TV Review: Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials (2023)

Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials (2023) written by Russell T. Davis and directed by Rachel Talalay, Tom Kingsley, and Chanya Button

The Fourteenth incarnation of the Doctor has the same face as the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant)! A series of specials for the sixtieth anniversary of the show features Tennant and Catherine Tate returning as Donna Noble. Three fun episodes?

The Star Beast--The Doctor lands on present day Earth where he nearly runs into Donna. He does not want to do that because if she remembers him, she will die (because of entirely fabricated complications, the usual Doctor Who blather). He tries to avoid her as everyone except Donna sees an alien spaceship crash in London's outskirts. Donna has a daughter named Rose (Yasmin Finney) and a husband and a supposedly happy life. Rose winds up finding a cute alien creature, The Meep, which she tries to protect from the hostile aliens that have also landed on Earth and want to capture The Meep. The show has the usual dramatics and action of a Doctor Who episode with a very cinematic visual flare. There's a nice twist for the third act and a great deal of fun leading to the Doctor and Donna going for one last adventure in the TARDIS. There are some clumsy woke moments in the show, e.g. it is hard to tell whether they are mocking or affirming a character choosing a pronoun.

Wild Blue Yonder--Of course the TARDIS goes off course, landing the Doctor and Donna at the edge of the known universe in a seemingly empty, gigantic ship. The TARDIS suddenly transports out, leaving them stranded. Donna panics and the Doctor realizes the TARDIS only leaves when extreme danger is nearby. They investigate the ship, hoping to stop the danger and thereby let the TARDIS return. The adventure is fun, along with a little bit of character development and revelation. Not the best Doctor story, but good enough.

The Giggle--Neil Patrick Harris guest stars as The Toymaker, a villain who wants to play games and win. He's used a puppet to drive human beings crazy, forcing the Doctor and Donna to team up with UNIT to stop him. The mechanics of the plot are very nonsensical which could have been okay if the cast was up for a bit of whimsy. For me, they played it a little too straight to make the fun outweigh the logical inconsistencies and incoherences. The new Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) has a nice introduction, though I hope he gets a pair of pants in the Christmas special. Tennant's Doctor gets a nice coda and a huge opening to come back at any time. Donna gets the ending that she deserves, which made me very happy.

Overall, these are okay. I didn't see anything really great here but I was entertained. I want to go back and watch the Donna Noble episodes. She is the best of the modern companions, maybe the best one from the whole sixty year history.

As I write (December 2023), the episodes are available streaming on Disney+ in America and other countries outside of the UK (where it is available from BBC).

TV Review: Broadchurch Series Three (2017)

Broadchurch Series Three (2017) created by Chris Chibnall

See my reviews of Series One and Series Two.

A late-40s-ish woman, Trish Winterman (Julie Hesmondhalgh), is raped at the fiftieth birthday party of her best friend. She doesn't immediately report it to the police (she is both ashamed and in shock), which causes problems for the investigation. Evidence isn't as fresh as it could be and there's a lot of ambiguity, as well as a lot of suspects. Trish is separated from her husband who isn't happy with her behavior (though he's the one that caused the breakup). She works at a farm shop on the outskirts of town and her supervisor (the owner of the shop) is a little too concerned about her. A taxi driver who was going back and forth from the party had made romantic overtures to Trish before. And fifty other men were at the party, so D.S. Ellie Miller (Olivia Coleman) and D.I. Alec Hardy (David Tennent) have their hands full.

Meanwhile, the show has a b-story line continuing the Danny Latimer drama, which I thought was wrapped up by the last series. Danny's dad, Mark, still hasn't accepted his son's death. He's estranged from his wife and two daughters and can't get the thought of revenge out of his mind. His wife, Beth (Jodie Whittaker, soon to be Doctor Who), has moved on and is now a victim's counselor/advocate. She is assigned to help Trish Winterman. So the stories start intersecting.

The mystery of who raped Trish Winterman is a little disappointing. I felt like viewers were marched through a long line of red herrings before the investigators were suddenly handed rock-solid evidence against the guilty party in the very last episode, and the ultimate culprit was pretty much unguessable until the last episode. So the mystery was a let-down.

I also found the attempt to squeeze more drama out of Danny Latimer's death unsatisfying. As I said, I thought that story was wrapped up and I found Mark's problems difficult to believe. The story does provide at least one great dramatic exchange between Beth and Mark, all the more powerful because it wasn't hysterics but complete honesty between a couple that handled the tragedy in different ways.

