History Recap / DoctorWhoS37E4ArachnidsInTheUK

Aired October 28, 2018. Written by Creator/ChrisChibnall.

-->'''The Doctor:''' "I eat danger for breakfast." ''[to Yaz]'' "I don't. I prefer cereal. Or croissants. Or these little fried, Portuguese... Never mind, it's not important."

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Jack Robertson is an obvious [[{{Trumplica}} parody of Donald Trump]].

** The title is a clear reference to the famous Music/SexPistols song "Anarchy in the UK".

** Jack Robertson is clearly a none-too-flattering nod to [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump another American businessman-turned-politician]] whom Robertson absolutely despises.

JustForFun/{{The one w}}here [[GiantSpider an arachnophobe's worst nightmare]], a [[{{Trumplica}} Donald Trump parody]] and Music/{{Stormzy}} walk into a bar.

JustForFun/TheOneWith an arachnophobe's worst nightmare, a [[{{Trumplica}} Donald Trump parody]] and Music/{{Stormzy}} walk into a bar.

JustForFun/TheOneWith an arachnophobe’s worst nightmare - giant spiders - a [[{{Trumplica}} Donald Trump parody]] and Music/{{Stormzy}}.

For once, the TARDIS lands ''when and where she's supposed to!'' Landing half an hour after they left at the end of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E1TheWomanWhoFellToEarth "The Woman Who Fell to Earth"]], the Doctor finally returns her companions to Sheffield, right in front of Yaz's building. Only Yaz's neighbour two doors down is missing, with her flat full of cobwebs and a huge spider, like the one Graham finds in his house when he returns there. And it turns out that the epicentre of a spate of unusual spider activity is the soon-to-be-opening luxury hotel Yaz's mum Najia was just fired from, for unwittingly walking in on the owner, wealthy American businessman [[Creator/ChrisNoth Jack Robertson]], telling one of his most trusted employees to get rid of something.

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Yaz's sister teases her about being MarriedToTheJob. Their bickering reminds the Doctor of her own sisters (which is the first time the Doctor has ever mentioned them).

** He also takes Kevin's gun for his own use, seemingly planning on using it [[YouKnowTooMuch to dispose of the Doctor, Yaz, Najia and the scientist]]. Instead, he uses it to kill the mother spider.
* BigBad: The mother spider serves as the FinalBoss, being the last spider at large in the hotel after the others have been sealed in the panic room. In the end, [[NonMaliciousMonster it doesn't attack anyone else]] and the Doctor's plan to kill it turns out to be unnecessary.

* BigDamnHeroes: Subverted; in any other scenario Robertson coming in to kill the mother spider would be heroic. But, as the Doctor points out, the mother was already dying of suffocation and was more interested in escaping than harming them. Robertson instead calls the shooting a mercy kill, and shows no remorse in front of an infuriated Doctor. It's clear that he was planning to kill the spider regardless.

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: When Robertson brags about how famous he is, the Doctor, only vaguely aware of who's famous at this point in time, asks if he's Music/EdSheeran. When Graham explains he's running for President in 2020, the Doctor assumes he still means Ed Sheeran.
* ConnectTheDeaths: Jade has a map showing all of the strange spider activity ocurring in Sheffield. The Doctor starts drawing lines connecting them and, when she has finished, she has what looks like a spiderweb with Robertson's hotel at the centre.

*** Like the Eight-Legs of Metebelis III, these spiders are normal Earth spiders which have been mutated into growing huge.

* DeadPersonConversation: Graham has a couple of imaginary conversations (well, we assume so, but this is ''Doctor Who'') with Grace.

* DontAskJustRun: When Jack is asking who everyone is while the others are running from a door leading to a giant spider, Graham tells him to "Run now, ask questions later."

