Doctor Who Series 6 Review
- doctorbrick
- Jan 27
- 4 min read
Series 6 of Doctor Who is hard to review - it is like being given a bag, and the first things you pull out are the Natural History Museum and Old Fishing Store LEGO sets, automatically you think this could be the best bag you have ever been given, so excitedly you dive in deeper. What else do you find? A carton of gone off milk, a MAGA cap, a Piers Morgan book and a Jim'll Fix It medal. You still find a couple more LEGO sets in the bag, but you feel a bit dirty from that Piers Morgan book.
It was ambitious, I will give it that, but no, I don't think it really worked for me. Which is a shame, because the Natural History Museum (The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon) and Old Fishing Store (The Doctor's Wife) were peak gift giving. These episodes are up there with some of the very best Doctor Who has to offer. The journey after these is laced with some very big bumps in the road though.
The Curse of the Black Spot, The Almost People, The Rebel Flesh, Closing Time and Night Terrors are highly forgettable episodes. Some of those I cannot forgive for some of the characters and the actions of our TARDIS team. If I cannot forgive a Doctor Who episode then that episode is in severe trouble!
Let’s start with the positives though shall we? The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon are absolute bangers, peak bangers at that. The opening two-parter is dark, stylish, and cinematic, packed with tension and mystery. The Silence are a fantastic new villain, the Doctor’s apparent death is a jaw-dropping moment, and the whole episode is dripping with a sense of intrigue that sets up what feels like an epic, game-changing arc. Add in the stunning American scenery and some of the best direction the show has ever had, and it’s easily one of the best season openers in Doctor Who history.
The Doctor’s Wife is another high point. Neil Gaiman’s script is top-tier Doctor Who, giving us the utterly brilliant idea of the TARDIS personified. Suranne Jones is phenomenal as Idris, and her chemistry with Matt Smith makes for some of the most heartfelt moments of the series. This is one of those episodes that feels like an instant classic.
There are other good moments as well. The Almost People has a fantastic twist at the end with Amy turning out to be a Flesh duplicate all along. It’s one of the rare moments where the overarching mystery really works. Matt Smith in A Good Man Goes to War is supreme, his Colnel Runaway speech will forever live in my head, and yes, it is paying no rent whilst it is in there.
The biggest issue is the overarching story and how that affects our heroes. The mysteries that felt so gripping in the early episodes end up having frustratingly obvious answers, and all the trouble and pain these issues cause is just batted away by Amy and Rory as if they were a minor inconvenience.
We knew River was the astronaut. We knew she was going to end up being Amy and Rory’s daughter. When these twists were finally revealed, they didn’t feel shocking or clever - they just felt undewhelming and predictable. And the Doctor surviving by using the Teselecta? That just felt like a cop-out. It’s not that Doctor Who can’t do fake-out deaths, but after all the build-up, it just didn’t feel satisfying.
I think Amy and Rory are my biggest issue though. Let's see what happened to them:
Amy thinks she is pregnant but isn't sure;
Amy is kidnapped and replaced by a Flesh avatar;
Amy's flesh avatar is melted by the Doctor;
Amy gives birth, in the middle of an army raised to kill her best friend and then immediately loses her baby;
The baby is revealed to be River Song, who then in turn dissapears;
They find out their baby was Mels;
Mels is an absolute bell end who doesn't deserve their friendship, but she is shot and regenerates;
River is back, nearly kills the Doctor and is gone again.
This is all by the middle of the series. Watch Night Terrors after all this has happened though and you wouldn't think they really give a shit. They just kind of accept that River is their daughter without really reacting the way you’d expect parents to. The emotional weight of these massive events is never fully explored, which makes it hard to stay invested in their story.
I hate to say it as well, but I didn't overly rate episodes that are quite highly thought of either. The Girl Who Waited and The God Complex are good episodes, but they lack a good villain for them to battle against.
The finale is not a two parter which seems mad after the series which is the most arc heavy. The Doctor wanders around playing chess and telling stories before we even get close to having some form of resolution to everything that has been going on.
Madame Kovarian could be a good person to sum the whole series up - she was mysterious, intriguing and then, within a second, she was dead. Her plan never fully was revealed, and all that build up happened and we didn't really get any pay off for it. Amy killed her, but made a quick comment about it and then all was forgotten.
Ultimately, Series 6 is a season full of high highs and low lows. The best episodes are some of the finest Doctor Who has ever done, but the overall story lacks cohesion, and the payoffs to its biggest mysteries feel underwhelming. It’s an ambitious but messy season that doesn’t quite stick the landing.
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