TV Review Dr Who Demons Of The Punjab

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Spoiler alerts Much to like about this story though in many ways it was treading very similar territory to the Rosa episode. The TARDIS travellers trying not to change the past, and this time aliens with a similar look but don’t touch attitude (spoilt by their presence being visible to anyone watching them). The former assassins have turned into a kind of Valkyrie, honouring the lonely victims of conflict. It seems odd the Doctor never met them before. They ought to follow Daleks round the universe. The real story is a chance at last for Yaz to take centre-ground, trying to solve the mystery of her Gran’s broken watch, which was just dropped carelessly and not even in the heat of some kind of immediate conflict. There is a whole Back To The Future theme here, and the Doctor left powerless. The heroes walk away without witnessing the death of the Gran’s first love as the aliens take care of seeing it instead, adding his ghostly head to their macabre but honourable trophy collection. That Manish is the real villain, radicalized by propaganda and fuelled by bitterness and prejudice is no real surprise, and the horsemen riding in was a scene betrayed by the teaser trailer at the end of the previous episode. The episode could have played more on the hostility both Hindu and Muslim factions felt towards the outgoing British colonialists. The story captures the tragedy of the partition simply, with the divide tearing apart a single family seen as a microcosm of a terrible fate that affected millions. The Punjabi rendition of the Dr Who theme itself on the closing credits was wonderful. Arthur Chappell