Another occasional look at a Black Archive release, and this time it’s Paul Driscoll’s take on The God Complex. Paul has plenty to say in this rather thorough analysis, covering 184 pages, and a quick peek at his credentials lets us know this might be an academic tome (Paul is a theology postgraduate from Oxford). If I have a warning note about this detailed study, it’s to say it deserves attention. It puts my few scrappy notes to shame!

It isn’t something you can quickly skim for a few minutes on a commute but something deserving of better attention.

The God Complex analysed

Paul considers a number of themes, including psychological, ethical and also the relevance of each member of the cast and their role in the story. He also considers writer Toby Whitehouse, Steven Moffat and the show as a whole, focusing on  twenty-first century Who. He goes deep into his topics, and at times I felt the book projected more depth of thought on The God Complex than actually went into its creation. It’s an easy comment to make, and even if Paul goes further than the creator’s intended, his writing is perceptive and interesting. He also goes fairly wide, and perhaps has used this book as a chance to make observations about the whole show, rather than just this episode. Perhaps he’s just an interesting, well-rounded thinker!

I liked many parts of this, and am happy to recommend it. My favourite is a discourse on the evolving role of the modern companions and their relationship to the Doctor. He makes a good case for his position, and I will be stealing some of his ideas when I speculate on future companions for the Jodie Whittaker Doctor!

Until then you could do a lot worse than pick up a copy of this study.