User Reviews

It seems a while since we've had a what if story, some memorable ones, turn left, sound of drum etc, this one poses the question 'what if the monks had been with us since the start?'

Some very interesting elements, The Doctor needing to ask Missy for help, the question of free will, and a companion that wasn't only willing to shoot the Doctor, she did so multiple times. Mackie has been sensational all series, but I see this as her best episode to date, her performance was impeccable, I've not witnessed such emotional engagement since Donna. I loved the scenes with Missy once again, especially those remorseful scenes at the close of the episode. I thought the images of the statues were excellent, as were the stories of the monks having always been here.

The disappointment I feel comes from the monks, during the first two instalments were led to believe that these Monks were virtually all powerful, able to influence free will, control weapons, infiltrate technology etc, and yet there was none of that here, they stood around passively, even the ending, this massively powerful race undone.....by a photograph.

I'm sure many of you will have spotted the electrical shop, Magpie, I always love a reference back to a previous episode, a nice touch. Is Maureen returning one day I wonder.

I enjoyed it, the trilogy deserved a little more 6/10

The trilogy is a most dangerous form of storytelling. It assumes that you will be able to tell one large story across three separate parts (or acts if you prefer) with each standing up on its own. The opening can be good, the middle can be strong, but it is the ending that might ultimately determine how the story is remembered. What has been termed "the Monks trilogy" has seen the long running British science fiction series Doctor Who attempt a trilogy in the middle of its tenth season with the titular aliens coming and taking over the Earth. So could the dystopian The Lie Of The Land bring the trilogy to a satisfying close?

Of course, this isn't the first time that Doctor Who has gone dystopian. The Classic Series (that is the original run of the series between 1963 and 1989) touched on it quite a bit in stories such as The Dalek Invasion Of Earth, The Sunmakers, and The Happiness Patrol. It's also been explored in the series' vast spin- off fiction including the Big Finish audios The Natural History Of Fear and Live 34. Even the New Series has touched upon it in episodes such as the Series Three finale Last Of The Time Lords and Matt Smith's second outing The Beast Below. Indeed, if The Lie Of The Land bares a resemblance to any previous Who episodes its the Series Three finale and not just because of the dystopian setting but because it also comes at the end of a three episode story arc in need of a resolution to set everything back to normal.

Which this episode not only does but does well. The first twenty minutes or so sees writer Toby Whithouse and director Wayne Yip create an Orwellian nightmare of an alien invasion. The Earth is occupied, the thought police are out on patrol, and the line from Orwell's most famous novel is brought to life: "Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past."

Like the previous parts of this trilogy, the episode asks viewers to look at our own world through a fun house mirror of sorts, one that suggests (like all good dystopian fiction does) that this and our own world are not too far apart. Indeed, I suspect anyone familiar with the aforementioned novel by Orwell will recognize a moment or two that the episode pays homage to. It's some of the most bleak, fascinating, and well directed minutes of New Who in recent memory that leads to a powerful scene that puts the TARDIS crew of this season on the line.

Once the set-up is completed, it's down to business. If last week's The Pyramid At The End Of The World showed how we could get ourselves into a mess of choosing potential tyranny with the best of intentions, this episode asks how we go about fixing it. It also allows Michelle Gomez's Missy to return to proceedings and give her a role in shaping events. The pointed satire of previous episodes is present throughout but most especially towards the end as the TARDIS crew aims to take down "fake news central" and which sees a potential sacrifice that might just save the world.

The thing is that this episode could easily have been a mess. The aforementioned Last Of The Time Lords was a solid episode until its closing minutes when Russell T Davies chose to turn the Doctor in a fairy, ripped off the end of Superman: The Movie, and invalidated in effect everything that had happened for the 45 minutes or so that came before it. What Toby Whithouse manages to do is not only build up an occupied world (and Britain especially) but also give a meaningful way of defeating the baddie that doesn't resort to something dang near close to magic to do so. It also pays off not only something that has been built into one particular character since their introduction but also allows the Doctor to make a pointed remark about how history seems to repeat itself.

