The Companion Piece 05: Time Heist

Doctor Who does Ocean's Eleven. It sounds like an amazing premise - so amazing, in fact, that I couldn't believe no-one had thought of it before. I couldn't wait for this episode! Yet Time Heist left me cold somehow.

Heist movies, and series like the BBC's own Hustle, have a very particular structure - the gang plan the job (with a slick montage and great music), then they execute it and it all goes horribly wrong, and they have to improvise their way out of it (which often turns out to have secretly been the plan all along). But Time Heist had none of that - they stumble in without a plan, meaning that there's no plan to go wrong - so it never actually feels like the heist movie it's trying to be.

It felt like a wasted opportunity. But there was still a lot to like, and the rest of the Companion Piece team seemed to love it. To get both sides of that discussion, as well as some deeper insights into the series this week, click the mugshot below.

Also, for a chance to win Jeff VanderMeer’s new novel  Acceptance, click here!