Out of all episodes in this rewatch, this was the one I was most nervous to reach. It's the most beloved of the era - especially on the forums - and while I remembered enjoying it on initial watch, that was years ago and my memory isn't great. So I was feared that this would not live up to the hype.

My fears were for nothing.

This is, for my money, perhaps the best historical I've seen in the show, or certainly a contender. Maturely telling a story about a part of history that I wasn't aware of, with depth to it and never talking down to the viewers. And adding the personal touch by not only having a very small cast, but also by honing in on Yaz's family. Every character here feels real - especially the very human and very tragic radicalised villain. And being a story about love, and how the Partition split families and peoples apart, it was core that the main couple would need to brilliantly performed. Thankfully, they both are - with very subtle and nuanced performances matching the tone of the story. The aliens do not distract, like the space racist did in Rosa, but instead enhance the episode by adding to the themes and showing more love while all being a subversion of our expectations. And they only have a light touch in the events of the episode, which helps a tonne. This isn't their story. But remove them, and the episode loses a thematic core to its heart.

Visually, this might be the best Doctor Who has ever looked. With gorgeous lighting and direction, the episode was stunning. My favourite shot - one I literally went "wow" at - was when Manish walked through the barn to disavow the marriage, and the shows moved over his face - focusing first on his mouth to show ambiguity about what he'd say, to his cold eyes full of nothing but hatred. Stunning storytelling & characterisation through camera work and lighting alone.

This is also Segun Akinola's best work on the series thus far, with the music always complimenting the scene and beautifully flowing with the vibe of the episode.

Script wise, this is the best yet of series 11 too. Fantastically paced, with enough action moments at the right places, but knowing when to breathe and slow down. Never too slow or too contemplative like the episodes beforehand. And with very few lines of dialogue I didn't care for. Maybe only one scene where I thought it was too "tell and not show" - an issue I've raised in these reviews. For the most part, the episode spoke for itself and it did so beautifully.

What about our main performers though? Bradley Walsh continues to be a gem, who I severely underrated in my memories of Graham. What a great dramatic actor, playing the scene where he comforts Yaz beautifully. And where he reassures Prem even moreso. He just makes Graham feel like such a lovely, vulnerable person; and one much wiser due to age and life experiences than other companions before or after. Mandip Gill finally comes into her own here, with a script that gives Yaz much to do for once, and a lot to chew on emotionally. And I think she succeeds in showing us the conflict Yaz goes through, learning all this about her family history. And watching her gain confidence and trust for Prem after initially doubting him, and the knowing tragedy of his fate was beautiful. She played that progression totally naturally. And as always, Jodie Whittaker shines. She does still very funny, awkward jokes (the gender one was 10/10), but I always feel when she plays the role subdued it's her best work and we see that again here. The way she wants to help. The way she wants to change things. But knows that she can't. So instead, she shows empathy and love, and is there for everyone. It's a beautiful performance played with a lot of nuance and care.

Unfortunately, I'm really not sold by Tosin Cole as Ryan here though. Ryan gets little to do other than point out the obvious, and even that I feel is played flatly. I do think he's a better actor than a lot of people online give him credit for, but this episode really doesn't prove me right there. Just a very nothing performance sadly.

Oh, and unrelated to all the above: that final scene was beautiful and made me tear up. Goddamn, this show is so good man.

In the end though, this is a beautiful episode of both Doctor Who, and of television as a whole. Not a perfect one, but I loved it so much. The first true winner without any caveats for me of this era. Here's to more.

Demons of the Punjab is a story often held in high esteem, even by those who have criticisms of the Thirteenth Doctor’s era. Some even consider it one of the best stories of the revival. However, I see several flaws in the story that make it a letdown for me.

On the positive side, the historical setting in South Asia is impressive, and I appreciate the focus on Yaz’s family history, a character who is often underutilised in the show.

The story effectively depicts the partition and doesn’t shy away from showing how it tore families apart. The fact that the antagonist is another human rather than an alien foe (space racist), is a refreshing change.

