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, and with a simpler story too. Chris Chibnall apparently wrote the script in two weeks, having been forced to re-work his Series 13 plans after a global pandemic halted production in 2020, and I suspect the smaller scale narrative was a handy way of streamlining the writing process, as well as not causing too many issues with the various Covid-19 restrictions the show has been faced with. As much as I do sympathise with the circumstances, I still feel that Chibnall's script isn't particularly sharp, and perhaps needed another rewrite before going in front of the cameras.
The time loop concept is ingenious, and surprisingly original -
Doctor Who hasn't attempted such a tale on screen in its sixty-history - with the story taking clear cues from the likes of
Groundhog Day,
Edge of Tomorrow and
Palm Springs. There's a good pace throughout, with the ensemble cast remembering the loop instantly, and allowing for the narrative to keep moving. Unfortunately, the actual mechanics of the time loop are never properly explained. The implication is that the dying TARDIS was re-setting the loop to keep the Doctor and friends alive, but in that case, what caused the loop to end? Was the TARDIS following the adventure happening around it? I'm glad to see the dying TARDIS strand of
Flux get some kind of resolution here, even if that aspect seemed to be handily resolved within the five-ish minutes the special took place over. Perhaps if the TARDIS had been more "healed" with each loop, that could have been fun? At the end of the day, none of this matters too much.
Aisling Bea and Adjani Salmon were lots of fun as the rom-com couple caught up in the narrative; Bea added a down-to-earth level of sarcastic humour which contrasted nicely with the time travel shenanigans, and while her chemistry with Salmon took practically the entire duration of the special to develop into something more believable, by the end I did actually start to invest in their romance.
Of course, all of this is designed to parallel the "will-they-won't-they" romance between the Doctor and Yaz, an aspect of the show that some fans have been pushing for since 2018, which finally received an on-screen confirmation (aside from the constant subtext in previous episodes). Quite where Chibnall intends to take this character dynamic I'm not sure - the Doctor seems hesitant to acknowledge any feelings she may or may not have for Yaz, while Yaz seems unsure of how to broach the subject with the Doctor. I think this was a nice twist to the episode, even if otherwise Yaz and Dan have very little to do. Despite this being his second "story", John Bishop's Dan constantly felt side-lined, and once again was separated from the Doctor for most of the running time. Chibnall really doesn't seem interested in building a Dan/Doctor dynamic, which is quite disappointing as Whittaker and Bishop are excellent together in the brief moments they have.
All in all,
Eve of the Daleks is just...fine. It's a great story, albeit lacking in the comedy aspect of the rom-com genre, and the Daleks themselves feel more like obstacles to overcome than characters in their own right (although the "I am not Nick" gag, in reference to Dalek voice actor
Nicholas Briggs, was quite amusing). They're not handled poorly per say, but they're not as menacing or as fun as in
Resolution or
Revolution of the Daleks. New director
Annetta Laufer handled the story well, keeping the time loops consistent but never boring, with the handheld camerawork adding a nice level of intimacy with the characters, and any
Doctor Who episode with a Mrs Doyle cameo is always going to get a smile out of me.
But next time...the Sea Devils return! At long last! Easter can't come soon enough...
Doctor Who will return this Spring in Legend of the Sea Devils.
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