Doctor Who: The Vanquishers Review - 4 Ups & 9 Downs

If there’s one character we could rely on to bring their A game this week, it was Karvanista. Craig Els has smashed it this season, and managed to display a surprising amount of emotion this week despite being buried deep within a hairy dog mask. Massive props.

First, we get a scene in which Karvanista and Thirteen have an open chat for the first time, with Karvanista revealing that his memories of The Doctor are intact, unlike hers, and that once upon a time they were very close, hinting that he was a companion to her. He also tells The Doctor that he is implanted with a chip that will poison him if he reveals the truth about the past. This scene is given room to breathe and as a result the emotional beats all land, and given the set-up it provides, we reckon we haven’t heard the last of this pooch.

We also get the soul-crushing reveal that The Sontarans have killed every single Lupari, leaving Karvanista as the last of his kind. Whilst we never saw any of the other Lupari on screen, the idea of doggy-genocide is still very upsetting, and the intensity radiating from Craig Els’ eyes really sells this for us. Later, Karvanista gets his big moment by removing the Sontaran’s protection from The Flux, and we were right there cheering with him.

Best new character of the series? He’s a strong contender for sure.