For perhaps the first time since the beginning of Peter Capaldi’s run, we’ve seen a romp so becoming of vintage Doctor Who that one would be forgiven for thinking the script had originally come from the cutting room floor of the BBC, circa 1963.

Indeed, to say I enjoyed this episode is an understatement. I excitedly told my fiancée at the end that it was, in fact, my favourite episode of the series so far. I usually favour the darker episodes and, what with the advent of the positively macabre nature of the 12th Doctor, dark episodes aren’t hard to come by. However, I seem to have set this predilection aside in favour the lighter and more personal tone set by ‘The Caretaker’.

From the opening montage showing Clara’s mastery of the double life, to the Doctor’s proud declaration of “deep cover” we’re treated to a fun, if occasionally plodding story based around the “love but not like that” triangle that we find at the heart of the series.

It is perhaps these more personal moments which truly make the episode so enjoyable and the dual authorship of Gareth Roberts & Steven Moffat has led to a very balanced story, even if the execution is, in part, a little bit slap-dash at times. Perhaps most tellingly for this story, the most powerful scenes for me were the ones wherein the Doctor (rather egotistically) assumes that Clara’s natural choice for a boyfriend is the bow-tie wearing Adrian simply because he reminds him of “a certain young time traveller”. I found these to be superbly acted by the ever-impressive Peter Capaldi and allowed viewers one of the rare insights into the true feelings of such an enigmatic and potentially prickly character.

Having the story almost entirely set at Coal Hill School was a lovely facet and allowed a great deal of nostalgia to be felt for those earlier Hartnell years. Indeed, we seem to be moving towards a team TARDIS dynamic which mirrors the original line-up; The Doctor, a teenager, and two teachers. Personally, I feel this is a nice move and I hope to see it explored to its fullest, especially as the 12th Doctor technically marks the beginning of a new regeneration cycle for the Doctor.

I’ve seen some critics complain about the Skovox Blitzer, claiming it to be under-developed, ultimately, nothing new or exciting to add to the series. However, I would argue that that is exactly what makes it such a perfect creature to set the events of the story in motion. If we’d had the Daleks, the Cybermen or any other more prominent enemy of the Doctor’s in this episode, they would have completely overridden the entire purpose, which was to have a more character driven story which developed and built on themes which were seeded in previous episodes.

The development of the tensions between Clara’s life with the Doctor and her life with Danny Pink were handled with aplomb, though there were some moments in the script which felt decidedly forced.

Up until this episode we’ve seen very little of Danny Pink and what we had seen hadn’t really allowed me to make up my mind as to whether or not I liked him; however, what I saw during this episode was, I’m sad to say, an unpleasant person. The scene in which he jibes the Doctor into a rage in a bid to show Clara who the Doctor ‘really is’ was utterly ludicrous and, frankly, made me dislike Danny intensely. I can only hope he redeems himself as the series progresses.

Enjoyable as the episode was for me, there were some serious pacing issues. The story takes a long time to establish the danger, the Doctor’s alias and the relationships between all the characters involved only to rush a conclusion in which Danny Pink performs an almost super-human front flip which helps to save the world. Initially I found this irksome, but on balance there have been worse denouements in Doctor Who and, as I said before, this episode is more about the characters than it is the threat.

It’ll be interesting to see where these relationships develop over the course of the remaining six episodes. I imagine we’ll see a lot more of Danny, and I hope to see more of the charming Courtney. This would make a lot of sense given that the Doctor seems to have a natural rapport with her, given they’re both kindred spirits of mayhem and mischief.

On the whole, I utterly adored this episode and found it to be the most indicative of how the Capaldi era can deliver on lighter, more fun-filled episodes as well as the darker themes many fans expected to set the overall tone for the series. Capaldi is going from strength to strength and I really feel we’re beginning to see him hit his stride in the role, I can only imagine the best is yet to come.