Doctor Who – Series 8, Episode 3 – Robot of Sherwood

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Robin of Sherwood - Doctor Who

four star

Our manic weekend, meant I didn’t get to watch this live – I just caught up!

I tried my hardest to avoid reading anything about this episode, as I didn’t want to pre-judge it – and that mostly succeeded.

In truth, I don’t normally like comedic Doctor Who episodes , and accidentally reading some headlines online, showed that I wasn’t alone. The Telegraph loved it, whilst many other Papers most definitely did not!

Ooo-err, here we go then! I wonder how it’ll go?

Actually, it wasn’t too bad – you normally can’t go wrong with a Mark Gatiss script, and this one, in my opinion, was no exception. It worked well, and I did therefore find myself chuckling on quite a few occasions (even though I wasn’t expecting to!). I also liked the extra airtime given to the development of Clara’s character – she’s becoming more feisty as each episode airs, and the rumour that she’s leaving in the Christmas episode, just seem to be at odds with her increased screen-presence.

Overall, the only disappointment for me is that all the promotion for this series has been about a ‘darker’ Doctor, but this episode couldn’t have been lighter if it tried! – apart from the closing scene where the character, Robin, in his final scene with The Doctor, reflects on coming to terms with the fact that he’s a hero surrounded by myths – and then both come to realise this applies to The Doctor himself – is a chilling moment! The scripted line: ‘the impossible hero’ was therefore ‘spot-on’ in my book.

On a final note (having packed away my funny bone), I was left slightly confused over one point in this episode: was the Sheriff of Nottingham a robot? Apparently, having now read the online reviews in more detail, I’m not alone. Showing respect for the family of Steven Sotloff, the recently beheaded American Journalist, the scene where the Sheriff is beheaded, and therefore shown to be a robot, was edited out – but it was too late to edit anything IN to replace it. Is it me, or was this scene quite a pivotal one?

Perhaps more darkness next week?

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