A defining feature of Russell T Davies’ second tenure as Doctor Who’s showrunner has thus far been the desire to rectify and make peace with the missteps of the show’s past.
This has taken many forms, from the changes to Davros in the recent Children in Need scene to Yasmin Finney’s Rose taking The Doctor to task over pronouns. In this week’s episode Davies dropped the “Celestial” from the name of the villainous Toymaker due to the anti-Asian connotations of his original appearance in the 60s.
Doctor Who has a rich history of stories addressing themes of social justice. Now more than ever though it seems that both on and off-screen, Davies is tackling issues that have problematized Who for decades, and steering the ship towards more progressive waters. This initiative has had fluctuating levels of success.
The non-binary issue was handled somewhat clumsily and Donna’s “range of colours” line in this episode seems unbelievably rogue for a writer attempting to imbue his work with greater sensitivity. Davies has also drawn ire from some fans in response to what have been perceived as unnecessary or misjudged alterations.
However, one change that has been almost unanimously received with excitement is the show’s new lead. This episode marked another significant moment in the show’s history by introducing Ncuti Gatwa as the first person of colour to play The Doctor (barring a few brief appearances by Jo Martin in the previous era).
This is a decisively challenging episode for Gatwa to make his debut. A lesser actor’s performance may well have been overshadowed by everything else going on around them. Mel! Giant Avengers-style UNIT building, complete with space laser! Neil Patrick Harris giving a murderous song-and-dance tribute to the Spice Girls!
A veteran of the show might well struggle to hold their own in such an overstuffed extravaganza of an episode, let alone an actor making their debut bursting out of David Tennant’s shoulder mid-confrontation with the Toymaker, surrounded by a supporting cast with whom viewers are already familiar.
However, it speaks to the strength not only of the writing by Davies, but the excellently judged performance by Gatwa that his arrival is neither underwhelming nor disruptive to the flow of the story.
Given no option of subtly sneaking his way through the TARDIS doors, Gatwa instead explodes on screen in a blast of energy, charisma, and wearing nothing but his pants. Before we reach this point though, there is plenty of ground to cover.
Following their arrival back on Earth last week, The Doctor and Donna (played for what I certainly hope is not the final time by the fabulous Catherine Tate) find that humanity has gone mad.
Here, Davies deploys the technique that made for some of the most incisive storytelling of his original era: using the fantastical and alien world of Doctor Who to provide cutting political and social commentary.
The titular ‘giggle’ takes the resentment and anger cultivated by social media and political agitators and unleashes it to violent effect, whilst the Zeedex tool used by UNIT to resist its effects provides an allegory for vaccination so thinly veiled it borders on heavy-handed.
Lachele Carl even returns for a brief cameo as fan-favourite newsreader Trinity Wells, swearing off the Zeedex as a form of government surveillance and mind control, in the vein of anti-vax commentators you might see on FOX News.
Davies’s jabs at the current government are as humorous as they are bleakly plausible. At one point a smirking prime minister appears, demanding to know why he should care about anyone other than himself.“No change there, then,” responds Donna.
The episode is strongly written and elegantly plotted. The sequence where The Doctor and Donna find themselves trapped and separated in the Toymaker’s domain was brilliantly unnerving; those with a fear of creepy dolls should tread carefully.
However, though Davies does an admirable job at balancing the several plot threads he weaves through the episode, the majority of them merit more development and exploration than can be afforded in a single hour-long special.
Mel’s return, the Toymaker taunting The Doctor with those he has lost, the how and why of bi-generation, these are all big concepts that could arguably be worthy of their own individual stories. Instead, they are compressed into a single episode fitting just a little too snugly, and feeling cramped as a result.
There is a certain irony that one of the main flaws in a story dealing with The Doctor burning out from overactivity without time to process is its attempts to do too much at once. Considering this episode’s preoccupation with teasing future plotlines, I wonder if less foreshadowing would prioritise the story currently being told.
Despite this, there’s no denying that the episode remains compelling television, providing an enjoyable, if unconventional wrap-up to the 60th anniversary specials and an introduction to Gatwa’s tenure as Doctor.
At the story’s close we see Gatwa fly off, ready for adventure, leaving Tennant’s Doctor to live happily with Donna and her family on Earth (whilst occasionally chaperoning Rose on the odd sojourn into space).
For a character that has been through the wringer so thoroughly and repeatedly, this moment of catharsis holds a real emotional weight, though with the ever-present key-jangling of things to come I would not be surprised to see Tennant and the Nobles popping up again in the future.
The Giggle cannot be entirely faulted for lack of ambition. For the most part it blends character drama with sci-fi camp to great success. It is fast paced by necessity, rushing from one scene to the next in order to cover the vast list of tasks Davies sets out for this final special.
Its execution of these goals is sometimes lacking in depth, but when it’s this much fun to watch, it’s hard to hold that against the episode as a whole.
A strong first impression by Gatwa, and another home-run for Davies. Roll on Christmas!