“If it was going to be anyone, it’d be you,” are the words Doctor Who fans will cling to after Sunday’s Easter special. Showrunner Chris Chibnall teased that Jodie Whittaker’s (and, indeed, his) penultimate episode would portray the “developing” relationship between the Time Lord and her companion Yaz (Mandip Gill); the episode may be titled “Legend of the Sea Devils”, but it might as well be called “Yaz and the Doctor: Will They or Won’t They?” The answer, it seems, is yet to be determined.
The backdrop is a village in 19th-century China, where the steely Madame Ching has stolen a statue and unintentionally released a swarm of Sea Devils. These baddies were first faced by Jon Pertwee’s Doctor in 1972 and, in the nicest possible way, you can definitely tell they’re a BRTD (before Russell T Davies) creation. They might’ve been nipped and tucked, but as with a lot of old Who monsters, these bug-eyed lizard monsters are too cartoonish to be truly scary.
