The Devil’s Chord – Spoiler-Free Review

This is a spoiler-free review of The Devil’s Chord. The spoiler-filled review will follow the BBC One broadcast.

After travelling into the depths of space in Space Babies, The Devil’s Chord takes us back into the Earth’s past and specifically 1963, as Ruby wants to see The Beatles record their first album, Please Please Me at Abbey Road Studios. As a massive fan of the Fab Four myself, I was delighted to see two things that I love brought together in this way.

However, The Devil’s Chord is predicated on the removal of music from humanity, as The Beatles aren’t singing their famous tunes and music is, well, rather a dirge thanks to events that take place in the cold open. This is both a rather clever way of getting out of having to pay to feature the Beatles’ back catalogue, which even with Disney money can’t be easy, and a good Doctor Who idea. The absence of music has stripped humanity of something fundamental to their being, and the actions of this story’s antagonist have disastrous effects for the future.

There has been a lot of talk online about the fact that the actors chosen to play John, Paul, George and Ringo don’t look a lot like the Beatles, however, I think that certainly the actors playing John and Paul capture enough of their essence to be recognisable. There is definitely a really poignant scene which sees Lennon and McCartney talking to our two leads which is really effective early on.

I really enjoyed The Devil’s Chord, but there is an element that stopped me from loving it completely, which I think will certainly raise a few eyebrows. In an episode that is fully of good imagery and solid storytelling, it doesn’t feel as though it ends on the strongest note. That might be me nitpicking and I really hope that I am wrong, but it definitely didn’t land the way I feel it was intended to.

Jinkx Monsoon is really good as the villain of the piece, Maestro, and they chew the scenery superbly throughout the story. Monsoon feels threatening throughout, menacingly dispatching people and emerging from musical instruments. A really lovely and sinister new villain for the Doctor to fight, they have links to a previous villain, although perhaps not the one the name might suggest. There is a climatic battle which feels new for Doctor Who, but has elements which might feel familiar if you’ve seen a recent Marvel Cinematic Universe film.

The energy between the Doctor and Ruby is just as strong as it was in Space Babies and their enthusiasm at approaching the Abbey Road Studios up until they realise that something is wrong. The Doctor is afraid of Maestro, which does certainly help the audience take the threat posed seriously. There is a really effective sequence when they first encounter one another which is almost certainly my favourite moment of the episode.

Spoiler-free review of Space Babies.