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

Doctor-lite episodes are great, and they've been absent for too long. They give us different types of stories to tell, and as of yet, I firmly believe there hasn't been a bad one (Love & Monsters is overhated and I will die on that hill).

But two in a row?

I know that the Doctor and Ruby did have an ongoing presence in the story, but there's a big difference between sitting in front of a colour screen for most of the episode versus actually being on set, even if Gatwa does make up for it by absolutely stealing the scene at the end.

I'm rather concerned that, in an eight episode series, having a quarter of those episodes not feature the Doctor in a starring role is harmful to Fifteen's development. Fifteen and Ruby have a great dynamic, but we're approaching the finale now and honestly, they still feel like they've just met. We need another episode like Boom that puts their dynamic front and centre, and sharpish.

Unfortunately I'm not sure that next week's Rogue, with its two high-profile guest stars, is going to satisfy that quota either.

I understand that Gatwa was filming the final season of Sex Education and wasn't available for the first filming block of this season, but this feels like something the production should've been postponed for – there's a lot riding on this series, after all.

The episode order continues to baffle me too, from opening with Space Babies and The Devil's Chord (both of which were weak), to putting this one back-to-back with 73 Yards. Surely there had to be a better way of arranging them.