The second half of what the Tour feels were the 10 most interesting stories astride the 2010’s. The first half of the list can be found here. After this it’s on to Series 12 …
Flatline: An incredibly clever bit of storytelling, mostly keeping Peter Capaldi Tardis-bound at the same time advancing season-long themes regarding responsibility and the weight of decisions, Clara took on the mantle of the Doctor with cheeky aplomb, even getting a companion of her own to explain events to. Even with the odd bit of assistance from the Doctor, Flatline was simply brimming with imaginative ideas. Miniature TARDIS’ has been done before, but never with full-sized objects coming out, and totally in keeping with the story.
Heaven Sent: How good was Peter Capaldi in Heaven Sent? Good enough that it’s hard to imagine any other actor pulling it off. Holding your attention for 54 minutes whilst being put (or rather putting yourself) through this grinder of a story. Heaven Sent is probably the Moffat-iest story ever in Doctor Who with the greatest puzzlebox in the series, the grieving mindscape of the Doctor.
In Thin Ice we saw the first true historical since Black Orchid. Since the ‘monster’ at the bottom of the Thames wasn’t ID’d as either foreign or domestic, as it were, and there weren’t any other story elements which lend themselves to SF then Thin Ice becomes one of those rarest of Doctor Who stories.
World Enough and Time: This is ‘Genesis of the Cybermen.’ And we’re not too proud to admit that the realization about where John Simm had been hiding in World Enough and Time came to us very late. That doesn’t happen very often, but then again World Enough and Time is a special story. Well done everyone
Demons of the Punjab: The best (and most emotional) story for Jodie Whittaker to date.
Hono(u)rable mentions: The Eleventh Hour, Amy’s Choice