Doctor Who Season 11: 10 Huge Questions After 'Demons Of The Punjab'

Once again we had an alien who turned out to be a red herring. But if last week’s Pting was simply following its natural instincts, this time we had a repentant alien race who were trying to positively honour the forgotten dead. Far from being ruthless assassins, the Vajarians turn out to be ‘aliens with compassion’. Coupled with the framing device of Yaz’s grandmother in Sheffield, and the husband who had been written out of history, this theme of remembering the dead made the episode very reminiscent of the recent Pixar/Disney movie Coco.

Over the years of course, Doctor Who has introduced all manner of benevolent alien races, and the Vajarians selfless modus operandum is hardly new. In Moffat and Capaldi’s final episode, Twice Upon A Time, a seemingly hostile race, the Testimony, were in fact preserving the memories of the dead. In the Russell T Davies Sarah Jane episode, Death of the Doctor, another alien race, the vulture-like Shansheeth, also shared a similar function as galactic undertakers (though on this occasion the ones on screen were a rogue faction with a sinister agenda).

In order to mask the twist in the tale, the production team went out of the way to make the Vajarians appear grotesque and dangerous, while at the same time making Prem’s younger brother seem sweet and innocent. It’s a shame really, given that the design of the creatures was far more effective than that of the Stenza in episode one. The unreformed Vajarians could have made for a superb villain. This series, however, evil is very much closer to home - for now at least.