The production values are also impressive, with stunning directing, prosthetics, and CGI. The supporting cast, costumes, location filming, and overall production are all top-notch.

However, I have several issues with the writing, the moral of the story, and Yaz’s sidelining in her own narrative.

Let’s delve in:

Yaz’s Nan

Yaz’s Nan is having a birthday and, feeling old, decides to give away some of her treasured belongings “before it is too late.” She gives Yaz a broken wristwatch, which clearly holds sentimental value. However, when Yaz asks to explain its significance, Nan simply says, “When you’re older, maybe.”

I couldn’t help but wonder if Nan was worried she would die before she could tell Yaz the story behind the watch. What’s the point of bestowing upon someone an item of sentimental value and then instructing them never to fix it without also sharing the story of its meaning to her?

In my opinion, this entire scene doesn’t make logical sense and is simply there to set up a mystery for Yaz to solve.

Yaz immediately goes to her “mate with a Time Machine” and decides to betray her Nan’s wishes, opting to go back in time herself rather than waiting for her Nan to tell her the story in her own time before she dies.

Yaz’s Nan is clearly conflicted about giving the answer, but she is still alive. Wouldn’t it have been better to have this story take place after her Nan’s funeral? A saddened Yaz would have been disappointed that she never got to find out the story of the wristwatch, and she would have begged the Doctor for help to fill in these gaps and get closer to her Nan and her heritage. This would have given the Doctor a more powerful reason to go against her instincts and meddle with time, despite the potentially disastrous consequences (has she forgotten about the events of Father’s Day?).

At the end of the story, with Yaz fully understanding what happened and the sad meaning behind the watch, she speaks to her Nan. Yaz’s Nan starts to open up and offers to tell the story behind the watch to Yaz, but Yaz simply says “no.”

I thought that showed a really disrespectful side of Yaz. She was nosey and went against her Nan’s wishes, and then instead of using her new knowledge to have a deep and meaningful connection to her Nan, she didn’t even want to discuss it. It shows that she didn’t want to learn because of a love for her Nan, but because it was a puzzle box she needed to solve.

It’s probably supposed to show that Yaz has learned not to pry into her Nan’s private life and that there are things she doesn’t need to know (which is exactly what Graham told her, very on the nose). She should be willing to sacrifice her own curiosity for the sake of her Nan’s wishes, but that’s not what happens here.

Yaz is sacrificing nothing because she already knows exactly what happened. Her Nan actually wants to tell her now, but she is just shutting her down. If this is one of the morals of the story, it is very muddled.

The Thajarians and prejudice

Doctor Who (and many other sci-fi shows) often have a problematic trope that is actually just a storytelling shortcut but comes across as really prejudiced: the idea that an alien species is evil, and that every individual in that species is the same.

So, the idea that the Doctor is wrong about the Thajarians, that they aren’t all evil, and that maybe the Doctor jumps to a very wrong conclusion about them based only on the way they look, could be an incredibly powerful teaching moment for the Doctor and the audience.

But that’s absolutely not what we got here.

First of all, this isn’t a splinter group of Thajarians who decided to stop being assassins and try to repent for what they have done. The entire species has simply changed its mind about being assassins!

Instead of the message that judging a group of people by a stereotype is wrong, we learn that the Doctor was simply using an outdated stereotype to judge them by, and that people of the same species or race actually do think the same and should be judged the same.

The Doctor is not presented as having her prejudice challenged and being wrong about something; she is just shown as not having updated information about her prejudice.

The Thajarians mishandle this completely

When you have a story that aims to subvert expectations, one of the clearest and most interesting things it can do is improve itself upon rewatch because you notice all the subtle hints along the way, and information you are given from an unreliable source can now be reviewed and cleared up.

So, does that mean if you rewatch this story, you are given hints that the Thajarians mean no harm and are actually only there to mourn? No.

We are meant to mistakenly believe that the Thajarians killed the Holy Man, when in reality, he was shot with a gun. Why, when examining the body, did no one find a gunshot wound or any blood? There were no clues to help us understand how the incident actually occurred.

