Doctor Who: 10 Best Multi-Part Stories In Nu Who

Season ten brought us another trilogy of episodes, dubbed “The Monk Trilogy” after its central villains. Much like the previous entry on this list, this trilogy gets off to a fantastic start in Extremis with the translation of an apocryphal piece of scripture located in the vaults of the Vatican.

All who read the translation of this scroll seemingly go mad and commit suicide. A wonderful, Matrix-style twist leaves us questioning reality and gives us an introduction to the villains that really makes them stand out.

Pyramid At The End Of The World is equally compelling and does something different than usual with its villains. Rather than take the world by force, The Monks have to be invited to take power. They know that humanity will ask them soon as an apocalypse scale disaster approaches.

There is an unsettling sense of inevitability in this one as we wait for the inevitable disaster to occur (caused by an alcohol induced hangover in true British fashion!).

The final part, The Lie of The Land, starts out in a similar position to Last of The Time Lords; with the Earth conquered by the dictatorial villains and humanities only hope lying with small rebel groups. Unfortunately, after an intriguing start in which Bill attempts to infiltrate a Monk stronghold to rescue the Doctor (and another regeneration-fake out, seriously show – stop doing these) the episode realises it doesn’t have a satisfying way to resolve the issues and instead relies on a typical “love conquers all” trope that unfortunately doesn’t feel justified.