As someone who hasn’t been following the show that closely since Chibnall took over, I watched tonight and found it very strange. Obviously part of that was because there were call backs to previous episodes etc that I didn’t get, but more generally I think it was because the show seems to have a completely different premise to what it had back in 2005.
To me, it feels like the show has unilaterally decided it is now a high-budget and gritty drama, in the style of Broadchurch, Line of Duty etc. However, I don’t really think that’s what the audience generally expects or wants from the show?
Certainly in the Russell T Davies and (to a lesser extent) Moffat eras of the show, whilst they did dark and heavy bits like that seen in tonight’s episode, it was underpinned by humour and the sense that the show didn’t take itself too seriously.
Tonight’s episode had very little of that, and whilst competently made as a result I found very little to enjoy. I think those tuning in to see John Barrowman will have also been very confused by what they’ve returned to!
How does the show rate these days? If it’s still pulling in a decent audience then I guess I’m just out of touch, but IMO the show has an established format/approach and what I watched tonight was at odds with that. Instead, it felt like something more appropriate for Class (DW’s short-lived BBC Three spin-off), which I, in contrast to many, enjoyed as it was a new show and they therefore had the opportunity to decide what type of show it was going to be.
623058: it just seems like your an mp3 whore