Having followed the Doctor Who revival off and on throughout the Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and Matt Smith eras (there was only so much Russell T. Davies I could take in a season), the Peter Capaldi era is my favourite so far. Capaldi’s a pragmatic, dour version of Craig Ferguson, and a hell of an actor. “Face the Raven” brought an end – it might not be the end, the timey wimey ball being what it is, but it’s an end – to Clara Oswald’s DW companionship. This being Steven Moffat, one can’t rule out a season-ending ass pull, since wibbly wobbly.

After the death of a well-known companion, The Doctor talks to himself for a full episode – yes, this is the USP of “Heaven Sent”, the first time in Doctor Who’s fifty-two-year history where an episode features The Doctor without companions or guest actors, save Jami Reid-Quarrell as non-speaking character “The Veil”. Doctor Who temporarily did away with its title sequence in “Sleep No More”, so Capaldi backing up the acting TARDIS should be at least interesting.

The ninth season of the Doctor Who revival sees Moffat largely dial back his tendency for would-be epic moments marred by epic plotholes. Even the season’s worst episode (which, admittedly, “Sleep No More” is by default) has Doctor Who see what it can do with the found footage horror subgenre. Style experiments and more two-parters do a world of good for this show. “Heaven Sent” airs 9:00 PM ET on SPACE and BBC America.