Doctor Who: 8 Simple Fixes It Must Make For Series 12

7. Use The Sonic More Sparingly

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, stop relying on the sonic. The sonic plot device. The ultimate multitool, from opening doors to literally anything you ask of it. Not only did the constant exposition slow down the physical momentum of Series 11, the sonic kind of did so too. Remember back in the day when the Doctor would poke, sniff, prod, and even lick things to establish what they are or where they’ve come from? Now it’s just scan and look at a screen that isn’t even there.

Far too often did Thirteen rely on the sonic. It was something Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor also suffered with, but somehow it wasn’t as annoying then as it is now. Getting out of scrapes by pointing an LED at a threat until sparks fly off or until a trapdoor opens beneath our protagonist, and they fall into a warmly-lit room full of fluffy pillows and chicken nuggets, is lazy writing by anyone’s standards. So bring back that physicality we had with the Doctor, and step one is to stop pausing for a lecture, and step two is using the sonic to open a door, and not much more. Plus, it makes the Doctor feel more interesting- more on that later.