‘We will pool all our brilliance and get us all safely to Resus One.’ In some respects this is Chibnall revisiting the type of story he told in 42: a spaceship with a series of problems to solve and a monster that’s just nature taking its course. Except while 42 had a palpable sense of time running out, the Doctor in peril and Martha forced to step up (before she’s cast adrift), this… has the P’ting.

Now, I quite like the P’ting (an Adipose child that eats machines rather than people), but one of the problems of this series is the episodes are getting longer at the point when budgets are getting tighter. There isn’t enough P’ting in 51 minutes of episode. But then, there’s not much of anything here. We have four regulars, but none of them gets a role as crucial as Martha’s role in 42. Graham and Ryan hold hands with a pregnant man (there’s a flawed assumption that a man doing an impression of a woman giving birth is inherently hilarious), which is another chance for Ryan to raise his daddy issues and take another baby step towards bonding with Graham. Yaz gets to pick a number. The closest thing to an emotional beat are the Cicero siblings letting their feelings show, which culminates in a scene where he tells her, ‘I love you, I’m proud of you.’ Sheer poetry in motion.

Sadly, the dialogue throughout lacks polish, with more inspirational poster quotes like, ‘You have to use your imagination. Imagine the solution and work to make it a reality.’ I’m also bemused by Whittaker here. A lot of these lines sound like they could have been written for David Tennant, but in the delivery they lack a sense of urgency. When the Doctor declares ‘I love it’ of an antimatter engine, I just don’t feel it. We need the kind of energy and drama Graeme Harper hammered into 42 (the only such moment here is when the Doctor’s prioritising her own needs over the requirements of the crew and has to be pulled up on it). The biggest thrill here is seeing Roy Kent from Ted Lasso. Ultimately, this gentle jog against time needed to be cut down and spiced up. Next!

Next Time: Demons of the Punjab