Looking back at episodes he has written before, they weren't terrible. 42 in my opinion is underrated and had all the components of a decent story; The Hungry Earth two-parter was quite a powerful story about human error and unity between two species; Dinosaurs was weak, sure, but it was fun; The Power of Three although fairly filler came at the perfect time and was an (almost) emotional story.

What these episodes have in common is an extremely weak sci-fi foundation. So the way I see it, he is much better at episodes that don't have such a huge focus on sci-fi elements - so you sort of wonder why he's in charge of a sci-fi show.

Did anyone care about Tim Shaw enough for him to have been the finale villain? This episode might have worked better as a mid-season one, like how RTD would revive classic monsters halfway through.

This season as a whole has been a bit naff. None of the villains will be remembered, that's for sure.

I agree with Dezzy in that I hope the gap is so the BBC can find a replacement. I've read in various places that Jodie wouldn't stay without the Chibb, but I don't care - I don't actively want her to go, nor do I really want her to stay. With Capaldi there was always a brilliant performance despite the material, but Jodie only seems to be as good as what she's given.

nice episode, Mark Addy another nice role from him after i also enjoyed him as Hercules in Atlantis (wish that would come back tbh)


also excited for the new years day special :flutter:

I wonder if it might be better the show scrapped the 'Showrunner' model? Having a more traditional set up could go a long way, helping the show be on more consistently, and not forcing the burden on just one person.

I thought they were adopting a writers room approach when it came to scripts.

I heard that too, but it never seemed to happen, it'd be a lot better for the show if it did though.

Not watched it in its entirety yet but there's a lot of people on DS talking about "Stealing planets? What a STUPID idea!!"

Erm.. The Stolen Earth from series 4 anyone?

I wouldn't be surprised if he was given the outlines for the story of those episodes that he then had to turn into a script.

The worst aspects of them are the pacing and the dialogue.

I didn't notice it as much with Broadchurch, maybe he is just completely out of his depth with sci-fi.

He seems to have the job because he was a lifelong fan of DW and he's a writer. Whether he's capable of writing sci-fi seems to be an afterthought.

I actually think a competent writer could balance out a four person team quite well but I do think, in the next series, there should be episodes where certain characters sit out in order to develop others better. Do what they did with Clara and the Ponds and have the companions have an established life outside the tardis that can give them a reason why they can't go on every adventure.

I always found his episodes to be quite middling most of the time and decent at best but his episodes this season have been utterly woeful and he hasn't been able to transfer his strengths from shows like Broachurch over to Doctor Who at all. His writing comes across like something you'd see from a Media BTEC student who's in the middle of writing their first script.

I don't know what Chibnall was thinking when it came to bringing back Tim Shaw. He was terrible the first time around and dreadful the second.

I think the season has been hit and miss, miss whenever Chibnall's written the episode and more of a hit when another writer's tackled it. I think Rosa and the Punjab episodes were very strong in particular.

I think Jodie's done well with the material she's been given and the comparison between her and Capaldi doesn't really work since, even when Moffett's heart wasn't in it anymore, he was still a cracking writer and knew how to write the doctor and non-cliched dialogue that popped. I don't think Capaldi would have fared much better with Chibnall's poor writing and limited characterisation because that's what's really held Jodie back I think.

Chibnall's characterisation of the doctor is just weak and extreme in her passiveness. She's not allowed to be as multi-faceted as other doctors who would often flip between kindness and necessary brutality when it came to their enemies and that's overly simplified the character too much and made her seem dumber than any other doctor since, painfully enough, they made the first female doctor someone who is ruled by their heart, not their head. It's just poor that they've obviously written her differently when she should have been more in line with the other doctors but have her own quirks.

I don't think we'll really see what Jodie can do until we get a new showrunner that will overhaul the character.

Rosa was great obviously, though not without it’s flaws. Punjab was excellent but for me the best episode of the series was Kerblam! I thought there were some really clever twists that all made sense come the end and the robots were creepy.

Yeah, Chibnall's "characterisation" of 13 seems to be non-existent until at various stages he remembers "Oh the Doctor has to be eccentric!!" So makes her randomly eat soil and then say how much she loves something.

Yes, Tom Baker loved jelly babies, Tennant shouted Allons-y and Smith thought Fez's were cool but that was not the start and end of their characterisation.

I actually mouthed along with her saying “I love wellies” last night. It was so predictable.

Let's just hope the rumours of him leaving are true. I don't know if the series could survive another season of Chibnall tbh.

A lot of the episodes may as well have been reciting the alphabet - we all know that L is followed by MNOP, so unless you either mix up the letters or do something different with them, it's all a bit flat.

I watched the finale and it was good! Don't know what you're all bloody moaning about! :oh:

I agree thought that this series hasn't been the best. Hopefully next series there will be more of a story arc and better writing

THIS series reminded by of that show where Jodie Whittaker played a lady pretending to be a doctor :love:

Joking I love jodielegend

I watched the Christmas Carol episode earlier, it's soo good. Makes me miss how amazing the show was sometimes <3

Already it's the best 13th Doctor ep <3

So this is on tonight lol! Perched!

Sheffield is the new Cardiff, the amount of times aliens bloody invade her!

Why doesn't anyone know what a Dalek is when they literally invaded the whole planet a few years ago

Can this Ryan and dad scene END!

Oh I don't know.

T'cracks wiped them out

Not yet killing the hottie the scumbag

Oh yeah lmao forgot about that

That Mitch guy is cool, wish he'd replace Ryan and/or Yaz!

Mess not Unit shut down

Urgh this is just awful. Does anyone actually care about Ryan's dad?

This is just bad. The Dalek CGI model looks noticeably different to the prop, and what was with that stupid family WiFi scene?

That was ****ing brilliant. Best episode Chibnall has ever written.

Martha did that? :clap1:

The Dalek actually murdering loads of people though :love:

That was the best episode since Moffat's era, more of that please Chibbers.

TBH, I think he handicapped himself with S11, by not reusing any old aliens, I hope we get more like this in S12

Definitely the best episode from Chibnall so far.

Unfortunately, and I hate to say it, Jodie let it down in parts again. Her line delivery is kind of annoying. Well, after 11 episodes, it's now REALLY annoying. :(

Also, it's the first time I've really appreciated the new score. :love: More of this please.

Gutted about UNIT though, there was no need. We wanted Kate Stewart and Osgood in the wings to make appearances.

Next time I get pulled over for speeding I can't wait to say "You are an enemy of the Daleks!"