* ExpyCoexistence: Robertson is blatantly based on Donald Trump, (both are global hotel magnates, have companies with terrible environmental records, have a key advisor that married into their family, have a business logo that is the first letter of their last name in gold, Robertson is an arachnophobe seen vigorously washing his hands for a prolonged period while Trump is known for being a germaphobe, etc., etc.) however Trump had been established to exist in the world of ''Doctor Who'' in the previous season, and when Trump is mentioned in this episode it's indicated that Robertson loathes Trump and is planning to run for President in 2020 almost entirely because of his desire to defeat Trump.

* InHarmsWay:
** The TARDIS finally ends up at the correct destination and even the right time, but as there's a MonsterOfTheWeek at that point in time and space the TARDIS is likely just doing what it always does.
** The Doctor's companions all decide to keep traveling with her rather than return to their mundane lives, despite the Doctor warning them of the dangers involved.
* ItsALongStory: Yaz's response when Najia asks her how she met the Doctor is this because she doesn't want to explain; it really is long.

* MarriedToTheJob: Sonya Khan claims her sister Yaz is has nothing in her life but her job. Yaz [[SnarkToSnarkCombat shoots back]] that at least she ''has'' a job.
* MeanBoss: Jack fires Yaz's mum on her first day for unknowingly walking in on a private conversation, [[DirtyCoward shuts his bodyguard Kevin in the bathroom with the mother spider and leaves him to die]], and [[NeverMyFault blames everyone but himself for what's happening]].
* MercyKill: Jack attempts to reason that the shooting of the spider mother was this after learning she was suffocating to death. The Doctor snarks back that she doesn't sense any mercy in him.

-->'''The Doctor:''' I eat danger for breakfast. ''[to Yaz]'' I don't. I prefer cereal. Or croissants. Or these little fried, Portuguese... Never mind, it's not important.

* MistakenForRomance: Yaz's mum and sister ask if Ryan is Yaz's boyfriend. They both answer by saying they're just friends and nothing else. Yaz's sister is pleased by this; apparently she's interested in Ryan. Yaz's mum also asks if Yaz and the Doctor are seeing each other. Apparently Najia is really interested in pairing Yaz up with someone.

** The Doctor and Amelia Earhart once had to either stop a plane with a rope made of spider web or deal with a rope made of spider web stopping Amelia Earhart's plane while they were in it.

* PetTheDog: Despite being a generally unlikable person, Jack Robertson is perfectly polite to the Doctor, Yaz, Ryan and Graham when he first meets them. Despite being a StrawmanPolitical {{Expy}} of Donald Trump, he's shown to not be homophobic, sexist or racist, taking his niece being married to a woman in his stride and not treating the Doctor, Yaz, Ryan or Graham any differently from each other or anyone else. He also shoots the mother spider, putting her out of her misery (though in this case the effect is diluted, as despite the note under JerkassHasAPoint he's clearly not doing so out of mercy).
* PhoneaholicTeenager: Yaz's sister Sonya spends the entirety of her [[{{Pun}} screen time]] either holding or using her smartphone.

* ThePowerOfRock: The Power of Grime is used to lure most of the spiders into Robertson's panic room so that they can be trapped and allowed to die humanely without endangering anybody else.

* ShipTease: Yaz's sister Sonya flirts with Ryan.

** The Doctor's attempts at small talk, which result in her actually describing herself as "Maybe I'm socially awkward."

** When they are huge and angry and everywhere... ''Yup'', and everyone involved feels that way. Graham, Ryan, and Robertson are explicitly said to be arachnophobic.

** Jack Robertson is clearly a none-too-flattering nod to [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump another American businessman-turned-politician]] (whom Robertson absolutely despises).
** On a subtler note, he may be a TakeThat towards Neoliberal Corporatists in general, as he despises Trump despite being guilty of many of the same horrible things he is, which brings to mind figures such as Howard Schultz and Michael Bloomberg, two businessman who ran for the nomination in the Democratic Party in 2020 against Trump, but allegedly were more motivated by keeping Progressive Leftists out of the Oval Office. (Bloomberg in particular made threats to not provide any funding for Democrats if the primary winner was Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren.)

