Foreword

After three successful seasons at the helm of Doctor Who, masterminding the adventures of Matt Smith’s Doctor, and culminating with the show’s Fiftieth Anniversary celebrations at the end of 2013, Steven Moffat was faced with the need to establish a whole new direction for the show with the introduction of a new Doctor, Peter Capaldi. This book covers all 26 episodes broadcast in 2014 and 2015, from the start of the Capaldi era with Deep Breath to the latest Christmas special, The Husbands of River Song.

With two full seasons’ worth of episodes to cover, the book follows a slightly different format to the three previous volumes in this series, each of which dealt with one season of the Matt Smith era. Each chapter contains an extensive review and analysis discussing its particular episode in depth; these pieces are based on the reviews I wrote for Slant Magazine (published online in their House Next Door blog) as the episodes were first being shown, but have been completely rewritten and expanded (by a factor of three to five times in each case). Following each review is a short section entitled “Reflections,” in which I look back on the episode from the perspective of having seen the two completed seasons. In this section, I will note links and foreshadowings for future episodes (the inclusion of which is a favourite device of Moffat), point out cases where related interviews or DVD extras are of interest, and discuss external factors such as the reaction to the episode by fans and/or the general public.

I wish to thank Kevin Mahoney, owner of Punked Books and co-author of the previous volumes in this series, for giving me the opportunity to expound upon my appreciation for Doctor Who in general and the work of Steven Moffat in particular. For me, these two years contain some of the best work of Moffat’s time on the show – along with some elements that fail to hit the mark for a variety of reasons. But it was ever thus with Who, which should always be striving to do new things. If ever a season came along whose reach did not exceed its grasp, it would no longer be the same show I fell in love with nearly forty years ago.

 

Steven Cooper

July 2016