The other two series are very much about the community being in crisis, whether it is more important to keep secrets or to treat others with honesty and love. That theme continues here but is not as smoothly integrated. The show has a nice "take back the night" sequence that's a little corny and a beach football match that's supposed to help repair the community but winds up being an opportunity to throw out some more red herring clues. A few minor plotlines revolve around the school-aged children of Miller and Hardy, dealing with pornography and bullying. Some parents rise to the occasion; others don't. In another subplot, the local newspaper is being gobbled up by a large chain of papers, resulting in the indifferent and exploitative coverage that's more about bringing in the money and less about telling the truth or respecting people's privacy. So the show has plenty of elements on the importance of community, but they are more disjointed.

On the up side, the show deals very well with the impact of the rape on the many characters, providing views from a variety of viewpoints. Other, earlier crimes come out and each victim has different ways of handling her situation. The various men who are suspects show various levels of responsibility and willingness to take it seriously. At one point, Hardy says, "I'm ashamed to be a man." Some of the characters are insensitive but the show, while shocking in parts, is never graphic or gratuitous. The detectives' dogged determination wins the day. This series would be a great starting point for discussions, especially in this post-Harvey Weinstein era.

The acting is very good, especially Coleman and Tennent in their characters' professional and personal lives. The cast manages to make up for weaknesses in the script.

Recommended, though not nearly as good as the first two series (which were great drama).

TV Review: Broadchurch Series Two (2014)

Broadchurch Series Two created by Chris Chibnall

After the harrowing investigation of the death of a eleven-year old Daniel Latimer in the English coastal town of Broadchurch in the first series, the second series focuses on the trial of the guy who confessed to the crime. In the first episode, he enters his plea: not guilty. Everyone (including his defense attorney) is surprised. New legal teams are brought in for both sides. The defense has a win-at-all-costs young lawyer who is rather cynical about the justice system (with many reasons revealed through subsequent episodes). The prosecution has an older female barrister from Broadchurch come out of retirement to win one last case for the hometown. Sparks fly and more secrets are revealed as they spar over the truth and the possibilities of what happened the night of Daniel Latimer's death.

Meanwhile, new developments are happening in Alec Hardy's (well played by David Tennant) previous case, the one where things fell apart and it drove him to Broadchurch as a refuge. The prime suspect is back in the country and is trying to find his wife, who's been hiding in a cottage provided by Hardy. The old case starts to blow wide open, giving Hardy a chance to redeem himself for the botched case. Like the Broadchurch case, Hardy's case is much more complicated than it seems.

The acting and writing are excellent again, as is the cinematography. Viewers will have an easy time getting sucked into watching multiple episodes in one evening. The show does have one surprise relationship come up at the end that felt like shoe-horning in some politically correct content rather than actually contributing to the story or the theme. Otherwise this is a great show and a worthy successor to the first series.

TV Review: Broadchurch Series One (2013)

Broadchurch Series One (2013) created by Chris Chibnall

Police detective Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman) returns from a vacation expecting to find a promotion to chief inspector in her hometown of Broadchurch, England. The town is a small seaside village where everyone knows everyone else; life is quiet and pleasant. Back in the office, she discovers Alec Hardy (David Tennant) has been hired to the post. He's a detective from another part of England who has both a disdain for their small town and an abrasively cold demeanor. They do not hit it off well since she loves her community and is warm and caring. When an eleven-year old local boy's body is found on the beach, the investigation spirals out of control as the personal secrets of almost everyone in town are revealed while the local and national media put the worst possible spin on discovered secrets.

With eight hour-long episodes, the series delves deep into the characters' histories and motivations. Hardy's coldness and drive to find the killer come from a past where he failed to help another family in similar circumstances. He sees Broadchurch as a place to do penance and to find redemption. The eleven-year old boy's family suffer through many different horrible circumstances and secrets. Miller's son was friends with the dead boy, providing a personal connection to the case (though practically everyone in town has personal connections except for Hardy). The local vicar is young and has been trying to connect to the community. He rises to the occasion as the town faces the death and the secrets that start people pointing fingers at each other. The local press is goaded into action by the arrival of a London news writer who senses many opportunities arising from the boy's death. All these different threads come together naturally, moving the drama and the investigation forward in compelling ways.

The show is also very even-handed in its characterizations. Everyone has flaws, some quite serious. At first a few people seem purely evil but eventually their own hard histories come to light, which may not justify their wrong choices but makes those choices understandable to a degree. The people are emotionally and intellectually gripping.

The murder mystery is also interesting though it acts as a catalyst for other human dramas. This show is no standard police procedural. The ending is devastating but satisfying. I am not sure how they have a second series but I will definitely give it a try.

I was inspired to watch this show by (you guessed it) the good folks at A Good Story is Hard to Find Podcast which discusses this series on Episode 103.