10 Greatest Cold Opens In Doctor Who

Lie Of The Land might (fairly or unfairly) be considered as a slightly lacklustre finale to the intriguing 'monk trilogy', but its opening scene is anything but lacklustre. In fact, this episode has one of the most unique cold opens seen to date.

The episode immediately picks up with an entirely different energy to where it left off with The Pyramid at the End of the World, throwing the viewer straight into a mock propaganda broadcast. The television broadcast details (falsely) how the Monks have supported and nurtured the human race since it’s infancy, having a hand in every scientific and cultural development throughout its storied history.

The editing in this sequence is fantastic, as the monks are inserted into real-life photos, paintings and events, which really helps to emphasise the extent to which the monks have established themselves as the guardians of human race. Perhaps most intriguingly, the entire scene is narrated by the Doctor, which opens up further questions. Has he been indoctrinated, or is he playing a long game? Opening with this and keeping us getting really tees up the episode nicely (even if this ends up with a flat resolution so that the marketing department could feature a regeneration in the series' trailers).

This footage is interspersed with shots of a woman being arrested for 'producing propaganda intended to undermine the true history' before being thrown into a shady van with an Illuminati-style TRUTH logo plastered over it. She resists, shouting to bystanders (which include Bill), that the monks have only been on Earth for a few months. The entire thing has a real gloomy, hopeless feel to it that harks back to classic dystopian fiction - a genre that Who should really dip into more.