Written by Joy Wilkinson
Directed by Sallie Aprahamian
The Doctor (to King James): "You want to know the secrets of existence? Start with the mysteries of the heart."
In a 10 episode series, I'm not sure if three historical episodes is one too many or just about right, but after spending time in 1950's Alabama and 1940's India, it was time to go a little further back into a village named Bilehurst Cragg where the TARDIS team find themselves in the midst of a witch trial, led by land owner, Becka Savage (Siobhan Finneran), who seems to be a bit overzealous when it comes to drowning women whom she suspects to be in league with Satan himself.
Needless to say, the Doctor's attempts to save the life of one woman rouses Becka's suspicions until the Doctor is able to pass herself off as a Witch Finder General, but even that cover is somewhat scuppered by the arrival of King James (Alan Cumming) to the village.
To say that Alan Cumming gave a subdued performance with this role would be a massive lie. For a good portion of the episode, he hammied up the role with aplomb as James found himself dismissive of the Doctor while also barely containing his clear attraction to Ryan, even though he had the strapping Alfonso (Stavros Demetraki) to protect him. Except, for the fact that poor Alfonso became an early casualty when the baddies of the piece made themselves known.
Like The Shakespeare Code about eleven years ago, this episode did manage to deliver on a witchy front but while we didn't get a much needed return of the Carrionites, the Morax did make for a similarly imposing threat as Becka managed to pressure her cousin, Willa (Tilly Steele) into even accusing the Doctor of witchcraft. It probably didn't help that the Doctor kept waving the sonic screwdriver around more than usual as well.
As baddies, it was pretty obvious that Becka was involved in the Morax plot, albeit unwillingly as she succumbed to the possession of the Morax Queen and intended to make King James her Morax King for good measure but at least it meant that we finally got an alien menace who was actually menacing, even if the Doctor's defeat of them seemed a little easy.
Baddie wise, the Morax are definitely the best and most threatening aliens we've had this series but it shouldn't have taken the show this long to deliver on that front. I am pleasantly surprised that instead of making King James the main villain of the piece here, they went with these baddies. Speaking of James, it was also nice that the show didn't shy away from his homosexuality as well as having the Doctor call him out for his obsession with witches and the innocent people that have died as a result of it.
As for the companions - the episode worked reasonably well with them but again, I think Ryan was the one who seemed to have the most to do here. It still didn't prevent the episode from having Graham quoting Tarantino or Yasmin recalling a tale to Willa about a school bully that she had, which even the Doctor later recalled in a scene with Becka.
- Was this episode meant to air earlier in the series? It felt like it would've been a perfect Halloween episode and even Yasmin wonders about the day at the start of it.
- Keeping with the Shakespeare comparisons, we had a scene where James called Ryan a Nubian Prince. Though Ryan definitely seems to be straight, he didn't seem too bothered by James being flirtatious with him.
- Seeing as we're mentioning Houdini again, can we please get an episode with him next series?
- The Doctor said here that she didn't believe in Satan, so are we not counting that encounter she had in The Satan Pit with him then?
- Nice use of Clarke's Law in this episode as well during one conversation with the Doctor and King James. We also didn't see the inside of the TARDIS yet again.
- Chronology: 17th Century Bilehurst Cragg, located in the shadow of Pendle Hill.
The Witchfinders for me is easily a series high. Finally, it might have taken them eight episodes (which is shocking) but we managed to get a worthy and threatening alien menace with the Morax and a female antagonist with Becka Savage (even without the alien possession, she murdered her grandmother and killed horses) as well as a fun depiction of King James for good measure. Definitely an episode worth rewatching.
Rating: 9 out of 10
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