It's not only Whithouse as a writer or Yip as a director who deserve to take the bows here. The TARDIS crew is one fire across the board. Peter Capaldi's Doctor is on fire in this episode from the first line he delivers right up to the last scene. Even Matt Lucas' Nardole (referred to now by his nickname "Nardy") is on fine form after having been regulated to the sidelines for most of the season thus far. It's Pearl Mackie as Bill who is the emotional heart of this episode as we see the woman who doomed the world trying not only to survive in the world she helped create but also trying to figure out how to right her wrong. Michelle Gomez does well in her brief appearances with characters and viewer alike never quite being sure of her intentions or sincerity while the supporting cast is solid though never too showy due to the focus on the regulars.

The Lie Of The Land is everything it should be. It's a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy as well as a solid piece of Who in its own right, a dystopian science fiction tale that asks the viewer to look at the world around us a little harder at how we might change the situations we find ourselves in. It might even show how to tell the kind of story that Russell T Davies tried to tell a decade ago and bungled up . Dare I say it but it is everything Last Of The Time Lords wanted to be and failed at.

And that is no lie.

I don't think I've been this emotionally invested in a Doctor Who episode since the Angels Take Manhattan. Sure, The Lie of the Land didn't give us a perfect ending to the Monk trilogy plot-wise, but what it gave us instead was one of the most intense, emotional, shocking, and well acted episodes of Doctor Who I have ever seen. Pearl Mackie was absolutely incredible- Bill is easily my favorite companion, and Mackie's performance here was heartbreaking, moving, and genuinely great. I'd say this is Capaldi's best episode this series too, but I prefer how Nardole was written in Oxygen, Extremis, and the Pyramid at the End of the World, where he was absolutely hilarious. Having Missy here was a huge positive too.

"The Lie of the Land" is a stunning Doctor Who episode that I will surely never forget. 10/10

The third and last part of the Monk trilogy is a little better than the second, but not nearly as good as the first. The very end, in particular, feels rushed and underbudgeted. But there is one powerful sequence near the end that may even make you cry. And Michelle Gomez continues to bring new dimensions to Missy. *** out of 4.

SPOILER: From the amazing fake regeneration, to the end of the monk trilogy, everything in this episode is great.

Six months have passed since Bill made her deal with the monks and everything has changed. The Monks control Earth and apparently they have always been here helping humanity; those who say otherwise are summarily convicted of 'memory crimes'. Bill however has a vague memory of the truth while The Doctor appears to be working with the Monks. Nardole returns and tells Bill that he knows where The Doctor is; he is on a prison ship off the Scottish coast. They make their way there and it look as though The Doctor really is working for The Monks! After a standoff Bill shoots The Doctor and he appears to start to regenerate before it emerges that he was testing Bill and the gun she used contained blanks. Having got the team back together they must find a way to strike back against the Monks; to do that they will have to consult Missy. She says she has defeated them before. After establishing just how they maintain control a simple solution is suggested; it would be the end for Bill though. The Doctor believes there must be another way; it won't be easy though.

This was a decent enough conclusion to this three part Monk story; it could have been better but was still entertaining. On the down side I was surprised just how quickly The Doctor forgave Bill for her action that led to the occupation of the Earth and the ending was a bit twee. Still there were good things; early on there was the question of whether the Monks had actually changed history or just people's memories. Once it is established that it is the latter and the method is determined it creates a nice dilemma for The Doctor that mirrors Bill's choice last week… of course this being the final part of the story another solution is discovered. This won't surprise anybody as Bill hasn't been his companion for long enough to be removed from the series just yet. I was relieved that she wasn't sacrificed only to be saved somehow. The scenes involving Missy were good; it will be interesting to see if the Doctor's hope of making her a good person are successful. Overall I'd say I enjoyed this; just not quite as much as I'd hope I would.

The finale of any trilogy can make or break the whole thing. Fortunately, this third part to the Monks trilogy delivers. Six months after Bill handed over the planet to the Monks in the previous episode, she fights to stay sane and hold on to the memories of events as they actually happened, while memory police kidnap and subdue any dissenters, Nardole is missing, and The Doctor appears to be helping the enemy. A pretty bleak opening, but sets up the episode rather nicely.

