Doctor Who season 14 review: The sci-fi staple gets a bigger budget and zippier pace
As the Fifteenth Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa is all wide-eyed enthusiasm and buttery-smooth charm in the Disney+ series
It feels as if we’ve waited forever for the new season of Doctor Who to drop. And sure, we knew the TARDIS was in the capable hands of the impossibly charismatic Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa, you were born to wield that sonic screwdriver!), but longtime fans couldn’t help but feel a little trepidation over the show’s move to Disney+. Would this make for lighter and fluffier fare than we’re used to? More singing? More impossibly sweet happy endings?
Well, we’ve only been offered a peek at the first two episodes, but it’s safe to say that the show, which kicks off its fourteenth season on May 10, does feel quite different than what’s come before. The budget is bigger, for starters, which means the Doctor doesn’t spend as much time wandering around London and Cardiff as he once did. The pace is zippier, too: Not to get all Moira Rose about it, but each episode rumbles along at a dangerously rapid velocity, with barely a moment for the Doctor (or viewers) to take a breath. And, as already hinted by showrunner Russell T Davies, the show takes a sly step towards the realm of fantasy, which is likely set to displease some hardcore sci-fi fans primarily because logic and scientific explanations (traditionally the bread and butter of the genre) aren’t always to be found in abundance.
Still, the Doctor and Ruby Sunday do what the Doc and his companions have always done best: travel across time and space, embarking on zany adventures all the way from Regency England to the cold and clinical Baby Farms (exactly what they sound like) of the future. Which means, yes, you can expect the dynamic duo to don costume after costume as they come face-to-face with the likes of the bogeyman and the Beatles, not to mention the Maestro (Jinkx Monsoon), a musical villain who just so happens to be part of a pantheon of playful and terrifyingly powerful gods.
Gatwa, as mentioned already, is a brilliant Doctor, all wide-eyed enthusiasm and buttery-smooth charm. Unlike the Doctors who came before him, Fifteen is also in possession of some much-needed self-awareness: This is a time-traveling alien who’s in tune with his emotions, recognizes when he’s afraid or when something’s off, and is far less prone to furious flare-ups as a result. It makes for a kinder hero, particularly as he even seems to better understand humans and their pesky need for connection. Indeed, he happily hands Ruby a fully-charged mobile phone without even needing to be asked, solely so she can calm her nerves and check in with her mum.