I absolutely love Eve Of The Daleks. It’s an interesting glimpse at what a less ambitious S13 would’ve been like, this really is a confined location bottle episode with a super limited cast that could be pulled off during COVID. But because only one of these is like that, it really works for me. It’s weird how rarely a time travel show like Doctor Who actually does a plot hinging on time loops, and I really like the reason this one happens. The TARDIS is still damaged from being flooded with the Flux (don’t worry, Chibs didn’t forget that one! Just that he left Mars blown up haha!), and it needs to be reset. They did not end up at the interstellar beach resort they planned for, instead showing up in the basement of ELF Storage, owned by Sarah who is stuck working alone once again on NY’s Eve, with her only constant customer Nick. Within the nine minute cold open, all five characters have been killed by an Executioner Dalek, and then the story starts.

There’s not much I don’t like about this one! I adore Aisling Bea anyway, and I think she’s sort of perfect here. She’s also one of exactly three Doctor Who actors that I’ve met in my job (also Neil Patrick Harris and Karen Gillan over Zoom), but she is the only one I’ve made a cup of tea for lol. Nick is the one question mark, I’m sort of not sure what we were going for with the contents of his storage space, but I guess he’s just meant to be exactly what they say, a good-hearted weirdo.

But I particularly like the decreasing length of the loops giving it some dynamic shape, I absolutely love the way this is shot (the Daleks are so imposing and creepy! Sometimes you just need their silhouette, some moody lighting, a smoke machine, and to not shoot them too close up!), and maybe my favorite thing is The Doctor thanking the TARDIS at the end, she seems pretty sure but not certain that the time loop was both the thing that attracted the Daleks in the first place but also some kind of protection gambit that the TARDIS did proactively to give The Doctor some wiggle room to save everyone. I also of course enjoy making a Dalek bellow “I AM NOT NICK” in the voice of Nick Briggs. Also “DALEKS DO NOT HAVE…MANAGERS.” I like the 13/Yaz stuff personally, it doesn’t feel like it comes out of nowhere, Mandip has been doing some looks since her mum asked if they were dating back in S11, and I really like Dan being the one to say something (also love Dan stalling the Dalek, kinda just love Dan full stop). A romance between Doc and companion is nice when it’s very infrequent and when I buy it, & I do buy this one.

I don’t know if we consider the NY’s specials and the Xmas specials to be the same for the purposes of ranking, but this is one of my strong faves of that category, I’d rate all three Dalek specials above things like Wardrobe or Mysterio or The Next Doctor or Ruby Road! 4.25/5