Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill, Alan Cumming, Siobhan Finneran, Tilly Steele, Tricia Kelly, Arthur Kay, Stavros Demetraki.
Some incarnations of The Doctor impress you from the very beginning, some take time to grow on you, in a world that has become increasingly impatient and demands results straight away, it is only to be expected that there are fans who might display a little less rationale when it comes to seeing their favourite character portrayed against the stereo-type they have built up in their own mind, expected but still disappointing, understood but concerned that they cannot see beyond their field of perceived vision of what makes a hero.
In Joy Wilkinson’s The Witchfinders, Jodie Whittaker came of age, already impressing, and despite the gnashed teeth and broken ideals of some, became The Doctor in absolute spirit and deed, the time traveller from Gallifrey taking on one of the most insidious moments of British history, the plague of demonising innocent women and accusing them of the practice of witchcraft, a disease of mind that saw King James I become an “authority” on the subject and in which many were murdered just for being different or for falling foul of the landowners and the influential.
Whole communities across the British Isles were touched by this force of evil, across Europe and in the newly flourishing colonies of America, the accusations of witchcraft left scars that have never healed, and it is a surprise that the makers of Doctor Who have never ventured into this territory before, but then again it couldn’t have been done without a woman’s touch, without an actor who could argue the suffering under male patriarchy whilst having the character understand that by having once been male, the ability to just walk in on the situation and use engrained authority is now denied her.
Whether in the presence of a King, portrayed with genius by the superb Alan Cumming, or in the eyes of 17th Century villagers who believe that anything seen that involves a technological advance must be the work of magic and devilry, being a woman has always been fraught with danger, the wrongly whispered word a sure fire way of facing the punishment of the ducking stool or even hanging. It is a woman’s world in which such terror and persecution is faced with compassion still in their hearts.
The Witchfinders has everything in which the series was built upon, distrust, a believable monster, a lesson in history, superb acting, and a Doctor you can trust. Jodie Whittaker’s incarnation of the Doctor comes of age.
Ian D. Hall