This review is a spoiler-free review of Dot and Bubble. The spoiler-filled review will drop after the BBC One broadcast on Saturday night.
Dot and Bubble is definitely a story that feels as though it would not be out of place in Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror as it gives us a very dystopian view of a future dominated by technology, in this case, the titular Dot and Bubble system.
This is Russell T Davies’ fourth script of this series so far, and it is certainly not afraid to put its messages front and centre. Dot and Bubble is deeply critical of social media and the potentially harmful impact it can have on young people, which is something that is emphasised to the nth degree in this story and certainly is anything but subtle from the beginning, and a cursory scratch away at the colourful surface shows how deeply flawed this far-future society is. Dot and Bubble has a lot to say about social media and other issues, which can lead to a feeling that their inclusion has been more thought through than at other points. This story would not feel out of place as a Seventh Doctor story, and that’s going beyond even the surface level resemblance that the world bears to the one we see in Paradise Towers. It is darkly comic, not afraid to pull its punches and make sure that the central message is loud and clear. The story feels claustrophobic and tense at points, and gives a sense of unease at points, which is not always easy when shooting in big open spaces, but Dylan Holmes Williams manages this really well.
The story’s lead is Lindy Pepper-Bell, played by Callie Cooke, who is a difficult character to play, but Cooke does really well with her. Pepper-Bell’s seemingly idyllic social media world is punctured by the Doctor and Ruby’s interjections, quite literally bursting her bubble in the process as they try to keep her safe as her online community begins to mysteriously shrink before her, and our, very eyes.
It’s difficult to talk too much about the Doctor and Ruby’s role in this story without getting into spoilers, so I will just say that they are definitely both present, and we certainly get more of Ncuti that we did in 73 Yards, but they are in a supporting role for a lot of the story. I am sure that there will be a lot of discourse and thoughts about the final scene of this story, which I am not going to delve into now for obvious reasons, but will definitely talk about in my full review.
I liked Dot and Bubble a lot more than I was expecting to from the next time trailer, which was one that I wasn’t expecting to enjoy as much as I did.
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