Arachnids in the UK

A Donald Trump character. How original! How inspired! Chibnall is quite the genius isnt he?

Mix The Green Death with Planet of the Spiders, throw in Snr. Trump plus current moralising and pontificating, which we've had ever episode so far. Add a dash or three of transparent coincidences and presto! A generic, insipid pastiche of two Jon Pertwee classics.

Watch the originals if you haven't already. See great stories well told with genuine acting (Tommy in Spiders), instead of these cardboard P.C. cliches. And if you've seen them already, watch them again... or something with originality like The Expanse. Just don't waste your time here. I've wasted enough.

Enjoyed the episode for what it was, but i can do without the anti Trump message this episode was trying to push. regardless of how you feel about the man, please keep your political opinions out of my sci-fi BBC

It's clear no matter how great or merely good this run of episodes are some people are hating the episodes and writing reviews before they are even finished airing.

This episode while not as good as the previous three is still above average. My main issue is it doesn't seem to have a proper ending and the story seemed incomplete. Also some of the guest characters came across as underwritten, underdeveloped, underused and forgotten. It could have been so much better.

Bring on episode 5

This has been the hardest episode of this new series to review. As in my title I found this a total mixed bag. I can see why people hate and quite liked it. On the plus side, I have a genuine phobia of spiders, the concept of ordinary spiders transforming into deadly monsters was great, chilling. I quite liked parts of it, I was reminded of the show's distant past, the Pertwee era, and also it felt a little like life under Russell T Davies. On the debit side, it was preachy, the whole Trump style character and dialogue I found a little unpalatable, not the place, why use Dr Who as a vessel to give us that message? we want sci fi.

The spiders were a little underused, after a powerful, dramatic opening nothing much actually happened, I wasn't hugely impressed by the CGI, although the webs looked good. If Chibnall is going to stay on i hope he seeks a slightly different flavour in future, it is all feeling a little overly pc, the show has always been a little rebellious, it's in danger of becoming a little too safe. Last week's episode had truly reinvigorated the series, this one left me wanting something more. Wasn't bad, just hoping it's the series low point.

I have to say I am loving those opening credits and music, fantastic arrangement.

5/10

I don't even know how to criticize today's episode. The whole story seems like end in a sudden and totally disobey the logic. The whole horror atmosphere is ruined by how the story end. And the reason why Yaz come aboard definitely not strong enough. Once again, good visual effect and camera, but the story really needs work.