Pilot TV attended the world premiere of Doctor Who Series 11 in Sheffield yesterday – and while we’re forbidden from going into specific detail about the opening episode, ‘The Woman Who Fell To Earth’, until closer to its Sunday 7 October airdate, we can say that we came away from the whole event with a feeling of giddy excitement. We’re still smiling smugly now, and not just because we got to touch the Tardis.
The red-carpet screening was held in Sheffield because that’s the bit of the Earth the new Doctor plunges down to for her first adventure, and we have to say it looks beautiful in the show’s new widescreen format. Indeed, everything Jodie Whittaker and new showrunner Chris Chibnall have been promising us about the ramped-up, cinematic style of the new season turns out to be true. Those new lenses really do make a difference in giving the show a more textured, epic feel, matched by new composer Segun Akinola’s atmospheric score.
Beyond looking and sounding lush, the 65-minute episode also has a lot of introducing to do, what with the Doctor’s three new companions (played by Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill), and of course a new monstrous threat with which they all have to contend. That’s about all we can say for now without being zapped by BBC operatives, but suffice to say we’re already fully onboard with this new Doctor and her gang.
Doctor Who Series 11 begins on BBC1 on Sunday 7 October.
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