Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, Michelle Gomez, Julian Bleach, Jami Reid-Quarrell, Joey Price, Nicholas Briggs, Barnaby Edwards, Nicholas Pegg.
Two-part stories within the world of Doctor Who have a habit of being lost in the storm, the build up can be a let-down or the finale such a disappointment that the whole structure of the tale becomes a series of woes and misbegotten anecdotes struggling to breathe in the weight of expectation.
However the ninth series of the long running science fiction programme has done something very special within its opening two episodes and brought together almost everything the fan and the casual observer could ever ask for, a story of such magnitude that it could make the mightiest mountain move and make its way confidently toward the prophet. It is an episode that Steven Moffat as both series lead writer and a fan in his own right, was born it seems to pen and bring to life. Such is the magic in the detail of The Witch’s Familiar.
The Witch’s Familiar sees arguably the finest performance by any of the acting luminaries to have played the creator of the Daleks. Davros, like The Master, is such an important character to the canon of Doctor Who that it cannot be played without gravitas or a sense of passion. Terry Malloy, the finest of them all to play the part, captured the sense of evil dwelling inside the madman to perfection; what Julian Bleach manages to bring to the realm of Skaro is the sense of dying corruption, of insanity having left for the briefest of seconds and yet seeing it bubble out of sight. The tears of regret, of the true boy in the man who became a monster and the snarl of majesty tempered in one dynamic scene of such magnitude that it will go down in history as one of the top moments of Doctor Who.
The episode also becomes special for the flourishing and outrageous properties that Michelle Gomez brings to the role as Missy, the female incarnation of The Master. Whilst not winning over the vast majority of fans in the previous series, the special bond between The Doctor and The Master has intensified and has the feel of appreciation once found in the Jon Pertwee’ Roger Delgado era and what could have been if Derek Jacobi had been allowed more time within the role. Michelle Gomez even matches the great Geoffrey Beevers for the slyness and general worm like crawl of getting into your head whilst stabbing both the Doctor and his companion, as well as the viewer in the back and smiling happily when doing so.
The Witch’s Familiar will surely go down in history as one of the greatest ever episodes because it finally brought all the finest aspects and traditions to the show in one mighty effort by writer Steven Moffat. A companion brave enough to stand up to both the Doctor’s greatest foes, the meeting between monsters, Davros at his scintillating calculating best and the whole point of being the Doctor, compassion. The series was said to have lost some viewers because of its darkened tone since Peter Capaldi took over the reins, if anything, it should be congratulated and viewed with more respect that it has turned away, for now, from the frippery and delight of previous series.
An episode of intense story-telling, Doctor Who at its finest, if it sounds familiar then as a viewer you understand the importance of such a chapter in the life of The Doctor.
Ian D. Hall