As each new Doctor makes his mark on the series the challenge to come up with a debut adventure that's even bigger and better than the last is one that the writers have so far taken in their stride. David Tennant got Doctor Who's first Christmas Special to affirm himself in the coveted role - though admittedly he was asleep for most of it - and Matt Smith was welcomed aboard the TARDIS as the Eleventh Doctor in a specially extended episode which also relaunched the series and introduced his new companion, too. For Peter Capaldi, though, they went one step further. Not only was his first full episode, Deep Breath, extended to a feature-length running time of 80 minutes, it was also screened simultaneously into cinemas following the success of last year's 50th anniversary special The Day of the Doctor. The scale of Doctor Who - and particularly this episode - certainly warrants a cinematic presentation and thousands of fans relished in another opportunity to enjoy one of the Doctor's adventures on the big screen. Let's hope a cinema screening returns for the Series 9 premiere, too. In fact, it would be brilliant if every episode of Series 9 was shown in the cinema, but that's wishful thinking on our part.
Dan Butler is the Doctor Who Editor at WhatCulture.com. When he isn't writing his own articles or editing other people's, he can be found trawling the internet for gifs of Steven Moffat laughing. Contact him via dan.butler@whatculture.co.uk.
