BBC fans all make same complaint over Doctor Who opening episode

fans were left divided over the sci-fi show's latest season premiere, The Robot Revolution, which came out tonight on BBC One and . The first episode of season 15 has been criticised for its 'confusing' storyline.

It saw Varada Sethu being introduced to as the Doctor's new companion, Belinda Chandra. Although the premiere was full of high stakes action and contained some ambitious social commentary, social media was awash with criticism of the episode after it aired. Many fans have the same complaint: the story was difficult to follow and full of ideas that failed to land.

One person took to X, saying: "Fun given it was my first live episode. But too much was going on. Not even just the pace but how information was conveyed was in the quickest yet most disposable ways possible. Also feel you can tell a man wrote this in terms of how misogyny is written."

Another viewer went even further, calling it "the worst opening episode of Doctor Who I've ever seen," adding: "I love but wtf was that. I couldn't follow any of the story and the characters made no sense at all. Please let the rest of the season be far better. Please. Can't face another subpar season."

A third savagely slammed the episode, writing: "Doctor Who really needs to take a deep look at Star Trek Strange new Worlds to learn how to balance camp episodes, with experimental episodes, with serious episodes...oh and how to structure episodes."

In The Robot Revolution, Belinda is abducted by a group of militant AI robots, and the Doctor quickly sets off on a galaxy-wide rescue mission. What should have been a thrilling start to the new season quickly became clogged by heavy exposition, and a divisive villian in the form of Alan - Belinda's ex boyfriend, who is revealed to be an incel leading the robot uprising.

Several viewers took issue with Alan's character, with one questioning: "Did they seriously make an incel the main villain of Doctor Who?" A second chimed in, adding: "I did not last eighteen minutes into the story. This current version of Doctor Who is not for me."

However, some staunch fans of the show were not disappointed by the season 15 opener. One gushed: "Ncuti is a great Doctor and already like Belinda as a companion who just wants to go home. It's set up a lot of mystery for this season." Someone else defended it, saying: "Pacing is kinda weird but the new Doctor Who episode was still good."