Each gets space. Toisin Cole’s Ryan, Mandip Gill’s Yasmin, and Bradley Walsh’s Graham are all patiently set up in an opening episode that’s geographically rooted firmly in Sheffield (a city that also wraps itself permanently into the DNA of the show too). There’s real pathos for them too, in ways I don’t want to spoil. I will say that Chibnall fully understands the audience this show goes to, particularly those not necessarily having an easy time of life, and he deals with one or two things in a surprising, brilliant, head-on way. I loved that he did that.

And then there’s Jodie Whittaker. Brief version: heck, yes.

Longer version? She’s going through the traditional ‘a bit troubled after a regeneration’ time, but the episode doesn’t overegg that (in fact, the costume selection moment is brief). Her natural comedic touch shines through too, although the tone of the episode is a contrast from Who as we’ve seen it the past few years. There’s no fast passage of dialogue to get out of a corner, the jokes count is down, the chronology – and this is basing it one episode – is a lot more straightforward to follow. Chibnall, more than any episode since Rose, has given newer viewers a very natural stepping-on point for the show, with a bunch of characters I found myself warming to very quickly.

What really impresses about Jodie Whittaker, and there’s a lot here, is her generosity. She’s very much a part of an ensemble, a performer who doesn’t need the limelight in every shot, and as such, whilst the leader of the gang, an actor who can be part of a group. The sense of an 80s movie gang with a leader. Loved that.

The traditional Doctor Who elements are there. There’s a foe, of course, and a bit of a mystery for Whittaker and her gang to get to the bottom of, and quite a good one. Some nice design work, too, but again, I’m skating a little too close to spoilers if I go much further. I don’t think, as new Doctor episodes go, we’re quite at the level of David Tennant throwing satsumas on Christmas Day. But also, much like The Eleventh Hour, this is really some achievement, given how much it introduces and sets up – at what feels like quite a restrained pace – and how it alters the tone and feel of Doctor Who in doing so.