"This is getting silly" says the Doctor, and he's not wrong!
Someone forgot to send Mark Gatiss the memo. The one that read "Doctor Who Series 8: DARK" - with the word 'DARK' underlined several times.
Robot of Sherwood, penned by Gatiss, is a light-hearted romp with a sci-fi twist featuring Robin Hood and his Merry Men. There's nothing wrong with light-hearted romps with sci-fi twists (see City of Death) but - and I'm aware that this is a ridiculous statement considering we've only been exposed to 2 hours of his era - this one doesn't feel like a Twelfth Doctor story.
It's possible that Mark Gatiss also didn't get the memo that said "Doctor Who Series 8: New Doctor - Peter Capaldi", because this really feels like a leftover from Matt Smith's time. In fact I can see Smith playing many of the scenes to much greater effect, it would suit his style of Doctor a lot more. Unfortunately poor Peter Capaldi comes off looking ridiculous more than once. Our new sleuthing, deducing, "What is the question?" Doctor now appears to be little more than a bumbling idiot with a spoon. No offence Mr McCoy...
Clara comes off better in the story, but even she seems slightly out of character. After all, when the Doctor presents her with a choice to go "wherever, whenever, anywhere in space and time.", she's the one that picks 1190AD(ish), Sherwood Forest. I just feel that given that choice, and everything the character has gone through, the reveal of a lifelong desire to meet Robin Hood really doesn't ring true for Clara.
All of this being said, although Robots of Sherwood may have some distracting faults and be very different in tone to the previous two outings it's not a bad episode, I can't see it placing highly on any fan favourite lists but there's still plenty of moments to enjoy. Guest star Tom Riley (Da Vinci's Demons) makes for a pretty decent Robin Hood, and Ben Miller is...well....he's Ben Miller, so it's not much of stretch for him to play the Sheriff of Nottingham. At times Miller seems to be channeling Anthony Ainley's Master, which is no bad thing as it gives the episode something of a feel of Classic Who. Plus the 'Robot' of the story could also have easily been taken straight from a classic adventure.
So what have we learned from this episode? Well the BBC clearly need to fire someone in the Memo Department for starters, but mainly it's a reminder that although we have a new mature 'darker' Doctor he hasn't forgotten his previous self's advice - "There's no point being grown-up if you can't be childish sometimes."
Robot of Sherwood airs Saturday 6th September at 7.30pm on BBC One.
