Doctor Who: The Magician’s Apprentice - TV review

If Coleman is leaving the show, could this really have been her final exit?

(BBC)

There was no bubbly over on the BBC despite The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) throwing himself a three-week party in honour of his own impending death.

Or something like that. Yes, Doctor Who returned for a ninth series and traditional fans will have been delighted by the reappearance of an old enemy.

Opening on an unknown planet, we found The Doctor about to save a small boy from a hand mine – gnarly hands that drag people to their death. The Doctor asked his name. “Davros”, came the reply. Upon learning the boy’s identity, The Doctor apparently disappeared – leaving him to his fate. Big mistake. For Davros spent the next thousand or so years brooding over it – and went on to create the Daleks.

Knowing The Doctor’s weakness for a good old-fashioned friendship, Davros lured him and sidekick Clara (Jenna Coleman) and his sometime friend/enemy Missy (no, she’s not dead) to the Daleks’ home planet, Skaro, where he promptly had the two women exterminated. With rumours circulating that Coleman is leaving the show, could this really have been her final exit?