Doctor Who: The Magician’s Apprentice. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, Michelle Gomez, Julian Bleach, Jami Reid-Quarrell, Jemma Redgrave, Jaye Griffiths, Harki Bhambra, Daniel Hoffman-Gill, Joey Price, Benjamin Cawley, Aaron Neil, Clare Higgins, Nicholas Briggs, Kelly Hunter, India Ria Amarteifio, Dasharn Anderson, Stefan Adegbola, Shin-Fei Chen, Lucy Newman-Williams, Demi Papaminas, Barnaby Edwards, Nicholas Pegg, Jonathan Ojinnaka.

It is a question that has been part of Doctor Who folklore for 40 years, from the moment that Tom Baker took two wires into his hands and reflected upon the idea of taking a species life, of making sure they were never created to become the scourge and faces of fear that they would truly become, it is the quietly spoken doubt that has been nagging away waiting to realised. It might have taken four decades to realise but The Magician’s Apprentice, the intense and bang on the money start to the ninth series of new Who, finally asked the question and the return of perhaps the greatest of all enemies gave a explosive answer.

Davros has been so criminally underused since his first appearance in arguably one of the finest tales and thoughts on morality in the history of the long running B.B.C. series, the sensational Genesis of the Daleks, and yet it is that feeling of neglect, of abandon, that brings into sharp focus the bombshell of all bombshells as the Doctor and the Tardis answer a cry for help in the Universe and the shock of revelation is revealed.

If that wasn’t bad enough, to have The Master/Missy come looking for you in a self-confessed appeal to save your life is more than enough to send shivers up the backbone and ask for protection. In the space of a year, the progression of Michelle Gomez may be seen to have actually grown on many of the fans, many of whom were perhaps perplexed by the sudden shift in portrayal and yet in one moment of madness as she calmly takes another’s life when Clara accuses of her turning good, the whole point of the Master’s existence, whether played by the great Roger Delgado or the equally epic John Simms or by Ms. Gomez is exposed.

When a story such as this is produced, the first thought may be for the truly obsessed fan is please don’t trash over previous stories, don’t let them disturb something that has become entrenched into the Doctor Who mythology and it is with satisfying rancour that the current series front-runner Stephen Moffat has hopefully been made aware of the excellent Big Finish audio four-part drama, I Davros, which explains so much about the dark man of nightmares early years and his path to the monster he becomes.

The question of 40 years, the question that has haunted Doctor Who since the final moments of Genesis of the Daleks has been asked and responded too, the past has a habit of doing that.

Ian D. Hall