Written by Chris Chibnall
Directed by Sallie Aprahamian
Najia (to Robertson): "Do you know the worst thing? Bits of this is leaking out above here. It's in my kitchen. My husband's right. It's a conspiracy. Do you have any idea how annoying it is when my husband's right?"
I have to admit, it's not that I'm an arachnophobia sufferer but episodes involving spiders and bugs usually never tend to be a favourite of mine in these types of shows. This isn't the first time we've had to deal with giant spiders in the Doctor Who universe either. We've already had the residents from Metebelis 3 in Planet Of The Spiders and the Empress of Racnoss in The Runaway Bride. Here, it's regular spiders but mutated.
Taking Yasmin back to catch up with her family always meant that we were going to get another present day adventure but first though her family. There's clearly a rivalry of sorts with Yasmin and her sister, Sonya (Bhavnisha Parmar) while her father Hakim (Ravin J Ganatra) is something of a conspiracy theorist, but overall seems likeable enough.
The main family member to get the focus however is Yasmin's mother, Najia (Shobna Gulati) - a hotel cleaner who manages to get fired before even starting her job by US hotel chain owner, Jack Robertson. Played by Mr Big himself, Chris Noth, Robertson is somewhat our human villain of the piece as his callous attitude and irresponsibility with dumping toxic waste played it's part in the current giant spider problem within Sheffield.
Getting back to Najia though, she's one of the more successful mother figures written on the show. Not quite on the level of Jackie Tyler but somewhat more likeable than Francine Jones or Sylvia Noble and has more of a character than any of the mothers briefly shown in Moffat's era with his companions. She's also pretty engaging and helpful during the main threat of this episode as well when she's not expressing a curiosity about her daughter's love life in parts.
The spiders themselves - I will give props to the FX department, they looked stunning and pretty scary in parts, so the fact that they were mostly benign and dying anyways was a bit of a surprise. It did feel like that despite some great characters bits here with the main players, Najia, Robertson and scientist, Jade McIntyre (Tanya Fear), the main threat itself was a little clumsily resolved, which is where the episode loses points for me.
The strength of the episode though are the character moments. Yasmin's family life is nicely fleshed out, Jade is the type of guest character you'd hope the show features again while Robertson's loathing of Trump (something which the episode was a little too pointed about) is a bit hypocritical given how much the episode seemed to be drawing similarities with the two of them. No doubt Robertson is someone who will reappear again though.
As for Ryan and Graham, it was nice to see them getting a little closer in this episode as well. Ryan in particular seems more attached to Graham than his own father and angered over a letter from the latter while Graham was also seeing visions of Grace when he wasn't around the rest of the gang this week. The episode did end with our TARDIS Team going off for another adventure as the Doctor properly welcomed them all on board this time around. I'm guessing they'll be getting keys next week, am I right?
- The Doctor talked about having sisters and being a former nurse or was it a nun? There was also hints of a previous incarnation in there too during her exchanges with Yasmin's family.
- I'm liking the new time vortex as well. Only took four episodes to give audiences a proper look at it though.
- People referenced this week include Ed Sheeran (which Robertson did not like being mistook for one bit), Amelia Earhart and Edith Wharton.
- Standout music: Who would've thought that using Stomrzy's Know Me From would be a great way to attract giant spiders?
- International zoologist Dr Niall Doran was consulted for this episode. There's still a giant spider in Anna's flat they might want to get back to at some point.
- Chronology: 2018 Sheffield. It's only been a few hours since The Woman Who Fell To Earth.
Arachnids In The UK makes for a fun, slightly horror themed episode. It loses points for being a little too on the nose with the US politics in parts but between the excellent guest characters and interactions, bouts of horror and those spiders genuinely looking great, it's also a rather enjoyable episode.
Rating: 7 out of 10
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