This episode is chock full of suspenseful, thrilling moments, as well as emotional ones, all wonderfully acted, as Bill reunites with Nardole and eventually The Doctor, though the reunion doesn't go quite as planned, and it seems he may have actually turned against humanity. It is probably the best scene in the episode and lets Capaldi loose to really be The Doctor for the first time in season ten, which was highly satisfying and entertaining, and further, lets Pearl Mackie delve into the character of Bill also, which is a treat. The battle with the Monks was also done well and in an artfully cinematic way. The return of Missy was also rather fun.

The only thing holding this episode back was its hasty conclusion. While the memory controlling machine itself was cool, the somewhat vague explanation as to why Bill's memory of or perhaps imagined version of her mother was all it took to release the Monks' grip on humanity's collective memories (and thus their control of humanity itself) felt like a sloppy rehash of The Rings of Akhaten when Clara defeated the "old god" with the simple memories of her mother (I miss Clara). Still, the episode was entertaining nonetheless, and a thrilling and satisfying conclusion to the Monks trilogy, so long as you don't thInk on it too hard. 9/10

This episode was a letdown. It was very anticlimactic and kind of dull. The ending of a trilogy should be worth the wait. It should also have a nice resolution to the following two episodes. I'm surprised The Monks didn't keep Bill under surveillance, as she's vital to their plan and a close associate of the Doctor. I also thought it was odd that Bill didn't question the Doctor about regeneration. She most likely didn't know what that yellow glow was after she shot him and it's within her character to be curious. The parts I enjoyed the most were the emotional moments with Bill. However, using her mom as means to defeat the Monks felt like a cop out.

I am a real sucker for a dark Orwellian theme.

The Thrillogy 9/10 !

Started in a virtual reality on how the decaying monks would invade Earth.

We also find out that Missy is in the vault.

The moved onto to an invasion where Bill sacrifices herself and the Doctor's sight is restored.

What happened to Erica?

So now onto the Orwellian nightmare where the Doctor is part of the monks' propaganda machine and Bill is trying to deal with her actions.

The monks have been here since the evolution of the Earth? Really Orwellian and Darwinian!

Nardole recovers and Bill is put to the test.

She passes and the prison hulk where the Doctor is, is now resistance HQ!!

Even the Master aka Missy needs to be consulted as an adversary.

March onto the Cathedral in London.

The Lie of the Land. The monks are benevolent and in great numbers? Not true.

What a transmitter.

Best line is Fake News Central!!

So the battle is between the Monks and the Doctor and companions.

Bill wins with the memory of her mother.

The oppressors are on the run. Will they be back?

The Doctor is not pure like Missy.

Shed a tear.

Next week , the British Army vs the Ice Warriors.

3 different writing styles, 3 different result.

Whithouse is effect in his Orwellian nightmare depiction.

You can't fault the ambition of this three (almost four) part arc slap bang in the middle of Doctor Who's tenth series. This string of episodes has tackled a hell of a lot - ranging from a fake world to a globally invaded world - and it's somewhat exciting to see a show so far into its run still willing to try out new things and experiment a bit. Unfortunately, this little experiment didn't really finish that strongly. Toby Whithouse's "The Lie of the Land" is a disjointed and frequently misjudged piece of television - it's the series' low point, that's for sure.

Since the events of the similarly uneven "Pyramid at the End of the World," the Doctor has seemingly joined the Monks. They've now taken over the world and somehow rewritten history, almost the entire global population are under the impression that the Monks have lived on Earth for thousands of years. Bill can see the truth, though. She knows the world is a lie. Eventually Nardole resurfaces, and the two of them must track down the Doctor and attempt to sway him back to their side in order to save the world.

It sounds like standard Doctor Who. However, once Bill and Nardole track down the Doctor, the episode finds a sequence so misjudged and sloppily executed that the show we know and love seems to stop existing. The Doctor must trick Bill into believing he really has sided with the Monks, leaving her no choice but to shoot him dead and unintentionally kick off his regeneration cycle. But it's all a trick. Yup, that shot from all the trailers is little more than a cheap fake out. It's a necessary fake out, granted, the Doctor does need to check Bill hasn't been manipulated by the Monks, but the scene abandons all nuance and goes so far overboard the biggest life jacket in the universe couldn't save it.

