In Saturday nights episode The Doctor is trapped in a nightmare that could have sprung from the darkest imaginings of that most respected teller of ghost stories MR James, One impossible to wake up from. A truly cruel and twisted creation touched with an evil genius that only his own race could come up with. Arcane scientific black magic in a confession dial. It was truly terrifying and magnificent at the same time. That fifty five minutes of television on a wet rainy November Saturday will always remain a fixed point for me in my memory. Fifty years on and counting this wonderful show continues to innovate and shine a light in dark places and times. it is Tuesday morning and I am still trying to bask in the glow of invention and storytelling that went into the make up of Heaven Sent and marvel at the minds that came up with it. That closing montage as the Doctor ascended to barely conceivable levels of determination and heroism displayed a creative team and a lead actor on top of their game in a season that has had more than its fair share of surprises and innovations. A love letter to its continuing and constantly evolving fan base and a reminder to its long term followers why we love this show so much. The bloody knuckles and broken bones that were on show as our hero dragged himself to the place where he would willingly begin his suffering all over again was just heart stopping. the bony coral reef of Doctor skulls was terrifying in scale and seemed to represent an eternity of endless suffering. What a bold concept. What a bold conceit.
Peter Capaldi you are our Doctor.
And with The Doctor back on Gallifrey at long last(Very,very long last) maybe we could address one of the great mysteries about our hero. His parentage. I have since the Paul McGann movie thought that given his "hybrid" status that he is actually Leela and Andred's son. Part human and part Gallifreyan and to the best of my knowledge Leela is or was the only human on the Doctor's homeworld. It would account for his rebellious streak and could also go some way to explaining the difficulties he may have experienced growing up in a class ridden stuffy "civilization."
Oh if only this were true and we were about to see the lovely Louise Jameson once more.