* VillainyFreeVillain: Robertson is an arrogant {{Jerkass}} as well as a GunNut, but it's hard to hold him responsible for the events of the episode if (as he claims) the toxic waste dumping was indeed handled by otherwise trustworthy subcontractors, and even in the world of ''Doctor Who'' it would be outlandish for him to anticipate that this dumping might lead to an infestation of giant, man-eating spiders. His intention to deal with the spiders by simply shooting them might be ruthless as well, but they have killed a ''lot'' of people and are clearly very dangerous, and his method really is more humane than simply letting them suffocate to death regardless of his motivations for wanting to do so.

** Nor is it explained how a giant spider ended up in Graham's house (when neither he, Grace nor Ryan have any connection to the lab). How many other mutated spiders were outside of the hotel hunting when the Doctor trapped the main nest, and [[FridgeHorror how many are still roaming around Sheffield]]? However, given that part of what drove their actions were the mutated pheromones given off by the mother spider, they may simply die out naturally now that she's dead and not producing any more pheromones.

** [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking We never learn if the Doctor found the Khans' missing parcel in Anna's flat.]]

* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: When the Doctor tries to propose a humane way of dealing with the spiders, Jack responds "Shooting's quicker". Despite this, he ends up co-operating with the Doctor's plan, for the most part.

It turns out that another of Robertson's companies was contracted by a university lab to dispose of their waste, dead spiders they had been experimenting on to find uses for their silk. Only, the waste wasn't properly disposed of, and one of the spiders was NotQuiteDead… allowing it to grow into a van-sized monstrosity using the hotel as a nest. The smaller spiders are trapped in Robertson's panic room so they can die, but the mother spider, suffocating due to the SquareCubeLaw, is shot dead by Robertson anyway, to the Doctor's disgust. He avoids punishment... for now.

** Also, just shooting the spiders is actually the more humane option if they can't reverse the mutations; otherwise, they face death by suffocation like the mother spider as they grow beyond their organs' ability to keep their bodies going, or starvation while trapped where they can't get food. When Robertson says shooting is more merciful, he's ''absolutely right'', even if, as the Doctor says, mercy is clearly not his motivation.

* NonMaliciousMonster: The spiders are simply acting like the animals they are.

* SpaceWhaleAesop: Don't dump toxic waste illegally or... [[GiantSpider you'll mutate spiders]] into monsters.

** Nor is it explained how a giant spider ended up in Graham's house (when neither he, Grace nor Ryan have any connection to the lab). How many other mutated spiders were outside of the hotel hunting when the Doctor trapped the main nest, and [[FridgeHorror how many are still roaming around Sheffield]]? Given that part of what drove their actions were the mutated pheromones given off by the mother spider, they may simply die out naturally.

The one with an arachnophobe’s worst nightmare - giant spiders - a [[{{Trumplica}} Donald Trump parody]] and Stormzy.

* MistakenForRomance: Yaz's mum and sister ask if Ryan is Yaz's boyfriend. They both answer by saying they're just friends and nothing else. Yaz's sister is pleased by this; apparently she's interested in Ryan. Yaz's mum also asks if Yaz and the Doctor are seeing each other (see Mistaken for Gay). Apparently Najia is really interested in pairing Yaz up with someone.

** However, the spiders are also treated fairly sympathetically, with both Jade and the Doctor noting that they are victims themselves and not acting the way they do out of malice (see Non-Malicious Monster and Tragic Monster).

** On a subtler note, he may be a TakeThat towards Neoliberal Corporatists in general, as he despises Trump despite being guilty of many of the same horrible things he is, such as Howard Schultz, another businessman who is ostensibly running against Trump, but allegedly more motivated by keeping Progressive Leftists out of the Oval Office.

The one with giant spiders, a [[{{Trumplica}} Donald Trump parody]] and Stormzy.

* SpotOfTea: The Doctor is saying goodbye to her friends, looking dejected, but instantly perks up when Yaz invites her to tea at her place, declaring she loves tea.