"The Broken World" is the first full episode of The Minister of Chance, and our first opportunity to hear Julian Wadham play this new incarnation of the Time Lord, taking over from Stephen Fry, who played the previous incarnation in Doctor Who: Death Comes to Time. It's written and directed by Dan Freeman, who also wrote and directed Death Comes to Time, and that production's lush sound design and music is also back here. I always loved how Death Comes to Time used classical music (that scene were the Doctor confronts the Minister is simply gorgeous), and that flair is back here.

Most of "The Broken World" is spent with the character of Kitty, played by Lauren Crace. Kitty is exactly what you'd expect a future companion to be like: determined, sassy, not always smart, but still clever. I liked her pretty quickly, and I look forward to hearing her developed more. We meet the Minister from her perspective, and Julian Wadham's incarnation isn't quite as warm as Stephen Fry's, as he is obviously more concerned with the bigger picture than the people of Tanto. (Though why he needs to go to Tanto to see the bigger picture to begin with hasn't yet been explained.) My first instinct is to not like Wadham as much, but isn't that the way with all regenerations?

Thirty-five minutes in, and it's clear that the story's barely started. There are some neat ideas in play, but nothing much has been done with them yet. But it all sounds great, from the perspectives of performance, sound design, and music, and so I'm still listening. Time to begin "The Forest Shakes"...

You can read a longer version of this review at Unreality SF.