Doctor Who Series 11: 3 Ups & 4 Downs From 'The Tsuranga Conundrum'

3. Ryan's Shoe-horned Character Development

Yoss was a pregnant male character, who definitely served for some fun comic relief in this episode, but his inclusion was pretty much used entirely as a vehicle to move conversation onto Ryan’s Dad. Yoss wasn’t sure about being a father, but after discussing what happened to his parents with Yaz, Ryan convinces Yoss to be there for his son, irrelevant of how much he’ll screw up or not, as young Avocado needs a dad. Yes, he called his son Avocado.

I’ve been singing the companions’ praises throughout this series so far, but at the moment, Graham is the most well-developed, and he’s still the best of the three. Ryan’s brief run-in with his Dad last week was well executed, and it led to a lovely moment between him and Graham, but this week it just felt shoehorned in, and led to some pretty cheesy dialogue between him and Yoss when he was giving birth, and another cringey brofist moment between him and Graham.

It feels like Chibnall has bitten off more than he can chew with three companions. Trying to develop all three simultaneously is a huge task, but after a good four episodes for Graham, and the second of two so far for Ryan, it’s only Yaz left who’s still a little thin. Now I’m afraid we’re going to get two characters’ worth of development crammed into the next four or five weeks, which might not work too well.