Writer/directors Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin bring the semi-improvised style of their hit sitcom Outnumbered
to the big screen in this cosy comedy drama rocked by an outrageous
twist. Beleaguered pairing David Tennant and Rosamund Pike have to
pretend their marriage hasn’t fallen apart when a birthday celebration
for Tennant’s father (Billy Connolly) demands they travel up to the
Highlands with three precocious children (Emilia Jones, Bobby
Smalldridge and Harriet Turnbull). Meanwhile up in Scotland uptight
millionaire brother Ben Miller and repressed wife Amelia Bullmore plan
the festivities at his hi-tech country house. When the family convenes
the resulting fault-lines lead to a tragic incident involving a Viking
ritual and a media scrum...
Peter Capaldi makes an excellent counterpoint to a chocolate box Sherwood Forest in an episode that shows the programme taking those first steps toward hitting its stride. What begins as a brightly-lit jaunt soon morphs into the macabre tone the series is cultivating. With the Doctor no longer the young, dazzling centre the Twelfth Time Lord becomes a bickering, simmering presence, though no less the hero as it turns out.
The writers are cleverly evolving Clara alongside him. For Robot Of Sherwood Mark Gatiss has her as the person in control via her romantic knowledge of Robin's rose-tinted exploits. Tom Riley as Robin is fine and the story about a crashed spaceship and a gold-plated plan you can take or leave. But the marauding mechanicals are well-designed, disintegrating peasants via cross-shaped electric death rays and Ben Miller makes a strong villain. He's been crying out for a Who baddie since his oily turn as a prickly civil servant in Primeval and doesn't disappoint here.
The closing moments feature a lovely scene where Hood and The Doctor effectively compare notes as fictional heroes, an unexpected way perhaps to accentuate Capaldi's character. While odd attempts to join in the hi-jinks fall a bit flat, most importantly we see him start to repress delight despite his alarming gaze. A very encouraging instalment overall.
