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Revolution Of The Daleks follows on from The Timeless Children, just after The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) has been imprisoned in an impossible fortress, and now the Daleks are returning.
Yes, the bloody Daleks, again. Every single Doctor has seen them off countless times, but still, they keep coming back. And usually for a main episode.
Chris Noth also returns, albeit in human form as he’s Jack Robertson, from 2018’s mediocre Arachnids in the UK episode, this time helping budding Prime Minister Jo Patterson (Harriet Walter) secure a Robocop-style ‘security drone’ in the form of a controlled Dalek, so it’ll do their bidding and quell rioters in the street who are protesting against all sorts of things, presumably against wearing masks (even though it’s set six hours after the last episode was on), but certainly not a protest in the names of Black Lives Matter, because as everyone knows, those are completely peaceful and no-one can catch the virus whilst you’re all huddled up together, throwing statues into a canal in Bristol, or smashing up restaurants in Rochester, New York.
We then move on to the present day (for convenience, because it’s a year since that last episode), New Year’s Day specifically, and Jo wants a national rollout of the Daleks. For the Scooby Doo gang, in that time, they still haven’t figured out how to operate the TARDIS, so they’re stuck on Earth, literally going nowhere.
We knew Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) would be in this, and for reasons I can’t be bothered to explain, he helps The Doctor out of chokey with a MacGuffin or two that make her being locked up a completely irrelevant plot point. Clearly, head writer Chris Chibnall hasn’t learned how to stop insulting the viewers.
Whenever Daleks eventually misbehave, at no point do you fear any danger because you know everything will be sorted out quick smart, although there was an amusing quip when Robertson realised what underling Leo (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) had been up to (which I’ll only go into detail about behind a spoiler header), and could only muster “This is a PR disaster!”
But most humans aren’t the brightest. Even when the Daleks were blasting mankind into next week, why didn’t those still alive actually run away, rather than stand and wait to be vapourised? Duh!
Still, The Daleks aren’t too bright, either. When they descend on Downing Street, intent on wiping out humanity, they haven’t realised that they’re actually on the small-scale TV set and not the REAL Downing Street. Shame, as there’s a few Tories who could benefit from being kicked off the face of the planet.
I never did understand why Ryan and Yaz were so pissed off about the Doctor being away from them for 10 months in their time. Regardless of the fact that she’d been locked up in prison for many more years… y’know, entitled much?! I hate the pair of them anyway. Before this, it was spelt out that Bradley Walsh would be leaving, but sadly, it seemed be stuck with these two idiots. Will that still be the case?
Chris Noth was quite amusing in this, and probably the best thing in it. As for the rest, I’ll go into spoilers, hence this spoiler section…
Revolution Of The Daleks can be pre-ordered on Blu-ray and DVD, ahead of its release on January 25th.
You can also buy Series 12 on Blu-ray, DVD and Limited Edition Blu-ray Steelbook.
The episode is now on the BBC iPlayer.
Score: 4/10
Director: Lee Haven Jones
Producer: Alex Mercer
Writer: Chris Chibnall
Cast:
The Doctor: Jodie Whittaker
Graham O’Brien: Bradley Walsh
Yasmin Khan: Mandip Gill
Ryan Sinclair: Tosin Cole
Captain Jack Harkness: John Barrowman
Jack Robertson: Chris Noth
Jo Patterson: Harriet Walter
Daleks: Nicholas Briggs (voice)
Mum: Sophie Duval
Airport Traveller: Guillaume Rivaud
Castle Guard: Scott Rose-Marsh
Leo Rugazzi: Nathan Stewart-Jarrett
Tourist: Ruth Horrocks (uncredited)
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.