Doctor Who review: Survival ends one era by foreshadowing the next

The Classic Series reaches its end with Survival, the last story from Doctor Who’s final season. Is it a strong swansong for the original series?

Having rewatched and enjoyed the first three serials from Doctor Who‘s twenty-sixth season, I finally found the time to re-watch Survival. Not only is this the final story of the season. It’s also the final story of the Classic Series as a whole. While we had the TV movie seven years later, with a new setting and an entirely new production team, it’s really as distinct from the Classic Series as it is from the New.

Speaking of the New Series: the first thing that leaps out about Survival is that, in some ways, it has as much in common with stories told in the New Series as it does with its own era. This is especially true of Russell T Davies’s take on the series – while the former showrunner was keen to explore new worlds and tell fun stories, he was also keen to give us a more grounded take on Who, right from his first episode.

Another element that foreshadows Davies’s era is the exploration of Ace’s homelife. In this story, we get to see where she grew up and meet some of her friends. It’s no exaggeration to say that exploration like this was extremely rare for companions of the Classic Series. Not that they were completely two-dimensional, but the series rarely delved too deeply into their background.

So it’s nice to see Ace visit her home. Especially as it continues similar themes explored in Ghost Light and The Curse of Fenric. In many ways, Ace’s history and her development have been crucial themes to this season, and Survival continues to explore those themes nicely.

Old Master, fresh take

One thing that makes this story feel strangely fitting as a swan song for the Classic Series is which major character shows up: the Master. It had been several years since Anthony Ainley’s Master had last appeared in the series, so his return was certainly a welcome one. Especially considering how his Master is handled in this story.

It has to be said: in most of his other stories, Ainley’s Master was written as a bit of a pantomime villain. The actor clearly had a lot of fun with the role, and he was certainly enjoyable to watch. But I’m not sure he was given many truly great stories, certainly not as many as Delgado was in his short time.

Which is why Survival feels like a breath of fresh air for the classic villain. He’s not out to destroy the universe this time or just show off how evil he is. Instead, he’s put in a desperate situation, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to survive. We have a Master pushed to his limits, one that feels truly dangerous. In short, this story arguably had the best take on the character in years.

More from Winter is Coming

• For All Mankind finally gives us information in Episode 405, “Goldilocks”
• Watch a stunning VFX breakdown of The Wheel of Time season 2
• Of course Steve Toussaint (Corlys Velaryon) thinks Eve Best (Rhaenys Targaryen) should rule Westeros
• Confirmed: The Last of Us season 2 will air in 2025
• Final season of Star Trek: Discovery will have “a lot of action, a lot of adventure, a lot of fun”

A fitting end?

It’s funny to think that this was Rona Munro’s first script for the series. In some ways, it shows, but only in how different it is compared to your usual Doctor Who story from this era. As mentioned, Munro is keen to focus on Ace’s home of Perivale and the ordinary people that live there. She makes the script feel grounded and down to Earth in a way that hadn’t really been seen before in the series.

But at the same time, she knows how to write a good Doctor Who story, too. She gives us dangerous monsters; a perilous situation, and a fresh take on a classic villain. Admittedly, the Cheetah People were a little too cuddly to come across as a real threat, but that’s more a problem of the costume design rather than the writing itself.

Survival wasn’t intended to be the final story of the Classic Series. To be honest, it’s actually frustrating that – like other serials from this season – it clearly shows how fresh and different Doctor Who was rapidly becoming.

But at the same time, it still feels just right that this is the story that fans had to say goodbye to. Especially with its ending speech. I’ve watched this story a number of times, and that speech still brings tears to my eyes. A beautiful exit for the show – one that promised that it would, one day, come back. And thankfully, it lived up to that promise.

What are your thoughts on the Classic Series’s final story? Do you think it’s a fitting end to its twenty-six-year run? Do you think it deserved a more fitting finale, or should it have continued instead? Let us know in the comments below.