‘A rogue Weeping Angel? On the run from other Angels, hiding in the mind of a human?’ The only episode of Flux with a co-write credit, for The Haunting of Villa Diodati’s Maxine Alderton. Like her earlier episode, this leans into horror to become the most credible haunted house story of the new series. It’s a classic base under siege which synthesises elements of the Weeping Angels’ previous standalone stories (the setting recalls Wester Drumlins, much of the lore is from The Time of Angels, the captive community of victims is from Angels Take Manhattan and the abduction from a graveyard is like the Ghost Story for Christmas webcast) into something that feels fresh.

The downside is it’s part of Flux. Notwithstanding the climax, even more than War of the Sontarans this could have made a great standalone episode – or even, with just the Division element, a decent lead-in to a series finale. Instead, it suffers from the overarching plot getting in the way of the Angel story, like the Vervoid segment of The Trial of a Time Lord (the closest classic series analogy for Flux, with its secret Doctor and Gallifreyan conspiracies). It’s a drag when we get wrenched away from Medderton to the planet Puzano to watch Bel bump into another guy from The Inbetweeners (looking like he’s wandered off the set of Life of Brian). These diversions suck all the tension out of the village scenes, working against its claustrophobia for zero benefit: there are no interesting juxtapositions between the two plots, so it’s just distracting. I assume this is why Chibnall commanded a co-write credit. He shouldn’t have bothered.

No, the good bits are all in the village, which mixes the energy of The Dæmons and Image of the Fendahl. Yaz and Dan are largely secondary again (after mostly understudying other characters last time) but get a few decent moments as they search for the missing Peggy and get bumped back to 1901. Jericho is a proper old-school Doctor Who professor: fussy, but dependable under pressure like Travers, Rubeish or Litefoot, played with immense likeability by Kevin McNally. Claire, who got a Blink-and-you’ll-miss-it scene in The Halloween Apocalypse is a genuine psychic (bit naff, but that was a battle lost by 1974 so we’ll have to let it pass) enabling a sort of melange of folk horror: Stone Tape possession paving the way for a Wicker Man climax as the Doctor keeps her appointment with the Weeping Angels. The image of the Doctor transformed is a great cliffhanger, even for me, unenthused by the Division storyline.

Next Time: Flux Chapter Five – Survivors of the Flux