Just been perusing some of the reviews over at the BBC site and the following probably explains a lot:
”After the era of Steven Moffat’s Doctor Who, which featured often high-concept, complicated plots, showrunner Chris Chibnall has made it clear he’s keen for the show to be more easily accessible family viewing, and for it to educate children in the way it was originally intended to”
So brace yourselves for more simplistic storylines and some very specific "education" .
I agree with you that it didn't tackle islamic extremism. The jibe against Mountbatten, whose partition plan was an attempt to stop the escalating sectarian violence, seemed cheap and misguided too.
A forthcoming DW episode in this series apparently features The Doctor saving a woman accused of witchcraft from being burned at the stake.
While The Doctor was in Pakistan, couldn't she have jumped forward a few years and foiled some jihadi plots or maybe saved an innocent Christian woman from a sentence of death for "blasphemy" ?
But I suppose that sort of topicality isn't on the BBC's agenda. Looks like the degree of education in DW is going to be rather select and simplistic!
I mean, seriously? Sure, the DVD is ctor could have saved someone by jumping a few years into the future. I mean, sure that wasn't the story of the episode, but the Doctor being a time traveler could also jump around in time and save every soldier about to be shot or otherwise killed in WWII.
Personally, not having an encyclopediac memory of Doctor Who I don't remember it ever tackling topical events directly.
There's a story, they do a thing, they scarper off to another thing. A space battle, alien invasion on a distant planet, Cybermen in mall shops.
Treads close to why doesn't the doctor fix every problem ever.
Anytime the Doctor has meddle with a real historical event, it's simplistic. It's not a nuanced event. Much like history in class.
I don't mind the return to earlier, simpler stories. Frankly after awhile I get tired of complicated, nuanced, follow the thread plots. Especially when the writing isn't up to par for them.
The world is pretty complicated right now, I don't mind my escapism being a bit more simplistic.