Doctor Who: Dot And Bubble Review - 5 Ups & 5 Downs

10. UP - A Supremely Hateable Performance

Dot and Bubble features up-and-comer Callie Cooke as a guest lead, and she does a remarkable job.

Unlike other Doctor-lite episodes (which have given us extremely likeable one-off leads like Sally Sparrow and Elton Pope), Dot and Bubble takes an altogether different route by making the central character an absolutely abhorrent person. Blissfully unaware of how the world works, socially performative, manipulative, and self-serving, Lindy Pepper-Bean may be one of the most unlikeable characters in the show's history, and that's without factoring in that she's a massive racist.

I'm not giving Callie Cooke an Up because I loved her character – quite the opposite. It's an achievement to embody a character so well, that they can make your blood boil constantly. Cooke plays the vapid influencer side of this character to frustrating perfection, and absolutely nails it when the story calls for a more sinister turn towards the end. It's honestly depressing that people like this exist in the real world, too.

Overall, I commend this approach. I'm sure that following such an irredeemable character for the entire runtime won't be to everyone's taste, but it makes for a very different type of story. More big swings from Russell, and another hit. We're picking up some momentum now.