Then, when we first encounter the Thajarians, what did they say? How can we now assess their peaceful intentions, given our newfound knowledge?

ALIEN: You disrupt our work.
DOCTOR: Good. Now, who are you here for?
ALIEN: We don’t answer to you. You must leave or we will stand over your corpses.

This is a threat. There is no way to interpret it as peaceful behaviour. Sure, it may “make sense” upon rewatch, in a roundabout way if you think about it, but this is not how people talk!!

The Thajarians are aware that the Doctor has a mistaken perception of them. They must know that they once had a reputation for being assassins, and that unless they disclose their new mission, they will face opposition. However, they refuse to answer her questions and instead escalate the threatening behaviour. This is infuriating.

Prem asks, “Are you here to kill me?” Instead of responding with, “No, that is not how we do things anymore,” they just do not answer at all!

Later, when the story decides to reveal their true intentions, they have a PowerPoint presentation ready and are willing to clear up any misunderstandings. If they did that before, there would be no story here - but it shows that this is badly written.

A better way to handle this would have been to never have the early confrontations where the Thajarians speak. There is simply no way to make it work and make them seem threatening, but actually they are peaceful. Have them an ever-present threat, in the distance, out of the corner of your eye, until they are ready to explain themselves. I think that would improve the optics of this.

There are also several inconsistencies in the basics of the story. For instance, the Thajarians can teleport, yet the Doctor manages to outrun them?! They have technology to prevent people from accessing their ship, yet it fails on the first attempt when the fam enters. Additionally, the Doctor can approach the teleporters and pick them up without being teleported away.

These minor details could have been resolved with a slight rewrite, such as the Doctor using the sonic screwdriver to add her DNA to the whitelist first.

Yaz’s character

This is supposed to be Yaz’s story, but during it, she has very little to do and we don’t learn anything meaningful about her. She doesn’t have any reaction to the situation; she just acknowledges it over and over. Most of her lines are just talking about the mystery and reminding people of what is happening in the episode.

Ryan

He’s just there, isn’t he? We learn nothing about him in this episode; he doesn’t use any of his experience or character; he is just there to say the lines that anyone could have said. He could have been replaced with K9, and the story would be exactly the same. (But this comment could be placed on almost any story).

Conclusion

Whilst this story has a lot to love, I don’t think it can be held on a pedestal as one of the greatest stories of the revival; it has too many flaws.

It’s trying to be progressive and talk about prejudice, except it completely fails at saying anything meaningful about it and actually doubles down on the idea that “an entire species has a mission; they are all the same”.

It tries to show some character for Yaz, but she comes across as impatient, nosy, and disrespectful to her Nan, and at the end, she doesn’t learn a lesson.

And it completely fails to add any depth to the Thirteenth Doctor, who is consistently shown in her series to always be 100% correct, never making mistakes, and she should never be questioned. It’s clear she does not learn her lesson because in Spyfall, when she meets another hostile alien, she immediately assumes the entire species is evil again!

Jodie Whitaker and Chris Chibnall’s era of Doctor Who continues to come under an undue amount of criticism even now that a few years have passed and it didn’t, as the more hyperbolic critics would want you to believe, sound the death knell of the series.

I haven’t actually revisited a lot of modern Doctor Who in isolation and haven’t seen many of the episodes since broadcast but my History of the Universe marathon has hit this episode and I’m so glad it did.

I thoroughly enjoyed Chibnall and Whiaker’s time with the TARDIS and rate Whitaker highly as one of my favourite Doctors. I’m not blind to Chibnall’s faults as a writer but those that act like he’s the only writer or showrunner or producer of Doctor Who who ever made mistakes in their choices are being hugely selective in their memories. But even amongst all the noise about this era, there are episodes which seemed to draw a consensus of positive opinion. Demons of the Punjab was one of them.

I remember enjoying this episode on broadcast but this rewatch saw me appreciating it even more and coming away from it desperate that critics of this era watch it and explain to me how any part of it isn’t ‘Doctor Who’.

