Doctor Who – Series 2, Episode 1: The Robot Revolution

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It’s back! 🤔 The first episode of eight begins tonight.

Doctor Who – Series 2, Episode 1: The Robot Revolution

Transmitted at 6:50pm on BBC1, I watched it on iPlayer earlier in the day. How so? Beginning with this series, here in the UK, it’s available to stream from 8am, so you can guess where I was at 8.01!!!! 😉. In order not to spoil the story for those who have yet to watch it, this will post after tonight’s airing ends at 7.35pm.

Synopsis

When robots from outer space kidnap nurse Belinda Chandra, the Doctor embarks on
an epic intergalactic quest to return his new friend back home to Earth.

Talking of returns, the show also saw Millie Gibson’s character, Ruby Sunday, back on board, while Jemma Redgrave (as Kate Lethbridge Stewart), Anita Dobson (playing the mysterious Mrs Flood) and Bonnie Langford (Melanie Bush) are backto reprise their regular roles in this series – but you’ll only have seen one of them tonight – and not for long either. There’s a new companion lined up too – Varada Sethu taking on the role of The Doctor’s new ‘companion’: Belinda Chandra.

Was it any Good?

It’s an interesting story, where both Nkuti Gatwa and newcomer Varada Sethu perform flawlessly and convincingly in their respective roles. They both look like they’ve been doing this forever, and Belinda Chandra is particularly feisty when first interacting with our hero.

Ultimately, it was a very watchable episode, but, for me, let down by a corny, somewhat obvious ‘big reveal’ in the final act. Still, if I were ‘new to Who’, would I stick around for the rest of this series based on this one? I think ‘yes’, as it’s a pacey, noisy yarn with plenty going on (just perfect for ‘de yoof’). Even for this grizzled old fan, who’s fighting hard to ‘keep the faith’, I even surprised myself by how much I enjoyed it. 😲

There’s one early shock where you might want to avert your eyes though! This incarnation of The Doctor is known for his flamboyant dress sense, but even though I do like the occasional 70s party wear, what I saw the iconic Doctor wearing looked just completely OTT! I won’t give away the details, just prepare yourself for a VERY serious fashion statement! Thankfully, he only wears it in the first few scenes. 👏

The interplay between the two lead characters – The Doctor and Belinda Chandra – is an interesting one. Initially, they don’t quite hit it off, and the relationship is quite ‘spiky’. In fact, it felt a lot like the Third Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) in The Runaway Bride shown way back on Christmas Day, 2006.

In my world, Who is best when it’s a serious and darker storyline (see my monochrome scale below) and the light-comedic opening scenes of this one didn’t bode well. Luckily, after the opening credits, we were in more serious territory. With the opening Theme tune over (did I hear a slight remix?) the story immediately felt familiar (ish)…. The Doctor visiting a hospital… a stressed-out Nurse… invading aliens... again treading familiar territory. That territory was from Series 3, Episode 1: Smith & Jones when The Third Doctor first met companion Martha Jones (31 March, 2007). So far, not very original. 🙁🙁

Back to some positives: Production values on this one were very high – cinematic standard – where the Disney+ presence is all over this, resulting in no expense spared on SFX and scenery. In 2025, wobbly sets are a thing of the past with Doctor Who! 🫣

More good news! In this episode, thankfully, the ‘Mr Humphries Campometer’ has been dialled down (to virtually zero) for The Doctor – and I hope it continues. He appears much more heroic and wordly-wise in this one, just as a 1000-year-old Time Lord should be!! 👍

Am I ‘in’?

Forty-three minutes later, and based on this episode, am I still ‘in’? Here’s my thinking: I like my Who storylines to be a lot darker, but this was a ‘3’ at best, where the ‘big reveal’ was more of a ‘fairytale’ in style – and I’m more of 6/7 kinda fan. On the plus-side, the two leads are well paired; there’s a longer story arc rolling out revealed in the final minutes (that looks like an 8/9), and finally, The Doctor has lost his campness. Yes, I’m in – so far, so good!

Next Episode?

Next week’s story is simply entitled: Lux, and goes out slightly later at 7.15pm. Early teasers suggest it features a cartoon character called ‘Mr Ring-a-Ding’. At this stage, I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry!!! 😆😢

See you then! 🙂✍️