Doctor Who Series 10 Recap: “Smile”

Back in the early days of Classical Who, one of the running jokes was that the Doctor wasn’t too good at steering the TARDIS–or that perhaps the navigation systems weren’t quite right, since he never seemed to be able to take it quite where it wanted to go. The most prolonged of these “adventures are what happen while you’re trying to get somewhere else” was with Tegan, who came aboard at the end of the Fourth Doctor’s term and spent a good couple of years with the Fifth Doctor, trying to get to Heathrow Airport for her first day of work.

Bill: “Where’s the steering wheel”
The Doctor: “Well you don’t steer the TARDIS. You negotiate with it.”

With the revelation at the beginning of this week’s episode that the Doctor has “made a promise” not to leave Earth, the setup is now in place. Nardole is already upset the TARDIS is outside on the grounds of the University, so the Doctor is going to move back into his office in time for the kettle to boil…but in between he and Bill are going to take just a little jaunt into the future…