Bill has no reason to shoot the Doctor. It just doesn't make sense. I can forgive characters behaving irrationally in tenuous times, but shooting your best friend? Little old Bill, who just five episodes ago nearly had a breakdown when someone died? There's no part of her character that makes this a believable moment for either her personally or the narrative. The Doctor's phoney regeneration is also woefully pointless, seemingly existing solely to spice up that Next Time trailer from last week. The whole scene finds a pair of lovable characters at their worst. In fact, it's worse than that: it finds them away from themselves.

Once we get through this scene the episode seems to find some focus. Finally, we know where we stand with each character and the story can begin to progress. Instead, Whithouse detours his script to Missy and halts the episode dead once more. The Doctor visiting Missy makes logical sense - she has a life outside of him and so she's bound to have crossed the Monks before, and seeing if she serves up this information is a smart way of connecting this back to her promised personality shift from "Extremis" - but the scene just doesn't work.

Michelle Gomez is a blast in the role once again, and Missy does get a handful of cracking lines, but there's an overbearing sense of wasted time looming every second of it. Due to the structure of this three parter, "The Lie of the Land" is tasked with beginning and ending this invasion in just 45 minutes. Whithouse frankly needed to use every minute he had, and he doesn't. The episode does eventually pick up the pace after Missy leaves the spotlight, but even then the results are uneven.

"The Lie of the Land" is saved by Bill, and by Pearl Mackie. She displays conviction in a misjudged scene, emotion in some deeply touching moments, and strength in a potential farewell. Bill ultimately defeats the Monks by relaying her own interpretation of her late mother across the world, cancelling out her own prior invitation to the Monks and replacing it with something stronger. It just about makes sense - and it ties in perfectly with Doctor Who's trademark sci-fi with a heart thing - but "The Lie of the Land" has been so misguided beforehand that the moment doesn't really stick the landing. Though it must be said, that is no fault of Mackie's - she remains terrific even when the episode threatens to collapse around her.

There's some fun to be had here - the performances of all four key players are reliably strong and there are a handful of funny one liners scattered throughout - but this is a concluding episode that merely adds more issues on top of a story already filled with them. "Extremis" started this arc in breathtaking fashion, but everything since has failed to live up to its promise of something weird and wonderful. Hopefully the show can pick up some more steam next week: we're heading into the series' final act now, and there's a lot of momentum to be regained.

"Your version of good is not absolute"

I loved this episode so much, so powerful and Bill's speech was so moving. I will never be the same again. It addresses so many issues with our planet while also touching on the philosophy of the doctor and his morals really shine through. This is especially obvious when he's talk to Missy. 1987 by George Orwell doing a cartwheel, everything the human race is terrified of. Apocalypse is usually a theme I don't find too interesting, sometimes very samesie and similar to other stories, but this episode makes this topic even more frightening with a fate such as the one seen in the episode could have already happened. We could never realise if this sort of thing happened, and to me that makes this terrifying.

I seem to take a very rare point of view in thinking this episode is the best part of the 'Monk Trilogy'. I find this one very enjoyable.

Weirdly, and contrary to popular belief, the three Monk episodes are not officially a 3 part story, maybe because the previous 2 parts were written by Steven Moffatt with Peter Harness co-writing the 2nd part and this episode is written by Toby Whithouse. He comes up with a more cohesive, coherent, logical episode than the earlier two Monk episodes in my opinion.

We mostly get more logical storytelling and some nice ideas:

The 'fake news' idea is done well and is good political comment.

The emotion in this episode is strong and the characters and their actions are very interesting and engaging with some nice dialogue.

The acting is great too. Pearl Mackie continues to shine as Bill and is given some great material to show off the character's strengths. Matt Lucas is usually an amusing addition and is given a very good episode here with some depth. Michelle Gomez gets one of her best, most interesting developments and adds great sparkle to this episode. Peter Capaldi, as always, is the best thing in it.

A problematic part of this episode for me is how the Doctor tricks Bill to ensure the Monks are not controlling her or aware of his plans. Moffatt has a problem with taking things too far and also with trick deaths. The Doctor appearing to be 'killed' and doing a trick regeneration is another repetition of this death deception plot device really. But it is dramatic and it is not illogical because the Doctor would logically believe the Monks are controlling things. It is pretty harsh on Bill, though, and there are bits of this scenario as well as the rest of the episode that don't fully impress me as I felt it was a little bit heavy handed.

