Yaz (Mandip Gill) reminisces with her grandmother, "Nani" (Leena Dhringa) as she hands out some of her treasured belongings to them. Giving Yaz a watch with a smashed face and Yaz thinks the man in the photo is her grandfather. As her grandmother speaks of being the first woman to marry in Pakistan and also the first Muslim woman to be a textile worker in Sheffield. She refuses to talk about the watch and Yaz shows it to the Doctor (Jodi Whittaker) and asks her to take her there. She thinks it will be difficult but perhaps telepathically she can link it to the TARDIS and they can stay for an hour only. Graham (Bradley Walsh) replying he didn't know it was telepathic. The Doctor asks him not to call her an "it."
They arrive in India 1947 but are unaware of the year and its significance. As the Doctor is almost run over by a cart, driven by Prem (Shane Zaza) who tells them their Punjabi isn't bad for them being English. The TARDIS translator working now. He offers to give them a ride as Yaz says they're here to see Umbreen (Amita Suman) as they're friends of her family. On the way they pass a Holy Man who says he can walk and will meet him there as that's what his legs are for. As Yaz meets her grandmother she is amazed and surprised as she talks about getting married tomorrow and Yaz comes up with some story about Uncle Almak some villages away. Yaz realizes she's going to marry Prem and lives on a farm. They've worked all their time on the land. Although she wasn't too surprised at meeting her great grandmother, Kisan (Nathalie Kuzner).
Prem's brother, Manish (Hamza Jeetooa) isn't too thrilled about the wedding and says he should marry someone Indian and without being graphic, a Hindu. As Yaz also thinks this too. He talks about India being divided into a Pakistan by Lord Mountbatten and all the other 'leaders' of the time including Nehru, Gandi and Muhammad Ali Jinnah and shows them the border between the two countries saying they should leave for Pakistan as India is for them, for Hindus. Prem disagrees as it's for all Indians, regardless of religion. As they try to get back to the farm, the Doctor is hit by a loud sound and they see some masked creatures on the hill she calls demons, as does Prem who shoots at them. As they also find the Holy Man dead. There are purple specks radiating from his DB and she tries to analyze them but can't. Prem tells them he's seen them before and the Doctor tells Yaz and Graham to tell the others of his death as she, Prem and Ryan (Tosin Cole)go with her. She finds their lair and also says they're the Vajarians: deadly assassins. She also sees a container with the same dust and takes it as they arrive. They give chase and Ryan and Prem become separated from the Doctor through some form of travel displacement device on the trees. As the Doctor finds two of the devices and takes them.
Graham and Yaz break the news and Umbreen's distressed as he was to perform their ceremony. Prem and Ryan make it back following the advice of the Doctor as she tells them to get out of the forest. As she finally turns up herself telling them to head for the barn. Here she plants the device as the Vajarians appear again and they vanish for a few hours. She can't hold them off longer than 12-18 hours, long enough for them to marry so history isn't changed. As she warns Yaz she may talk herself out of existence if she interferes. "Tread softly, you're treading on your own history." Prem tells them he saw those creatures when he was fighting in Singapore with his brother Kunel. Who died there and he didn't want to leave him behind. He saw them standing over his body. The Doctor wants to analyze the container and asks for some varied ingredients for them to collect, including chicken poo and ox spit, which Graham says he will never collect again. Ryan explaining the ox took a shine to him.
The Doctor gets to talk with the Vajarians as they tell her they are no longer assassins as their planet was wiped out. They now collect the lonely when they die, meaning their souls and go throughout the universe doing this. Telling her Prem is next, which was apparent as he wasn't the man in the photo. They didn't kill the Holy Man but they know who did, which wasn't really a mystery as it could only have been Manish. But anyway we don't get to know that until the end unless you hadn't already worked it out.
Throughout this time they realize they're in India during the partition where millions died and Umbreen is determined to marry. She says the Doctor can marry them cos that's a respectable title and she paints henna on their hands. As the men play cards. Manish is determined they shouldn't get married. He is changed since the little boy Prem knew when he went away to the war and Manish says Kunel would've understood what he means when he shouldn't marry and India being only for them. Somehow he really wouldn't have and he didn't give his life just so they could be enemies.
The Doctor performs the ceremony by the 'border' and Umbreen stands on the Pakistan side as she's now married in Pakistan, the first woman. But she undoes the rope and then she ties it around their hands, a Hindu wedding tradition. Which Yaz point out. But Umbreen calls it their own tradition now. When they return to the farm, they talk of not leaving here and Umbreen tells Manish how he fought for the land and helped them farm it. He's her brother now too but he denies any family ties with her. Prem gives Umbreen his watch a symbol of a Muslim wedding and calls it her Mahal. The watch falls and cracks, as Yaz has it now. The Doctor talks of the men coming and goes after Manish but she comes back to warn them. They gather their belongings to leave and Yaz notices the map of England with Sheffield marked on it. Umbreen's father brought it back and she picked a point and said that's where she would end up.
Prem tells them to head for the border, as he tries to reason with Manish. Who tells him Prem and Kunel fought for India, however Prem tells him he didn't fight for India to turn out like this, but for everyone. Of course it was for freedom and for all. He even recognizes one of the men on the horse and they fought together in Siam but he doesn't care. Finally the man pulls the trigger and they hear the gunshot as they return to the TARDIS.
Yaz speaks with her grandmother and she doesn't want to talk about the watch and lets her save that for another time. But she was happy in her marriage and now decides Yaz may be ready to hear the story. Oh and Umbreen had a far more perfect English accent in India than she did in present day Sheffield, which may have seemed odd but probably cos of the TARDIS translation doing the same for her as it did for them, as pointed out by Prem and his speaking perfect Punjabi remark. Though not everyone in India spoke Punjabi, they also had Hindi.
Another historic episode for the show and this time focusing on Yaz and the past. But how different was it really to present day. All the talk of borders and still having and keeping them to obsession. Not just Brexit but also in the US with, "build the wall" and all that hysteria. The same hysteria demonstrated in India where really no one needed to die. The Radcliffe Line is where Umbreen got married and the radio broadcasts used were real. This episode also being screened on one hundred years of Armistice Day. No coincidence. However very little was mentioned regarding British practice and action during this time of partition.
Some great moments with Yaz and Graham as they haven't had any alone time together where he tells her to go with it. "I don't think any of us know the real truth about our own lives because we're too busy living it from the inside."
NB I didn't go into Partition here as seen through my family's history and experience. My mother was only a young girl then and her uncle brought them through to Pakistan safely. Through all the turmoil and senseless killing that occurred. Something that wouldn't have occurred if there was no British rule and colonization. There were no divisions between the people of all religions and was something used as a form of rule: divide and conquer. Which may appear all black and white to some and one-sided.
It was my great uncle, the same one who served in the army during World War II.
There is much to explore here including why Partition actually took place, it's true picture and heartbreaking losses. As Prem said, "there's nothing worse than when normal people lose their minds. We've lived together for decades..."
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