Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gill, Tosin Cole, Sacha Dhawan, Lenny Henry, Stephen Fry, Aurora Marion, Slyvie Briggs, Mark Dexter, Shibna Gulati, Ravin J. Ganatra, Bhavnisha Parmar, Melissa De Vries, Sacharissa Claxton, William Ely, Brian Law, Buom Tihngang, Asif Khan, Andrew Bone, Ronan Summers, Christopher McArthur, Darron Meyer, Dominique Maher, Struan Rodger, Lex Lamprey, James Rockey, Andrew Pipe, Tom Ashley, Kenneth Jay, Blanche Williams.

The spies in disguise, ones to whom perhaps have thrown off the shackles of the previous series and now have free reign to take the long running show into a new direction.

Whilst Jodie Whittaker’s first run in the shoes of the mysterious Doctor had some incredibly touching, poignant, and downright incredible highs, notably the episodes The Witchfinder, Demons of the Punjab and Rosa and the introduction of Graham O’ Brien, played by Bradley Walsh, the initial series with Chris Chibnall at the helm didn’t grab the attention of the many of the fans as it might have expected to. Some have blamed the writing, the sudden shift in perspective and perhaps most unfairly, that of Jodie Whittaker in the role of the ancient Timelord and yet the sense of new takes time to bed in, the viewer must lose its way before it is found again, and with any change, there will always be resistance.

Resistance though, as another science fiction character once menacingly threatened, is futile, and change in Doctor Who needs to happen, whether gradually, or with revolution, and as the opening two-parter to the new series, Spyfall, opened its eyes and blinked at the world, the sense of welcome revolution could be felt stirring.

For some Jodie Whittaker was a wrong choice as the first incarnation of the Doctor in female form and yet, as she proved in the more intriguing episodes of the last series. She has all that is required of the seminal character and more and it is with a certain glee that she brings those superb quirks and attributes to the new series but also the very emotion that was left from her arsenal, that of damage. The Doctor, no matter who plays the part, needs to be able to show damage, loneliness, the fear of being unable to save someone, anyone, and most of all, from not revealing a truth, an actuality, that when pushed, the Doctor can create chaos that knows no bounds.

There is so much to Spyfall, least of all the inclusion of Sacha Dhawan as the shadowy O, for the audience to enjoy but it is in the genius of the unexpected that the two episodes open up the sense of revolution. It should make not a jot of difference that The Doctor is a woman but how do you explain all that goes on around her and by revolution, by placing fear into the character you see possibilities. Of course, it will never be seen as high performance drama, that does’t matter, but it should install a craving for knowledge, a sense of wanting to learn something new, to embrace the unexpected and have fun…and Spyfall succeeds on all those levels.

There are still problems, it is to be expected, not least the amount of companions competing for a small resource of Time but these are minor intrusions and it can only be hoped that these first two episodes of the series are indication that Chris Chibnall has reappraised his love for the long running serial, for after all it is no secret, the Child of Time still has stories to tell.

Ian D. Hall