Another problematic aspect is that it ultimately boils down to yet another Moffatt era 'love conquers all' conclusion with Bill's thoughts of her mother prevailing over the Monks mind control and powers. This 'love conquers all' resolution is a bit of a cop out and is maybe the worst bit of the episode. However, it only really seems particularly weak because it has been done so many times in the Moffatt era so feels rather repetitive of various recent stories. Taken on its own it is an uninspired way to defeat the Monks but it is done with some emotionally strong work from Pearl Mackie.

Overall this is a decent episode. It is fun, interesting, mostly makes sense and is clearly stronger than parts 1 and 2, I think. Another good addition to a strong season.

My Rating: 8.5/10.

Series 10 Episode Ranking: 8th out of 14.

The Doctor's plan worked flawlessly or was his plan flawless, or perhaps the monks were completely useless because they didn't do anything or put up a fight which is perhaps evidence of his plan being so good. The episode was pretty swell I must say however the resolution satisfying, there were a couple great jokes in the episode as well which was nice. Would definitely recommend this three-parter, totally different to any Doctor Who anything I've seen before.

Started off pretty well, like that episode when Martha was trying to save the world against the Master, but then it went a bit Pete tong didn't it?

As the episode progressed, it got weirder and weirder. For example the whole joke scene when the Doctor was tricking Bill into thinking he was with the Monks was just a bit unnecessary and forced. I didn't really feel like the Monks were really that much of a threat, and I didn't feel like the main characters were under threat. The way they just nonchalantly tossed aside Matt Lucas character's injury was a bit disappointing as well, really expected a solid sub plot with that. At the end when all was resolved there wasn't really a lot of emotion from the characters, more like they were 'content' if that makes sense. Finally, Pearl Mackie's overacting was quite cringy, e.g. Her shooting the gun scene. Tone it down a bit pls and stop over complicating the plots.

Daleks take over Earth Martha Jones leads resistance, Donna uses her mind to win the day etc etc. This 3 part nonsense is just a regurgitation of much better episodes. We did the usual emotional stuff done a lot better by previous companions and then Earth conveniently forgets everything again. Like the magic trees and their fairy dust.

The writing is becoming worse and now nicking good ideas off previous Doctors under the Russ Davies era. What exactly the Monks were getting out of their invasion was never explained. One of them sat in a chair and beamed out fake news in a big pyramid in London.

Doctor does some stupid stuff that gets the gang to the pyramid and then he fails to defeat the Monk in chief. Never fear DoctorDonnaBill steps up and using a pure thought breaks the spell. Bit like Martha getting everybody to think about the Doctor at the same time when The Master had taken over Earth.

This brings me to the decent bit when we see the psychotic Missy trying to wean herself of violence locked in a box. I think we did that one before too with the Pandorica. Missy is a great character whereas Bill is not. Hopefully when this lot disappear she will still survive and hopefully still be bad.

The Monks were defeated rather easily and left us in their big pyramid. And then everybody conveniently forgot it all. Just like the Magic Trees. But the statues were still there and there was a huge flat area in London that nobody seemed to mind. It's a weak tool that he has used twice now.

Moffat has had some good actors under his stewardship and they never had a chance as he just tried to deliver a monumentally long story arc and blew it at the end. The Impossible girl and the hybrid which ended up being meaningless. Just like this stupid 3 part pile of corn.

It has been a long hard road but at least we will be rid of this fool soon enough. But it could have been different as he wrote some good solid stuff when Russ ran the show. But he never could match him when he moved up and did a disservice to people like Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi.

Desperation is setting in now as we are moving back to old faves like Ice Warriors and Cybermen with canvas heads and high pitched voices. How will he explain this after he destroyed the Cyberman story with his moronic Cybermen can grow from some old bones and remember their past even though their brain rotted away years ago as in the Brigadier/Cyberman remains to be seen.

A 2 year old chimp could come up with better story's.

This whole Moffat era has been a disaster. The Moon is an Egg, trees save us in times of peril and then we forget, his rubbish new Daleks, Skovox Blitzer, Fisher King. Ridiculous convoluted plots over several episodes that make no sense and contradict the whole of Dr Who before Moffat took over such as the Cybermen episodes. Really bad storytelling leaving the actors left to deliver idiotic dialogue.

This whole 3 part nonsense really scraping the barrel.

