Rule number one of writing: Show, don’t tell.

Most people don’t fully comprehend what that means, and that’s what I’m here for. When do you show (scenes) and when do you tell (expositions)? I’m going to use Doctor Who’s series 11 to show you exactly how it is NOT done.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Doctor Who. It’s quite an unhealthy love, mind you. Which is why it pains me to say that the new season is not quite up to par.

Before the extreme feminist wing gets here, this has nothing to do with Jodie Whittaker’s performance. She is a terrific Doctor. I loved her on Broadchurch and I knew she would shine when she took over the Tardis. And she does. Every time she reels up for a monologue or soliloquy, you can sense her ability to build up the gravitas of The Doctor.

But sadly — save for a few choice episodes like Rosa — the writing fails her. Mostly that of new showrunner, Chris Chibnall.

This scene in episode 4 (Arachnids in the UK) written by Chibnall, was 3 straight minutes of uninterrupted exposition.

Again, don’t get me wrong, the man is a great writer. He just loves expositions too much. That worked well with shows like Broadchurch and Torchwood, where there’s an overarching detective underlining. Just not with Doctor Who. Go back to any of his previous episodes under Davies and Moffat and you’ll see bleeds of the same problem.

Let’s take a look at Peter Capaldi’s 12th Doctor in his first episode monologue from Deep Breath.

DOCTOR: You are a broom. Question. You take a broom, you replace the handle, and then later you replace the brush, and you do that over and over again. Is it still the same broom? Answer? No, of course it isn’t. But you can still sweep the floor. Which is not strictly relevant, skip that last part. You have replaced every piece of yourself, mechanical and organic, time and time again. There’s not a trace of the original you left. You probably can’t even remember where you got that face from.

Every phrase oozed with the Doctor. He did not have to explain himself. Who is this Doctor? He questions. He has a short attention span. But most importantly? This Doctor is questioning who he is and can’t see himself in the mirror.

In ‘The Ghost Monument’, a 5 minutes scene went in-and-out of telling the audience what was happening.

Now, let’s take a look at Jodie’s monologue.

DOCTOR: Yes. I’m glad you asked that again. Bit of adrenaline, dash of outrage, and a hint of panic. I’m the Doctor. Sorting out fair play throughout the universe. Now please, get off this planet while you still have a choice.

Awesome, right? She fiery. She’s straight to the point. Filled with energy and childish spunk. The crux of it though is that she’s confident and knows exactly who she is. That’s what I got from Jodie’s Doctor and from this line. Except, that’s not the real line. I took something out. This was the original line.

Yes. I’m glad you asked that again. Bit of adrenaline, dash of outrage, and a hint of panic knitted my brain back together. I know exactly who I am. I’m the Doctor. Sorting out fair play throughout the universe. Now please, get off this planet while you still have a choice.

Throughout the episode, one major subplot was The Doctor having forgotten her name and not knowing who she is and whether or not she liked her new body. It was shown throughout the episode her progression. After every encounter, faced with crisis and evil, she got a little better. That is shown.

But in her monologue, those added words were telling the audience what happened and what to think, even though watching the episode would have already given them all the directions they needed.

The critically acclaimed episode “Rosa” is one of few not fully written by Chibnall, and it shows.

In the above image, do you need any form of context? No. The image stands for itself. You can draw your conclusions and be right. In fact, with just common sense and logic, you can even conclude the character, event, and time period, using nothing but what was shown. Throughout the episode of “Rosa”, you see powerful uses of imagery and scene direction, all of which does more for the story than just lines of expositions.

As much as Rose and Jack, Rory and Amy, and Nardole and Bill were companions to The Doctor, so are the viewers. In the show, the companions catch up to The Doctor’s train of thoughts. Slower, sure, but they are allowed to catch up to them, much the same way we are, and never told what to think. The Doctor respects them and lets them choose.

In the end, that’s what ‘Show, Don’t Tell’ is about. Letting the audience figure out the story by themselves.

Special thanks to Chrissie’s Transcripts website, which has full transcripts of episodes of Doctor Who, which really helped in researching this article.