Jodie Whittaker’s final outing as Doctor Who leaves her, and outgoing showrunner Chris Chibnall, with a lot of heavy lifting to do. Not only is it Whittaker’s swansong, but it runs to the length of a feature film, at a whopping hour and a half, and it is part of the BBC’s centenary celebrations, too. The Power of the Doctor (BBC One) approaches this mammoth task by rolling up its sleeves and throwing everything at it, then taking a step back and throwing some more. It goes big before it goes home.
This might set alarm bells ringing for some, but there’s no need to worry. When it follows its worst instincts, Doctor Who can turn into a convoluted tangle, impenetrable to casual viewers, dragged down by its own massive mythology. This episode is bombastic, and so stuffed with Easter eggs and nods to the past that I doubt I even caught half of them, but it rolls through this meaty story – or more accurately, several stories that eventually converge – with Whittaker’s trademark energy and a just-right lightness of touch.