Episode 8, The Lie of the Land has been built up by trailers and interviews as being something quite special. We've all seen that regeneration in the trailers, and the trailers gave away to the eagle-eyed viewers that it would be in this episode. This is what makes The Lie of the Land such a disappointment.

The way "Pyramid's" next time trailer sold the story was by telling a story of Bill trying to save the Doctor by going through his friends and enemies, and ending the story by shooting the Doctor himself. This is a fascinating idea that hasn't been done before, the companion trying to stop the Doctor from fighting on the wrong side. I was hyped.

When it aired however, I soon discovered that this is just another Doctor and Bill try to stop alien invasion story. Nothing wrong with that, but it's not what I was sold.

If this episode had come without the misleading trailers and the prospect of a regeneration, I would've enjoyed this much much more than I did.

Now, I understand, this is episode 8, Peter Capaldi was most likely not going to regenerate in this episode, but even knowing this, that regeneration was such a tacked on cop-out that it actually made me angry.

I didn't expect the full-blown regeneration, but I at least expected something after the endless weight placed on this scene by the marketing team. That was the biggest disappointment for me, and I hoped after seeing that, that I could just move past and enjoy the rest of the episode, but the episode itself isn't that great either.

After the two previous episode in this arc, Lie of the Land feels very underwhelming. This is what the previous two episodes have been building up to, and yet the most interesting thing about this story is Missy's cameo about half-way in.

There's nothing of note within the plot which is just get to the pyramid and stop the invasion, and the characters aren't very deep.

The acting and direction are nice, but the rest just gives the impression that the story should've finished last week because there's very little left here.

The conclusion that Bill let the Monks control Earth, and therefor must die to send them back it used to no effect whatsoever and is instead simply put to one side so we can get back to running around a pyramid.

The Monks, who I loved in the previous episode, do next to nothing here. They stand around, occasionally they shoot electricity at people, but that's it.

The climax of the story is the worst part of the story. It's underwhelming and boring. I was expecting something clever, something awesome, but no, once again the conclusion was put down to "MAGIC"!

I was really looking forward to this one, but it feels like the writer didn't really understand what had come before this episode, and therefor didn't know what to do with it.

Despite the great acting from the supporting cast, and obviously Capaldi, Mackie, Lucas and Gomez, there's very little of note here, and this is a disappointing conclusion to a trilogy that started out very strong, and got weaker to the point of crashing and burning.

Still, at least we have Missy!

This week's Whovian sermon is the evils of 'fake news' as the "Lie of the Land" completes a three part story arc, cumulating in the Monks ruling earth by altering everyone's memories to reflect a past in which they have been our saviours since times primordial: an intriguing, if not too original premise (perhaps reflecting the recent popularity of '1984'). Unfortunately the story is ruined (imo) by the writers' insistence that the Bill and the Doctor have to carry the whole plot. The Monks need 'consent' (again lifting from current headlines) to take over the earth but when the UN, the military, etc. Offer, they are disintegrated because their consent is not pure and free of ulterior motives. The Doctor refuses outright and leaves but somehow Bill can consent for him and the fact that she only does so in return for Monks restoring his sight is, for some reason, not considered coercive. Anything the show is trying to say about free and informed consent as well as any consistency in the Monk's behaviour goes out the window at this point. The story go downhill from here. The third episode opens with a well done, tense action sequence with Bill and Nardole tracking down the doctor, confronting him, only to learn that he has joined the Monks, and cumulating in Bill shooting him. An excellent, dramatic scene, ruined by a 'yuk yuk, it was only a test' anticlimax. Then we find out the Bill is the lynch-pin for the Monks' control of our memories (explaining the need for the ridiculous consent sequence) and the only way out is to kill her (not take her a billion miles/years away in the Tardis?); but, after talking to the most recent incarnation of The Master (unfortunately now a woman, as Michelle Gomez's acting style would benefit from having a Snidely Whiplash-style moustache to twirl), they find a work-around (surprise!) and Bill foils the Monks' plot by thinking about her dead mum, which restores everyone's memories. The final insult to us, the viewers, is that, although the Monks' brain control is ended, they can still erase memories so everyone forgets what happened (the same cop-out epilogue used in 'Thin Ice' and in the earlier, ridiculous "In the Forest of the Night"). All in all, an interesting idea wrecked by sloppy writing and internal inconsistencies, and, given the show's continued tendency to bang on about some 'topical' (aka 'trendy') issue, I predict that this season of the Doctor will date as badly as did the space hippies episode in Star Trek (TOS).

