Pete Messum Reviews...

It was very difficult not to be excited for Legend of the Sea Devils . Not only did it mark the first time since 1984 that the aquatic foes had appeared in the series, but only their third story since their debut fifty years ago, despite being one of the most iconic Doctor Who monsters ever. The return of the Sea Devils has been on fans' wishlists for years, even after the horrific redesign of the Silurians for The Hungry Earth , so hopes were high for this 2022 Easter special. My expectations had been tempered somewhat prior to broadcast, not helped by a general lack of promotion for the special, yet even so I find myself thoroughly disappointed. I'd recently discovered rumours that Legend of the Sea Devils had been a turbulent production for the Doctor Who team, scheduled just after a last-minute New Year's Special that had been written in around a week by showrunner Chris Chibnall (after writing/co-writing six scripts consecutively, all drastic reworkings of an exist

The shot of the Sea Devils rising from the sea became an instantly iconic image in the minds of a whole generation of children in 1972. As someone born nearly three decades later, my first impression of the Doctor Who's aquatic foes was a photograph on the front cover of the Destiny of the Doctors computer game: a strange tortoise-like creature wielding what appeared to be a mechanical eye. I'd no doubt seen odd shots as part of monster montages on Doctor Who Confidential , but about a decade ago, I finally watched all six episodes of The Sea Devils for the first time ever. Malcolm Hulke 's scripts for The Sea Devils are sequels to not one but two stories: firstly as a successor to his own Doctor Who and the Silurians , a tale of prehistoric lizard creatures being reawakened millions of years into their future to find that mankind has taken over their planet; secondly as a follow-on from The Daemons , the finale to the preceding "Master season" that introduced

As Doctor Who’s twenty-second season drew to a close, the future of the series was uncertain. The show had been unceremoniously cancelled during the broadcast of The Two Doctors, before the BBC backtracked and decided that the show was “on hiatus”. The plans for Season 23 were swiftly abandoned as the show attempted to reinvent itself. Revelation of the Daleks marks the end of Doctor Who’s run of success, making it rather apt that it should be set in Tranquil Repose: a place where the rich and wealthy of the universe go to rest in suspended animation, until such a time as they can be cured from whatever disease or illness is about to kill them. Naturally, Tranquil Repose is all part of a cunning ploy by the Cybermen- I mean, the Daleks. Davros has taken over the planet as its “Great Healer” and uses the bodies of the nearly deceased to create a new army of Daleks. The Doctor and Peri arrive to discover that a trap has already been laid, and that Davros has become the target of not only

For Who the bell tolls... As 2022 begins, this year marks the beginning of the end for the current era of Doctor Who , with a trilogy of specials concluding Jodie Whittaker 's run as the Thirteenth Doctor, alongside faithful companion Yaz ( Mandip Gill ) and showrunner Chris Chibnall . The first of these, Eve of the Daleks , makes for the third in a trilogy of Dalek-centric New Year's Day specials from the current production team ( Spyfall : Part One wasn't technically an NYD special after all...), and in a strange quirk of timey-wimey-ness airs fifty years after the iconic Day of the Daleks - the metal meanies first appearance in colour! After the convoluted shenanigans of Flux , and following on from two fairly solid Dalek specials, is Eve of the Daleks worth a watch - or does it deserve to be exterminated...? In short: it's fine. A perfectly solid, watchable hour of television that's standalone enough to satisfy a more casual audience not caught up with Flux ,

After five weeks of excitement and build-up, Doctor Who: Flux wraps up one of the show's biggest stories in a convoluted mess of a finale that, if nothing else, reminded me of how much I enjoyed the middle three instalments. Chapters One and Five seemed primarily interested in moving the pieces around to set up key plot points for later on, while Chapter Six: The Vanquishers is forced to wrap everything up in a satisfying manner within an hour. With so many characters and storylines, it's hard to keep track of exactly what's going on, who's where and what the endgame is. In fact, the plot is so all over the place that the Doctor is split into three selves in order to save the day. The Vanquishers is not without its highlights: most of the scenes and plot points work well on their own, although are all in need of more screen time to really expand on them. The Lupari are murdered off-screen (and apparently not killed in battle, but chucked out of an airlock by Sontaran

One notable criticism levied at Doctor Who: Flux so far has that it's been too complex, and may well have alienated the show's more casual viewers. This is a bit of a double-edged sword. If Doctor Who plays it too safe, audiences will lose interest. If the show aims for something more complex, far out and cerebral, people turn it off because they can't understand it. Personally, I think that the show can strike a firm balance between the two, and Flux just hasn't quite managed this.  For one thing, a large part of the story revolves around the Timeless Child revelations from the end of Series 12...which aired in March 2020. There's no recap in the "previously" segments, and expecting everyone to remember those revelations after a year and a half of...well, you know what seems a bit ridiculous. Also, The Timeless Children is only vaguely comprehensible if you've seen The Deadly Assassin - a four-part Tom Baker story from 1976. Chris Chibnall may h