13.6: Demons of the Punjab
In which Doctor Who shows it can still do tragedy.
Broadcast: November 2018
Watched: June 2022
“Nothing worse than when normal people lose their minds.”
Alternatively: “All the way from England!” “Might want to keep that to yourself right now.”
Genuinely tragic, genuinely heartbreaking. There’s so much good stuff here: the beauty of the landscape, the use of the music, the complete change of tone from anything that’s come before. A lot of this episode is just people sitting around talking on the night before the wedding. Like a lot of the best tragedies, it gets its power simply from dread.
And that works because the ending is so convincingly set up as inevitable. Yaz is desperate to save Prem... but if they do, she’ll never be born. The moment when she’s just helping someone with a household task, and then realises she’s putting in the border posts. Most powerfully of all, though, at the start of the story Nani won’t tell Yaz the story because it’s too painful; at the end Yaz doesn’t want to hear it for the same reason. It’s a hell of a conceit.
There are some issues. The actual Demons are a nice idea but 1) the idea the Doctor can’t do anything would hit harder if that didn’t keep happening this season, and 2) it’s just testament from Twice Upon a Time again. Jodie really doesn’t give the wedding speech the weight and gravitas it needs – it’s one of those moments where I worry she’s actually miscast.
But my god, one of the sort of issues with this one is it’s so, so powerful it’s genuinely hard to watch, and I’m not sure that’s actually an issue. It’s one of those “I didn’t know Doctor Who could do that” stories: a one-act play about partition in which nobody comes out well, a story of Hindu nationalism clearly influenced by the age of Modi that’s also about racism and radicalisation everywhere. (Prim’s sadness at losing his brother could be about watching a relative fall down the conspiracy rabbit hole today.) Vinay Patel is a genuine find and I wish he’d written more.
Also, I absolutely shamelessly invited him to my book launch because he’s cool. So there.
Other things:
This title has two meanings, which makes up for the fact the last one had none.
This is the closest we’ve got to a pure historical in... how long? Black Orchid? [If so that’s 36 years.] There are aliens in it, but they don’t affect the plot and they’re not what it’s really about.
Graham and Yaz have a conversation! For the first and quite possibly last time? [It isn’t, they have one in Ascension of the Cybermen too.]
Demons in skirts. Cool. Their backstory is interesting, but a bit under explored.
Some random good bits: Prem’s “I don’t want any of this”, meaning both the Demons and partition; Umbreen reaching out to her brother-in-law and being rejected. Ouch.
”Manish killed the Holy man.” “Of course.” The resignation of Prem’s delivery might be the most heartbreaking thing in the entire episode.
I have a note here that just reads “Graham” and I don’t have the faintest idea why. It might be because Bradley Walsh is genuinely great in this, even though it’s not his episode? Just being sad and kind. Yes, we’ll assume it’s that, he’s great.
The mournful, vaguely desi version of the theme tune over the end credits is wonderful.
The jewel in the crown of the Chibnall era. Which is heartening in its own way because I do think this is not a story RTD or Moffat would’ve commissioned. So it is an example of the Chibnallian approach paying off, even if it takes an actually good writer to make it work.
Also, Segun Akinola’s finest hour.
I remember sheer relief when this aired, at last they’ve worked out how to make Who that feels different and unique. It was a nice feeling while it lasted.
Is Jodie miscast or is Chibnall the first modern showrunner to seemingly not understand the strengths and weaknesses of his leading actor and thus never write a script that lets her shine?