Doctor Who’s greatest episode in years proves it’s broken beyond repair

Lux aired on Saturday to critical acclaim (Picture: BBC Studios/Bad Wolf/James Pardon)

I’m a massive Doctor Who fan, so it brings me no pleasure to write what I’m about to write. 

Since 2005, I’ve travelled with the titular Time Lord to alien worlds and the distant past, meeting incredible people, and watched in wonder as they did the impossible.  

So, it’s with a heavy heart (I’ve only got the one) that I admit that I think the show’s broken. And sadly, I can’t see how even regeneration can fix what’s wrong. 
 
Just look at the abysmal ratings for Doctor Who’s latest episode, Lux.  

A rather paltry (in TV terms) 1.58 million viewers tuned in to watch The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) battle the new villain Mr Ring-a-Ding (Alan Cumming) on Saturday night, despite the episode receiving rave reviews from critics.  

Now it’s worth saying that those viewing figures don’t paint the full picture as they don’t include those watching on iPlayer.  

Still, it’s clear we’re light-years away from the show’s heyday when it attracted millions of viewers every Saturday.  

So, if an episode hailed by some as the best in years (for the record, I thought it was tremendous) can’t get bums on seats, we have to ask ourselves, ‘what’s wrong with the BBC’s former golden child?’

Well, were I the diagnosing physician, I’d say there were two main issues. Firstly, let’s address the Judoon in the room: The show isn’t as good as it was.  

Yes, I know I just wrote that Lux is one of the best episodes in years, but the emphasis should be on the latter part of that phrase, ‘in years’. 

Sadly, the episode received abysmal ratings (Pictures: BBC)

Ever since Peter Capaldi’s Doctor popped his clogs, the show has struggled with weak stories and poor pay-offs that have let down brilliant actors.  

For the most part, Jodie Whittaker’s series was defined by poor characterisation, boring villains, and attempts to fix plot holes no one cared about.  

Ncuti’s tenure, meanwhile, has been marred by convoluted stories about space gods, weak resolutions, and genuinely terrible episodes like the loathsome Space Babies. 

I lay a lot of the blame for the general antipathy towards Ncuti’s run at the feet of whoever thought making Space Babies the first episode was a good idea. It was a rubbish story, with a gross but forgettable baddie, and ropey CGI.  

Everything about it was a misfire, and while there have been bad episodes in great series before – Love & Monsters, 42, and Sleep No More, to name but a few – they’ve never been the first episode in a season. 

The viewing figures highlight an existential problem facing Doctor Who (Picture: BBC)

Honestly, in an era when first impressions matter, I can’t believe it was allowed to run, and I do think its general naffness (totally a word) has put off fans who might have otherwise enjoyed Ncuti’s adventures through time and space.  

Furthermore, I think showrunner Russell T. Davies isn’t sure who he wants the show to appeal to anymore.  

Every other day, it feels like there’s a new casting announcement or celeb lined up to cameo, but who are these announcements for? 

Are kids today excited by the news that Rylan is appearing in an upcoming episode? Does Graham Norton have big Gen Alpha appeal?  

I don’t know, but the whole thing stinks of that Steve Buscemi ‘How Do You Do, Fellow Kids?’ meme. 

The franchise has lost momentum (Picture: James Pardon/BBC Studios)

So, if it’s not for new viewers, who is it for? I don’t know many people who are excited to see Rylan (as charming as he is) turn up in an episode, but I know if I told people the Daleks are coming back, they’d at least know what I was talking about.  

It all feels a bit scattershot and lacks the confidence other seasons had.  

Unfortunately, it’s the second reason, though, that may prove terminal for the good Doctor. You see, we live in an attention-based economy these days.  

People are fighting for eyeballs and attention, and the BBC hasn’t done a great job of generating buzz around the new season.  

Now that’s not for want of trying (see the aforementioned cameo announcements), but there’s a definite lack of excitement around the show, and I put the blame for that on it being unceremoniously dumped on iPlayer on Saturday mornings.  

Now, I know the thinking is that it makes watching the show more convenient, but Doctor Who is supposed to be appointment viewing. 

It’s not something to be watched when you feel like it.  

Afterall, why would you sit down on a Saturday evening to watch the show when you can see it whenever? 

Ncuti has been brilliant but brilliance might not be enough (Picture: BBC Studios/Bad Wolf/James Pardon)

Other big shows don’t do this. You don’t see White Lotus streaming hours before the episode debuts, do you? No, they make you wait because they’re confident that audiences will tune in.  

Did the BBC learn nothing from Disney’s disastrous experiments with Premier Access?  

When you release stuff straight to streaming, you turn the magic into the mundane because audiences, for right or wrong, don’t see stuff that goes straight to streaming as important.  

I watch TV for a living, and I’m guilty of this because, to be blunt, when I can watch something ‘whenever’ it almost always becomes never. 

Maybe I’m being overly dramatic. Perhaps the iPlayer figures will dazzle doubters like me, and the rest of the season will be the highest viewed in history. I don’t know. But what I do know is that if things don’t change, Doctor Who’s days may be numbered. 

Doctor Who airs on BBC One and iPlayer every Saturday.

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