I'm not sure quite what Chibnall is or was up to. We get a female Doctor, OK. Jodie Whittaker is one Hell of an actor, though I'd've preferred someone with more age and gravitas (Brenda Blethyn, for instance) - more on that in a minute. But Chibnall said early on in his run that he wanted to use writers who didn't normally do SF -which, IMHO, is daft when the show is an SF one. Sort of like asking Quentin Tarantino to direct 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' - the man is talented, no doubt. but rom-com is not his genre and he'd make a dogs' breakfast of it. Thus there were a lot of episodes written for a Woman Doctor where writers forgot or ignored the fact that the Doctor is the Doctor, and gender is simply what the Doctor is wearing this season.

So now, with the whole canon substantively retconned, I'm wondering whether Chibnall is trying to leave as big a mess as possible for Davies to clear up out of spite, or whether he just wanted a final answer to the vexed question of limited regeneration. If the latter, it seems to have spun out of control, if the former, Davies - who is far more talented - will find a believable way to hit the reset button.

All that said, 'Flux' was a story and a half. A bit much jumping about at first, but coming clear at the end. The whole idea of Time and Space as being two fundamentally-opposed forces, each trying to overcome the other, has a good deal of potential with a 'Sapphire and Steel' sort of vibe. And of course the Mulitverse is now Who canon, allowing for all sorts of jiggery-pokery.

I don't agree about the Sontarans, btw. The Ice Warriors have been ennobled and the Silurians actually civilised, but Disneyfying the Sontarans through the character of Strax was unnecessary. 'Flux' has allowed the Sontarans to retake their rightful place alongside the Daleks and Cybermen as the Third Race of Absolute Bastards in the Whoniverse. Just as the Grand Serpent promises to become a worthy enough Power-Mad Bastard to take turns with The Master and the Great Intelligence as personal antagonists.

In the matter of the new Doctor, Richard Ayoade, along with others proposed for the role, is a lightweight. Now, I have no fundamental objection to a Black Doctor, if that's what the Powers That Be demand. But it needs to be someone like Idris Elba or Sir Lenny Henry. Because to me, out of the 15 canon Doctors, the ones who stand head and shoulders above the rest are Hartnell, Pertwee, McCoy, Eccleston, Capaldi, John Hurt and Jo Martin. All older people, with some stature and gravitas. Even though Hurt and Martin only took the part for short periods, they successfukly showed up the younger Doctors they played opposite. The character is thousands of years old, after all, and they should stop casting these kids in the role!