‘Whoever you were in the past or are in the future, we know who you are right now.’ Doctor Who had never really done “arc” episodes like Babylon 5 or The X-Files – episodes that were more significant for moving an ongoing plot forwards than as entities in their own right. Arguably it’s 20 years late to the party, but here we are with the first. On its own, this is mostly procedural – the Doctor and Fam try to beat a platoon of Judoon to find a fugitive and limit the collateral damage (like The Sarah Jane Adventures had done 10 years previously). But the real story is that the fugitive is a mysterious other incarnation of the Doctor herself, hiding as in Human Nature. Oh, and Captain Jack turns up like a cheesy gay Deep Throat to drop a cryptic hint about a lone Cyberman – ‘If you go to Z’ha’dum, you will die.’

This is actually quite pleasing: I’ve been complaining that Chibnall’s “another case solved!” approach was wearing a bit thin and here he comes on a different tack. However you feel about the way the Timeless Child arc unfolds, Fugitive of the Judoon has an oomph that Series 12 is desperately in need of at this midpoint. Possibly in response, or perhaps because she’s suddenly faced with another woman Doctor, Whittaker ups her game to match Chibnall’s with her finest performance so far. I particularly enjoy the tension between the two Doctors which is much more Classic series anniversary episode than the love-in of The Day of the Doctor or the play-for-laughs Time Crash and Twice Upon a Time. The Other Doctor, apparently fleeing from some sort of Gallifreyan special unit, is an intriguing addition to the show’s mythology, close enough to “our” version to be believably Doctorish while also being faster to resort to deadly double bluffs than any of them since the seventh.

There are some neat hints in the set design (the hexagonal mirror Ruth has, which looks like the new elements of the Doctor’s TARDIS), and the dialogue (Lee is the Other Doctor’s ‘faithful companion’) that clue us into Ruth’s real identity even before it’s revealed. But also some reasonable misdirection (the mention of the Master in hiding at the top of the episode) to keep us guessing. This skilfully moves from something that seems lightweight and jolly to become increasingly ominous – reflected in the lighting and grading which is all bright colours in the early Gloucester sequences before becoming gloomier and more heavily graded as the Doctor and Ruth approach the lighthouse and the truth buried in an anonymous grave.

There remain the usual problems: the Fam are almost entirely extraneous. Yaz does remember she used to be a police officer for a minute when she needs to chat to the Judoon, but mostly they sit round on a spaceship set with John Barrowman like they’re in a Red Button minisode. The incidental Gloucester characters are fairly awful (All-Ears Allan isn’t as funny as they seem to think and Marcia fondly recalls Orphan 55’s Vilma). But these are nitpicks, and easily outweighed by a storyline that actually has some thrust to it, and some actually funny moments (Pol-Kon-Don’s little shoulder slump when the Doctor tells her she’s ‘disappointed’). Also, Pol-Kon-Don is named for dearly missed Paul Condon, and whatever else I dislike about some of the show’s direction under Chibnall I love him for that.

Captain Jack will return in Revolution of the Daleks

Next Time: Praxeus