In this episode, the Master has taken over the world with mind control. He has the Doctor held captive. But the Doctor isn't really the powerless captive he appears to be. All the while, he's been plotting while this long occupation has gone on and on.

Wait a second. That's a different episode of New Who. Substitute mummy monks for the Master. Now it's this episode.

It was an episode of the re-imagined BSG created by unimaginative people, an episode of Voyager, an episode of Enterprise, an episode of SG-1, an episode of episode of X-Men cartoon, an episode of Avengers, an episode of Justice League. It's a standard episode of most every sci fi show.

Bad directors and writers drop viewers into the middle of a story. That way, the viewers don't think about the lame story or bad acting. The viewers are too busy trying to figure out what's going on. It's been going on for a long time, you see. The occupation has been hard. It's hopeless.

The Master, or at least the gender bent New Who version of the Master, is present. She's there to give the viewers hope - she offers a simple plan to defeat the mummy monks. But it requires Bill's death. HURRAH! But the Doctor won't let Bill die. Boo! Bill gets not one, not two, but three super dramatic, just before she dies scenes.

Show don't tell is a basic principle of film making. But in this episode, viewers are told Bill often talks to her made up mum in times of trouble. Instead of establishing that by showing it at least a few times in the season so far, the creators of New Who decided to just tell us. This super important, world saving thing is invented on the spot.

Capaldi, as usual, is terrific as the Doctor.

The actress who plays Bill, as usual, is awful. She plays all three dramatic scenes the same way - eyes wide; mouth pulled back; speaking in a shaky, almost broken by crying voice.

Go away Bill.

Unfortunately, Capaldi goes away after Season 10. Then the Doctor becomes gender bent too.

I Usually don't write negative critics cause it's rather boring but I have to this time. The last tree episodes have been awful; everything from involving a certain president to fake news. The story is tedious and you just want to press "fast forward"... I'm looking forward to the end of this season and a new writer to the series, hoping Chris Chibnall will lift the Doctor to his former glory! That said I have enjoyed Capaldi as the Doctor right up until now, and Mackie is a OK companion.

It seems hard to believe - when you consider the plot spans 3 entire episodes (which is rare for Doctor Who) - but the main problem with the "Monk trilogy" is it sadly wasn't anywhere near long enough to be satisfying. This point is proven none moreso than during the final installment, Toby Whithouse's "Lie of The Land"; much like Series 3's "Last of The Time Lords", it's given the task of biting off far more than it can chew in a meager 45 minute run-time & thus, suffers as a direct consequence of the restrictive scheduling constraint imposed on it by the BBC.

Despite his incredible talents as a writer, even a scribe such as Mr Whithouse understandably struggles with the impossible undertaking he's saddled with as a guest writer; continuing on from the previous 2 thematically, progressing the emotional arcs of the characters involved, establishing a new reality, expanding upon Missy's S10 redemption storyline, clearly setting the stakes, ensuring the Monks remain threatening whilst also simultaneously developing the new narrative until it draws to a natural conclusion in less than an hour... The list goes on etc. But the basic fact is the expectation was unreasonable under the foreseeable circumstances. However, his endeavours do provide the audience with some memorable moments at least, despite the final product admittedly crumbling under the weight of its own audaciousness.

With hindsight, an idea as bold as this one required a totally different approach in order to succeed anyway; 3 writers & 2 directors simply did not work & acted as nothing more than a classic example of too many cooks spoiling the broth. Going back to the example I used earlier, Russell T Davies acknowledged that his 3-part finale in 2007 required one singular, focused voice in order to tell the story in the way in which it needed to be told. Alternatively, Steven Moffat, Peter Harness & Toby Whithouse's styles of writing are just so noticeably distinct & different from one another, their attempts to form anything cohesive ultimately failed because they don't gel together easily. Using 2 writers to essentially craft the build up & then leaving the last with the unenviable goal of fixing everything just seems like a counterproductive method too - because how can anyone create anything engaging when the majority aren't having to consider the eventual direction or the trajectory of the resultant conclusion?