capaldi has been asked to jump through would destroy other actors but he’s so determined to make a success of this role and is so talented himself that he has managed to hold onto his dignity and unearthed terrific nuggets of gold in an era that can, at best, be described as ‘diverting but uneven.’ And here in his final hour he is asked not to stretch his acting muscles at all (or certainly not in the way that he was during the few moments when he was really pushed out of his comfort zone: Heaven Sent, The Zygon Inversion) but to walk a line between embarrassment for the (misplaced) sexism of his former self, having to explain continuity points from three series back and mawkishly saying goodbye to all of his friends and finally letting go of himself in a speech so drained of meaning that I literally wanted to jump in the screen and give him a shove to bring forth Whittaker. He’s walked through this battlefield of madness, indulgence and continuity and walked out with his head held high. He’s survived sonic sunglasses, becoming the President of the Earth, electric guitars, moon eggs, irritating children, tedious found footage, and love conquers all again and again and again.
He’s survived Doctor Grumpy (‘Am I good man?’), Doctor Who Disco (‘Am I cool man?’) and Doctor Lecturer (‘Am I good Doctor?’), three completely different takes on the same character that might as well be different incarnations for all they have in common with one another. Indefinable: Peter Capaldi, the true survivor of the Steven Moffat.
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