I think it's a sign of the times that the BBC were just pleased that this episode got into the top 10 in terms of ratings over Christmas. Years ago it would have been the top rated programme.But times change, just ask the Doctor. Capaldi's Doctor has divided opinion more than any other Doctor, and he's not been helped by weak writing, or in this case, just a weak plot.There are moments of quality, that's actually the frustrating thing, but there's nothing in this episode to make me alter my opinion that Capaldi leaving with Moffatt is perhaps the best thing to try to revive a flagging show before the BBC wields the axe.Perhaps it's time anyway.

The 2016 Xmas Special of Doctor Who was disappointing. After waiting a whole year for Doctor Who to return to our screens in 2016. Doctor Who doesn't return with a bang. The Xmas special was not great, it was average. It wasn't as good as the previous Christmas Specials Last Christmas and The Husbands of River Song. It is a bit slow in places. But I found it predictable and it was obvious what was going to happen. It was obvious the boy Grant grows to become The Ghost and that the ruby he swallows gives him his powers. I thought The Ghost was a obvious nod to another comic book strip character The Phantom. In the comic strips, The Phantom is called "The Ghosts Who Walks". It had some goods, but despite the pacing, Peter Capaldi, Matt Lucas and Justin Chatwin's performances which were good, it just wasn't enough. Steven Moffat is a great writer and I don't think The Return of Dr. Mysterio was one of his best work on Doctor Who. Apart from the Xmas special, I shall look forward to Series 10 and I hope it's going to be amazing.

I eagerly awaited the first new episode of Doctor Who in a year, and it did not disappoint! While I've never been a particularly huge fan of the superhero genre, I did like the nods to Superman, which I watched from time to time as a child. I never thought that having X-ray vision could be so troublesome! ;)I enjoyed the lighthearted moments in The Return of Doctor Mysterio much as I did while watching The Husbands of River Song last year. It's refreshing to see some humorous episodes after the conclusion of the dark but gripping Series 9. Peter Capaldi is brilliant at comedy--I was laughing out loud at several points in the story. Here's to hoping he stays at least four seasons. Three is simply not enough for one Doctor!

Its Christmas time again, thus we are treated to our first Doctor who episode in an entire year and... well... the word dull comes to mind. First things first this was supposed to be a Christmas story, think back to the 'Christmas invasion' where the Earth was saved by a satsuma and ended with a charming scene of the Doctor opening presents and pulling crackers or a Moffat era story like 'The snowmen' maybe not the most Christmassy episode ever but it was set at Christmas time with a Christmas themed villain, now look at this years special, which bar an opening scene had little to nothing to do with the actual holiday. The theme was "super heroes" the genre I'm sure we all associate with the winter season and not, you know, like the summer when all the major superhero movies come out. That's not exactly a bad thing and I wouldn't hold this against the show if the story was good but I'm a huge superhero fan and I've read, watched and played stories so much better than this. The show felt like a golden age comic come to life with all the nonsense plot points, technobabble and leaps in logic that were products of a shoe string budget and a system were the art was drawn before the story was written. Doctor who does not have these excuses yet still comes off like babies first Superman story. The Doctor takes a back seat in his own special only appearing to act like the whimsical madman with no room for character development, this is, I'm afraid the legacy the Moffat will leave for his era of Doctor who, the earl of Deus ex machina who only exists as a plot device to move the plot forward, never breaking for character development. This episode spends far too much time with characters who are really bland, the point of Clark Kent is that he's dull and mild mannered to contrast with the Superman persona yet so why does the show stick us with the Ghost, a character whose boring and underdeveloped with powers never defined so I never get the sense anyone is in danger because much like Sup's in the 90's Ghost could just pull out a new power from anywhere and snap his fingers till the bad guys poof away. The episode climaxes with the Ghost catching a falling space ship but we're never shown the limits of his strength so the character never seems like he's in any danger. Sadly the show takes one to many directions from the 90's when it comes to the art style, it loses the vibrant colours that were a staple of the type of stories the episode references and tries to emulate. The episode has a gray filter hanging over it and if it wasn't for the accents the show could have taken place on a mild June night in Manchester. The bad guys are all right one part face hugger, one part Krang from TMNT with the kind of plan you'd expect from a race that can build faster than light spaceships but not exist outside of jars without help. Nardol, the character that people expected to be the downfall of this episode added a sweet bit of comic relief and made the show that little bit more bearable with some genuinely funny lines and this episode gave us the first look at the new season so watch it if you've got the time but it might be worth downing an energy drink cause the dull tone and grey filter might just send you off to sleep.