Doctor Who: Eve Of The Daleks Review - 9 Ups & 4 Downs

In what has become the new Doctor Who tradition, we gathered around the TV on New Year’s Day to watch the Doctor battle screaming pepper pots in the third and final instalment of Chibnall’s ‘Dalek trilogy’. Though, contrary to expectations, this episode had nothing to do with the other two. On balance, this was probably a point in its favour.

It’s no secret that the initially promising Flux series ended on a slightly lacklustre note, but despite this, we were optimistic going into Eve of the Daleks. After all, the two episodes of Flux that were more standalone (War of the Sontarans and Village of the Angels) were some of Chibnall’s best, with some definite improvements in writing and direction.

Logic dictated that these last few standalone specials would be equally strong, but was that the case?

The best thing about Doctor Who specials is the extended run-time, which gives stories room to breathe in a way that normal stories cannot, with each special feeling more like a cinematic mini-movie than your average Sunday night telly.

Eve of the Daleks takes full advantage of this by dropping a nine-and-a-half minute cold open on us which introduces the two guest stars and the premise of the episode. Thanks to the simple ‘bottle-episode’ style of this special, Eve of the Daleks can really take its time to build a connection between the guest stars and the audience, and set up a compelling mystery. It does both spectacularly, ending this cold open with the casual murder of the entire cast of the episode by a particularly bloodthirsty Dalek. This is how you open an episode, and it might just be Chibnall’s best start to an episode yet.

Also, just a small thing, but we really enjoyed the rainbow lighting in the TARDIS at the start of the episode, even if it made the gang look like they’d stumbled into the middle of a warehouse rave.