The Pilot review [Steven Moffat]

The Doctor and his new companion Bill Potts.

Bill Potts is a lunch-lady at St Luke's University in Bristol who sneaks into the interesting and unusual lectures of the Doctor, who's been teaching there for at least fifty years without ageing. One day she's called to his office and offered the chance to be his personal tutee. But who is this mysterious man? Why does he have a '60s police box in his office? And what has he been doing here all these years?

The first episode of Steven Moffat's final series, he marks this episode as a jumping-on point in the same vein as 'Rose'. Cheekily named, will this episode be a fresh start for the show?

Spoiler Zone

The episode

Yes, more or less. Key concepts are explained in a way that's welcoming to newcomers and aside from Nardole's presence, the photographs of Susan and River and a visit to the Dalek-Movellan war there's very little baggage to this episode. Having the episode be from Bill's point-of-view rather than the Doctor's crafts the Doctor as more of a mysterious and unknowable character again. Moffat definitely succeeded in making the episode a jumping-on point. The show hasn't been this accessible to newcomers since 'The Eleventh Hour' and Bill's entrance to the TARDIS will go down in history.

Bill is a wonderful companion, asking questions of a different type and being funny without being annoying. She's a regular person, like Rose, Martha or Donna, rather than a smug and unrelatable Amy Pond or soulless like Clara Oswald. The Doctor, meanwhile, is no longer the brash and prickly Doctor of season eight or the slightly embarrassing Doctor of season nine. He's a far more interesting and likeable character now, and only one episode in the relationship between Doctor and companion has been cemented. He's a lecturer now and tethered to Earth like the Third Doctor was. which might make for an interesting theme. He clearly wants to be exploring new worlds, but he's instead stuck on Earth, delivering lectures that are nonsensical.

The idea with the puddle is initially an interesting one but isn't particularly groundbreaking. The relationship between the Doctor and Bill is definitely the most important part of the episode with the villain playing second fiddle, but that's fine. Bill and Heather's relationship was rushed and impossible to buy into, not helped by the fact that Heather is an unlikeable character, seeming moody and rude. The Dalek appearance was entirely unnecessary and the vault fails to be intriguing given how tiringly long it took for the cracks in time to be revealed or the identities of the hybrid or Missy to be explained.

A good quotation

Bill: Why do you run like that?

The Doctor: Like what?

Bill: Like a penguin with its arse on fire.

TARDIS crew and co.

• The Doctor: "Time and relative dimension in space. It means, what the Hell?" The Doctor has photographs of his granddaughter Susan and his wife River on his desk, but when Bill asks if photos really help the implication is that they don't. He decides not to erase Bill's memory, remembering what happened with Clara in 'Hell Bent'.
• Bill Potts: "What good is getting in your box going to do?" Bill is a fan of science fiction, eager to learn and desperate for adventure. She's a lesbian and lives with her foster mother Moira. Her mother died when she was a baby and Bill has very few photographs of her.
• Nardole: "Sir, we're leaving Earth. What about the vault?" Nardole (whose body is at least partly robotic, it seems) is working as the Doctor's valet at St Luke's. His real job is keeping the Doctor in line and making sure he remains on Earth, protecting the vault.

Plot holes and continuity

• The Daleks had their Time War tanks during the Dalek-Movellan war?
• Was the Doctor supposed to be protecting the vault in 'The Return of Doctor Mysterio'? Nardole had no problem with him being in New York.

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