Demons of the Punjab is a story about faith, death, inevitability, politics, national identity, war, family and history. It has Doctor Who running through its veins. It’s The Massacre of the modern series. And it looks amazing.

I instantly fell in love with Yaz’s Nani. The opening scene at her birthday with her dropping casual insults like calling Yaz her favourite granddaughter, right in front of Yaz’s sister, Sonja is brilliant – made all the more so by her mum’s admonishment making it clear this is something Nanni makes a habit of doing. Vinay Patel paints a believable family dynamic deftly in a scene which works well to set up the rest of the adventure. What is that Nani won’t tell?

The first scene in the TARDIS is also lovely with the little gag about the Death Eye Turtle Army. Yes, it is another scene where two of the companions just stand around spouting lines while the other one has the actual interaction with the Doctor (I love the idea of having three companions just like the classic series, but they did need to work out a way of better utilising them all in scenes). I like how the Doctor is finally worn down and 13 is a Doctor who wants to please and her protestations are only ever surface level. This joy at exploring and discovering is one of my favourite characteristics of Whitaker’s Doctor.

And then we’re off to the past on the trail of Yaz’s family history and unwittingly find ourselves on not only the border between India and the newly-formed Pakistan but also on the border between two families about to be torn apart by the Partition. We are witnesses to tragedy – as are all the characters in this story both human and alien.

The mystery of the Thijarians and the twist that they are professional mourners is well paced through the episode with their threatening appearance (surely insired in part by Hellraiser’s Cenobite horrors) and their teleport technology pointing the audience in one direction with the truth being carefully revealed at just the right point in the story.

But the aliens are secondary to the true enemy of this story – human nature. Watching a loving relationship be slowly destroyed with utter inevitability is heartbreaking and this story did something no other Doctor Who story has ever done – it made me cry. The march of history makes the Doctor unable to do anything except try and make Umbreen and Prem’s final hours together as joyful as she can. The Doctor cannot save them as a couple but she can ensure Yaz’s personal history stays on track. But once Umbreen has run to safety with her mother and Prem is facing down his brother and his death, all the Doctor, Yaz, Graham and Ryan can do is walk away. It is hugely moving.

Every scene of this story looks gorgeous and there are so many lovely moments – the night before the wedding with the men and women spending time separately; Yaz realising who Prem is and that her Nani had a history she didn’t know about; the scenes in the Thijarian Hive; the wedding; the flashbacks to Prem’s war service; the men on horseback confronting Prem.

The guest cast are uniformly excellent but special mention has to go to Amita Suman as Umbreen and Shane Zaza as Prem. It may be argued there is a modernity to them which works against the historical setting but really all it does is serve to make the events feel more relevant both to the audience and to Yaz.

Demons of the Punjab is a story Doctor Who should tell – and has done in a handful of stories – but not one it should tell too often. The inevitable, impassive march of history, reflected in the impassive Thijarians, is something which was far more prominent in the Hartnell era in stories such as the The Aztecs, The Massacre and The Myth Makers’ final episode and shows how, contrary to far too many Doctor Who commentators, shows how well Chibnall understands Doctor Who and it’s underlying themes.

A modern classic.

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time! 

“DEMONS OF THE PUNJAB: LOVE, LOSS AND LEGACY IN A TRAGIC TIME-WARPED WEDDING”

Demons of the Punjab stands tall as one of the finest historical episodes in Doctor Who's modern era – a poignant, painful, and powerful tale that weaves a deeply personal family drama into the larger tapestry of a tragic historical moment. It’s the second of Series 11’s trio of historicals and perhaps the most emotionally affecting of the three, placing Yaz centre stage as she journeys into her own ancestry during the Partition of India in 1947.

It’s almost a pure historical, save for a haunting sci-fi twist, and the result is a story where the speculative elements are thoughtfully restrained, allowing the human story to shine. This is an episode not about defeating aliens or rewriting history, but bearing witness to events that cannot and must not be changed.

