Doctor Who, The Woman Who Fell to Earth recap: Whittaker defies naysayers but what is it with the camp tooth-faced monster?

Fifteen long months since the last full series, the Timelord was back. And rather a lot had changed: new star, new gender, new companions, new showrunner and new Sunday evening slot. But would the timey-wimey magic still be there? 

Here are all the talking points from episode one, titled The Woman Who Fell to Earth…

Wonderful Whittaker defied the naysayers

As the beloved 55-year-old institution’s first female star, the was plenty of pressure on Jodie Whittaker as the 13th Doctor – but she proved straight away that she had the charisma and sheer chutzpah to handle it.

At the nine-minute mark of this episode, she crashed through the roof of a Sheffield train, having tumbled out of the Tardis at the climax of the Christmas special, and cracked straight on with the Doctorly business of taking charge, charming the locals and fighting off an alien threat. I don’t know about you but I soon stopped noticing her gender. This was just The Doctor and there was a monster to defeat. 

We had some of the traditional post-regeneration disorientation as she settled into her new body – nose niggles, leg length moans, the small matter of her gender (“Why are you calling me madam? Am I? Does it suit me?”) – but these were dealt with briskly and didn’t get in the way of this adventure’s breakneck, barrelling pace. This new incarnation didn’t crave fishfingers and custard like Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor, but“a cuppa and a fried egg sandwich”.

Whittaker’s time-traveller was energetic, endlessly curious, warmly witty and fittingly heroic. “When people need help, I never refuse,” she said – one of two mission statements slipped into the script, along with: “I’m the Doctor: sorting out fair play throughout the universe.” There were hints of sadness – see that bittersweet speech about her losing her family a long time ago – but little of the darkness that has haunted the character in recent years. 

Whittaker used her natural Huddersfield accent to play the part, which worked well, and is proud of the fact that she did all her own stunts in this opener – most notably that death-defying crane-to-crane leap. This felt like a dashing young daredevil Doctor in the David Tennant/Matt Smith vein, rather than the moodier Christopher Ecclestone or “white-haired Scotsman” Peter Capaldi. All in all, a highly promising start.

Bargain three-for-one deal on companions

“Right, troops. No, not troops. Team. Gang. Fam?” This chock-full hour also introduced us to the three companions who’ll be hopping aboard the Tardis (well, just as soon as they find it) for the Doctor’s new-look adventures. 

Dyspraxic 19-year-old warehouse worker and wannabe mechanic Ryan Sinclair (Tosin Cole) was the standout of the trio: a lost soul with low self-esteem but a sweet, guileless nature. You felt an emotional connection to him from the start, thanks to those “greatest woman who ever lived” vlogs that affectingly bookended the episode.

Yasmin “Yazz” Khan (Mandip Gill) was a bored probationary police officer (“You’re a Fed!”) in search of more interesting cases. Well, she certainly got one here. She and Ryan remembered each other from primary school. Were there hints of potential romance here? Or would that be too Amy Pond-and-Rory?

Bradley Walsh was the sardonic, sceptical one as Graham O’Brien: retired bus driver, cancer survivor and Ryan’s step-grandfather. His touching funeral eulogy towards the end hinted that Walsh will be flexing his full range of acting muscles, as well as providing laughs. And wearing a striped West Ham scarf (a subtle nod to the Tom Baker era, perhaps). 

A quick word too for the other pair of human guest stars. Holby City’s Sharon D Clarke was a scene-stealer as plucky nurse Grace O’Brien: Ryan’s nan and Graham’s wife who poignantly sacrificed herself during the building site showdown. Sob. Amazing Grace, let’s call her. 

And hapless crane operator Karl Wright (Johnny Dixon, best know as Grange Hill’s Matthew “Mooey” Humphries) provided comic relief as he listened to self-help audiobooks (“I am special! I am valued!”) and pulled a string of Spud-from-Trainspotting-esque goofy faces.

Tooth-faced monster was camp but kid-frightening

The number of new characters to introduce inevitably meant that the alien menace in this episode was almost incidental to the action. Thankfully so, because it was no classic. 

Played by Samuel Otley, hammy baddie Zimshah was a frozen blue warrior in Marvel-meets-Predator armour – but beneath the helmet, his appearance might have given some children nightmares. He took a tooth from each victim, which often involved breaking their jaw, before embedding it into his face. “A Stenza warrior wears his conquests,” he boomed.

