TV Review | Doctor Who: “The Star Beast” by Rusell T Davies

It feels as if somebody has just flicked a switch and restored Doctor Who to the heights of its golden age – which, of course, they have.

Like Manchester United after Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure, Doctor Who has struggled for consistency ever since Russell T Davies stepped down as showrunner at The End of Time. Both Steven Moffat and Chris Chibnall’s stewardships delivered some incredible highs, but neither of Davies’ successors managed to deliver the relentless, consistent quality and sheer presence of the revived series’ first four seasons. This resulted in a gradual erosion of the show’s profile, funding, and ultimately its success. Companion show Doctor Who Confidential fell by the wayside after Matt Smith’s second year, Peter Capaldi’s tenure saw the annual episode count drop along with the show’s ratings, and the “traditional” Christmas special – the same special that was often the centrepiece of BBC One’s Christmas Day, spawning many a festive Radio Times cover – was quietly abolished when Jodie Whittaker took over the TARDIS.

Yet, just as he did in 2005, Davies has managed to update and rebrand Doctor Who for a contemporary, telly-aerial-lite audience. No longer the exclusive preserve of Saturday tea-times, Davies’ new-new-Who is custom-built for streaming and complemented by an unassailable back catalogue of content that’s now available to those of us in the UK at the touch of a button. With Bad Wolf, Davies’ own production company, now producing the show alongside BBC Studios for the BBC in the UK and Disney+ overseas, Doctor Who now possesses the lavish “event” feel that we have come to associate with Disney+’s many Marvel Studios and Star Wars properties, right down to the Whoniverse signature that precedes each new episode.

A 4K HDR picture is no longer an iPlayer technical experiment or a rare treat - it’s the show’s new standard, and we are not left wanting for bonus material the likes of Marvel Studios Assembled or Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian. A new episode of Doctor Who Unleashed, seemingly 2023’s answer to both Confidential and Totally Doctor Who, accompanies every broadcast episode, even the Children in Need skit. In-vision commentaries featuring notable members of the cast and crew are no longer reserved for the disc-buying minority – they are available within a couple of days of each episode dropping on iPlayer as part of the service’s ever-expanding and almost exhaustive Whoniverse. Doctor Who hasn’t just caught up to 2023, it’s paving the way to the future; an example, still, but now a good one.

Not a perfect one, mind. There’s still a way to go – iPlayer’s curation of almost every Doctor Who episode ever leaves much to be desired, with the recently-added colourisation of The Daleks seemingly (and somewhat ironically, giving the series’ many wiped episodes) overwriting An Unearthly Child at the start of Season 1, for instance. However, what really let “The Star Beast” down was watching it in all of its 2160p HDR glory... and lossy two-channel audio. There is no obvious technical, practical or legal reason that prevents the BBC adding multi-channel audio to iPlayer – it’s just about the only major streaming service without it. Watching a modern UHD show in stereo is the equivalent of watching an episode of ’80s Who without sound and with someone sat in the room playing a piano. Disney+ subscribers abroad will no doubt get the DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio (or Dolby equivalent, as Disney+ seems to favour) treatment that we’ll all have to wait for a physical release for, but it’s hard to whinge too much when iPlayer is basically free (yes, I know, a British TV licence costs roughly twice as much as a Disney+ subscription, but having one is more legal requirement than optional subscription).

It’s also akin to cheating that “The Star Beast”, and indeed this whole run of specials, is built on the success of new Who’s finest season and the Whoniverse’s greatest-ever Doctor and companion – not that we care. It’s a testament to Davies’ genius that he identified the need for a tried-and-tested team to galvanise his newly-minted Whoniverse and celebrate the show’s diamond anniversary, and David Tennant and Catherine Test do not let him down. Armed with Davies’ heart-warming and humorous dialogue, both actors clearly relished the opportunity to reprise the Doctor-Donna, dazzling throughout.

A criticism often aimed at Chris Chibnall’s era was that it was either “too woke” or, perhaps a little more justifiably, sometimes “woke at the expense of substance”, but RTD’s script for “The Star Beast” weaves current issues seamlessly into the fabric of its plot and, ingeniously, even uses them to resolve what, fifteen years ago, seemed unsolvable. That it does so whilst simultaneously restoring domesticity to its rightful place at the heart of the show and laying the foundations for a third UNIT era – and, no doubt, another Big Finish spin-off range of UNIT audio dramas... – again speaks to Davies’ talents as not just a writer but also rightful Master of the Whoniverse.

 

However, though “The Star Beast” is indubitably the very model of a Russell T Davies script, its inspiration and even its title are a Pat Mills (Dead London, The Scapegoat) comic strip of the same name first published in the pages of Doctor Who Weekly (now Doctor Who Magazine) in 1980 and immortalised by Big Finish Productions in 2019 when they had Alan Barnes adapt it into a full-cast audio drama. RTD deserves the credit, though, for choosing a villain capable of satisfying even the most hardened of fans’ nostalgic cravings while still entertaining casual viewers. Chances are, if you’ve heard of one Doctor Who comic-book villain, then it’s Beep the Meep, and it’s because everyone gets – and everyone loves – the ludicrous idea that one of the Whoniverse’s cutest creatures is also one of its most vicious. Miriam Margolyes (Blackadder) gives an absolute worldie of a vocal performance as the Meep – no pronouns for the Meep, just the definite article – whose core story stays faithful to that first illustrated in black and white by Dave Gibbons (Watchmen) more than forty years ago.

There is also something fitting about using a comic strip as the launching pad for the second coming of Russell T Davies as, particularly with hindsight, his first run on the show was typified by its larger-than-life, bombastic tone - a quality that returns full force here thanks to the colourful direction of Rachel Talalay (Sherlock, The Flash) and particularly Murray Gold’s resurgent score.

Like all good openers, “The Star Beast” begs more questions than it answers, and it does so whilst telling a fast-paced and solid science-fiction story couched in all the heart and all the humour that made Doctor Who the household sensation that it was fifteen years ago – and will now be again.

“The Star Beast” is available to stream in the UK on BBC iPlayer and overseas on Disney+. You can also watch the episode on iPlayer with an in-vision commentary. 

A Target novelisation of the episode is now available to pre-order from all good booksellers and Amazon.

The original Doctor Who and the Star Beast comic strip is collected in Panini’s Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor Anthology. Today’s cheapest online retailer in the UK is Amazon who have it listed for £23.89.

Alan Barnes’ full-cast audio adaptation of Doctor Who and the Star Beast is available to download from Big Finish Productions for £24.99 as part of Doctor Who: The Comic Strip Adaptations – Volume One.