“I WANT TO KNOW WHO SHE WAS BEFORE SHE WAS MY NAN.”

The premise is intimate and compelling: Yaz, curious about her grandmother’s cryptic past, asks the Doctor to take her back to 1947 to learn more. What she discovers is more than she bargained for – her Nani Umbreen is on the verge of marrying Prem, a man Yaz’s family has never mentioned. With Partition looming and communal tensions crackling beneath the surface, Yaz is swept into a bittersweet love story on the brink of calamity.

Writer Vinay Patel expertly ties the political with the personal. The Partition is explained in a way that’s accessible yet powerful, never shying away from the immense emotional toll and societal fractures it caused. The backdrop of communal unrest becomes heartbreakingly immediate, seen through the conflict between Prem and his brother Manish – two siblings whose different visions for the future become irreconcilable.

SCI-FI SHADOWS THAT ENHANCE, NOT DISTRACT

Enter the Thijarians – striking alien figures who initially appear to be assassins. Their skeletal masks and stalking presence suggest menace, but in a clever subversion, they’re revealed to be mourners from a dead civilisation, honouring those who die alone and unremembered. It's a haunting concept, and one that mirrors the episode’s themes of remembrance and legacy.

While their inclusion could have undercut the grounded historical drama, the Thijarians are used sparingly and thoughtfully. Their presence heightens the stakes without hijacking the emotional core, and their backstory – having lost their purpose and seeking new meaning in bearing witness – is a beautiful reflection of the story’s tone.

STRONG PERFORMANCES, STRONGER EMOTIONS

This is Mandip Gill’s episode, and she rises magnificently to the occasion. Yaz is assertive, empathetic, and emotionally invested, and for once, the companion isn’t just a bystander to history but personally connected to it. Jodie Whittaker is excellent too, juggling the Doctor’s usual energy with a steely understanding that some events must unfold as history demands, no matter how painful.

The supporting cast is superb. Amita Suman’s Umbreen is sharp, warm, and principled – a young woman shaped by the momentous times she lives in. Shane Zaza as Prem is quietly heartbreaking: kind, courageous, and destined to be lost. His chemistry with Suman grounds the romance, making its inevitable end even more devastating.

And then there’s Manish. As the story’s true antagonist, he’s terrifying precisely because he believes in what he’s doing. His growing radicalisation is chilling, and it’s to the episode’s credit that it never feels cartoonish – just tragically real.

HISTORY THAT CANNOT BE CHANGED

The Doctor’s role here is not to save the day but to ensure history unfolds as it must. This is Doctor Who at its most mature: the team cannot prevent Prem’s death, only witness it. And the gut-punch lands hard – we know what's coming, and that helpless inevitability makes it all the more devastating. The scenes of the wedding, the looming violence, and the silent Thijarians bearing witness to Prem’s final moments are among the most emotionally raw in the series.

In the face of this darkness, there are moments of grace. Yaz’s final conversation with her grandmother in the present is gentle and moving, showing that though time has brought tragedy, it also brought healing. Life may not have gone the way anyone hoped, but it was still meaningful.

📝VERDICT: 10/10

Demons of the Punjab is a beautifully crafted, emotionally rich exploration of family, history, and identity. It brings depth to Yaz’s character, shines a light on a real-world tragedy seldom depicted on British television, and does so with grace, integrity, and sincerity. The aliens are used thoughtfully, the direction and design are evocative, and the performances are top-notch. This isn’t just a standout from Series 11 – it’s one of the most quietly powerful Doctor Who stories of the modern era. A rare gem where the show steps back, listens to history, and simply tells a story worth remembering.

I think that Demons of the Punjab is actually quite a good episode. It presents an interesting historical story focussed on a really interesting period of history that I do not know enough about. There are interesting characters and Yaz gets a bit of development which is nice. I also feel that it's well directed with a few standout shots. The aliens feel a bit forced and don't completely make sense. I think that the episode would have worked better as a pure historical. However, the episode isn't bad as is and is probably one of my favourites of the era.