Spiders……. If you don’t like spiders then this episode will definitely make you feel uncomfortable.
This episode is a classic example of what Doctor Who does best; it takes a simple thing or fear and makes it scarier. Doctor Who have done this in the past with the Vashta Nerada as seen with the 10th Doctor and River Song in 'Silence in the Library' and 'Forest of the Dead'. Vashta Nerada live in all darkness, on their own they are harmless but in huge swarms they can strip the flesh of a bone off in seconds. Some people are afraid of the dark and then Doctor Who played on this and made it into a monster which created a nerve-wracking episode. The same has been done again with this episode, many people are scared of spiders, especially big spiders. By using huge spiders, that look very realistic, makes this episode very scary to watch, however at the end you feel sympathy for them. These huge spiders aren't aliens but the result of experiments and toxic waste.
We meet Yas's family in this episode, yet I'm still not convinced about her character, it is coming across as quite dull, there still isn't much character development with her. Graham is struggling with his grief and this is portrayed by quite heart-warming moments when he thinks he sees his dead wife (Grace) but she isn't there. He is struggling to move on. Ryan receives a letter from his dad apologising for not turning up to Grace (his mother's) funeral. He wants Ryan to move in with him, yet Ryan hasn’t said but it is clear he doesn’t have the best relationship with his dad. Also, while talking about the letter, Ryan says how Graham is his proper family, which is a heart-warming moment as you can tell they are bonding and becoming closer. The relationship between Ryan and Graham is growing and developing every episode and they seem to get along more. Ryan has a very complex and difficult family situation, and this is interesting to watch, Yas and her family are nice, but it doesn’t make her character interesting to get to know, as her family is quite simple.
A new character we meet in this episode is Robertson, he is the owner of the hotel where this episode takes place. He is an American millionaire who wants to run for president and thinks he is the highest authority and knows best. He believes that they should just kill the spiders with guns without thinking of another option. He doesn’t take any responsibility for all the mistakes that have happened, however looking back I don’t feel like this character was necessary as the spiders would have still existed without him as it was his business partners who wanted to cut corners and thus didn’t get rid of the toxic waste properly. Robertson is just annoying and isn't needed, yes at the end he kills the mother spider, but that spider was going to die in the end. As a result, another week and another 'villain' not really needed.
The spiders are a good monster for this episode as lots of people fear them however some viewers are now starting to miss the sci-fi and the aliens. All the monsters/villains from the past 2/3 episodes haven't been that memorable so hopefully next week we will get a monster/alien that we will remember because we know we aren't getting any classic monsters this series like Daleks or Cybermen. We are still waiting for new aliens we will meet and at the moment we haven't met any real ones that we will remember and want to meet again like Slitheen or Weeping Angles.
Arachnids in the UK is a classic Doctor Who episode, making the normal fear even scarier; the huge spiders are the main focus in this episode as the thing we fear. However, it has no alien or sci-fi element, but this will change as next week we will get sci-fi and hopefully aliens. There was more character development in this episode and character relationship grew between Ryan and Graham. We also saw a new side to the Doctor as she doesn’t want to travel alone anymore but once her friends said they wanted to join her she was firm and serious making sure they that this is what they wanted as she knows that they won't be safe and will change. This episode is classic scary Doctor Who but there was no need for Robertson and there needs to be some serious character development with Yas to make her interesting or enjoyable to watch.
