With a title like Kerblam! this story has no right in being good, it harkens back to the meaningless one-word story titles of the 1980s like Castrovalva, Kinda, or Timelash. Pete McTighe writes a story that on the surface seems to be anti-capitalist propaganda as pointed out by another reviewer, but they seem to have forgotten that the message at the end of the story is that capitalism is a tool and it must be used correctly, less it is corrupted. Kerblam! as an organization is not corrupt or evil, the manager and head of human resources are both good people who just don't realize the bad things that are going on at the company. At it's heart the story is a message against radicalization, even if the radicals have good ideas, do not create a situation where you see yourself becoming the villain.

McTighe writes what is essentially the anti-The Robots of Death, a murder mystery where the robots aren't the ones killing people, but it is just a human wanting to help people. Whittaker and Walsh make a dream team and Mandip Gil is also a lot of fun, though Tosin Cole has a bit of a lag in his action which is a shame. Kerblam! is full of fun twists and turns, a good villain, and some really nice character interactions continuing the high note of Series 11 with only one clunker so far.

The first episode of Series 11 to speak to me on a deep level showing what the new team can really do. The first episode not to have Chris Chibnall on as cowriter feels completely different from the previous five episodes of Series 11 with a story going as close to a pure historical that you really could. The aliens of the story are only there to provide some intrigue to the plot and prove that the real demons of the story are the humans. Instead of attempting to explain the partition of India on a global scale in a short 50 minute segment, Vinay Patel's script looks at two families, one Muslim, one Hindu, both mostly willing to live with each other despite the deep differences of their faiths and how the grandmother of companion Yasmin Khan's life was pulled apart.

Jodie Whittaker's Doctor gets what may be a defining moment when she acts as the officiator of the marriage present in the story, giving a touching speech about love and humanity. Graham as always is the one to steal the show even though this isn't a story about him, he knows that Prem is going to die and it motivates him to make his last moments happy ones. Yasmin Khan in one story is able to get a complete character, something that has been lacking and if Kerblam! is any indication it's a character which sticks unlike certain companions. Demons of the Punjab is an excellent episode and shows that Doctor Who still has it in it to go beyond barriers.

The Massacre of St. Bartholemew's Eve is a 4 part historical adventure beginning with War of God. It surrounds the build up to the true historical event of the title where a huge amount of Protestants in 16th Century France were massacred by the Catholic rulers of the time.

Such a horrific true event gives this story a very dark but very interesting feel and provides tremendous drama, particularly surrounding Steven's anger at the Doctor's insistence that they cannot interfere with the course of known history.

The writing, Paddy Russell's direction, acting by the regulars and the extremely impressive guest cast is of the highest possible quality and it is no surprise that the story comes from John Lucarotti who provided two of the earlier classic historical adventures. However, the script was actually heavily re-written by script editor Donald Tosh which has only served to further enhance it. Along with producer John Wiles, Tosh oversaw consistently high quality stories before they both resigned (after their wish to replace William Hartnell was overturned) with Tosh leaving part way through this production.

It is such a shame that the pure historical adventures, which in my view were often among the best stories, were disliked by Tosh and Wiles successors Innes Lloyd and Gerry Davis so the likes of Lucarotti's all time classic stories would tail off to nothing within a year. I feel that these pure historicals with no sci-fi elements, along with rare pseudo historicals where aliens are attacking in a historical setting, provide the variety of story which makes it easier to sustain interest and quality over a whole series. I genuinely think that if the weaker sci-fi stories throughout all the later series were replaced by occasional pure historical adventures and more of the pseudo-historicals (which were always few and far between) it would have made the series even stronger and certainly in the 6th and 7th Doctor's era could have brought greater success and critical acclaim preventing the decline the show suffered. Anyway it did not happen and the 21st Century series when it eventually returned was re- energised and re-introduced numerous pseudo historical stories if not pure historicals. In fact, when Chris chibnall took over the show in 2018 and brought more frequent pseudo-historical stories in his first series in charge it has brought vocal criticism online from people saying it is not the Doctor Who they know which is ironic as it has more in common with the first 3 seasons ever than any season since! Personally I feel more variety in types of story is the best formula rather than having nearly all adventures in contemporary earth or space. It is a time travel show after all!

This story is a real classic, with top standards in all respects.

My Ratings: Episode 1 - 10/10, Episode 2 - 10/10. Episode 3 - 9.5/10, Episode 4 - 10/10

Overall: 9.88/10

This is an epic 12 part story from writers Dennis Spooner and Dalek originator Terry Nation, beginning with the episode The Nightmare Begins.

This adventure continues the story introduced in the episode Mission To The Unknown and features the Doctor trying to thwart the Daleks evil plans to conquer the solar system. It also features Nicholas Courtney (later to play Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, a series regular), as Bret Vyon. He, along with the regular cast, Kevin Stoney as villainous Mavic Chen and most other cast, perform superbly. The Daleks too are at their peak in many ways and are great villains for this epic. In addition there are the other interesting alien characters and even the return of the Meddling Monk (Peter Butterworth) from the Doctor's home world! The story even has the shocking deaths of no less than 3 of the Doctor's 'companions'!

The word epic is absolutely right for this mammoth story and it is incredible how the quality and interest is kept over an unprecedented 12 episodes. The only slight drop in quality being the 7th episode The Feast of Steven which is a Christmas special of a far more light- hearted and whimsical kind. To compare that episode and criticise it as a blot on the story is very unfair, you have to take it on its own as a special episode more comparable to the kind of comedy spoof used for charity telethons in later years. On that basis it is quite successful. The other 11 episodes are brilliant, exciting and well made.

A classic.

My Ratings: Episode 7 - 7/10, all other episodes 10/10

Overall: 9.75