12.30: Thin Ice

In which Doctor Who punches a racist in the face.

Broadcast: April 2017

Watched: April 2022

“History’s a whitewash.” The Doctor says Jesus was black. Cool.

Another one I didn’t remember much about – my personal life was a bit of a mess in 2017, so maybe I’d stopped rewatching as standard? This one, as the name suggests, is a little thin, but with lots of good bits.

The frost fair is beautifully realised – we get a lovely ten minutes at the beginning that’s just historical tourism, before the plot starts. That also gives us time for more “gradual introduction to the Doctor’s world” stuff, which is an interesting choice on year 6 of a production team’s run. 

The thought occurs that, given The Pilot takes place over several months, the Doctor and Bill have known each other for an unusually long time before she becomes a companion, which is a pretty unusual setup. Also, Bill’s fresh view of the Doctor’s world allows for scenes like one where she asks the Doctor if he’s ever killed someone: we’re still turning around the Doctor’s morality, as the show’s been doing for years, but it’s now how it looks to an outsider, not how sad he feels about it all.

The one bit of this episode I did remember was the Doctor telling Bill not to lose her temper, and then immediately punching a racist in the face for being racist at hertt5. This is, to be fair, the best bit. 

Other things:

• Is this a pure historical? It contains no aliens, even if there is a monster.

• The completely silent underwater scene is lovely – wonder if it was inspired by that Bojack Horseman episode which won all the awards the previous year?

• The Doctor winding Bill up about her friend Pete who stepped on a butterfly and now no longer exists is funny but also a bit sick given, y’know, Rory.

• For all the energy of this year, there’s still a sense of recycling from earlier Moffat scripts going on: the urchin gang from Empty Child, the kind monster from Beast Below, the Doctor’s asking Bill to make the choice about what to do with the monster is Kill The Moon... Is Moffat on a conscious victory lap or is he just knackered?

• I’m a big fan of Lord Sutcliffe’s bright blue coat. Which made me realise quite how often I mention coats in these notes. There is, alas, some terrible CGI immediately before he falls in the Thames.

• The Doctor’s speech about how the value of a society is in how it treats its weakest members feels like it prefigures the end of the season.

• Nardole is amusingly terrified of whatever’s in the Vault.