Doctor Who: Every 11th Doctor Episode Ranked Worse To Best

24. The Bells Of Saint John

Doctor Who Matt Smith
BBC Studios

This season seven part two opener is perhaps the weakest opening episode from Steven Moffat who usually comes up with snappy dialogue, memorable villains and an action-packed 45-minute plot. Part of the problem may be that because this season was divided in two, the first half dealing with the Ponds leaving and the second half introducing Clara, Moffat had to think of two season openers in a year.

This episode feels like it’s trying to make Doctor Who cool with a Black Mirror-esque plot (the wi-fi is evil, how relevant!), the Doctor riding on a motorbike (with a helmet, kids) and a large part of the story being set in the swanky Shard.

Despite this, The Bells of Saint John feels as tepid as the title sounds, the title meant to have been a reference to the sound of the TARDIS. Who would have known that from the title alone though?!

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An avid cinephile, love Trainspotting (the film, not the hobby), like watching bad films ironically (The Room, Cats) and hate my over-reliance on brackets (they’re handy for a quick aside though).