"Empress of Mars" by Mark Gatiss, directed by Wayne Yip. Spoilers after the cut.
I mentioned Jon Pertwee-era Doctor Who last week and once again his period comes to mind with an episode that pays homage to the 1970s' show perhaps more than any episode of the modern series has yet. And that's all before we get to the cameo appearance by Alpha Centauri, and I checked, possibly the most annoying-voiced character in the programme's history is still voiced by the same actress, Ysanne Churchman.
Before that we've got a Victorian setting, a favourite for the Pertwee and Tom Baker eras, the large cast of disposable guest characters, and the biggest threat to the humans being one of their own men's arrogance and anger (and they've been saving Ferdinand Kingsley all this time for just such a cad.) The rather shocking twist of his being killed off by Anthony Calf's nice-guy officer felt straight out of the original series as well. I could tie this in with Series' 10's overtly political messages if I wanted, with the idea of relying too much on Britain's inherent imperial superiority and it leading to self-destruction being a metaphor for... well, you know where I'm going with this. But to be honest this also feels exactly how the 1970s' series would play out with those characters, so let's call it all part of the homage. And a bit of a shout-out to modern Who as well of course, in that Pauline Collins is Queen Victoria, in portrait form.
Not sure how much of a threat it is, though, to say that Mars could end in a permanent winter. Not when you're talking to a race called Ice Warriors.
Also hey look, Mars has its own Giants' Causeway. Neat.
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