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

Now this is something truly worthy of a fireworks display. Chris Chibnall has written a clever episode conclusion - this doesn’t happen all that often.

Realising that the Daleks are applying the knowledge they have picked up in previous loops to stay ahead of the Doctor, Thirteen devises a plan to throw them off their game by using the penultimate loop as a decoy. Sarah calls her Mum, The TARDIS team enjoy some beefy beans, and Nick ex-terminates his creepy item stash (we can’t help but wonder if the whole subplot was to set-up this Chibnall dad pun, but we enjoyed it).

Then, in the final loop, they spring the trap, using Sarah’s mum’s phone call to their advantage and destroying the Daleks in spectacular fashion. This New Year’s special is the first of the three to really utilise New Year’s traditions as a part of the story in the same way the Christmas specials do, weaponising both the countdown to midnight and firework display as storytelling devices - pretty creative stuff!

One last point we have to mention - that bloke at the end watching the firework display was the crane operator, Carl, from Whitaker’s first episode: The Woman Who Fell To Earth. We have to ask ourselves… why? This may just beat out Jack Harkness and Kate Stewart for the most pointless cameo of the Chibnall era award. Still, good for Carl, we guess. He’s living his best life.