Old molar-face flew down to Earth in a sort of giant fig, accompanied by a writhing mass of electric tumbleweed – bio-tech cables that collected data and embedded “DNA bombs” in witness’ collarbones. No, we weren’t quite convinced either.

Sunday slot will take some getting used to

Apart from a period in the late Eighties when the show was withering on the vine, Doctor Who has always aired on a Saturday. So it felt rather strange to be watching it at 6.45pm a Sunday. 

Still, sandwiched between the welly-clad rural wholesomeness of Countryfile and the sequin-spangled Strictly results show felt like a suitable slot for a family drama. A treat to round off the weekend. Let’s hope the schedulers don’t start shunting it around again. Series like Doctor Who need to become a viewing habit. 

New outfit and sonic screwdriver were DIY affairs

The Doctor being stranded in South Yorkshire without a Tardis meant a pleasingly lo-fi feel to the unveiling of her costume and sonic screwdriver – two more rites of passage for each new incarnation.  Presumably we’ll get to see her new-look Tardis next week.

Whittaker spent most of the episode in Capaldi’s old clothes, before being sent off to buy a new outfit by her three sidekicks. “It’s been a long time since I bought women’s clothes,” she said, heading for a charity shop and emerging in the blue overcoat, cropped trousers, rainbow-striped top, braces and boots familiar from all the pre-launch publicity material. 

Meanwhile, she was forced to build her own trusty tool in an A Team-style sequence, using Sheffield steel cutlery, wielding blowtorches and sledgehammers in satisfyingly gung-ho fashion. The resultant ergonomically shaped device was: “More of a sonic Swiss Army knife. Only without the knife. Only idiots carry knives.”  Sound the “socially responsible message” klaxon at BBC HQ. 

Sheffield was ready for its close-up

Not since The Full Monty can the Steel City have featured so heavily on our screens.  There were skyline shots from rooftops and gorgeous scenes set in the surrounding Peak District. There was a glimpse of Bramall Lane football stadium and several nods to the city’s industrial heritage. We trust ratings were high in the South Yorkshire region. 

Chibnall’s script wasn't perfect but it worked

After the fiendishly clever tricksiness of predecessor Steven Moffat, new head writer Chris Chibnall – he of Broadchurch, Torchwood and Law & Order UK pedigree – has vowed to make the show accessible again to first-time or lapsed viewers. 

He largely succeeded with a relatively straightforward monster-of-the-week plot, easy-to-follow chronolgy and a compassionate script that might have lacked some of Moffat’s rat-a-tat wordplay but had more heart and broader humour. 

We enjoyed the running “Tim Shaw” gag, colloquialisms like “Get in!” and “Scout’s honour”, and how the Doctor “never goes anywhere that’s just initials” (ruling out not just A&E but M&S, B&Q and H&M, which limits the Timelord’s shopping opportunities).

Dialogue was exposition-heavy at times and the scientific gobbledegook could have been woven in more smoothly but first episodes tend to have lots of heavy lifting to do.

Chibnall might have been talking directly to the audience with lines like “All of this is new to you and new can be scary” and the Doctor’s heartfelt speech: “We’re all capable of the most incredible change. We can evolve, while still staying true to who we are. We can honour who we’ve been and choose who we want to be next.”

New-look show didn’t shy away from dark side 

Apart from the train scene and unmasking of the tooth-faced baddie, this episode wasn’t hide-behind-the-soft- furnishings scary. However, it did have a pretty high on-screen death toll. 

Five humans lost their lives: the train driver, nerdy alien-catcher Rahul (Amit Shah), the drunken kebab-eater (“Eat my salad, Halloween”), the building site security guard and, of course, poor Grace. 

Too much for early Sunday evening? It will be instructive to see if there are many viewer complaints. Excluding the ones from Sheffield Wednesday fans. 

Production values had gone up a gear

Headlines will be hogged by the new stars, showrunner and time slot but the show’s behind-the-scenes revamp also paid dividends, with new camera lenses and special effects by new VFX team Double Negative, who’ve won Oscars for their film work. 

In its new widescreen format, this episode looked crisp and cinematic. Meanwhile, new composer Segun Akinola atmospheric electro-tinged soundtrack added urgency and a more contemporary edge. We approve. 

Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in space

We finished on an ethereal cliffhanger (or should that be a space-floater?), with the Doctor and her “fam” suspended in space, presumably beamed to the Tardis’ last known location. 

We’ll find out the Whos, whys and wherefores in the next episode, The Ghost Monument, which finds the team facing their first hostile alien environment. See you back here to run diagnostics with a sonic Swiss Army knife.