The Witchfinders

"Every last witch in this village will be destroyed."

Writer: Joy Wilkinson
Format: TV
Broadcast: 25th November 2018
Series: 11.08

Featuring: Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Ryan, Graham

Synopsis

Arriving in 17th Century Lancashire, the TARDIS team become embroiled in a witch trial. With the arrival of King James I, the hunt for witches intensifies. However, could something more dangerous be at play? Can the Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz keep the populace of Bilehurst Cragg safe from the forces surrounding the land?

Verdict

The Witchfinders was a great episode as I reach the latter stages of Series 11 in my rewatch. I thought this was a really good historical and actually one that I think benefitted from the alien presence of the Morax. It worked well with them not showing up until near the end as we got to embrace the period and everything that was wrong with the trial of witches. It was a sham and a lose-lose situation, but it is quite a brilliant setting for the Doctor in her first female incarnation. She would have much more of a position of power if she was still a man and that is something she actually acknowledges. Playing with her gender was done very well here and Jodie Whittaker was once again magnificent. Her warning to her companions that they mustn't interfere in history was good and expected, but then the Doctor went and interfered herself in attempting to stop a witch trial! It would make more sense if it was one of the companions but I loved how the Doctor couldn't help herself when she saw something was terribly wrong. Her arrival as Witchfinder General was great and she looked fantastic in that hat, but things all changed when King James arrived and the very idea of a female general was seen as preposterous. That put Graham in charge and the shift in dynamic was terrific. The way King James was talking down to the Doctor and mentioning her skills in gossip was just brilliant. You could see the Doctor itching to put him in his place but she was bound by historical circumstance. Becka Savage was a fantastic character and I liked how it was slowly told to us that she had something very wrong with her indeed. At first it just seemed like she was a murderer and wanted to rid her lands of Satan, but that turned out to be very far from the case. That actually made it worse as the revelation that she was infected by the Morax and what she saw as the mark of Satan meant that she knew for sure that the women she was trying as witches were nothing of the sort. She was selfish and had killed 36 people in the hope that she would survive and be rid of the curse. Ah, religious folly at its finest. Ryan's relationship with King James was very humorous and allowed for some good comedic moments and the idea of Ryan wanting to talk about some particular body parts with a past King to keep him in the room while the Doctor was up to something was fantastic. The monarch was played tremendously well. Yaz didn't have an awful lot to do in this episode but I enjoyed her saving of Willa when the tentacle came from out of the ground. The Doctor's intrigue in the mud that wasn't mud was very good and I liked the moment that the Morax came in their animated form of the dead. She gave them the little bit that she had as they desperately wanted it, and then after doing all she could to save the locality she was tried as a witch! That image was fantastic and I really liked how she wasn't tied down when the trial had concluded. I thought she would have been seen by the others given where she emerged when the camera was on her again, but that's just a little something to let slide. The tree that was cut down being alien tech was also a little bit sketchy and quick for the conclusion in trapping the Morax once again, but if that allowed for more time in the period setting then I am absolutely fine with it. Overall, another great episode! I look forward to the Target novelisation next year.

Rating: 8/10