Doctor Who: Ascension of the Cybermen (1)

Ashad: 'Ascension is near!'

This felt like an episode whose ultimate success depends upon next week's conclusion not stinking. If 'The Timeless Children' fails, then a solid chunk of the ideas introduced tonight will have been for naught, which would be a real shame as 'Ascension of the Cybermen' contained some audacious story beats. The floating cyber heads, however, were not one of them.

Doctor Who: The Haunting of Villa Diodati

Doctor: 'I love a good plume.'

After fears that Doctor Who was in danger of if not quite jumping the shark then certainly skipping daintily over the halibut, tonight's episode was a breath of fresh air. The story was solid, it had bags of atmosphere, and most importantly: Thirteen felt like the Doctor. It's amazing what can be achieved by ripping the pen from Chibnall's ruinous hand. No co-credit this week, no heavy-handed political rhetoric, just a good old fashioned 'ghost story' and some tasty season-arc morsels to nibble on.

Doctor Who: Can You Hear Me?

Doctor: 'I'm talking to myself again, which means the others aren't here.'

I've finally resigned myself to the fact that this is no longer the Doctor Who I know and love. Chibnall's tried hard this season to make the show more palatable for the seasoned Whovian, but whilst it remains his baby it'll always bear the hallmark of a showrunner at odds with my tastes. And maybe not just mine: the overnights were down again, this time to a measly 3.81m. Bugger!

Doctor Who: Praxeus

Doctor: 'I'm always a sucker for a scientist.'

After last week's bombshell-dropping instalment and general upturn in quality, tonight's offering felt like a slide back into mediocrity. Although the story itself was satisfactory, and there was nothing particularly offensive about the way the science lesson was delivered, the whole thing felt flat. Clearly it followed on from last week's instalment, but the Doctor wasn't kidding when she called it a distraction. Where did all the good stuff go?