Dear God i'm one of the more positives ones here... Give me a moment to compose myself. If they do give a proper explaination to Capaldi's previous appearances then brilliant, just so long as it doesn't become a case of River where something that doesn't need touching becomes a massive, unecessary mind screw.
Also to all those claiming sexism, I give you Peri from the 80s. Even if the female characters are given a lot of the same traits, at least they're mostly positive ones and not just breasts. A lot of the complaints feel very reductionalist - Amy is different from Clara in a lot of ways (if anything she's a more developed Sparrow) as is River. Personally I would take the former two over Rose. Ingrid Osgood, Liz Ten, Kate Stewart, Madame De Pompadour, Nancy, heck Molly from Sherlock - I would say they were all good female characters in their own way. Yes the companions are 'feisty strong women' but that's generally the kind of ones who make good TV that needs be to quick and hit that short format - Rory was a good example of a more insecure companion but he rather needs another companion there to beef it out and I think Clara is a nice pairing of the two sides seeing she's currently solo. Fingers crossed they do something more with her going through his time stream and coping with that.
... And now i'm defending Moffat. What a strange day.
Also as a weird lil aside, i'll have to check it on iplayer but i'm pretty sure I saw on the newspaper that one of the combustion victims was a Maragret Roberts (Thatcher's maiden name). Made I larf.