Doctor Who: Arachnids in the UK

Arachnophobia seems to be an affliction on many people. They find spiders to be scary and hideous.
Personally I’ve never been that scared of spiders. I actually like them. They get rid of annoying flies. Your attitude toward this episode may depend on how you feel about our eight-legged friends.

The story begins similarly to Aliens of London. The Doctor manages to return her friends to Sheffield as she promised, only half an hour after they left. The Doctor and Ryan go to have tea with Yaz at her flat while Graham decides to return to his own house. These separate scenes serve to flesh out the characters. At Yaz's flat we are introduced to her Dad and her sister. Graham returning home to mourn Grace shows how far he has developed. These scenes are written well.

Unfortunately, the sci-fi story in the middle lets it down.  Arachnids in the UK is basically the Green Death condensed into 50 minutes. Toxic waste is turning spiders into giants. There is no real mystery as to why the spiders are going big. We go from mysterious business types trying Yasmin’s dad explaining how rubbish is built up and references to rubbish chutes, and then spiders. It’s easy to see how everything fits together. No real twists along the way. Nobody other than our regulars are threatened by the spiders. You would think Yasmin’s family would come under threat to up the tension, but only her mum does.

The Spiders themselves are good CGI creation. Glad they weren’t the enemy. Sadly the Doctor elects to kill them ‘humanely’ rather than use the Tardis to take them to another planet. The death of the Big Spider is supposed to be sad but since it was going to die anyway, it’s not much. It’s similar to the death of the Triceratops in Chibnall’s Dinosaurs on a Space Ship. Also similar to exploited meat creature in Torchwood’s Meat.

The supporting cast are thinned down to three primary characters. Yasmin's dad and sister are likeable, if straightforward. Yasmin’s mum is doubter like Jackie. Professor is just dumping exposition Doand Trump character is funny for a minute. Yasmin’s dad and sister are fine.

The Doctor seemed a bit more like Matt Smith or David this week. Commenting and rambling. She referred to regeneration as though it had just happened whereas she seemed fully in control last episode.

Bradley Walsh is fanstatic this week grieving over Grace. Yasmin gets a bit more fleshed out. There is either going to be love interest in Ryan or love interest in the Doctor. Ryan gets the least to do in this episode though he does get funny moments making spider shadow puppets and using music to lure the spiders.

If there’s one thing that’s becoming apparent with the Chris Chibnall episodes, it’s that the character moments are strong and the plot is weak.  As with The Ghost Monument, I found myself checking the time which is not a good sign. Let's hope the upcoming episodes are better.

Rating = 6/10