Doctor Who Series 9 (No Spoilers)
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The opening episode of Doctor Who (S9) was aired on BBC tonight. It's entitled 'The Magician's Apprentice' and forms the first half of a two-part adventure.
My initial impression is that it's the best episode since Peter Capaldi took on the role. He seems to have lost the 'what the hell have I let myself in for?' body language that plagued so much of the previous series, and may - finally - be about to stamp his undoubted talent on the character.
The story oscillates wildly, and entertainingly, between genres until it settles down into something very dark indeed, and ends with a moral conundrum of the 'could you kill the infant Hitler?' type.
[For what it's worth I'd advise against it. Better the devil you know, and all that.]
Two moments which may be of more than passing interest to aficianados of this show: it's revealed that the Doctor was once a little girl - though this is probably a lie; Clara, meanwhile, confesses to her English class that her familiarity with Jane Austen isn't limited to her novels...
This episode looks like it had a decent budget. It's chock full of visual - and aural - surprises. And there's footage of Tom Baker from the 1970s.
A welcome return to form.