TW watches Doctor Who Village of the Angels

                        By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

All photos copyright BBC

Now don’t have a heart attack by what’s coming folks.

i loved a story from the 13th Docctor’s era which I never get bored of watching! Take a deep breath, a brandy or two and sit yourself down while I explain.

You know how little regard I hold the 13th Doctor’s era. I’m refraining from saying the Jodie Whittaker era because it was not the actress’ fault. The blame for that as you know falls squarely at the feet of Chris Chibnall. While I loved his Torchwood story Adrift as a beautifully touching piece of drama , he’s the same guy that created a Cyberwoman in silver bra and high heels also in Torchwood. Best not to think about that too much. Broadchurch was a success but he’s not the man to run Doctor Who.

However, i digress. There was a light in the darkness; a story so good it stands up there with the best of modern Who, A story that if the rest of the era had been to this standard, it would be a very different story. Stand up and step forward…..

Village of the Angels.

This is simply awesome. you can’t fail with the Weeping Angels. When Steven Moffat created them for the tenth Doctor story Blink, he probably had no real  idea how they would catch the imagination. Stone assassins that with one touch can send a helpless vuctim back in time, feeding on the uantum energy of the life they would have lived. You have to keep looking at them because they cannot move while being observed; just don’t blink and you’ll survive but nobody can keep their eyes open that long especially when they can drain the batteries of a torch leaving you entombed in the dark as the abgel takes you. So pursuing a Time Lord is more than feeling peckish. No one ever looked at the many stone ngels that cover our cities and graveyards in the same way ever again.

This episode was part of the Flux season and fourth in transmission order. People had already leaked the filming of the angels in the street where they first take Claire but the mere mention of the angels is a winner for me. Written by Chris Chibnall and Maxine Alderton, it contimues the story of the mysterious Division who first allegedly discovered the Doctor and utilised her regeneration powers. With them, they created Time Lord society implanting them with the power of regeneration.

Atthe climax of the previous story, an angel had hijacked the Tardis. The Doctor, Yaz and Dan were trapped trying not to blink as they were taken to another time against their will.

They arrive at night time which is a perfect backdrop for the angels in the English village of Medderton in November 1967, Back in the first episode a woman called Claire Brown had approached and recognised the Doctor but the Doctor doesn’t know her. She says she is taking the long road home. The Tardis crew leave to find Dan and Claire is touched by an angel. We discover she ended up in 1965 and now helps Professor Jericho with his experiments in psychic ability. Claire draws angels and knows the Tardis has been compromised. But even drawing an angel can be fatal.

A little grl girl, Peggy, is missing and a woman, Mrs Hayward, tells the vicar to count the statues in the graveyard because there is one too many. Dan and Yaz help find the child. This nicely contrasts the attitudes between eras. Yaz uses her police skills to help profile the little girl and pinpoint her location. Her logic and training come in handy against the girl’s uncle Gerald who literally lives by the mantra, children should be seen and not heard. He has no clue about his niece’s likes or dislikes while his wife Jean is constantly put down and dismissed. To him, Peggy should be eternally grateful that Gerald deemed her worthy to be in his care. This is reflective of the older generation’s beliefs and attitudes in this era. compared to Yaz and Dan’s genuine concern for the missing kid. It is a lovely touch as is the Doctor thinking they had arrived in 1949 just by smelling uncle Gerald’s coat. People made do with what they had for years and it is a nice nod that Gerald is a skinflint.

Soon Yaz and Dan are attacked and thrown into the past to 1901 to Medderton where they find no one bar the missing child. Peggy is a beautiful instrument to showcase the pure evil of the angels. They have left her alive alone in 190l  to tell others of what happened. She is but the first as the entire population of the village of Medderton will vanish without a trace tonight just like they did 60 years earlier. Personally, I’d  move citing Mdderton as not really a great place to live.

The Doctor discovers this too as more villagers vanish as she, Jericho and Claire are under seige in Jericho’s house. Angels have surrounded the house trying to get in by Claire’s sketches. The Doctor burns them. The image of an angel burning to death is a vivid one to the viewer. All the Doctor can do is enter Claire’s mind aand face the angel within leaving Jericho alone to keep the angels at bay.

The atmosphere is oppressive as the angels swarm surround the house using Jericho’s own voice to taunt him and get a way in while a new twist emerges. The angel in Claire is not only a member of the Division but knows all of the Doctor’s hidden past. The angel swarm has been sent to bring her back because of what she knows. The angel has no intentions of releasing Claire until the Doctor cnn guarantee safe passage out of here. Dark tunnels are always scary but with failing light and surrounded by angels they are scarier than ever.

The entire sequence of Claire, the Doctor and Jericho fleeing for their lives is taut and makes you squirm. Jericho is caught and arrives back in 1901 with Yaz and the others. They have found that the village is disintegrating as space forms its boundaries and the very edge allows them to see the Medderton of 1967. Old Mrs Hayward is really Peggy and warns of quantum extraction. It was a hunt but now turns into something else as the swarm surround the Doctor.

She is the target now and Division wants her back. Yaz, Dan and Jericho watch helplessly trapped in 1901 with no way back as the Doctor is turned into a stone angel, The phrase ‘You are recalled’ immediately goes down in Doctor Who history. The cliffhanger is shocking, imprints itself in themind with the Doctor totally defeated, her team lost and the village consumed by the angels.

You can’t get more apocalyptic than that.

Now, it’s not to say there aren’t a few questions left by it eg since Mrs Hyward is the future Peggy, can she be sent back in time again since her future has already been consumed by the angels. Is it possible to refeed on the same person if you wait until they get older?

Kevin McNally is superb as both the very likeable Jeriho and evil taunting angel. Now that’s a companion I’d rather see than Dan to be honest. Atmosphere, direction, lighting and jumps make this a great episode and one I will rewatch again and again.