The Bells of Saint John

Who’s back. Steven Moffat’s episode titles are often clever word-plays with little to do with the episode but The Bells of Saint John has to be one of his best – and possibly my favourite. But what of the episode? Well, the concept was good, the story telling was fine and the script was taut – but it didn’t quite hit the heights of the Christmas episode for me: some of the writing in The Snowmen was exceptional (for example, the one-word-answer interrogation scene was one of the best single bits of writing that Moffat has done) but The Bells was more about setting the scene and a certain amount of MacGuffinry to get the doctor and Clara back together. Possibly it has the disadvantage that this is the third Clara introduction rather than being a concept on its own but it did still manage to entertain for 45 minutes.

The actual plot – an unseen force sucking people’s souls out through the Internet – felt like it should have been done for Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror series. Although it wasn’t explained quite how Clara’s tech support call was routed through to the Doctor I rather enjoyed the Time Lord’s attempts to talk the computer illiterate Clara through her IT troubles. I work in technical support and some of the things that people come out with are priceless: my favourite was when someone told me that they thought they had deleted the Internet (they had actually deleted the Internet Explorer shortcut). However, the idea that once connected to the world-wide-web that one’s soul would be sucked out and a cold empty shell of humanity left is all too familiar to me.

The monster-of-the-week was a pretty good one. The Spoonheads look like a normal human being but it is only when they turn around that it is clear that their heads are hollowed out. It’s the sort of thing that really creeps me out and it was brilliant realised – particularly with the Doctor pulling off the same trick towards the end. However, I can’t see this being a return monster unless Mr Moffat needs them for a plot twist later in the series.

I suppose, like the Christmas episode, this one was really about Clara again. I think she has all the makings of one of the great Doctor Who assistants – pretty, whip smart and an essentially likeable girl that the audience wants to identify with. Quite how this version of Clara fits in with the other two (or whether she is the same as one of the others) remains a mystery. There were a few hints dropped in that this could be the same as soufflé girl but we did, finally, get to the closing credits without her dying. After all, I think it would get a bit much if she was bumped off each week like Rory (there is actually a Facebook group called “Oh my God, they killed Rory”).

That just leaves Matt Smith as the Doctor. I really can’t get why some people don’t like him – in fact the vitriol some aim in his direction has kept me away from poison pen “fan” forums. For me he is one of the most engaging actors to play the role since Tom Baker. He is now well into his third series and I still expect him to do something new and intriguing every week. By this point I’d got rather bored of David Tennant’s Doctor (which I think was more to do with the predictable scripts than the actor). I see that David Tennant and Billie Piper are back for the 50th anniversary episode which, on the one hand, is great news but I feel a little sorry that it may take some of the limelight away from Matt. Multi-Doctor episodes are rather too fondly remembered – probably because of the sparky energy between Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee playing a man who couldn’t stand himself(s). Still, that’s not until November and we still have seven more episodes of Matt and Jenna to look forward to.