Doctor Who Series Blog – The Bells of Saint John

Seeing as the first half of series seven finished in October last year, with only a Christmas special to keep us going, you could say that we have been starved of Doctor Who action for an extremely long time. Saturday nights, however, have now been saved from the entropic viewing that they are usually associated with. Yes, the Doctor is back and The Bells of Saint John has seen the return of the fez-wearing, bow-tie appreciating Doctor to our screens.

First things first, with Amy and Rory well and truly out of the picture (sob), it’s necessary to take a look at the latest companion, Clara Oswald. We may well have already met her twice, but the first time she was a Dalek and the second she was a Victorian governess; perhaps some career guidance is in order. Well, a few minutes into the show, she’d already semi-died. Honestly, for a girl who keeps reappearing through time and space, she doesn’t half die a lot. Besides this annoying tendency, Jenna-Louise Coleman has managed to fit perfectly into the shoes of Karen Gillan, whilst adding a little extra while she’s at it.

In her present incarnation, she plays a nanny to two children whose mother died, a throwback to her governess past life. Depressingly, she also seems to have no knowledge whatsoever of technology, failing to get her head around the concept of Wi-Fi. It didn’t look great for her. After all, Amy Pond had a supernatural crack forming in her bedroom wall that was the result of the crack in time, something a technophobe nanny doesn’t really match up to. Nevertheless, what redeems her entirely is her timing and wit. Clara wastes no time in engaging in a series of double entendres with the Doctor when he orders her into his box; “You and me inside that box now” is countered with a disbelieving yet saucy “I’m sorry?” The chemistry between the Doctor and Clara was brilliantly introduced and the hints of sexual tension were palpable even from the comfort of our sofas. What’s likely to endear her even more to the hearts of the nation is the fact that she managed to keep hold of a cup of tea whilst on a nose-diving plane – a more extreme version of Britishness would be hard to find. There were hints of Amy about her, particularly in her refusal to be a damsel in distress. When you’ve got a thousand year old alien helping you, you might think it wise not to argue with him. Clara, however, throws logic to one side and squabbles over a laptop; classic Amy.

What about the story of the episode? We’ve been told for years that all these wireless signals around us could potentially harm us, but this episode of Doctor Who took that fear one step further. A mysterious group lead by the cold and clipped Miss Kizlet (Celia Imrie) uses Wi-Fi signals to upload real people into a database of souls. In true Doctor Who style, everyday concerns are amplified and exaggerated into gripping science fiction. The idea of humanoid base stations is a little out there, but Doctor Who brought it to life in such a way that you never really doubt its validity in the real world. The Doctor manages to stop Clara’s soul being uploaded and effectively paints a giant target on her as the organisation sends a 747 plane to fly into her house. It’s then up to the Doctor and Clara to find the source and shut it down, freeing the trapped souls.

Despite some instances of convenient fortune, like the sudden appearance of an anti-gravity motorbike (because we all have one of those lying around), The Bells of Saint John gripped from beginning to end. The previous times we’ve seen Clara she’s been somewhat fully-formed; in Asylum of the Daleks she was the very competent intellectual rival of the Doctor and in The Snowmen she jumped into the action without much questioning. It was nice, then, to see the bewilderment that comes from becoming the Doctor’s companion and struggling to work out why the T.A.R.D.I.S is bigger on the inside. The fact that it was set in the modern day too provided an excellent foundation, allowing the science fiction to intrude upon a relatable setting.

Overall then, The Bells of Saint John was a quintessential quirky adventure featuring our bow-tied crusader and his new accomplice. We’ll just have to wait and see whether the rest of the series can live up to this well crafted and captivating introduction.