The generally cracking second half of Doctor Who series 9 is available to buy now. The two-disc set gives a bumper package of some of the most talked-about episodes of Doctor Who in a good old while.
A revisit of these episodes on DVD is particularly welcome as there’s so much crammed into this two-disc set. On disc one we have the welcome return of UNIT scientist, Doctor superfan and all-round top girl, Osgood (Ingrid Oliver) in the Zygon two-parter, which also saw Jenna Coleman put in a stonking double turn as Clara and her evil twin Bonnie. There’s also the hotly debated found-footage experiment Sleep No More written by Mark Gatiss.
Watched in one sitting, disc two feels more like a continuous story as we see the wonderfully clever trap street story, the return of two important characters in the world of Doctor Who – Flatline’s Rigsy (Joivan Wade) and the immortal Ashildr/Mayor Me (Maisie Williams) – and Clara’s terrible death/non-death in Face The Raven. And of course, there’s the extraordinary and sublime Heaven Sent, topped off with the Spaghetti Western styled Hell Bent, which gave Clara her proper send off.
Sleep No More and Hell Bent have been two of the most unique and ambitious episodes in Doctor Who history, with varying results. The DVD extras here are especially interesting in giving a behind the scenes view of the plan for each episode.
The Doctor Who Extra episode for Sleep No More provides truly interesting views from everyone involved with the episode from its concept to its execution. It’s fascinating to see how genuinely excited everyone involved was about the making of Sleep No More – from writer to actors to crew – and the challenges they faced. So much so, that it’s worth a re-watch of the episode after seeing this extra.
As you’d expect, the DVD extras have input from the main cast as well as show-runner Steven Moffat, but there are some little gems from lesser-known crew, such as Tom Wilton’s take on playing a Zygon and camerman Mark McQuiod on the many challenges of filming Sleep No More.
One of the great joys in the extras is the input from the exceptional director of Hell Bent and Heaven Sent, Rachel Talalay. Without giving too much away, her delight at being able to bring her vision for Heaven Sent to life is worth the price of the DVD alone.
Overall, Series 9 Part 2 is an impressive set of stories. From that speech in The Zygon Inversion to the completion of Clara’s journey in becoming more and more like the Doctor as she flies away in her own stolen TARDIS, this is a worthy addition to any collection.
Blogtor rating: 9/10
Disc one
The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion
Sleep No More
Disc two
Face The Raven
Heaven Sent/Hell Bent
You can buy Doctor Who Series 9 Part 2 now from the BBC shop online or Amazon
It’s a shame the North American release doesn’t feature that wonderful image of Clara and the Doctor which sums up their relationship perfectly. This team will be missed and I think even the haters will come around over time. That said, I’m going to skip this release now that I know the full season set is just around the corner. But I am looking forward to revisiting the best season of Doctor Who I’ve ever seen, and I’ve pretty much seen them all. The folks applauding and hooting and hollering with delight with Moffat going I think need to sit down and actually watch this thing and realize the wonderful television it is. Not every episode worked – Sleep No More – but so many series rely on sex and violence to see their way through, but Doctor Who has always carved its own path and this show deserves more respect that it receives. And that goes for the people making it, too.