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BBC Demons of the Punjab |
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| Story No. | 308 | 
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| Production Code | Series 11, Episode 6 | |
| Dates | November 11, 2018 |
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With Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill
Written by Vinay Patel Directed by Jamie Childs Executive Producers: Chris Chibnall, Matt Strevens, Sam Hoyle |
| Synopsis: The TARDIS travels to the partition of India to witness Yaz's grandmother's marriage. |
Dividing Line by Niall Jones 1/12/21
Amid all the turmoil of the Jodie Whittaker era so far, one element stands out as an undisputed triumph: the historicals. They are among the more innovative episodes of the era and are generally of a higher quality than episodes set in the present day or in the future. Of these, perhaps the most interesting is Vinay Patel's Demons of the Punjab.
The story is triggered by a family event. At her grandmother Umbreen's birthday, Yaz is given a broken watch by her grandmother. Eager to uncover the story behind the watch, Yaz convinces the Doctor to track it to its origins. While family history is an area that Doctor Who has rarely engaged with -- Father's Day being the most obvious exception -- this episode reveals just how rich a seam it is dramatically. What Yaz discovers when she steps out of TARDIS is not what she had expected based on Umbreen's stories of her life: they are in rural Punjab in 1947, not bustling Lahore in the 1950s, and the man that Umbreen is set to marry is not only not Yaz's grandfather, but is also a Hindu, a major surprise, given that all of her family are Muslims.
The episode's setting, however, is not only significant for Umbreen and her fiance Prem. 17 August 1947 was the day on which the exact location of the border between India and Pakistan was announced, three days after they became independent from the British Empire. Punjab, a large, fertile province with a mixed population of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, was divided between the two countries. The announcement led to serious communal violence, as each community feared being massacred by the others, with hundreds of thousands of people being killed and millions displaced in Punjab alone.
In Demons of the Punjab, the new border runs straight through the small farming community that Umbreen calls home. Umbreen's marriage, therefore, gains symbolic importance, as its inter-denominational nature challenges the division that runs through their land. It also, however, becomes a target for sectarian hate. In particular, Prem's brother Manish, who has become radicalised by Hindu nationalists, opposes the match and is prepared to take violent action to stop it.
By placing the action away from the decision-making process and focusing instead on the people affected by it, Patel highlights the ways in which the personal and the political intertwine. By focusing only on two families, he also provides a vantage point on an event whose huge scale would otherwise make it difficult to comprehend.
The episode is constructed like a tragedy, with the star-crossed lovers doomed to be torn apart by society's hatred. The portrayal of Manish, however, resists the dramatic. Boyish-looking and bespectacled, he is not obviously presented as a villain. Throughout the episode, Prem laments the fact that, since his return from fighting in the Second World War, he has found his little brother unrecognisable. This suggests both that the brothers were previously close and that Manish has been changed by the recent political context. The confrontation between them is powerful, revealing how the partition of India was also a partition of families.
If Demons of the Punjab is solely about human divisions, however, there is one element that is sorely out of place: the Thijarians. Yet, even if they are dramatically redundant, they are nevertheless thematically interesting.
For plot purposes, the Thijarians act as a massive red herring. When we first see them, they look threateningly down at events, accompanied by ominous music, suggesting that they are the demons of the episode's title. They have blue skin, multiple eyes and tusks, and wear an aggressive looking costume that is somewhere between armour and priestly robes. The Doctor instantly suspects them of murdering the sadhu, or holy man, who was due to officiate the wedding and wastes no time in confronting them. Her suspicions seem to be confirmed when she realises that they are Thijarians, a species feared as deadly assassins. These suspicions, however, turn out to be unfounded; having seen their home planet destroyed, the Thijarians repented of their murderous ways and decided to commit themselves instead to bearing witness to those who die unwitnessed.
Looked at in this light, the Doctor's suspicions seem not only unfounded, but also offensive. The Thijarians are assumed to be monsters because they look (to human eyes) monstrous. The association of physical difference with evil is a deeply uncomfortable idea and is one that has been an issue in Doctor Who since its earliest days. Elizabeth Sandifer addresses this in her discussion of the Daleks on her TARDIS Eruditorum blog, noting that 'The Doctor is in the end more human than alien. "Good" species are the ones that look human. The other species of the universe are, by and large, monsters.' Demons of the Punjab flips this binary on its head, revealing that the true demons are in fact those ordinary humans whose intolerance leads them to commit acts of violence.
Despite their more alien appearance, the Thijarians are presented as an idealised version of the Time Lords. Possessed with advanced technology, they travel through time and space, but steadfastly refuse to influence events, instead watching, mourning and remembering. In fact, the Thijarian attitude to history is not so different from that of the First Doctor -- the Doctor who stopped Barbara from changing Aztec customs, who was horrified by the irresponsibility of the Meddling Monk, who did not save the Huguenots from being massacred on St Bartholomew's Eve. Ultimately, the Thirteenth Doctor is forced to adopt a similar attitude, walking away as Prem is shot dead, unable to save even a single person from the violence of partition.
The events of the episode have a humbling effect on the TARDIS team, but this is not necessarily a negative thing. Yaz gains a greater understanding of her grandmother's life and, by the end of the episode, is no longer annoyed with her for keeping the story of the watch a secret. Over the course of the episode, the Doctor also becomes less arrogant and far more willing to admit to the limits of her knowledge. There's a lovely moment when she officiates the wedding and confesses that she doesn't know how the ceremony should proceed. This leaves Umbreen and Prem free to devise their own rituals, with Umbreen borrowing from Hindu tradition -- the binding of hands -- and Prem borrowing from Muslim tradition -- the giving of a gift (the watch, which falls to the ground and breaks).
By focusing on the human story, Demons of the Punjab harks back to the show's earliest days, using drama to educate viewers about a piece of history that, though vitally important, is rarely taught in British schools. Although some of the issues that have bedevilled the Jodie Whittaker era are present here -- while Graham gets some good moments, there is very little for Ryan to do -- the story is strong enough to transcend them, ultimately becoming one of the best episodes of Series 11.