Demons of the Punjab

Despite Chris Chibnall's best efforts towards mediocrity and poorly developing his characters and his new Doctor Who, this episode notably without his name on the writing credit really shines. It is beautiful both by script and by appearance. Spain stands in for Pakistan in location shots, but boy does this episode make me want to explore both places. I was moved to tears by this one, but also thrilled.

Doctor Who fans who complain about the lack of scary monsters and super creeps in it seem to have forgotten about the middle third of the thing. Sure the focus turns towards the human horrors of the Partition of India, quite brilliantly, but the premise of these demons is complex and interesting. (Why can't they come back as scary monsters? This is a time travel show!)

Demons of the Punjab was a real surprise to me because I don't normally like historical episodes; this episode however, blew me away.

The Doctor and team arrive in the Punjab in order to visit Yaz's grandmother only to find Partition underway, mysterious demons plaguing the community, and Yaz's grandmother taking part in a controversial marriage.

Yaz was well deserving of a bit of character development and this episode delivered, the events clearly changing who she is as a person and developing her relationship with both her grandmother (and even Graham to an extent).

The aliens of the week are very creative, both in design and motive; with the villains being motivated by something that's all too familiar to many people today (and written in a very nuanced and respectful way).

There are plenty of emotional scenes in this episode and they nearly invariably hit hard; with new writer Vinay Patel (and excellent director Jamie Childs) selling the emotional weight of the events in a very realistic manner.

Just... Watch it, it's great. Best episode of series 11 so far.

8.8/10

I have never ever written an review on IMDB but I felt I had to for this episode. This new seasons cinematography is absolutely stunning? They definitely need to keep at it. The writing for this episode is brilliant, I loved it. It made me cry. Along with the Rosa parks episode, no need to be aliens, just simple human history by going back in time is brilliant. The writers for this season are superb, give this episode a watch it certainly kept me engaged

Incredible episode, thought provoking, and a pleasant surprise? I must admit I was regretting this episode when it was first announced. But honestly, it was the best episode yet! It includes time travel clichés, tough decisions and great characters. Doctor Who at it's core. Here's hoping it continues with this standard.

Last week's effort was perhaps the lowest point so far, I feared for a further drop in quality, but we get an episode that sits secondary in this series to the great Rosa. Similar format to Rosa, a historical, very interesting, for me to Google what really happened during this troubled time.

The lack of Alien threat is becoming a bit of a problem, once again we get an Alien race, which fails to deliver any meaningful threat, this time at least the 'demons' looked a great deal better, but they flattered to deceive. At least Yaz finally gets a story, she's suffered the Nyssa effect of late, being somewhat sidelined.

I loved the production values, beautifully shot, great costumes, loved the music.

It wasn't great, but it was definitely better then the last few. It had some rather poignant moments, i liked it, but I still feel a link to the past is needed.