Doctor Who preview: What is the mystery of The Ghost Monument?

We look ahead at Sunday’s episode of Doctor Who, where the Doctor and her new (unwilling) companions arrive on their first alien world of the new series.

The Woman Who Fell to Earth gave us a lot to discuss as the beginning of the Thirteenth Doctor’s new era. And we’re not done discussing that just yet, as we’ll be uploading reviews from some of the other writers of Doctor Who Watch very shortly.

But first, we look ahead to the next brand new episode, The Ghost Monument. This will be another key episode, as it’ll feature the Doctor’s new companions’s first trip on an alien world. Like The Woman Who Fell to Earth, it’ll also be written by new showrunner Chris Chibnall. Let’s take a look at the BBC’s official description for the upcoming episode.

"Still reeling from their first encounter, can the Doctor and her new friends stay alive long enough in a hostile alien environment to solve the mystery of Desolation? And just who are Angstrom and Epzo?"

So there’s quite a bit of key information there. For a start, the words “still reeling from their first encounter” strongly implies that the events of The Woman Who Fell to Earth will be addressed.

This isn’t exactly surprising, particularly with Grace’s death being incredibly important to everyone, especially Ryan and Graham. It’ll be interesting to see if they start to deal with their grief in this episode.

I’m also curious to find out what “Desolation” actually is. A planet? A town? Or even a spaceship? And what is the “ghost monument” that the title refers to? Does the trailer give us any other clues?

Susan Lynch and Shaun Dooley

Very little of the plot is given away in the trailer, which makes a lot of sense. We get only the briefest of glimpses of Angstrom and Epzo, (played by Susan Lynch and Shaun Dooley, respectively,) although they both seem to be involved in pretty dangerous work.

The fact that the description actually asks the question “who are Angstrom and Epzo?” definitely implies that they’re important to the episode, at least.

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I must say that I’ve quite enjoyed a lot of both actors’s work. Susan Lynch has appeared in a number of British TV shows and films over the years. Her role in the TV series Cracker over twenty years ago is still an incredibly memorable one.

The same is also true of Shaun Dooley, who’s starred in many gritty British TV dramas over the years. However, his most memorable role for this writer at least is his hilarious performance in the later series of British dramedy Misfits. He was always absolutely hysterical in that show.

So we should be guaranteed some very strong performances in this episode, both from the regulars and from the guest cast. And with both an alien world to see, further development of the new characters, and oh yeah, finally getting our first glimpse of the new intro, and there’s a lot to be excited about with The Ghost Monument.

Next. River Song meets Henry Gordon Jago in August 2019!. dark

Are you looking forward to the next episode? What are you most keen to see? How do you think the new companions will react to their first alien planet? Let us know in the comments below.

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