Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, Colin McFarlane, Sophie Stone, Zaqi Ismail, Morven Christie, Arsher Ali, Steve Robertson, Paul Kaye, Neil Fingleton, Peter Serafinowicz, Corey Taylor.

There are moments in the world of science fiction in which as a viewer, the onlooker into the world of the fantastic and seemingly off kilter from our own perceptions of reality. Where you just know in a darkened corridor or locked basement where writers are kept from the prying eyes of the public and their demands, that the occasional fist bump, high five or even hugging with certain amounts of glee are to take place when they explain themselves out of a possible predicament in a story line. If that is the case then all three signs of exuberant showmanship should have been heard somewhere around the bay of Cardiff as the fourth episode of the 2015 series of Doctor Who played out.

Not only would the sound of high fives, gleeful squeals and grins wider than the gulf that separates English Rugby from its counterparts would have been noticeable but also that rare aspect of using the Doctor as part early morning Open University television presenter and part imparter of a universal secret was employed to its fullest and perhaps most daring potential as the Before the Flood opened and before the title sequence was heard.

The Bootstrap Paradox is a device that rarely gets used properly in the world of science fiction and has perhaps only been used to its greatest effect in the classical era when looked at from the angle of the self-fulfilling prophecy and the way in which Oedipus plays his own part in his own demise. Thankfully this paradox, in a programme which delights in taking the science to its most outer reaches and in which at times is happy to lose the focus of some of its viewers if it has them reaching for the text books, is never anything but entertaining as it makes the viewer and the writer work harder than normal in the appreciation of the show.

Whatever the paradox, the sight of Peter Capaldi absolutely revelling in playing Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony on an electric guitar, the horrific nature of The Fisher King’s intention and the innocence and delight in Morven Christie’s character of O’Donnell as she got to repeat the immortal lines of “It’s bigger on the inside” over and over again caused internal high fives all round, the appreciation of seeing a fan have the pleasure of such an occasion surely having the viewer smile at such overwhelming joy.

There may have been talk, speculation, of the show’s apparent demise and yet the story lines are so strong, the acting, especially by Jenna Coleman and Peter Capaldi, is off the scale and the sheer scale of the darkness that dwells within the Doctor monumental, Doctor Who has nothing to fear but the despair of those who hate success.

A tremendous conclusion to a very good two part story, the excitement builds for the viewer every step of the way.

Ian D. Hall